Plan

Where – This photo-shoot is going to take place in local roads/pathways around jersey such as St.Brelades, St.Peters and St.Ouens.

When – This photo-shoot has been taken in the evening hence the low light in the images. It was on a Sunday evening to avoid as many cars and people as possible that interfere with my photos to capture the correct image I visioned in my head.

What – These images are going to be taken of long stretches of roads that lead out to what seems as ongoing land using soft and harsh lighting to create a more meaningful and interesting image. I am also going to capture nature that surrounds the roads which will make my images more interesting and will link to landscape photography better.

How – These images are going to be created by using low light in the day with a low angle shot by camera being as close to the floor as possible to get the best long shot. the camera settings are going to be as such exposure 100/200 , IOS 400/800.

Why – I have decided to do this to explore different objectives of landscape photography such as roads and tunnel ways.

Contact Sheets –

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My Best Images

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Analysis

These images create an intriguing view as the lines in the image focuses down through the road which leads your eyes to the end of the photo. The white scattered lines forms a symmetrical line where the right side and left side of the image roughly look the same as each other in the last two images. The trees in the bottom two images create a tunnel like passage which grows long and thin to roughly the middle of the image. The natural sunlight falls down the image from the sky creating soft and harsh light parts on the roads and paths. The light that pokes through the trees in the above images seems to be the only part of the image which is the lighter tone. This means that darker tones over rule the images themselves. A subtle sunset in the distance fades down to more vibrant colours. The greens found in the trees and plants surrounding the roads in all images vary from darker to lighter tones. Shadows from the over leaning trees forms darker patches on the roads. This reduces the amount of light that floods the area, leading to thinner lines/parts of sunlight and highlights. silhouettes of trees seem to be common in lower light as the camera focuses on the lighter areas of the image. The roads are positioned to take up half or less of the bottom half of the image. This gives of the endless road feel. With all images being either with buildings or not , they all have a sense of nature and happiness to them. Whether this be the greenery surrounding the image or the light sunset, The all seem to have questions to ask about them such as where do these roads they lead to? Or where do the end?

Evaluation

This photo-shoot definitely was the most effective shoot I have done as hours of work went into it. Travelling around the island to find long roads and trying to keep the same amount of lighting in each one was a mission itself. Spending ages to get the road with no cars was a waiting game and then finding the right time to lay in the middle of the road to capture the best shot. These images all have different points of view. Whether it being a warm or cold temperature to them or the scenery to be different such as nature surroundings or buildings. Thy all have that long stretch of road that expands outwards. If I was to do this photoshoot again I would expand and explore the different weather situations rather than keeping it to be warm and bright colourful skies with using the golden hour of sun.

Inspiration

For this photo shoot I am going to explore rural scenery on the Island which I can take successful landscape imagery of. I am going to stay away from taking photographs of the obvious, touristy places such as the towers, St Brelades beach, sunsets at St Ouens, etc. Instead I am going to take inspiration from photographers such as Fay Godwin, Richard Misrach, Eliot Porter and others. I am going to go to places such as: the sandunes, St Catherine’s woods, Plemont caves, Dolmens, Greve De Lecq, Cliff paths, Bouley Bay and green lanes.

What is Romanticism?

Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement which took place in Europe between the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. Understood broadly as a break from the guiding principles of the Enlightenment – which established reason as the foundation of all knowledge – the Romantic Movement emphasized the importance of emotional sensitivity and individual subjectivity. For the Romantics, imagination, rather than reason, was the most important creative faculty. Nature was also a source of inspiration in the visual arts of the Romantic Movement. Breaking with the longer tradition of historical and allegorical paintings, which took scenes from history or the Bible as their principle subject matter, Romantic artists like J. M. W. Turner and John Constable – as well as print-makers and engravers like Samuel Palmer and Thomas Bewick – chose instead to depict the natural world, most notably landscapes and maritime scenes. Romantic artists depicted nature to be not only beautiful, but powerful, unpredictable and destructive. This constituted a radical departure from Enlightenment representations of the natural world as orderly and benign.

Romanticism in Landscape Photography

Photographers tend to idealistically portray the natural world. Turning ruin and poverty back to landscape, images of the natural world currently depict an almost surreal, fantastical world that we imagine is more like that of a CGI movie than the stuff of real life.

Fay Godwin

Fay Godwin (17 February 1931 – 27 May 2005) was a British photographer known for her black-and-white landscapes of the British countryside and coast. She produced portraits of dozens of well-known writers, photographing almost every significant literary figure in 1970’s and 1980’s England, as well as numerous visiting foreign authors. Fay said, ‘My way into photography was through family snaps in the mid-1960s. I had no formal training, but after the snaps came portraits, reportage, and finally, through my love of walking, landscape photography, all in black and white. A Fellowship with the National Museum of Photography in Bradford led to urban landscape in colour, and very personal close-up work in colour has followed.’ After the publication of her first books, she was a prolific publisher, working mainly in the landscape tradition to great acclaim and becoming the nations most well-known landscape photographer. Her early and mature work was informed by the sense of ecological crisis present in late 1970’s and 1980’s England.

Image Analysis

In this image Godwin has used the natural lighting as the image has been captured in an outdoor environment. In this particular image there are a range of tones, varying from dark shades in the grass and bright, almost white tones in the sky and clouds. In addition, the photograph being taken in black and white sharpens the contrast between colours in the image. Although this image has dark and light tones in it, neither are exactly black or white they are just darker and lighter. This leaves the image feeling more natural and untouched, where as if it was edited where the dark parts of the image were fully black it wouldn’t look like an image of nature. To capture this image Godwin has positioned herself in the middle of the path, which has lead to the leading lines that are presented to the viewer, creating a singular focal point. The focal point in this image is very clearly where the pathway meets the hill in the background and looks as though it ends. The way she has positioned herself to take this image also places the end of the path in the middle of the photograph , which again draws the viewers eyes to this particular point in the image.

Rural landscape photography is in many ways similar to photographing urban landscapes. The difference is rural photography is about capturing the ‘life’ in the countryside. The term ‘rural landscape’ describes the diverse portion of the nations land area not densely populated or intensively developed, and not set aside for preservation in a natural state. The rural landscape provides natural resources, food and fiber, wildlife habitat and inspiration.

Mood Board

Mind Map

Composition in Rural Landscape photography

Main subject: often, in a not so good composition it is hard to tell what the main subject is. The image has too many elements, creating chaos. Isolate your main subject and let the rest of the landscape compliment it. Create depth: in rural photography one of your challenges is to create depth in the photographs. One way to give a sense of three dimensions is to make sure to include a foreground a middle ground and a background in your composition. Most successful landscape photographs are captured in this way. Different Angles: Move around and look for better angles to photograph. The first vantage point you pick at a given scene is rarely the best. Always look again. Include the sky: An interesting sky with clouds gives dimension to an image. If it is an overcast day with a white boring sky, you should consider not including the sky at all as it doesn’t add anything to the image. Weather: Don’t let the weather stop you. Stormy clouds can be beautiful. A dramatic sky over an abandoned house can take your rural photo to the next level. Go out in different weather and make the most of it. After rain comes sun – within minutes the sun can break through the clouds and create some beautiful sun rays. Create Mood: On the countryside, with fewer people, it can be quiet. Try to create loneliness or a mood that makes the viewer feel you are photographing far away from the city. Rural landscape photography is about reflecting the less busy everyday life in the countryside compared to the busy life in the cities.

Ansel Adams was born on the 20^th of February 1902, in San Francisco. In 1907 the family lost most of their wealth in the financial crisis. Adams did not enjoy or fit in at school , he was a shy, reserved boy which led him to get bullied at school. During those hard years Adams took solace in nature, becoming lost in long walks in the forest and among the sand dunes that surrounded the family home.At the age of twelve, Adams found a new distraction in the piano, throughout the 1920’s Adams pursued music and photography equally. Adams believed that photography could give vent to the same feelings he experienced through his music. His first interest in photography came through his love of natural landscape and a want to capture something of that overwhelming experience on film.  Most of his early photographs were landscapes viewed on memorable climbs. Through the 1920’s, he worked as the custodian of the Sierra Club’s lodge in Yosemite National park, creating impressive landscape photographs. In 1930 he met the American photographer Paul Strand, Adams was deeply impressed with the simplicity of the images’ concept and by their rich and luminous tonality. This influenced Adams to focus on sharp focus and the use of the entire photographic gray scale, from black to white.

Analysis of image

This is an image taken by Ansel Adams at the Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
In this image Adams placed the horizon high in the frame which gives favour to the landscapes lying below it. Having a high horizon helps the viewer realise the scale of this image and the mountains, in comparison to the sky surrounding it. The white tips on the mountains draws the viewers attention to the high points of the mountains as the white stands out from the rest of the dark image.
In this image there is also a instant draw of attention to the winding river as the water has a sharp, glow to it. It is on eye level of the river which creates leading lines within the image. The river has different tones in, some parts are bright and bring your attention to the river whereas other parts of the river is dull and fits in with the rest of the image. Only having parts of the river being bright and highly saturated is effective as it isn’t overwhelming for the viewer and also doesn’t draw away any attention from the rest of the surroundings but still draws some attention to the normally dull river. The position of where Adam’s was stood means the river is flowing away from the camera which creates a sense of the river vanishing as it suddenly cuts off at a corner and gradually looks smaller as it gets further from the foreground.
The sky is overcast with parts of sun trying to peak through the clouds. The tips of the mountains are lightly covered by a thin layer of high fog making the tips of the mountains a bit faded and blurry.
Adams used a wide tonal range to create a deep emotion in this image and highlight the landscape stood in front of him. He highlighted the main points of the image and created very dark and dull sections in the image which creates the same effect a bright section of the image does. There is a deep sense of emotion within this image which is shown through the different tones used.

Charlie Waite

https://www.charliewaite.com/

Charlie Waite is an English landscape photographer known for his “painterly” approach to the use of light and shadow in a photo. Born in England, he worked in theater and television for ten years before switching to photography. His style is unique in that his photographs convey a spiritual quality of serenity and calm.

During the 1980s Waite became a master of the big view with interpretations of European landscapes, carrying on with ‘straight’ photography, like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, making his works known for his painterly approach, that captured nature.

The late 1990s Waite photographed simpler architectural cameos within landscape, exploring the arcs and lines that thrive in both contemporary and classical architecture. In each image relationships of colour, form, design and light all portray a positive emotional response together in harmony. He also captured images focusing on more minimalist compositions using the geometric patterns formed by the environment.

https://boshamgallery.com/artists/25-charlie-waite/biography/

Examples Of His Work:

I will take photos of fields on a cloudy but sunny day so that the clouds can give the fields a patchy look as they will block the sun light on certain parts. Also I will go to a field where there are crops growing, maybe the lavender farm in St Brelade. I will try and get a photo where the field has vertical lines leading up to the horizon like Charlie Waites’ image of Valensole Study II, France. I will aslo go to a road where the trees are in a row to the sides of the road with a gap to the end creating depth.

Photo Shoot Plans

First Photo Shoot:

Who	I will be taking the photos and do not need any models.
What	I will be taking photos through the trees and of the path.
Why	I want to focus on rural landscapes with natural settings such as woodlands; trees, stream and land.
Where	St Catherines Woods.
When	I want to take photos in the middle of the day with the sun coming through giving the image a warmer light and having the sun rays coming through the trees. Therefore I will need to make sure the weather is clear and sunny.
How	I will take photos on my camera.

Contact Sheets

When taking these photos I was focusing on where the viewers eye would be led. In Charlie Waites’ images there is a clear leading line directing the viewer which is what I wanted to focus on. I wanted to use the structures in the trees and man made things like the paths to create this effect.

These images were taken casually on the same day, not part of any planned photoshoot, but I wanted to include them as they show the concept of leading the viewers’ eye.

Romanticism was a particular movement in art that occurred during the first half of the 19th century. Romanticism placed particular emphasis on emotion, horror, awe , terror and individualism, along with a glorification of the past. Painters, poets, photographers and writers drew particular inspiration from nature and celebrated the purity of nature. Emotion and feeling were central in how it should be read. Looking back to these images from our point in time, we see romanticism is linked as a response to the industrialisation of the world. The whole of the Western world was transforming, at what people at the time saw at an impossible speed, away from the agrarian past to one of mechanisation. Romanticism as a movement came to and end when realism emerged in the late 1840s.

Romanticism was also used in many of the other art forms. It was used in art in the early nineteenth century to describe the movement in art and literature distinguished by a new interest in human psychology, expression of personal feeling and interest in the natural world. The overall characteristic was a new emotionalism in contrast to the ideas of classical restraint. Romanticism celebrated the individual imagination and intuition in the search for individual rights and liberty. Its ideals of the creative, subjective powers of the artist fueled avant-garde movements well into the 20^th century. The most common way artists would express romanticism in art form was through paintings.

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Ansel Easton Adams (born in 1902 – 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. These black and white images had high tonal range which emphasized the landscape to loo unnatural and intriguing. His love for nature and the earth in general is what started off Ansel’s career. He had an eye, a vision of what he exactly wanted his photographs to look like when visiting an area of either West Americas mountain ranges or the vast landscape in the countryside. Here are some examples of Ansels work…

As we can see, Ansel Adams loves to use a lower exposure camera setting for most of his photography. This creates an effect of his images looking like they are taken at night. They seem to be all photographed at the same mountain range but different angles as well as some flat surfaces with some abstract shapes and tonal range in the skies. They all have a similar style to them but all seem to have something as an objective. Either that being a tree, rock, mountain or lake, they all relate to each other somehow. Especially that they are taken in black and white.

Analysis

In this particular image at first glance the noticeable peaks of mountains captures my eye as for the contrast in the snowy white tips to darkness that falls half way down. As well as this, the striking river that seems to flow in an S shape has a bright, outstanding white glimmer to it. The harsh light source from the sun above and the fact that this picture has been taken in black and white has made this river of water over exposed as it appears to be the same brightness as the sun which is positioned outside the image, the top middle of the frame. Different shades of grey make up the trees surrounding the river that weaves in and out. Its almost as if its a source that leads out to the mountains, a path like way. Mist seems to overcast the mountains and tops of trees in the near distance. We can see this because of how the image is formed. The white dust that subtly over-layers the darker shades of grey. The growth of the mountains seems intriguing as from the side of the photographs, the mountains grown to a single, unstable peek. This peak seems to be rough but kinda grows out of the images view. This really emphasizes the height and bigness of these landmarks in West America. The trees in the foreground closest to the left side of the image carefully lines up with the lining of the bottom of the mountains. This creates a tonal range of dark to light, black to white and makes it much more easier to examine the mist. Dotted and light clouds are positioned in the sky that seem bearable to notice. The way Ansel has set his exposure, he has made a darker and shaded sky in the fr left and right top corners. This effect makes the image as if it was taken in the night. Whereas is was indeed not, as for the lighting needed to even view the landscape in daytime. The dark and shaded parts of this image overalls the white highlights. The darkened areas seem to fall mostly from the bottom, and stretching upwards to light and brightness. The river seems to be the objective of this image. This is because it has been angled to be photographed in the center of the image and is the brightest, strong and smoothed out area. The lining in this image ranges from smooth lines found along the river and banks, to rough, sharp and edgy lines that form the mountains and trees. over all this image in interesting to view as there seems to be some sort of story or beauty that is being expressed. Dark and light elements contrast with each other to form a beautiful, landscape image.