Camilo Jose Vergara is a Chilean Photographer based in New York City.
He trained as a sociologist with a specialty in urbanism and this is exactly what his photography emulates. He focuses on ‘rephotography’ in series with urbanisation and the Anthropocene. This means he shot the same buildings over a span of time to document change. This is a method of documenting urbanisation and how man is constantly tweaking the environment around them.
I am most interested in his work where he captures the essence of nature fighting back against urbanisation. He shoots these abandoned, derelict buildings in the fashion of rephotography to document an argument between nature and man. This can be seen through the houses slowly degrading and the earth and plants growing around them. This captures the power of nature and its ambition to flourish juxtaposing to mans greediness and carelessness of leaving ruins to rot in, what was, a beautiful natural climate. Below is an image of the Ransom Gillis House where Camilo has captured this argument and the power of nature.
I believe the way Camilo captures these buildings is an impactful way of looking a Anthropocene. It captures humanities carelessness and the determination of nature in an impactful manner by giving it an aesthetic. The aesthetic being the series of photos where the perspective is exactly them same but there is noticeable change in the environment in every photo. This forces the thought to be made about how quickly our environment changes.
The above image is of the former Camden Library which became abandoned. There are trees growing in the former reading room of the library. Camilo framed these trees in the centre of the image with the library collapsing around them. This creates a stadium around the trees which creates tension and supports the idea of natures determination to grown through humans destruction.
Camilo used natural lighting which is coming through as streaks through the destroyed ceiling. This creates a holy like spotlight on the trees which could imply the idea of the glimpse of hope that nature holds.
The image contains high saturation on the foreground which makes the trees pop with colour but a low saturation and high contrast on the background which creates a gloomy look on the destroyed building, enforcing the juxtaposition between nature and man.
George Marazakis is a Greek photographer who has made a significant contribution to the visual enlightenment related to the Anthropocene with his photographic series, “A Cure for Anthropocene”
His work encapsulates the degradation of the environment in a subtle manner rather than a brash, “in your face” approach. His method does not concentrate on shooting the obvious, mainstream aesthetic themes such as animals entangled in plastics and inept images of geological agony that the media force feed society as a way of sort of ‘guilt-tripping’. Instead George shoots natural landscapes where subtle gestures of man’s ramifications can be seen. He seems to weave the elements of industrialism and climate change into his the landscapes rather than making them the vocal point. I feel this is a far superior way of creating awareness to the issue. It focuses on giving a neutral aesthetic to the Anthropocene. This forces the comparison process of making contrasts between the peaceful natural utopia and the traumatic dystopia that humans are inflicting on the planet. This forces audiences to use their cognition which leads to them caring about the issue more.
Another distinct element to his photography is the warm, hazy, monotone hue his images have. It almost implies the idea of the earth heating up and global warming. It also creates a slight sense of panic almost like a fire has started and orangey smoke is pouring out of his images. It develops an apocalyptic aesthetic for Anthropocene.
This subtle approach of integrating slight man made interruptions into his landscapes came about as George began to think of the Anthropocene as a disease. “While I was photographing the landscapes affected by human interactions in the middle of natural spaces, the topography started looking like a body to me – like something with the early stages of psoriasis on its skin,” he explains. “If humans are a product of nature, then we can say that we are a disease attacking our own organism, just like an immune system can attack its own body – like autoimmune diseases.” His work takes this idea of disease and spins it around to create a sense of hope by reinforcing the idea that diseases can be cured, this is imbedded in the name of his project ‘A CURE for Anthropocene’
The above image features a natural landscape with a juxtaposition of a subtle hint to mans presence in the foreground with the carved out paths almost like scars on the earth.
George uses natural lighting and he creates a narrow image in terms of colour and contrast in the foreground while romanticising the background with higher contrast and tonal depth. This creates an almost boring foreground which insinuates the mundane and banal nature of man’s degradation on the earth while contrasting this with the dramatic powerful nature of the sublime in the background.
The image is also framed very symmetrically with the paths in the foreground forming an ‘X’ which creates a satisfying aesthetic.
Andrew Moore is an American photographer, born in 1957, who documents the effect of time on natural and built landscapes. His series includes work made in Cuba, Russia, Bosnia, Times Square, Detroit, The Great Plains, and most recently, the American South. Moore was a lecturer on photography in the Visual Arts Program at Princeton University from 2001 to 2010. Presently he teaches a graduate seminar in the MFA Photography Video and Related Media program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He captures his images in a journalistic, documentary type fashion, photographing landscapes where man’s impact on the surroundings is being challenged by the power of nature. I felt drawn to Moore’s work due to his talent in capturing a sort of mid-stage between industrialization and natural landscapes, the observer can clearly see elements of nature in his images- however there is also a sense of impending urbanisation creeping into each image, may it be in the background or the main focus. I wish to take inspiration from this element of Moore’s work and portray the idea of ‘nature fighting back’ in one of my photoshoots.
Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian contemporary photographer, born in 1955 of Ukrainian heritage in St. Catharines, Ontario. He received his BAA in Photography/ Media Studies from Ryerson University in 1982, and in 1985 founded Toronto Image Works, a darkroom rental facility, custom photo laboratory, digital imaging and new media computer-training centre catering to all levels of Toronto’s art community. Early exposure to the sites and images of the General Motors plant in his hometown helped to formulate the development of his photographic work. His imagery explores the collective impact we as a species are having on the surface of the planet; an inspection of the human systems we’ve imposed onto natural landscapes. Burtynsky’s work really inspired me when researching different Anthropocene photographers as I enjoy the way he captures repetition throughout his images with an interesting camera point of view, I wish to reflect the way he captures our world’s rapid industrialization through landscape photography.
Burtynsky was part of the team with Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal who created ‘The Anthropocene Project’, in an extract from Burtynsky’s essay, “Life in the Anthropocene” he wrote “we hope to bring our audience to an awareness of the normally unseen result of civilization’s cumulative impact upon the planet. This is what propels us to continue making the work. We feel that by describing the problem vividly, by being revelatory and not accusatory, we can help spur a broader conversation about viable solutions. We hope that, through our contribution, today’s generation will be inspired to carry the momentum of this discussion forward, so that succeeding generations may continue to experience the wonder and magic of what life, and living on Earth, has to offer.”
Image Comparison
1 – Andrew Moore | 2 – Edward Burtynsky
I chose to compare this image taken by Andrew Moore to one of Edward Burtynsky’s images as I believe they both hold similarities and differences with their use of techniques in the formal elements. Moore’s image was captured at Via Blanca, Cuba in 2012 and Burtynsky’s was released in ‘The Anthropocene Project’ in 2018. The first clear similarity is that both photographers have captured leading lines produced by roads that draw the observer’s attention through the images, creating a sense of movement and energy. Moore’s leading line is straight and thick, guiding the observer’s eye into the distance and background of the photograph- Burtynsky’s image also leads them to the background, however his captured line is thin and curves around the top right of the photo. The comparison between these two uses of leading lines symbolizes how the industrialization of our planet will continue on into the future, becoming more and more accepted and normal- just as Burtynsky’s line bends and blends more into it’s surroundings than Moore’s earlier captured photograph. Furthermore, there is a similar grainy rough texture in both images, created by the busy amount of subject captured; the trees in Moore’s image create a spiky feeling however they also have a sense of serenity that produces a more calm atmosphere, which is juxtaposed greatly with the out-of-place motorway that cuts through them.
In addition, there are also several differences between each image, for example their composition and camera point of view. Moore has captured his landscape from a lower perspective, and while it is not at eye-level, it still creates a more grounded impression by bringing the observer closer to the subject. In comparison, Burtynsky’s photograph is captured with a birds-eye point of view, symbolizing the biblical connotations of man looking down on all he has created as if he were a God. Moreover, the actual location of each landscape image is a significant difference between the photographs, with Moore’s showing the woodlands and forests in Cuba being industrialized and Burtynsky’s demonstrating the mass industrialization of cities and towns. Burtynsky’s image holds zero negative space, it’s cramped composition creates an uneasy and overwhelming atmosphere as the repetition of buildings and structures surrounding the winding road connotes the idea of a dystopian, homogeneous society where everything and everyone is the same. The trees and nature which are reflected over and over again in Moore’s image suggests that the beauty in our natural environment is still trying to push against human impact and urbanization, connoting the idea that there may still be hope. Lastly, Moore’s image holds more vibrant and saturated colours than those seen in Burtynsky’s photograph, the blue sky in the background of the image gives the impression that if humans are still destroying the planet by using fossil fuels and increasing CO2 emissions, mass industrialization will continue on into the future, however if we do something about the destruction of our world now there is hope moving forward that the environment can be saved.
Ansel Adams is an American photographer born in 1902 and is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in landscape photography.
His work aims to convey the scale and the power of natural scenes. He does this in a unique way by romanticizing these landscapes. This means he enhances the landscapes past what the eye can see.
He was also a pioneer for a tonal system called the Ansel Adams Zone System – his photographs would convey a very large tonal range from true blacks to true whites in the exact same image.
He was part of a new wave of photographers in the early 20th century who divorced themselves from pictorialism and he became an advocate for “pure photography”. This is a style of photography which focuses on sharp focus high clarity and great tonal ranges.
He is known for his stunning landscapes of American national parks specifically the mountains he captures.
The above image is of the Snake River in the Grand Tetons in 1942.
The first discernable feature of this image distinctive to Ansell Adam’s work is the impeccable contrast and tonal range where he has captured every tonal level from the pure black in the foliage in the bottom left and some of the mountains to the pure whites in the river, the snow and the clouds. Ansell probably used a lot of burning when exposing this image to get these pure whites. Knowing Ansel’s past and his emphasis on the pure photography movement we can relate this to the above image with the emphasis on a high clarity crisp image with high contrast. This detail adds a sharp texture to the image which can be seen to emphasize the sharp summits of the mountains in the background.
The image also has a great depth of field. There are many components layering the image from foreground to background. The distant mountains contrast with the near foliage. The winding river adds perspective of depth with its ripples which create a sense of detail being prominent in the foreground, these details and the rivers size slowly diminish as it meanders and winds like a snake through the middle of the image.
The summit of the mountain is framed in the center of the image which creates a sort of aesthetic pyramid form to the image.
Stezakers’ works focus on photo montage to give old images a new meaning and add a creative surrealistic tinge to his photography.
He focuses on the similarities of structural and compositional elements of an image and stitches them together in a seamless yet surreal fashion. For example in the below image he uses the structure of the cliff faces and relates them to the structure of the subjects faces in the background.
This image has quite a flat, monochromatic style which almost gives it a warm balance, soft texture and comfortable feel. The montaging of the cliff faces is visually appealing as it is framed in the centre of the image. The two layers to the image each have their own depth which creates this double up of depth in the image and the eye has a lot of elements to look at which would give it a chaotic composition however because of the montaging the additional layer fits seamlessly within the background which cancels out this chaos and rather satisfies the composition.
My response to Stezakers’ work:
John StezakerMichael KenealyJohn StezakerMichael Kenealy
Claude was a French lesbian photographer born in 1894. She moved to Jersey in 1937 and became active as propagandists and resistance workers during the second world war when the Nazis took over the Channel Islands.
She was sentenced to death in 1945 however it was never carried out due to the Liberation of the Channel Islands from Nazi power. Cahun used photography to express herself and her political views.
Image Analysis
Claude Cahun
The lighting in this image is very dark with areas of very bright light that could be coming from a window and reflecting on the glass of the subject in the image, which then reflects on the black surface underneath . The darkness of the image allows the viewer to focus on the image of the woman in the dome and the actual dome itself. The brightness on the glass allows the woman to look three dimensional and could allow the viewer to sense the mood of the image.
The fact that the image is in black and white allows the viewer to focus on the contrasts in the image. The image in the dome has mainly dark colours which allows the viewer to see them as a happy person however the black background of the image emphasises the fact that her past was quite dark and she was treated poorly in the prison she was sent to in 1944.
The glass dome could highlight the fact that you are only a tiny fraction of the population of the world; you must live your life the way you want, and the way you believe is correct.
The texture of the image is smooth until the dome which allows the viewer to focus straight onto the centre of the image and on Cahun herself.
Edward Honaker
Edward Honaker is a photographer now in his mid-twenties . When he was younger, he used photography to express himself while he was suffering badly from depression.
His images highlight some of the lowest feelings he has had, with the reoccurring theme of feeling like the odd one out and feeling like he didn’t belong in this society/world.
I chose Honaker to inspire me for my work because music is the way i choose to escape reality and the world just like he used photography to take his mind off the depressive thoughts in his head.
Image Analysis
Edward Honaker
This image allows the viewer to understand that Honaker’s brain is never still. His body may seem calm and relaxed however his mind is constantly working, or in his case his brain keeps haunting him. The image also expresses the fact that he doesn’t feel like he belongs. He’s sat in an empty room wearing a suit, this could represent the social anxiety he has or even the fact that he feels all alone in the world with no one there to support him.
Honaker used a slow shutter speed and moved his head to create a blurred effect; this allows the viewer to further understand Honaker’s thoughts and feelings. The dark tones throughout the whole image further represents the fact that Honaker struggles to see the light in the world. It could also represent the fact that he believes the people around him see him as a sad and angry person.
The image is in black and white which allows the viewer to notice how Honaker, in this stage of his mental health, is unable to see any light/colour in his life.
The wallpaper behind the man could represent the fact that there is no moment of silence for him. He feels like he is permanently getting judged.
There is a lot of different textures in the image which allows the viewer to try and understand what the main focus of the image is.
Comparison of images:
Claude Cahun
Edward Honaker
Both of these images are self portraits. Cahun’s is showing the viewer who she is with confidence and showing that she is proud of who she is and doesn’t care what your opinion of her is. Honaker’s however, is the opposite. The image represents the fact that he no longer knows who he is and therefore can no longer recognise himself in the mirror. Both these images send a strong message to the viewer however, the messages contradict each other.
Although both images are in black and white, Honaker’s is clearly a lot darker than Cahun’s. Honaker’s has a shadow covering the mirror representing the depression that has taken over his mind and body. He is unable to look at anything without the dark thoughts taking over his brain.
Cahun’s image is very light with the only dark object being a cabinet behind him. This could represent the fact that Cahun has put all the negative thoughts to the back of her mind and is focusing on the good things in her life and the excitement of what the future holds.
Honaker has blurred out his face which allows the viewer to understand that this disease has created a new person and rather than being able to find the happiness and beauty in his life, the disease has made him isolate from the world and only focus on the negatives. This links to the shadow, representing the depression, creeping over him and slowly removing the happiness from his life.
In Cahun’s image, the reflection is looking back. This could represent the fact that Cahun is looking into the past, now proud of how far she has come in the years of injustice and pain.
Both photographers use a mirror as the main focus of the image which showing that the reflection in that mirror isn’t always the same as what is shown on the surface.
