Kel Hermer-Peterson is a photographer who was more well known for taking photographs of more urban/industrial landscapes and in time, ended up developing a graphic black and white aesthetic which was manipulated into his photography.
He grew increasingly experimental, engaging in abstract studies of light in urban spaces as well as in the darkroom. He turned silhouettes and fragments of wires and steel constructions into rhythmic, dynamic patterns. Upon his return to Copenhagen, he continued in this graphic style, finding the steel world of Chicago reflected in harbour areas and railways. A collection of his impressions from Chicago were published in the significant book ‘Fragments of a city’ in 1960.
Keld Helmer-Petersen
Keld Helmer-Petersen
Keld Helmer-Petersen
He studied the graphic and abstract effects of a photograph in particular. He was self-taught and studied technical manuals, journals and photobooks, like ‘Die Welt ist Schö’n from 1928 by the German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch.
He also found inspiration in the radical image experiments during the interwar period, the avant-garde photography during the Bauhaus period and the American Straight Photography. Throughout his life he maintained a strong interest in international trends, not just photography – but also art, literature, film, music and architecture. However, he wasn’t only inspired by them, but also collaborated and socialised with architects, artists, writers and musicians as a natural part of his work as a photographer.
Photograph taken by Kristine Funch
Before and after edits of my photography in the style of Keld Helmer-Petersen
What I did here with my edits that were inspired by Keld Helmer-Petersens work, was I opened up the image of my choice onto photoshop, I went over to ‘Image’, I clicked on ‘Threshold’, and I then adjusted the threshold to my liking until I was able to capture a very similar looking aesthetic to that of Helmer-Peterson.
What I did here with this photo was I cropped it first so that one of the tanks would be central to the entire piece and be presented singular instead of with the other tanks. I then went ahead and edited the colour by putting on one of the black and white filters, choosing either the low contrast or high contrast filters and adjusted the contrast, shadows, highlights and exposure to my liking.
after
before
after
For this image, I have cropped it ever so slightly so that the narrow walkway becomes more obvious and more focused upon in the image. I then edited the colour in the exact same way as every other piece I have produced. Black and white filter with a few adjustments.
Below I have created a gallery with lots of similar images in, I think that this layout makes my images look more aesthetic and proves they can be linked together, these four may also being used in a typology or grid format as they all match together very well and in my opinion they are the best from all of my photoshoots. The main strengths of these final images is the composition and they angle at which all of them are taken at, as during this photoshoot I had hundreds of similar photographs at different angles. By making them monochromatic and putting the contrast up very far the images are made more interesting and the symmetry pf the manmade landscape is made more clear.
I have had to adapt the angle of some of these images, along with cropping them I have edited the highlights to made the sun hitting the buildings brighter, and changed the tones so that the sky is darker then the structures themselves. Furthermore, the bottom image is my favourite as the perspective creates symmetry and I think the sky still being in the photo creates contrast between the strong shapes in the building and the lack of detail in the background.
I have selected this image above as another one of my final pieces as I think the building instead makes for a bold focal point, the blue tones in the windows match with the pale blue sky and makes the photograph more cohesive. In addition, the composition of the image makes it stronger as the building is the focal point but the other aspects such as the underneath of another building (which is the triangle yellow section in the top left) and the bird in the top right mean that the image is less generic and stands out from my other pieces, I also don’t think these aspects make the image weaker, they just add to it.
This image was taken next to La Mare slipway and is linked in with my photoshoot of the apartments in that area, I think the main parts that I like about this image are the composition and the lightning, as this was taken during the late afternoon just before “golden hour”. The fact that the tops of the houses are all in line makes the image more aesthetic, and by increasing the saturation it actually ended up making the sky more grainy, but I think the end photograph was still a success, with the blue glass on the glass balconies matching with the colour of the sky. This illustrates the concept of industrial landscapes as it shows manmade structures in contrast with the natural sky.
This image was taken during my second photoshoot taken around some fields in St Saviours, I really liked the view from these fields and I think that these images best demonstrate the industrial landscapes project, this is because there are many natural aspects such as trees, grass and hills. This contrasts with the buildings, such as houses and the La Mare flats, as these flats really stand out against the other aspects of the image. I also think the composition of the photograph, with half of it being land and half being sky, means that the juxtaposition between manmade and natural landscapes is even, meaning it fits with this project the most.
I have selected this image above as on of my final ones and in my opinion this image demonstrates the positives of manmade landscapes, as its showing off the good parts of human life, being housing which everybody needs, Along with these houses being aesthetically pleasing, I think that the angle and composition of this images makes it one of my best, even as the colours in this photograph match well, as the blues and greens throughout give the image a cooler tone, but the higher saturation of the image and the yellow house on the left makes the image more neutral.
This image is the only black and white photograph that would be displayed by itself, it was taken just along from Havre Des Pas and being edited in this way makes apartments in this photograph stand out more, as the parallel line and windows, which can only be created by man, become a lot more apparent and highlight the concept of this project very well. I made the exposure of the image lower, along with the shadows and drastic contrast, this was the final product.
We did a class trip to Havre des pas, a place in Jersey with a boardwalk and manmade swimming pool. There was a lot of construction work in the area, and we ended up walking to the power station to get some more industrial architecture.
Like with my rural landscapes shoot, I wanted to be more experimental with my editing style, creating a range of coloured and monochrome images. I especially like the look of the images I made black and white and then hue shifted to get some interesting unnatural colours.
Relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
The Anthropocene is characterized by rapid anthropogenic environmental change, yet rapid environmental change and ecological responses to change are not unique to the present epoch. All ecosystems, past and present, have been subject to rapid environmental change resulting in novel ecosystems.
The Anthropocene, or Anthropocene Epoch, is a proposed name for the geological epoch that we’re currently living in. The name is intended to indicate that human actions have had a significant and lasting impact on the environment since the Industrial Revolution.
