The history behind Swiss Valley –

Swiss Valley is an woodland trail that eventually leads on to country lanes of Jersey and is used by a variety of people for dog walking, jogging or if you are just looking for somewhere with a nice and calm environment to walk in. The Valley is home to a wildlife community of red squirrels, woodpeckers, owls, and a variety of different plants, mushrooms, etc.

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Least successful shots –

Contact sheets of my best shots in Lightroom –

Sorting system –

For this photoshoot after I had selected the most successful shots in Lightroom I began to use a sorting system to determine the photos that I wanted to use. This was achieved through putting the photos that were successful to an extent but had limitations due to their composition, framing, etc to have 4 stars whereas the photos that I felt confident enough with had 5 stars and were the ones that I will move further with within my work to use for further experimentation and being used for my photobook.

Colour sorting –

How I colour sorted my photos so that I had a strong, successful set of 12 images which I could use was through the further analysis of the photos where I went through them once more. This allowed me to be able to colour the photos yellow if I felt as if they would not work well with the other photos and had slight mishaps within them, whereas the photos which were coloured green represented the images which I thought were the most strong and successful

Best shots to use in my Photobook –

These are the best shots which I have selected to use in creation of my photobook and for editing later on. This is because I liked how there was a diverse range between people/animals, close ups of shots of plants or different textures and a variety of landscape shots. I enjoyed this photoshoot but I do not think that it was my most successful. Therefore, if I were to do it again, I would go on a different day where the weather would be gloomier, this is due to the sun in some of the images where it creates a bright background. I also think that some of these images would work well if they had a darker background where the sun was not creating a lot of light on to them or if it was raining, it would give the different objects that I have photographed a different texture which could create a variety of contrasting textures with these photos and previous ones from different photoshoots.

Context about Fern Valley –

Fern Valley is a secluded valley within Jersey that is compromised of meadows and different types of flowers, plants, etc. It is a valley which is quite hidden and out of the way from the business of Jersey, giving it a sense of calmness and tranquillity. It is very frequent with dog walkers or people looking for a little escape. It is a home to a variety of wildlife such as Red Squirrels, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Golden-ringed Dragonflies.

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Least successful shots –

Contact sheets of my best shots in Lightroom –

Sorting system –

To make the process of elimination easier when deciding what photos I will be using for further experimentation and being used in my photobook I decided to use a sorting system where the photos that I still was not 100% confident with them being my most successful I decided to be rated 4 stars, compared to the photos which I did believe to be the most successful photos throughout the whole shoot which I decided that they would be rated 5 stars and this would make it easier when deciding on the colouring of them as there were still quite a few photos and I only wanted around 10-12.

Colour sorting –

This is the colour sorting system that I used which helped me to finally decide on the last set of photos which were ny most successful that I wanted to use within my photobook. This was decided through further analysis of the photos where the ones that had small imperfections such as a slight blur, a little overexposed or I just was not sure on the outcome of them after I had photographed them, I coloured them to be yellow. This left me with the photos which are in green and these are the photos which I thought were my most successful outcomes from the photoshoot of Fern Valley which I will later implement into my photobook after further experimentation with them in Lightroom.

Best shots to use in my Photobook –

Here are the final selection of my best shots which I will later experiment with and implement into my photobook. I have chosen these images because I think that they successfully represent the natural landscape but also have inclusion of other subjects within the photos such as close up of leaves which I have, or the photographing of my dog. This is because I think that it adds more individuality within my photos so that they aren’t all the same as it creates a journey, which is what I want to do throughout my work as well as showing off Jerseys unique natural landscapes of valleys which are all around us. I enjoyed this photoshoot because I was able to experiment further with different ways I photographed my surroundings where I would get close up to what was around me or on the floor and the different textures which I encountered when photographing.

With these images, I ended up taking them with a disposable black and white film camera as to allow for a more vintage look to be produced as the final outcome. I wanted to continue on the theme of old footage and thought that taking it from a physically old film camera would produce my desired effect.

Flagged and rejected images:

Colour coded and star rated images:

Best images:

Academic Sources:

• Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
• Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography

Movements and Isms: I would like to take some inspiration from the Straight Photography movement as I think that artists which reflect this era of work, such as Rut Blees Luxemburg, have created some very influential and important work. Throughout one of Luxemburg’s interviews she mentions how her images how a public privacy to them, which relates to the outside work and being in an urban environment. This work is very important as it illustrates that straight photography can be demonstrated in many different types of locations, and don’t just need to be images of people.

Quotation and Referencing:

Why/ What should you reference?

• To add academic support for your work
• To support or disprove your argument
• To show evidence of reading
• To help readers locate your sources
• To avoid plagiarism
• Anything that is based on a piece of information or idea that is not entirely your own.
• That includes, direct quotes, paraphrasing or summarising of an idea, theory or concept, definitions, images, tables, graphs, maps or anything else obtained from a source
• Should use the harvard system of referencing

Bibliography- Harvard System

Shea, D. (2018), 43-35 10th Street. Baden: Kodoji Press

In-text refencing examples:

Direct Quote: In his book on ‘Conversations on Photography’. Baltz writes ‘It seemed almost like magic to me how somehow you could make a replica. And you could represent the world, or a large piece of the world, without ever having to mess around with drawing…’ (Baltz 2018:8)

Paraphrasing/ summarising: Baltz (2018) states that he thinks its magic that objects can be replicated through the camera rather than drawing.

Literary Sources

Lewis Baltz– This article provides some of the information that I have included in my overall blog post about Lewis Baltz, this website is good for finding out information such as where his first photoshoots took place, his nationality and his life becoming a new topographic photographer.

Lewis Baltz’s Work– This website is more effective when researching information about the countless works that Baltz did throughout his life, how they are displayed and where the pieces of work are now. This is an important as it provided an insight into how much work Lewis Baltz has produced.

Richard Misrach– I think that this is one of the best websites for information about Richard Misrach, this is because it provides clear and concise information about the life of Misrach with only relevant facts.

Richard Misrach- Quotes and Work– This source provides information about the details and inspirations of Richard Misrach surrounding his work. This is a great source as I can see the levels and concepts throughout his work and how the quality of his ‘Petrochemical America’ book.

Additionally, I have selected Lewis Baltz’s ‘So present, So visible: Conversations with Photography‘ extract, which contains many quotes that would help me select many of the quotes that could be part of my essay. As there each paragraph is supposed to contain 2 quotations that are both relevant to the essay question and artists that I have selected, this screenshot belong is part of the book that I would like to explore and include in my personal study.

Essay Question Ideas

‘In what ways do Lewis Baltz and Richard Misrach explore how people have impacted our planet and environment?’

‘How do Lewis Baltz and Richard and Misrach consider the theme of Anthropocene?’

‘Considering how we are currently experiencing an environment crisis. How do artists Lewis Baltz and Richard Misrach illustrate this?’

‘How is the theme of Anthropocene explored through the photography of Lewis Baltz and Richard Misrach?’

‘How are the environmental changes occurring throughout our planet illustrated through Lewis Baltz and Richard Misrach’s’ work?

Opening Quote Ideas

“I’ve come to believe that beauty can be a very powerful conveyor of difficult ideas.”

“In a sense it was a dream life. Of course, it appeared it was a dream because it was mostly a romantic fiction.”

“Whether being legitimate or illegitimate, photography was still a product of the industrial revolution”

Why select Straight Photography?

The whole concept of Straight Photography is one that appeals to me much more than other types of ‘isms’ such as post-modernism. I think that this is because this style of photography is one which relates (or can be made to relate to) the theme of Anthropocene, which I will be exploring throughout my personal study. The importance of Straight Photography is one which I hope to reflect in my work as although Lewis Baltz focuses more on the concept of modernism, in my opinion straight photography is more relevant to my work.

The plan for this photoshoot is here

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Contact Sheets

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Editing/Selection Process

Selection:

As always, I started editing the images on Lightroom by using the ‘Pick’ and ‘Reject’ functions to narrow my image selection down.

Next I used the Star Rating feature to choose the best images from this selection, which narrowed my selection down to these images.

I also applied a colour filter to make it easier to see which images I think are the strongest.

Editing:

To edit the images to make them appear like Bhamra’s Images, I used the Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast sliders on Photoshop to adjust the images to match the colour and contrast of Bhamra’s images. These are the selected images after being edited this way.

Next, I added a ‘Dark Stroke’ filter to each image to make them seem closer to the dark shapes that can be seen in some of Bhamra’s images.

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Best Images

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Comparison to Bhamra’s work:

I think my images adopt the likeness of Bhamra’s effectively, both images use strong, almost overpowering colour to create their otherworldly aesthetic, however, Bhamra’s use of colours are far more vibrant than my own. Bhamra’s images have a greater contrast between the lightest and darkest tones in the image, with her images including a hard black and hard white a large majority of the time, while I went for a slightly less contrasting aesthetic. In my photoshoot, I decided to take close up images of plants and parts of the landscape, which I think blended with the other images quite nicely; Bhamra does not include any close-up shots in her project (as far as I can see). To me, Bhamra’s images have a painterly tone, which is created by the use of colour and contrast (the blacks on the trees in the image above for example could resemble brush/pen strokes), while images appear solidly rooted within the genre of photography.

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Evaluation

I am happy with the way this photoshoot came out, as it allowed me to take pictures in a way I find the most fun, that being landscape photography. I think the images I have made for this small project are strong and match with the artist I have studied, while giving them my own touch. The photoshoot involved mainly wide landscape shots and medium shots of nature, which fits the criteria I set out for this shoot.

This photoshoot will fit well into my project as it fits the genre of landscape photography, while also having a surreal tone to give it a bit more life and variety. The time in which I chose to do this photoshoot worked well as it gave the colours especially a more intense feel. I think the photos without the editing were good and had some variety.

This photoshoot will be a response to Sonia Bhamra’s ‘A Surreal Landscape’ project, which, in a generalised sense, is a series of surreal/abstract landscape images that involve nature and colour. Bhamra’s final images each have an unnatural/surreal colour scheme, which gives it an abstract feel, however, the images themselves, with no editing, are fairly traditional in terms of subject matter and composition.

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Photographs from Bhamra’s Project:

These are the style of images I will aim for at the end of this photoshoot (as well as the editing process).

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Plan:

What?	I will take landscape images within a natural environment (woods). Like Bhamra’s work, I will aim to make these images seem like regular, non-surreal (pre-editing) images so that I can focus on the composition of the original images rather than the editing part.
Where?	I will take pictures of a woodland area near my house as it has landscapes similar to those depicted in Bhamra’s work (minus the odd colours). These areas will give me access to a different kind of landscape to Bhamra’s work as well as it has some rural roads/paths which could offer an urban contrast.
When?	I will try to take pictures later in the day in order to get a greater contrast in terms of light and shadow. More intense sunset lighting will also help bring out the colours in the landscape which will translate nicely into what I am aiming to turn the images into.
Why?	I think Bhamra’s work and the message it portrays is similar to what I am trying to achieve in this personal study, as such I think studying her work and responding to it will be a good way to start off my project.

I decided to start my project by looking through a collection of images in family photobooks, which include pictures from my parent’s wedding as well as of my mum growing up, alongside some family members.

I marked which images I wanted to use with P and X and then started editing them. I brightened some of them up and shifted some of the colours, and then marked the ones that I want to use as blue.

I like how I gave some of these a more sepia tone making them look older, this warmer colour scheme also giving off feelings of nostalgia, something I might contrast with my other shoots.

I decided I would like to put this image into Photoshop to experiment.

I then placed the image on top on ‘lighten’ allowing some parts of the bottom layer to show through. I think I will try to make more of these inspired by Vasantha Yogananthan.

Keywords for my project:

Photoshoot Ideas:

• Take some self portraits so I can start exploring what parts of me and my culture I feel comfortable sharing and what I can capture/portray through my images. These photos will be in my room so I can start my project in a comfortable environment before I delve off elsewhere in future photoshoots. I’m mainly going to be experimenting with colour, props and lighting to see what I feel would work best with my theme
• Take some images outside in some locations where I know my parents have taken photos before as I’d like to take images in places that are/have been significant to us. I’m not keen on recreating the images identically as it would be difficult with my parents’ work schedules, however, I may attempt to recreate some of the images with myself instead
• Take some images near/at some Portuguese cafes/shops in order to show some of the day to day life of the community rather than have a bunch of photos of myself. I think this would add some life to the project, making it more interesting
• Taking some environmental/documentary photos both at home and at my mum’s work as it would give me some raw images that would make my project feel more real and intimate, especially as the project wouldn’t be entirely made up of posed images
• Taking some photos of my family’s passports as well due to the fact mine is different due to the fact that mine is British which would show a contrast between us
• Possibly take images in English households and compare the different cultures?
• Blurry, windy, dark images on the beach? More abstract images outside
• Journal entries in Portuguese? Family albums/older images? Possibly compare life in Madeira to life in Jersey
• Maybe start at the airport? then La Plage, red park, etc etc then follow it down to now? Set it up like a map or something similar?
• Maybe some photos of my parent’s hands/arms? Representing how a lot of migrant communities tend to work hard at the jobs natives may not want? Maybe juxtapose this with a quote about ‘stealing jobs’? Either that or a tired face?

Some images that link to my ideas:

Vasantha Yogananthan is a French photographer whose most notable work is a photographic retelling of the Sanskrit Epic, The Ramayana, Yogananthan choosing to publish his work in 7 books corresponding to the 7 books that make up the original tale. With previous experience as a painter, he shoots his images using film (alternating between staged and natural compositions), and then has them hand painted to fit into his chosen colour scheme. Yogananthan shows how visible aspects of The Ramayana is in everyday life in South Asia, and going on trips to India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in order to authentically portray the culture he is depicting.

This is one of Yogananthan’s images from the first chapter of his long-term photobook retelling of The Ramayana, it depicts a man crouching by a misty river where there is no sign of the horizon. The colours are mostly muted, contrasting the yellow of the main figure’s yellow jacket, standing out from the empty grey fog surrounding it. This blank grey sky is a result of Yogananthan’s conscious decision as this image would have been taken on monochrome film and then hand tinted to create the desired mood he was looking for, an air of mystery and potential as this photo is a part of the first chapter of The Ramayana, introducing the audience to the fantastical story. Yogananthan creates visual interest by drawing attention to the texture of the rocks at the bottom of the image, as well as including the figure’s reflection in the water. There is a lot of seemingly empty space at the top of the image, making the figure appear small and insignificant while also making them centred creating a contrasting sense of importance. As there is not much in the image to focus on, the audience begins to question the meaning of the man and the strange environment he is in, allowing Yogananthan to introduce his text of a retelling of The Ramayana. The provides context for the viewer while still leaving aspects up for interpretation.

https://www.a-myth-of-two-souls.com/early-times/

“I am a multidisciplinary artist living on stolen land. My work is driven by personal relations, most often in the photographic practice. My collaborators are often linked by a shared commonality of resistance to capitalist ideals and authority – those who fiercely challenge cultural normative behaviours, practices and expectations through their actions and identities.”

“The spine of British skateboarding magazine ‘Sidewalk Surfer’, Issue 24, March ’98, reads ‘SKATEBOARDING IS FAR BETTER THAN ANYTHING MAGAZINE’. One would be hard pressed to find a skateboarder who would disagree. The words – ‘Skateboarding is better than sex’ – more than once have been uttered to me at a skate park, or dropped in a philosophical discussion of life between skateboarders.”

“Skateboarding is powerful enough to change one’s vision of the world – concrete is no longer simply a building material, a bench is no longer just for sitting, and stairs and accompanying handrails are no longer simply devices to aid one in descending or ascending from one level to another. The urban world is a massive and intricate playground to be explored, full of potential.”