New Topographic -was a term coined by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers whose pictures had a similar aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscapes

These photographers were inspired by the man-made, selecting subject matter that was matter-of-fact. Parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses were all depicted with a beautiful stark austerity, almost in the way early photographers documented the natural landscape.

Henry Wessel examples

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what was the new topographics a reaction to?

is a reaction to a newly formed man made environment and its impact on nature itself it also represents what environments people encounter in their day to day life

The earliest known evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce. landscape photography was able to capture something that until that time paintings hadn’t been able to.

Mood board

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Fay Godwin

Fay Godwin was a British photographer best known for her black and white landscape photographs of the British countryside and coastline.

She began taking photos seriously in 1966 after gaining a passion for photographing her children in the early 60s, her work was influenced by books and magazines at the time. As an active environmentalist, Godwin makes the land in her photographs reveal traces of its history, through mankind’s occupation and and intervention.

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early life

Fay was born in Berlin Germany in 1931. Her father was a British diplomat and her mother was an American artist. She grew up in various different countries surrounded by a multi-cultural, upper class and artistic environments which helped shape her passion and interest for contemporary arts and literature.

She settled down in London at the age of 21 but she was spending most of her time travelling Europe as a travel representative. After six years of wondering around Europe Godwin took a job at a publishers where she was in charge of commissioning book covers which helped her become a perfectionist when it came to her own books she published later on in life.

this is a strong image as it shows good contrast between the hills and the sky the image has a darker outer edge which helps add depth to the centre of the image by establishing a strong horizon line.

I really like the way the textures in the image stand out in black and white due to the rubble and wear of the tunnel works and how the strong shadows create a good contrast between highlights throughout the image. Although the image itself is in black and white it has a warmer tone to it.

The sublime

The sublime has long been understood to mean a quality of greatness that inspires wonder. From the seventeenth century onwards the concept and emotions it inspires have been a source of inspiration for artists and writers, particularly in relation to the natural landscape.

During the Italian Renaissance the initial concept started to arise. The depictions of Christ lifeless and suffering by Andrea Mantegna and Masaccio, as well as Raphael’s sketches and analyses of skeletons, inform us of the certainty of mortality and the unknowable – essential elements of the Sublime. However, it was only in the Romantic era that the Sublime as an artistic notion gained traction throughout Europe.

It all started with Nicolas Boileau’s translation of On The Sublime 1674 by the ancient Greek Longinus. Longinus stated here that the presenter should seek to create emotion and move his audience rather than just convince them. Longinus, who was primarily interested in languages, did speak momentarily about the aesthetic Sublime in both wildlife and man-made artefacts; in his opinion, vast scale and diversity may generate a sense of the Sublime.

-image analysis-

Théodore welcomes the observer onto the floor of the ship by enabling the sides of the raft to extend past the base of the image. By having the victims facing upwards and away toward the sky you are dragged deeper into the tragic scene of events. He also uses a chiaroscuro light on the fallen people and the sky which pulls focus on to the events that have occurred on the raft

romanticism and enlightenment

-image analysis-

Martin manages to create a senesce of tranquillity and harmony in this image the celestial landscape in the image creates the feeling of salvation the incorporation of the artists and poets who can be seen on the hill creates an angelic feel to the image as they are depicted in all white the darkness around the mountains allows for the people to focus on the green of the hill top in the foreground.

romanticism is a movement in art and literature which began in 1800s the over all characteristics of romanticism is a new emotionalism in contrast to the resistant ideas. it challenged the rational ideals so loved by artists of the Enlightenment. Romantic artists believed that emotions and senses were equally as important as order and reason for experiencing and understanding the world.

Following the French Revolution, the enduring search for individual liberty and rights fueled the Romantic celebration of intuition and imagination. The Romantic ideas of the subjectively creative powers of the artist continued to fuel Avante-Garde movements into the 20th century.

Romantic artists reacting against the sombre Neoclassical style found their expression through music, literature, architecture, and visual art. The Romantic movement encompasses a variety of styles because it valued imagination, inspiration, and originality. Personal connections to nature and an idealized past were a significant theme for many Romantic artists attempting to hold back the waves of industrialism.

evaluation

Over all I am happy with the final outcomes I managed to produce using my artist references and own ideas. My editing on Lightroom was straight forward but very effective as I think the images that I produced before editing were strong. I made many different edits for each of my final images until I was happy with the tones shadows and the feel that the images emoted.

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Critique

If I could of done anything differently I would of taken more photographs in my second shoot as although i was happy with my images in the end the initial selection process was slightly challenging. I also wish I had used the studio for one shoot as it would of created sharper lines and made the images look more crisp.

initial edits in Lightroom

for my final images I wanted them to also be black and white in order to keep them similar to my artists work by playing with softer daylight and shadows on multiple colour backgrounds it will help the tones of the images to vary just like Francesca woodman’s work. And to help stick with the theme of loss of identity

by having only 2 images with darker shadows it allows me to portray a better story as they slowly become darker as the loss of identity occurs similar to Woodman’s later work where tones and shadows were much deeper than in her early projects.

I wanted these images to have a timeless feel as the tones are varied and they leave the images up for anyone to interoperate in their own way.

final images after Lightroom

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Reworking ideas

for my reworking I went on photoshop and played around with multiple layers to create some more

Comparison

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Both mine and Woodman’s work have an almost awkward layout with the objects in the image I think I managed to give my image a feel of her work through the lighting and camera settings I also used a double exposure to emote her other work which is often taken with a slow shutter speed.

However my image is slightly softer than Woodman’s hers shows a deeper insight into her identity as a person as it is a self portrait.

initial edits on Lightroom

for my final images I wanted the simplicity of black and white as it doesn’t pull focus away from the actual images it also allows for more depth and the shadows create a good balance against the contrast of the head piece. I also wanted to keep them as close to my chosen artists theme of identity loss.

For all my images I adjusted the WB and the contrast in order to bring more depth into my images once they were turned into black and white I also cropped them to allow for a cleaner finish.

The coloured images lack a certain brightness which helps to pull focus to the more defiant facial features such as the lips and eyes as a persons eyes can tell you a lot about them and how they perceive themselves or portray themselves to others around them. The contrasting cool and warm tones go hand in hand with the softer and harsher shadows in the first images which make them a more correlated final outcome.

for the coloured images I wanted to focus on not losing the brightness of the red tones in the lipstick as it was one of the main focal points of this shoot. I strategically chose to make two images cooler tones in order to show an almost dark and mysterious side to her identity and two warmer tones to show a sense of calmness and youthfulness through a more playful tone.

final images after Lightroom

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reworking ideas

idea 1: print off these two images and stitch the mouth closed to add contrast to the red of the lipstick I’ll either use black or tan thick thread in order to use colours that are already in the images.

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I printed the images on A4 paper and used adhesive to glue them to some card so they wouldn’t rip when sown threw I then made a selection of a thicker almost yarn like thread to pull more focus in the images.

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Idea 2: Double exposure on photoshop to create a set of dream like images and add a factor of surrealism to my identity project. These are the images I will use to achieve this.

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Final Double Exposures

i used 2 black and white images and one in a cool tone to create a good contrast and made sure to use different angles and poses in order to create a sense of chaos to the images.

comparison

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Both mine and Andreas use a head piece to create a sense of mystery as to who the person under it is although my subject is more visible than his it still holds the same feeling of loss of identity through the facial expressions.

My image is taken at a different angle with a smoother lighting which creates less focal points and mine opposes his full loss of identity through having some of the more prominent facial features exposed.

idea

for my second shoot I was inspired by Francesca woodman i used plain backgrounds with slightly darker lighting to give my images a dark yet soft feel inorder to portray the loss of identity or lack of.

I will use props and take images in natural lighting to try and mimic the shadows in her images. I will also use multiple angles to photograph my subject in various positions some awkward to create a similarity between my images and Woodman’s work.

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contact sheet

imported my images and started the selecting process using ctrl P for the images I wanted to keep and X for the ones I didn’t

then i went through and did a more thorough selection using the staring system 5 stars being the best images from the shoot

Then I filtered my images by flagged and stared ready for developing in Lightroom

shoot ideas

for my shoot I will be taking portraits of my friend inspired by Andreas Poupoutsis’s work I will be using a plain background to avoid pulling the focus away from the subject. Using the manual setting it will allow me to get the right depth and shadows I need I will also take some images with a low shutter speed in order to make some more surreal than the others. To really help show someone who has lost their identity might feel.

I will use a variation of flash and natural lighting and a series of angles the subject will be placed in front of a white background with a face covering to show a sense of lost identity such as in Poupoutusis’s images.

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Contact sheet

After importing the images from my second shoot I started my selecting process by using (p) and (x).

I then filtered the images by flagged and started a staring system

then I filtered them in order to just have the ones rated 5 stars visible and went into develop mode

He’s a fine art photographer based in New York City but he is originally from the small island of Cyprus. His work is mysterious and often his figures and faces emerge from shadows allowing for objects to look as if they were painted by light.

His work often speaks about a search for his own identity. Andreas often sketches his photoshoots before to get a good idea of what he should expect from the final outcome and what lighting and props he should use.

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Andreas work shows a simple but effective way of portraying identity all through the shadows and contours of the subjects face structure, it allows for a really emotive piece that could almost be seen as multiple peoples identity as the face coverings allows for a mysterious feel to the image he uses faces as canvases but leaves us with the question of who’s behind the mask.

Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.

She often used slow exposure that blurs her images into ghostly figures. Her images have an unsettling yet timeless feel to them which makes them more eye catching.

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She was influenced particularly the photographs of Man Ray and Claude Cahun. This can be seen in the themes and style of her work. She developed her ideas and skills as a student at Rhode Island School of Design.