David Thomas Smith-

I made some images inspired by the work of David Thomas Smith, using images I had taken earlier. Since none of mine were taken from an aerial view, they are slightly different looking but I like the final result nevertheless.

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These were relatively easy to make and have unique compositions since they have been manipulated so much. I used a range of images as bases, from plants at the botanical gardens to construction sites, which I feel gives a nice variety to them. They appear almost alien-like with how unnatural they appear, especially the ones featuring the plants. This unnerving appearance could tie into the theme of Anthropocene, with how humanity is so focused on progress and expansion that they forget about the environment, so much that even seeing something natural feels strange.

Yao Lu-

I was also inspired by the work of Yao Lu, and wanted to create something based on his editing style.

My final image, I like how it came out but it took me a long time to get to the point where I liked how it looks. In the future I may look into doing photomontages using printed images as working with a mouse can be difficult.

After school I decided to go on a walk in town looking at some construction sites.

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I got lucky with some of these when people would walk through, as I feel it adds a point of interest for some seemingly mundane images. I edited them to be mostly black and white because I have been liking monochrome images a lot recently, and I feel it fits the theme with the idea of humanity consuming natural life leaving behind a dull, grey environment.

I ended up going to Samares manor around midday, during the Easter holidays. There are various kinds of unique looking plants, as well as a herb garden. I unfortunately did not get to take as many pictures as I wanted because my hay fever allergies made me feel unwell so I had to stop.

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I tried to vary the compositions and subjects to give myself enough material for editing.

I wanted to take two shoots so thought of places that could provide interesting material, both for standalone images as well as images that could be used for photo montaging.

For my first shoot I decided to go to Samares Manor, a site in Jersey with a large manor and botanical gardens that can be visited. These gardens feature a large variety of plants, and take inspiration from Japanese gardens. This provides a nice amount of both natural and manmade subjects for me to photograph.

I ended up going during the afternoon on a sunny day, these were not the best conditions since a lot of my images were very bright but I still like how they look.

For my second shoot, I decided to go into the local town and take pictures of construction sites I could find. They were relatively easy to find, and stopped at each as I went through town.

David Thomas Smith is an Irish photographer who uses satellite images to create photomontages, which are reflected versions of the original images. He often picks complex man-made structures with a large dependence on oils, precious metals, and tourism, to explore the impact of Anthropocene on the landscape. The reflections show the dull and repetitive nature of architecture in a capitalist society, while also showing how these things could be seen as beautiful from another view.

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These pieces are displayed on large canvas’ so people can look at them up close and see each of the small details. They also bear similarities to traditional Persian rugs, with their size and incredible amount of detail.

https://www.david-thomas-smith.com/about

“Appropriated imagery is a predominant feature in my work; I think it’s a rather fitting way to work in a world that has become awash with images. I make work that is multi-dimensional. Having come from a background in documentary photography, it is important to me to draw attention to socio-economic and political issues. While at the same time exploring more metaphysical concepts. I make my work aesthetically pleasing, rich in detail and large in scale in the hopes that the viewer can reflect on the ideas and issues that are prevalent in the work, whilst also getting a better sense of their own position in the world.”

David Thomas Smith

Smith uses aerial photography to obtain images of the city from above and then manipulates them to create dense, kaleidoscopic pieces. In this image, the city has been reflected, resembling a cross (often associated with Christianity, even if Smith is not a Christian, he would still be familiar with the symbols due to his Irish heritage.) – contrasting the city of Las Vegas known for its casinos and various luxuries. The colours are dull despite it being day, juxtaposing the average view of Las Vegas, of it at night with bright colourful lights. There is a clear grid and the image is incredibly geometric, showing the rigid and repetitive nature of modern city design.

Yao Lu is a Chinese photographer who combines photography with traditional Chinese paintings, and explores the relationship between people and the environment. He uses many of the aesthetic conventions of painting when deciding the compositions of his photomontages and wishes to use them to show the contrast between tradition and development.

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Lu’s photomontages depict strangely proportioned construction sites fighting against the traditional Chinese painting style he uses. He layers images of green netting, often used in construction and around debris, behind coats of clouds, shrouding them in mystery, forcing the audience to take a closer look and realise that the green is in fact unnatural and artificial, and consuming the landscape around it.

https://photographyofchina.com/blog/yao-lu

https://www.brucesilverstein.com/artists/yao-lu

In this image, Lu has used a brown paper background, and the focus is on two hills, one in the midground and one in the background. He uses his signature green netting to represent grass and clouds to cloak the majority of the empty space. In the foreground is a building following traditional Chinese architecture, potentially some kind of temple. It is off balance- potentially representing how the balance between humanity and nature has been tilted due to humanity’s hunger for more. It could also represent how China (and by extension the rest of the world) is neglecting tradition and the past. The clouds surrounding this building look more like storm clouds, perhaps foreshadowing the dark future humanity is heading towards in the coming climate crisis. The area around seems abandoned, inhabited only by some construction equipment sitting in the dusty wasteland. On the hill in the background seems to be a city, spewing cloud like smoke into the sky. It is significantly higher up, looking down on the old world below.

Anthropocene is a geological term, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history, where humanity has had a significant impact on the climate and ecosystems.

The word Anthropocene is derived from the Greek words anthropo, for “man,” and cene for “new,” coined and made popular by biologist Eugene Stormer and chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000.

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/anthropocene

It has been recommended that it began in 1950, “This recommendation was based upon the idea that by this point in Earth’s history, plutonium isotopes caused by nuclear weapons testing fallout would be concentrated enough to serve as an observable signal in rock strata.”

Many artists and photographers explore the concept of Anthropocene in their work in order to raise awareness and support the environment.

A mood board based on some photographer’s work on the subject that I like-

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I like images that have been edited to create new compositions like the work of Smith, Lu and Patterson but also like images with interesting compositions and colours.

Charles Sheeler-

Charles Sheeler was an American painter and photographer, credited as the creator of Precisionism painting and as a master photographer. His work is very geometrical, showing the common shapes in modern industrial buildings. They are also black and white, with high contrast and intense shadows.

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This is a comparison between Sheeler’s image and one of my own, both depict some part of an industrial structure in black and white. They both use harsh shadows and lighting, however mine appears more like a silhouette while Sheeler’s is immensely detailed. Mine also appears to have cooler tones, while Sheeler’s appears warmer. His would have also been done using physical film while mine was taken digitally, along with the editing. His also shows a lot more of the surrounding environment while mine is more close up and abstract.

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.

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I was less organised for my shoot that I wanted to be, as I was sick when I originally wanted to do one. I ended up taking pictures while walking through town after school.

I took pictures of some of the buildings I saw, including some that were in development and covered in scaffolding. I like how the scaffolding pictures look and took some similar pictures on the Havre Des Pas photo walk.

For my edits I wanted to be more experimental, I made some of my images black and white and increased the contrast. I then hue shifted them to they had a bright overwhelming colour, I particularly like the red scaffolding image as it looks unique and contrasts a normal monochrome image.

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The New Topographics–

The New Topographics was a term developed in 1975 by William Jenkins, used to describe a group of (mainly American) Urban landscape photographers. Their work was mostly in black and white, and looked at the relationship between human development and the natural world. Some notable members of this group include Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon, and Bernd and Hiller Becher. Their works are often in a deadpan or banal aesthetic, used to show the rigid, stark design of industrial construction.

Rut Blees Luxemburg Case Study–

Rut Blees Luxemburg is a German-born, British Photographer. Her images are mostly of Urban Landscapes at night, using vibrant colours and unique lighting to create unique and memorable images.

An image taken by Luxemburg in 1999. It is of some city steps while it is raining and night. The water reflects a harsh city light juxtaposing the dark concrete of the stairs and walls, making it look like there is a waterfall of light. These playful and unique compositions contrast the stark industrial architecture of many cities and perfectly fits the goal of the New Topographics movement. There are no people in this image, only the remainders of some footsteps being swallowed by the rain, making the audience feel isolated and lonely, as well as making them to experience the sublime, the footsteps being washed away as a reminder of how small humanity really is in comparison to nature, even in a big city.