Definition – a movement in the arts and literature, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.
Romanticism begun in 18th century western Europe and in most areas was at its peak from 1800 to 1850. It was used as a form of expression against the industrial revolution as romanticism emphasized nature over industry.
Artists such as Henry Fuseli and Caspar David Friedrich were part of the revolt against the age of enlightenment because it valued new technology and machinery over nature ands the natural world.
THE SUBLIME
The idea of the sublime is central to a Romantic’s perception of, and heightened awareness in, the world. The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in 1757 in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful which provided the English Romantic movement with a systematic analysis of what constitutes the sublime, and the possessed qualities. This gave the English Romantics a legitimacy and a strong theoretical foundation to their expressions. He defined the sublime as ‘an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling’
Edmund Burke
Burke was born in Dublin and educated there at Trinity College. He is best known for his political achievements and being the founder of modern conservatism of the Reflections on the Revolution in France, as he expressed his mistrust in the rationalism of the French Revolutionaries.
When 28 years old Burke wrote his Enquiry, Consistent with the dominant philosophical way of thinking in Britain during his life, Burke was an empiricist (the idea that all learning comes from only experience and observations). He believed that the our ideas, and what we know about the natural world, is aquired from our sensory experiences. For Burke, it is the passions which decide how and what we see, hear and feel. Burke also sought to apply a scientific method to his chosen subject-matter, so in the Enquiry he does a scientific investigation into our various passions, and uses the evidence to explain the nature and power of the sublime.
A mood-board is an arrangement or collage of images, materials, pieces of text, etc. It is a way of expressing ideas in a visual way. They allow you to combine your ideas, thoughts, information into one visual piece. In photography, the mood-boards are just a collection of images (collage).
Here is a mood-board I have created as inspiration and a sort of plan for my photoshoot:
Photoshoot Action Plan
What
Le Hocq tower
Around Le Hocq area (beach, etc)
Pontac beach
Around Pontac area
Where
Le Hocq
Le Don Le Quesne
Pontac
When
Weekday
Around 5/6pm
Sun is setting/already set so it’s quite dark as it’s around winter time so the sun sets earlier
Why
It’s near where I live so it’s a short walk and there are plenty of things to photograph
Who: I will be the photographer and wont include other people in my images so that my images focus on the landscapes them selves, rather than people.
What: I am going to take image inspired by different romanticist photographers such as Ansel Adams of the landscapes in Jersey.
When: I will take my images when it is fairly clouding and dull to add a dramatic effect on my images i.e., in the late afternoon with dark weather.
Where: I am going to go to different points of the island, as seen below, to try and recreate some of the artists images of different landscapes etc.
Why: I am taking these image to show my take on some artists work to see different landscapes of Jersey and find out what is was like taking images back then.
How: I will use a camera and a tripod to take my images and ensure that they are in focus and steady.
Jersey Island Geopark I mad a mind map of locations that I could go to, to take my images.
what is important to know is the age of enlighten witch is a period in Europe in the 17-18th century when many writers and thinkers began to question established beliefs, this could be religion where people started to question it and wanted more of an scientific proof of it. Soon after that there was the age of romanticism which was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. these 2 ideas were opposing each other, one the Enlightenment thinkers would believe in science and rationality, where as Romantics “favoured depicting emotions such as trepidation, horror, and wild untamed nature.”
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings. His work was one of the early beginnings of the romantic era, that focused on the romanticism of nature, which he represents in his work.
the beginning evidence of romanticism:
1762-a swiss philosopher Jean-Jaques Rousseau publishes a book about the raising of children, which praised the wisdom, spontaneity and natural goodness of little children. it contains diatribes against the oppressive world of adults. He publishes this book during very sientific times when people would be drawn to logistics, but against this he emphasises the qualities a child has and glamrises their thinking, creativity ,pureness and outside of adult discipline
1770- A 17 year old poet Thomas Chatterton commits suicide because no one want to publish his poems, he becomes this idea of a sensitive, doomed artist that is rejected by the cruel society.
1774- ab author Geothe publishes a love story which is about the unconditional love one has for a married woman, where he kills himself and is labelled passionate and moved by love. this book becomes the most popular novel of the generation and gets a lot of recognition. this made people change the way they would think , they would side with outpouring of feeling rather then traditional rational thinking. making people believe that following your heart is more important and the outcomes of it are far less important.
There is also the importance of the sublime which is really important to understand and it goes in pair with romanticism. The word sublime that we use today means “of very great excellence or beauty” but in its history, it has a deeper meaning, reaching to something truly extraordinary, an ideal that artists have long pursued. This is pursued by artist to create awe and wonder by their artwork, throughout years there were different periods of time which each had specific generalised want and needs from the artwork being produced, as times change their needs did and so did the artwork. These are the key periods of time of the sublime: The Baroque sublime, The Romantic sublime, The Victorian sublime, The modern sublime, The contemporary sublime. Where this is is important is the link of romanticism and the sublime in a time period called the romantic sublime.
How it all started was when Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry (1757) connected the sublime with experiences of awe, terror and danger. He saw nature as the most sublime object, which created strong sensations, and emotion. This link to landscape photography today, as the landscape usually produced created awe but terror, by being dramatic yet beautiful, these photographs/artworks are so successful when they create a sublime feeling in a person, as then it moves the person and is more likely to create a certain feeling in one then other images that don’t have what a sublime image may create. Those sublime images may be:
His perception influenced a lot of artists, where they would look at nature in a different way, they would get inspired by nature, wanting to create artwork, usually paintings at the time, however this ideal of romantic sublime till this day inspires people. Because now there are much more different ways of creating artwork, like through photography, so many people explore these different areas, without knowing or simply not labelling it as romantic sublime, however this idea has lived on till this day .
There are many artists that have their work related to The Sublime, some of being :
John Constable Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831
John Martin The Great Day of His Wrath 1851–3
George Stubbs Horse Frightened by a Lion ?exhibited 1763
Rural= in, relating to, or characteristic of the countryside rather than the town.
Rural landscape photography refers to “photography in the countryside” and covers the rural environment. While rural landscapes often contain architecture – much the same as urban landscapes – rural landscape photography is more about capturing the life and elements found in the countryside.
It is also the diverse portion of the nation’s land area that is not densely populated or intensively developed, and not set aside for preservation in a natural state.
Rural Landscape Photographers
Fay Godwin:
Fay Godwin was a British photographer known for her black-and-white landscapes of the British countryside and coast.
Fay Godwin first became interested in photography in the mid-1960s as a result of taking pictures of her young children. Alongside early portrait work, she developed a sophisticated landscape practice, often collaborating closely with writers to produce in depth surveys of particular rural topics or regions. Her photography has sometimes been linked to a tradition of romantic representations of the British landscape, in the manner of Bill Brandt or Edwin Smith. But, as a socialist and active environmentalist, Godwin makes the land in her photographs reveal traces of its history, through mankind’s occupation and and intervention.
I used photoshop to blend the bottom two images into one photo (at the top). Firstly I edited the two photos in Adobe Light room then exported the two images into photoshop, layered them, and then blended them together.
The photos above are images that I am going to try reference while doing my landscape homework. Many of these images above are by Faye Godwin. I like how they are very simple however, the weather/clouds create a really dramatic effect.
this is a mind map that I created for place’s that I could go to to take my landscape photos.
Landscape photography shows the spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes. Landscape photography is done for a variety of reasons. Shooting landscapes forces you to get outside and find the beauty around you. Sometimes this means discovering places right in front of your eyes that you just never noticed were beautiful before. Other times this means exploring new places and getting out on a hike or nature walk.
