My plan for doing the typology photoshoot would most obviously be taking pictures of specific things and areas round jersey. But this will include things like Boats at harbours. There isn’t anything meaningful behind it besides the aesthetic behind them if I edited them. For example: (Except it will include individual boats)
Furthermore, on the topic of harbours I’d like to take images of piers. There is a meaning behind this one, being that as a kid, lets say round 12-15, especially during summer, I would go pier jumping a lot, as a way of feeling alive from the fall and the instant shock of the water, even learning tricks to spice it up a little bit.
Harbours even have a lot of history behind them, from how old they are and through what they have been through, thinking about storms etc.
Typology originated from Bernd and Hilla Becher, who started documenting German Industrial architecture as a way of capturing what might be gone soon.
The main aim of typology was to capture a single thing. to show the thing as the thing itself, nothing else behind it. For example these images where created to show the buildings themselves, without any other outstanding things featured. Even in these images they waited for the clouds in the background to match the image as if there where using a huge white background.
Its a surprise that a docile, simple, and minimalistic image can be praised so much. Although it isn’t a surprise once you understand what’s behind the pictures. Bernd and Hilla Becher would take images of areas like coal mines, deserted places, and overall bland, and what looks to be depressing places. This also showed people the horrible conditions people live and work in, and how they have been left to rot, and even un-recognised by people. It sheds a light on something that doesn’t shed light itself.
topography aims to be consistent with what it images. Its not topography if the same concept isn’t shown throughout a project.
For example in the first image there is a consistency in the number 4, and in the other there is a consistency in face masks, but they all have different aspects given to them, weather that be colour shape size or pattern.
The other week me and another class went out to havre de par along the coast to take some urban images. These are some images I took, edited to black and white to create that nice aesthetic.
We went all along the coast from the pool at havre de par, up until the dump near DVS. It was an interesting experience going out taking urban images, there was a lot places to take images of, each area with their own meaning behind them. Like a simple house, Lot of people would of lived in that house, with a lot of memories that we don’t know but are still there.
I like to use this image as a good contrast for showing an aesthetic. See in the first image that isn’t edited, it uses a dim exposure which is hard to see from afar, but really it doesn’t create a feel compared to the black and white image next to it. I edited the exposure to be higher to show more light and detail in the image, the black and white creates an old fashioned feel along with the look of the house and other objects in front of the house, gives me an Italy feel.
Although edited images look good and create a nice effect, they don’t show what you was really trying to capture, the black and white images are filters showing the fake version to look good, kind of like everything in life. I like this image because it shows what I wanted to capture in the first place, which is an urban landscape, with something being built in the centre of the image, and power stations in the background. The image also includes a lot of shapes like the light poles for lines and railing etc.
I was thinking, one of my many spots I could go to is at the top of fort region, It shows a lot of what has been built on the island.
even round areas like St.Clements, or Gorey, as that area has a big contrast between modern and historical, which is good as it could show a timeline of jersey from what it was to now.
as those areas aren’t as easily accessible for me, possibly my last resort would be along the edge of town. In my opinion it looks very suburban, with all the houses in a line along the sea front it looks similar to the images captured by Robert Adams.
Born in New Jersey Orange (not the fruit or colour), Robert Adams was a well know photographer, creating images mainly in black and white. He captured the traces of human life on the planet, showing people places as a whole, where people could interpret the image as prideful, or horrible.
What I mean by this is that Robert is capturing things for what they are, no real context or meaning behind it. This image shows a pretty big city, with crowded housing on what seems to be purely flat land, which shows humans creations. Although these images are up to interpretation, Robert did have an aim. He wanted “stability and movement in one form”, which in this image could be him showing his hope for change, to show people what has happened to nature, and where it is possibly leading to.
This image does aim to express his sadness for what is happening and empathy towards the land. How there are empty parking lots in this area, and buildings are just scattered around the area, with no care for how much space its using, and how people don’t care about the areas that might be abandoned, which are left to rot away. Until maybe one day that extra space people think little of, will become a rarity on this earth.
In the introduction to his book The New West, Adams talks about the tradition of landscape photography linked to images of the American West with the notion around the concept of the sublime. At the time when Adams’ published the seminal photobook in 1974 people asked him why he turned his camera toward tract homes and billboards. He replied, ‘the question sounds simple, but it implies a difficult issue – why open our eyes anywhere but in undamaged places like national parks.’
Firstly topographic refers to a man-altered landscape image, and was introduced around 1975, as a way of connecting the view of nature and human, rather than disconnecting nature and human, which is what the famous Ansel Adams done with his landscape images. Rather putting in most of the appreciation to landscape or human design, it a balance of both, in a setting in which it works, one good example is Robert Adams:
It includes all the visual elements of what a good image needs as well as the concept of landscape and human industrialism. Its setting is very important and pretty cool really, like the hill and a single tree in the middle of the image creating an effect of slight connection, acknowledging the isolation of the tree but how it is still apart of the suburb in this image. They also use a good range of shapes and lines in their imagery, for example the obvious building which looks rectangular with lines running along it shows that this is a possibly wealthy area.
There can be many view of the New Topography. others could perceive these images as helping to the environment, as a way of showing people the impact of humans on nature.
images like this represent topographic better because it shows the structured placing of houses, with a small mountain in the background. This image was aimed towards the American West.
New topographies isn’t just Land and Human built stuff, it includes the traces of what humans have left behind or still slightly using. This picture shows a street with what looks to be some local shops, it seems pretty deserted especially when you consider other areas like New York. It lacks population and care. Although this image is created well, it is to show people what other people carelessly leave behind, or put minimum effort towards.
These are all the unedited images iv chosen from a variety of images I took. The sights here include, Greve, St. Ounes, Frige, somewhere near the East-West, and near town. My intention for the images was to capture mainly a peaceful look at first, but to also have other small aspects to the image which might be going on which is not visible at first.
I decided to edit my personal best images, increasing/decreasing contrast, whites etc. Reason being that it allows me to use the whole colour scale (in black and white), all the way from a deep black to a pure white. This is the technique Ansel Adams used, so why not try it myself.
Here is an example. The image on the left is mine and the image on the right is Ansel Adams. Firstly in Ansel’s image he does use the whole tonal scale: so have I. Secondly he has used much more of a contrast between the black and the whites he uses: I also have but to an extent, obviously not as well as the one and only Ansel Adams. And to be honest for my first time even using a good camera, and going out to take semi-proper images, I done quit well. These two images work well together as well, if you focus on the river and where it leads you, you can see that on my image if you follow the shore line you can see the similarity of the layout. I think my image as well as Ansel Adams image that it is very balanced. It doesn’t focus on just one area of the landscape, it includes the scenery around me like the rocks, slipway, and even the shore. I like how it includes a lot but in a way where it isn’t overwhelming, there is a rough texture on the rocks close up to me and around the back of the sea, compared to the soft smooth sky and the clouds, it evens out. I also like how casual it seems, like you look at it and it seems pretty chill.
Ansel Adams was a very important photographer, who inspired a lot of photographers around the 1930’s, and the world today. His aim throughout his career was to capture through the lens. You could say that Ansel Adams was one of the most important figures in photography, adapting new ideas, settings, and techniques to his images, which produced inspiring images.
For example this image, called, “the face of half dome”, which is one of his most famous landscape images. What makes this image unique is first the crystallised, smooth look of the image, but also the fact that he used all the tonal ranges of an image in black and white. He took inspiration through nature, and the beauty and delicacy of it, which is most likely why his most famous image is a landscape on a mountain which they climbed (him and his crew). Ansel Adams was very respectable with his images and even the journey on creating them, as he tried to inspire many photographers to capture the beauty of nature, but to also respect it, and not leave equipment anywhere.
Furthermore Ansel Adams was one of the main influencers of a group called the f/64, who’s main aim within their photographs where to produce a sharp, detailed, pure image. Through his time in professional landscape imagery, him and another called Fred Archer introduced a method called the “Zone System” which is what you see above. This allows photographers “pre-visualise” their images before, while, and after taking the image. This method became very famous as during this time images where only in black and white, and creating an image with all tones, along with all an suitable image, would overall help photographers develop their craft.
Johns was a good landscape artist who believed closely in painting his own personal or preference of places. In fact he was very good at it for his time, as his paintings also represented a story you could say. For example:
This is one of his famous landscape paintings, where he presents a whole picture of farm life in the 18th century. With a deeper meaning to the painting being the growing tension between farm land owners and their workers.
This painting alone shows a peaceful day, where one of the workers is cooling off a horse next to the small farm owners house. I like how in his landscape he presented the whole image. Like the trees close up on the left with a small house, then the main “action” you could say is at the front, in a pond, and the fluffy clouds on the right. It literally paints a picture / feeling to the setting.
During 1821 there where some machines but not many, and what interest me about this painting is that there is very old fashioned, objects painting, very natural equipment. This could link John Constables painting to Romanticism, as he had also said that, “painting is another word for feeling” and feelings where the main “objective” you could say for romanticism.
