What is the Sublime?

The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful published in 1757. He defined sublime art as art that refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation. He wrote ‘whatever is in any sort terrible or is conversant about terrible objects or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime’.

The Romantic sublime

Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry (1757) connected the sublime with experiences of awe, terror and danger. Burke saw nature as the most sublime object, capable of generating the strongest sensations in its beholders. This Romantic conception of the sublime proved influential for several generations of artists.

What is Romanticism?

Term in use by the early nineteenth century to describe the movement in art and literature distinguished by a new interest in human psychology, expression of personal feeling and interest in the natural world

In British art, Romanticism was embraced in new responses to nature in the art of John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. Visionary artist William Blake examined man’s place in the cosmos and his relationship to God as well as exploring new ways of looking at human history.

John Constable – The Hay wain

The Story

The Hay Wain captures a pleasant summer day in the English countryside. The scene is based on Constable’s childhood home – an area near Flatford Mill, Suffolk where his father owned around 90 acres of farm land, a couple of mills, and controlled profitable navigation rights on the River Stour.

The Hay Wain can be interpreted as illustrating Constable’s emotional recognition of the growing tension between landowners and their workers, and his inner feelings towards the latter.

Photoshoot Plan

What – Landscape images of the beach/caves

Where – Plemont bay beach

When – Late afternoon, Low tide allowing access to caves (Check Tide Times/Weather Forecast)

How – Long exposure images from the inside of the caves (tripod/ ND filters)

Why – To present my take on Rural Photography in relation to Jersey’s geology

What is Romanticism:

Romanticism is the attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century.

It was started in 1757 during the Industrial Revolution, which is what Romanticism was supposed to be fighting against. The Industrial Revolution promoted the idea of Enlightenment, this was promoting the scientific progress of rationality and logical thinking. While as Romanticism more represented the idea of returning to nature through art such as poetry, paintings and later photography.

What is the Sublime:

Historically, the word “Sublime” evades the idea of easy definition and it revolves around many other things such as: “Judgement, feeling, state of mind and a kind of response to art or nature.” In other words, the Sublime is supposed to resemble the extraordinary and that if something that can “Compel and destroy”.

The Sublime was started in 1757 and it has been debated over what the word actually means since then. The original meaning made by the Sublimes founder, Edmund burke, was “an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling.”.

What is romanticism?

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The sublime

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In history sublime was used to describe the idea of grandeur and the extraordinary. Artist often painted large scenes of sweeping clouds or huge mountains making humanity seem small and insignificant in comparison with nature.

Edmund Burke’s “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful” provided an explanation for what both the sublime and the beautiful means with the Beautiful- being the well informed and the aesthetically pleasing, whilst the sublime is described as “that which has the power to compel and destroy us.” Burkes work was heavily criticised by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant as the book did not acknowledge the mental effect that experiencing the sublime had on someone

“To make psychological observations, as Burke did in his treatise on the beautiful and the sublime, thus to assemble material for the systematic connection of empirical rules in the future without aiming to understand them, is probably the sole true duty of empirical psychology, which can hardly even aspire to rank as a philosophical science.” – according to Kant, Burke only gathered data and left it up to others to interoperate its effect.

What:

The road on the way to St Catharine’s breakwater, e.g. Archirondel, Mike’s slip, Anne Port.

When:

Low tide, lots of wind, as little rain as possible. (Have to check forecast and tide times)

How:

Stand at the end of the breakwater, make sure everything is in frame and focus.

Mood Board, Definition and Introduction

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.

 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. Perhaps the most common is to recall a personal observation or experience while in the outdoors, especially when traveling. Others pursue it particularly as an outdoor lifestyle, to be involved with nature and the elements, some as an escape from the artificial world.

Many landscape photographs show little or no human activity and are created in the pursuit of a pure, unsullied depiction of nature, devoid of human influence—instead featuring subjects such as strongly defined landforms, weather, and ambient light. As with most forms of art, the definition of a landscape photograph is broad and may include rural or urban settings, industrial areas or nature photography.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_photography

During this project, I will photograph a couple of different landscapes that remind me of other photographs done by artists. I will link these photos to romanticism and the sublime, creating contrast between humans and their architecture and the wild, carefree nature around us. I will try to capture either the people or buildings in a way that makes them look insignificant, to support the romantic beliefs of nature being everlasting and very important.

ANALOUGE FINAL IMAGE

Development of final piece:

Firstly i started off by editing my image on photoshop, for example edited the saturation and colour to more purple/blue. i continued to print the same two images out of the scissors and tape the difference being different tones of colour but similar. Then used the trimmer to precisely trim out sections of the picture to then use superimposition and stick the sections in line as much as possible on top.

I decided I wanted this in an A3 so went back onto Lightroom and photoshop and made sure it was smooth and sharp ready to be put into the print folder. Now I have framed it and is on display.

EVALUATION

Overall the project ‘home’, was very new to me at the start getting used to photography and how to effectively use a camera. I’ve learnt useful things such as how to use photoshop and organise my photoshoots on Lightroom. However, I need to be more creative with my photography whilst also focusing on the technique and quality of my images. I’ve enjoyed doing research into artists and exploring different styles of photography. This project has been an informative introduction to photography and has helped me understand what photography is and how it can be portrayed as ‘home’.

This is a mind map to show all the possible landscapes and locations I can photograph: