Theodore Rosseau- “In the 1820s he began to paint out-of-doors directly from nature, a novel procedure at that time.” (19th Century (1801-1900)).

Nicolas Poussin-“Poussin sketched in the Campagna, the countryside around Rome, with Claude, and from the late 1630s began to paint landscapes. He brought a powerful discipline to the composition of his paintings, which enhanced the solemnity of their subjects.” (17th Century (1601-1700)).

Ansel Adams-“After he received his first camera in 1916, Adams also proved to be a talented photographer. Throughout the 1920s, when he worked as the custodian of the Sierra Club’s lodge in Yosemite National Park, he created impressive landscape photographs.” (20th Century (1901-2000)).

Albrecht Altdorfer-“Altdorfer’s piece, Landscape with footbridge (1517-1520), is attributed as the first pure landscape piece in oil, done in a style he developed from Cranach.” (16th Century (1501-1600)).

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes-“The present writer and others have suggested that during the 1781-1782 encounter, Vernet introduced Valenciennes to the practice of painting landscape oil studies in the open air. (18th Century 1701-1800)).

JMW Turner was an English Romantic era landscape painter whose “expressionistic studies of light, colour and atmosphere where unmatched in their range and sublimity”.

JMV Turner’s became known as ‘the painter of light’, because of his increasing interest in brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscapes and seascapes. His works including water colours, oils and engravings. JMV Turner was born near Covent Garden in London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1789.

Originating between 1826 and 1827, landscape photography commonly involves daylight photography of natural features of land, sky and waters, at a distance. This typically captures the presence of nature but can also focus on human-made features or disturbances of landscapes on a vast or microscopic scale. This type of photography captures many elements of formalism within the composition, such as line, shape, colour, depth and texture. These images may aim to capture the essence and presence of nature around us that others may miss however it can also focus on documenting the disturbances in that specific area.

Landscape emerged as an art genre in Western Culture during the Renaissance period in the 16th century, an era that was trying influence a more modern, art appreciating society. Linear perspective was an advancement where artists were able to move towards a more realistic portrayal of an environment, attempting to show depth within a two-dimensional surface – paintings. At this time, this style of art wasn’t highly appreciated yet by many people.

Classical Landscapes

Classical Landscapes emerged in the 17th century which sought to illustrate an ideal landscape, one that only people would dream of in hopes of full relaxation. This idea recalled Arcadia, a legendary place located in Greece known for its serenity and quiet tone. The leading practitioners of classical landscapes were the French-born Italy-based artists Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. These paintings showed symmetry and balance, something that the viewer could look at and feel peace.

The late 18th/19th century – Romanticism

“Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling.” – Poet and critic Charles Baudelaire, 1846

The rise of Romanticism prompted the rise of landscape art. Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe that characterized literature, music, painting and architecture. This movement contained attitudes of a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature.

For this genre I’m going to start by looking at the damage storm Ciaran caused to Jersey’s landscapes. This heavily links to a Romanics idea of the sublime. The idea that man could be so easily over powered by nature.

Manmade Structures Damage

The storm started as what would be a normal winter storm in Jersey, however as it got closer it was quickly realised that in fact maybe it would be the worst the island had faced since the storm in 1987. As pressure and unknown built up people prepared for what could be a bad storm. However it was quickly realised that in fact, this was an awful storm that later was upgraded to a tornado as winds hit around 100mph tearing through the unprepared island. While this was November 1st the lasting effects are serious, peoples houses got destroyed with roofs being ripped off, cars ending up at the other end of driveway, hail stones the size of golf balls. Many buildings, including schools were closed for weeks after and even now don’t have full access and won’t for some months repairing and restoring the property. However on top of the manmade structures that suffered damage sadly it is estimated over 20,000 trees were destroyed during the storm from new whips, to trees with hundreds of years of life.

Natural Landscapes

Within a small island it is important having an ever growing population, that we look after the natural environment around us. By protecting trees and wildlife we keep essential resources in keeping CO2 levels lower and keeping a good environment. Sadly during the storm we lost approximately 20,000 trees, many of which are still left where they fell. This not only effected the natural environment but had a hand in forcing school closures as many roads were blocked completely. This also effected the much loved footpaths all around the island some of which have only recently been reopened, still damaged but useable now.

Photoshoot Plan

romanticism

Romanticism was founded by August Wilhelm Schlegel and Friedrich Schlegel, they began to speak of romantische Poesie (” romantic Poetry”) in the 1970s, this contrasted with “classic” but in terms of spirit rather than merely dating. Romanticism all started with the emphasis on the imagination and emotion, it emerged as a response to the disillusionment with the enlightenment values of reason and order in the aftermath of the French Revolution in 1789.

Sublime

Typically romanticism is seen as a feeling of love, and a strong attraction towards someone or something, however romanticism is seen as much more than that, it holds a much deeper meaning, such as expressing of personal feeling and interest in the natural world. Its all about how nature has shaped us, the way nature has changed through out the years and how things have been damaged, wars that have ruined countries and global warming destroying the planet, romanticism is all about the way in which the world is always going to be our home and if we don’t treat it well we will get consequences. I personally believe romanticism i art and photography is to capture the moment of that time, for example when you go out and you have pretty view in front of you take a picture to have a memory of the world during that time an the world is slowly dying and might not be like that in a few years time.

As an introduction to landscape photography I visited Havre De Pas to take photos of both natural and man-made landscapes such as buildings. I then went through all my photos and selected my best and worst ones. I also took photos to turn into a panoramic image which are highlighted in purple. I took some of these photos with a camera and some with my phone.

Best photos

I selected these photos as my best ones and I will improve some of them through editing.

Editing

Black and white:

Comparing:

More edits:

I chose to edit this photo as it links with the next theme of ‘Anthropocene’ (how humans have negatively impacted the earth). This photo is an example of that as it includes graffiti which is seen by many people as vandalism however it makes you think of the greater issues going on such as other things classed as vandalism such as littering which has a much larger impact. Littering has a huge impact on marine life and animals however people choose to frown upon things such as graffiti rather than the bigger problems. I like how this photo was taken as the graffiti stands out due to the viewpoint which the photo has been taken at. The graffiti takes up majority of the image however there is still a background which adds more details to the photo. However due to the photo being taken with a phone there is an area of light which makes the photo not as good.

Before and after:

For my final edit I chose this photo of buildings as it has a lot of detail which I believed would look good in black and white which is why I edited the photo into a black and white image. I like how there are many sharp details in this photo as it makes it stand out.

virtual gallery

Robert Adams (born 1937) is a photographer best known for documenting both the beauty and commercialization of the American West. Born in Orange, NJ, he grew up in Colorado, and earned a PhD in English from the University of Southern California. While Adams was teaching English at Colorado College, he began taking pictures of nature and architecture with a 35 mm reflex camera, and learned photographic technique from the professional photographer Myron Wood. His earliest series The New West (1968–1971) depicts the uniform housing tracts that were part of suburban development in Colorado. The series Los Angeles Spring (1978–1983) focuses on the remains of citrus estates, which were transformed into housing developments during the 1950s. Although Adams seems to criticize the degradation of the natural landscape, he emphasizes that his work is primarily a study of light. The series of nocturnal landscapes Summer Nights Walking (1976–1982) depicts sidewalks, trees, and fields lit by moonlight and street lamps. Throughout his work, Adams challenges romanticized and idealized landscape photography, and seeks to create a new vision of landscape that encompasses untouched nature and human presence. Adams received a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 1973 and 1980, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1994, and the Hasselblad Award in 2009. In May of 2014, Adams was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. He lives and works in Astoria, OR.

These photos by Robert Adams remind me of the deadpan aesthetic as they are taken straight onwards and have little to no emotion within them.

Analysing:

I like Robert Adam’s style of work as it has high contrast which is shown in this photo. This photo appears to be of a fairground ride at night time where the lights are bright. There is a lot going on in the foreground of the image whereas in the upper half there is hardly anything going on which balances out the photo nicely. I like how bright the lights are as it causes the image to stand out and almost glow. I think the photo captures the movement of the ride due to it being taken at the time where the live was active.

‘New topographics’ was a term invented by William Jenkins during 1975 which was used to describe a group of American Photographers, for example Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz, whose photos all had a similar theme, they were all formal, mainly black and white, and were based on urban landscapes.

What are New Topographics?

New Topographics is a technique in which a scene, usually a landscape, is photographed as if it were being surveyed from afar.