Introduction to Landscape Photography

Landscape photography the word itself comes from the Dutch word landschap, which originally meant “region, tract of land. Now a very popular genre with many different variations but it has not always been this way. In fact during the earlier time periods it was one of the lowest ranked art forms (before it became a photography genre). However as time went on into the 19th and 20th century and as the industrial revolution progressed the up and coming genre developed into the genre we know today, as people wanted to document the land before it got changed and built up.

What is Landscape Photography?

Landscape photography is a documentation of the natural world around us. Landscape photography is capturing an image that embodies the spirit of the outdoors. It carries a sense of being there to see something incredible. It’s a genre you cannot limit the definition of that the entire point is to capture something beyond limits.

Landscape Photographers

David Noton – A travel and landscape photographer having grown up in different countries and now travels full time photographing all over the world while publishing the f11 photography magazine.

Ansel Adams – A photographer who started out in one special place, now featured in a lot of his work the National parks in America. He was the first major landscape photographer pioneer, leading and inspiring photographers of his generation and ours.

Galen Rowell – Colours are a huge part of his stunning work, Galen actually took up photography to document his climbing escapades. This led to him coining the term participating photography which, means the photo is defined by the athletic ability of the photographer.

16th Century – Albrecht Altdorfer

Altdorfer was a prolific printmaker, but he produced only nine landscape etchings, which date from about 1518 to 1522. These prints were the first ones to celebrate the landscape alone without having a religious or narrative background. This particular one is of the Alpine Vista and the mountains around it. Probably produced for a niche buyer looking for something unusual for the time. This was created in the Renaissance, in which the ideas of humanism, naturalism occurred with creating many ideas still influential in our modern day work.

17th century – Nicolas Poussin

During the 17th Century, we saw the rise of Classical Landscape art. These landscapes were influenced by classical antiquity and sought to illustrate an ideal landscape recalling Arcadia, a legendary place in ancient Greece known for its quiet pastoral beauty. The classical landscape was perfected by French artists Nicolas Poussin. Poussin, who in his early years focused his talent on history painting, came to believe that landscapes could express the same powerful emotions as the human dramas depicted in history paintings. From that point on, he worked to elevate landscape to a higher status.

18th Century – Pierre Henri de Valenciennes

Through both his artistic practice and his theoretical writing Valenciennes holds a position of considerable importance in the history of landscape painting of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries. By painting oil sketches from nature out-of-doors. This working method became a cornerstone of landscape painting in the nineteenth century, he also taught this method to his own students, believing it was the best way to learn how to use paint.

Romanticism period- emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of the past and nature, preferring the medieval over the classical.

19th Century – Theodore Rousseau

Theodore Rousseau was a French painter made famous for his unique landscape works and how it developed the art and photography world. He ran the Barbizon school of landscape painters, after discovering his love of nature and becoming one of the first painters to go into nature directly to paint it. At the time his work was considered unfinished but instead he wanted to keep the paintings this way, a direct observation of nature, this later helped create the landscape movement. His work used the use of natural lighting (within the painting) to highlight different elements in nature.

20th century – Ansel Adams

Adams work was the next biggest development in landscape photography, his work forced the development into the modern day style. Swaying away from painting and too using a camera to capture high contrast black and white images perfectly accurate to nature and real life. Most of is work including the above captures the Yosemite national park, a place Adams was passionate about and campaigned through his work about looking after throughout his life.

Modern Day – 21st Century

Into modern day with the introduction of social media and high quality phone cameras landscape photography has greatly changed and become largely more common. The bonus of this is there is many different and new types of landscape photography, from documentary to creating art like work for presenting. However we have never strayed too far from using photography to document the beauty we see in nature and while there are many different styles now and many different techniques to use it all comes down to a well composed, balanced image.

For this photoshoot I went to noirmor woods at around 4pm one Friday morning, Due to this woods being one of the most damaged parts of the island it was all very closed off as workers were busy chopping down trees however they weren’t there at the time so I went through and explored all the devastating damage this woods had endured due to the storm. This place had a touching place in my heart as me and my family would regularly go to this woods to walk my dog and spend time as a family. it was absolutely devastating seeing how much of the woods had been destroyed so much that we could barely recognise where we were.

Edits

Here are some of the edits I made for my photoshoot in relation to the aftermath of storm Ciaran, I have tried to create a wide variety of all different angles, shades, textures and shapes within my photoshoot to be able to have a lot of different images to edit and relate to different things.

Landscape

Landscape can be described as ‘the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal’. The term “landscape” comes from/derives from the Dutch word landschap, which originally meant “region, tract of land” but got the artistic connotation, “a picture depicting scenery on land” in the early 1500s. Landscape, like photography, is a relatively modern idea.

The meaning of landscape is the visible features of land, it’s landforms and how they integrate with natural or human made features.

16th Century

Landscape painting was only officially considered as an independent genre in the 16th century.

Landscape as an “independent genre did not emerge in the Western tradition and culture until the Renaissance in the 16th century”. Earlier work of Albrecht Altdorfer can be see during this period. –

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)).

17th Century

Classical Landscapes emerged as a genre in the 17th century.

These landscapes were influenced by classical antiquity and sought to illustrate an ideal landscape recalling Arcadia, a legendary place in ancient Greece known for its quiet pastoral beauty.

Nicolas Poussin was a prominent Classical Landscape artist-“Poussin sketched in the Campagna, the countryside around Rome, 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)).

Late 18th/19th Century

Landscape paintings it eventually gained the prominence in the late 18th century with the rise of Romanticism. These artists sought to celebrate nature over industrialisation and emotion over reason. They often depicted landscapes to show an appreciation for natural landscapes, away from urban expansion and industrialisation.

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)).

JMW Turner was an English Romantic 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.

Photography

Though the earliest evidence of landscape photography was taken between the years 1826 and 1827, it was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name Nicephore Niepce.

Around the mid nineteenth century, the invention of photography revealed that cultures were prepared to form knowledge, beliefs and fantasies through optical and reproducible images. During this time, industrialisation began a process of changing where people lived, according to how people worked.

Within such broad change, more specifically, economically advanced industrial nations, railways introduced unmatched speed of travel and early forms of international tourism developed. Images from distant places influenced how familiar places came to be depicted.

As processes of work and travel altered through modernisation/distance began to characterise human relations to place. Land became increasingly perceived as landscape, and landscape increasingly encountered as picture. Photographs became established amidst a variety of forms of landscape pictures.

HDR in images:

These landscape images are enhanced with HDR (High-Dynamic-Range imaging) using a tripod to taken in a steady photograph and include many of the wonders presented on the image such as the the sunset the different autumn coloured trees, the pink toned and shadowed rocks to the reflected lake in the centre and general middle of the photograph.

The tripod holding the camera in place will ensure that the photographer will be able to use the lowest ISO and a proper aperture to capture everything you need presented in focus (The shutter speed doesn’t matter for HDR photos unless you want specifically to create a much longer exposure). The HDR setting is useful when you can have difficulty/trouble balancing a photo’s light.

It is obviously used to and designed to capture high-contrast scenes and bringing them to ours eyes more convincingly.

What does Landscape mean?
Landscape art and 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 human-made features or disturbances of landscapes.

History and Traditions of Landscape Photography

Artists have been painting the landscape since ancient times.

Landscape gained in popularity as a genre due to many factors such as Romanticism. Originally, it was looked as a religious significance, but it also became a method of self-expression with the emotions of the photographer and or painter shown on the painting/photograph.

Before the renaissance, (a period in history and a cultural movement marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity, covering the 15th and 16th century), Landscape Art wasn’t really recognised as a genre in its own right.

In the 17th century the ‘Classical’ landscape evolved . These paintings were influenced by classical antiquity and sought to illustrate an ideal landscape recalling Arcadia, a legendary place in ancient Greece known for its quiet pastoral beauty. Even though Classical Landscape was a new genre, it was not yet popular within the hierarchy of art genres.

In the late 18th, early 19th century we start to see more landscape art coming about as a result of the industrial revolution. During this time, Landscape became more accepted by the academy.

Because industrial revolution had just come about, it made people long for their old life. This made people appreciate nature more, leading to people wanting to celebrate romanticism and showing love to it.

Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes – 18th Century

The very first photography that we know of was taken in an urban landscape during 1826 or 1827 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce.

Storm Ciarán, known in Germany as Storm Emir was a European windstorm that severely affected parts of Europe from late October to early November 2023. Part of the 2023–24 European windstorm season, Ciarán impacted north-western Europe and killed 21 people, eleven of whom were in Italy and four in France.

Is Storm Ciarán a tornado?

CLEMENT, England – Amid the chaos of hurricane-force winds, massive hail and torrential rain that swept across northern Europe during last week’s deadly Storm Ciarán tore through the small island town of St. Clement, researchers have determined.

There was severe damages to homes and properties as well a people getting injured and having top leave their homes.

Due to the storm there was school closures, trees down, broken buildings and damaged properties there was winds up to 100mph which damaged Jersey quit a lot.

Here is some examples:

Here is one of my edited photos in Lightroom , inspired by the storm..

Here is a before and after.

What?

I will be taking photos of damage around Jersey. During the night of Wednesday, November 1st, 2023, Jersey was ravaged by a devastating tornado, leaving a trail of destruction across the landscape. Every parish in Jersey suffered damage, with incidents such as trees collapsing onto homes and entire buildings losing roofs and walls. The morning after the storm, the residents of the island found that many roads were impassable and walking paths were obstructed. The railway walk in St. Brelade was completely obscured by fallen trees and branches, rendering it unrecognizable.

Who?

There won’t be a who that I capture just damage to trees and buildings.

Where?

• Town – buildings, cars, and mainly just manmade constructs.
• Noirmont- of fallen trees and environment.
• Railway walk- also fallen trees, and also environment mixed with manmade constructs.
• FB fields– where most damage was done
• And other places I find that I think will go with this topic.

When?

Over the half-term I will attempt to photograph a variety of different areas affected by the storm. By having photoshoots of different areas affected by the storm.

Robert Adams

Robert Adams is an American photographer known for his work in the New Topographics movement. He was born on May 8, 1937, in Orange, New Jersey. Adams studied English literature at the University of Redlands and received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Southern California.

Adams began his photography career in the 1960s and is best known for his black and white photographs that capture the changing landscape of the American West. His work often focuses on the impact of human activity on the environment, exploring themes such as suburban development, deforestation, and urban sprawl.

Adams’ photographs are characterized by their stark simplicity and understated beauty, often depicting quiet, unassuming scenes with a sense of melancholy and nostalgia. His work has been widely acclaimed for its poetic and contemplative vision of the American landscape.

Adams has published numerous books of photography, including “The New West” (1974), “Summer Nights” (1985), and “The Place We Live” (2007). He has received numerous awards and honors for his photography, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship.

Robert Adams’ work continues to be exhibited and collected internationally, and he remains an influential figure in the field of contemporary photography.

Lewis Baltz

Lewis Baltz (1945-2014) was an American photographer associated with the New Topographics movement. He was born in Newport Beach, California on September 12, 1945. Baltz studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and received his MFA from Claremont Graduate School.

Baltz is known for his stark black-and-white photographs of the American urban and suburban landscape. His work often focused on industrial sites, office parks, and other man-made environments, exploring themes of alienation, anonymity, and the impact of human activity on the landscape.

Baltz’s photographs are characterized by their formal rigor and minimalist aesthetic, capturing desolate and seemingly mundane scenes with precision and clarity. His work challenges traditional notions of beauty in photography, offering a more detached and critical view of the modern built environment.

Baltz’s most well-known series include “The New Industrial Parks Near Irvine, California” (1974), “Park City” (1980), and “San Quentin Point” (1982). His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums around the world and has had a significant influence on contemporary photography.

Lewis Baltz passed away on November 22, 2014, leaving behind a body of work that continues to be celebrated for its uncompromising vision and exploration of the urban landscape.

Frank Gohlke

Frank Gohlke (born 1942) is an American photographer known for his large-format landscape photographs that explore the intersection of nature and human presence. He was born on February 20, 1942, in Wichita Falls, Texas. Gohlke studied at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature, and later earned a Master of Fine Arts in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Gohlke is best known for his series of photographs that document the changing American landscape, particularly in the aftermath of natural disasters. His work often focuses on the impact of human activity on the environment, and he has a keen interest in how landscapes are transformed by urbanization and industrialization.

One of Gohlke’s most famous series is “Mount St. Helens,” which captured the aftermath of the 1980 volcanic eruption in Washington state. His photographs from this series are powerful and haunting, depicting the destruction and regeneration of the landscape in the wake of the disaster.

Gohlke’s work is characterized by its formal precision and detailed observation, as well as its emotional depth and poetic resonance. His images invite viewers to reflect on the complexities of the natural world and human intervention, and to consider how we shape and are shaped by our environment.

Frank Gohlke’s photographs have been widely exhibited and published in books, and he has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. He continues to be a highly respected and influential figure in the world of contemporary photography.

What is The New Topographics?

The New Topographics was a photography exhibition that took place in 1975 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The exhibition featured the work of a group of photographers who shared a common interest in depicting the built environment in a detached, objective manner. The photographers eschewed the traditional approach to landscape photography, which often emphasized the natural beauty of the landscape, in favor of focusing on man-made structures and the impact of humans on the environment. The New Topographics movement is seen as a reaction against the romanticism of traditional landscape photography and a reflection of the changing American landscape in the mid-20th century. The exhibition marked a significant shift in the field of photography and has had a lasting influence on contemporary photography.

What was the ‘New Topographics’ a reaction to?

The New Topographics was a reaction against the romanticism and idealization of the American landscape in traditional landscape photography. The movement emerged in the 1970s as a response to the prevailing aesthetics of landscape photography, which often depicted untouched, pristine natural landscapes in a nostalgic and romanticized manner. The New Topographics photographers, on the other hand, focused on the mundane and often overlooked aspects of the built environment, showcasing structures, urban sprawl, and everyday scenes devoid of sentimentality or grandeur. They sought to capture a more objective and unadorned view of the American landscape, reflecting the changing societal attitudes towards the environment and urban development. Ultimately, the New Topographics movement challenged traditional notions of landscape photography and emphasized a more critical and detached approach to representing the world around us.

What is rural landscape photography?

Rural landscapes photography is a genre of photography that focuses on capturing the natural beauty and features of rural areas, typically outside of urban or developed regions. Photographers who specialize in rural landscape photography seek to showcase the serenity, simplicity, and unique characteristics of countryside environments.

In rural landscape photography, photographers often explore and document a wide range of subjects, including vast agricultural fields, rolling hills, meadows, forests, rivers, lakes, farmhouses, barns, fences, and other elements that are commonly found in rural settings. These photographers may also pay attention to the changing seasons and natural light conditions to enhance the visual impact of their images.

Rural landscape photography can evoke a sense of nostalgia, tranquility, and connection to nature. It allows viewers to appreciate the beauty and authenticity of rural life and landscapes, providing a contrast to the fast-paced and often hectic pace of urban living.

Photographers may use various techniques and equipment to capture rural landscapes effectively, such as using wide-angle lenses to capture sweeping vistas, long-exposure techniques to create a sense of movement in water or clouds, and HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing to enhance details in high-contrast scenes.

Overall, rural landscape photography offers a unique and captivating way to showcase the natural beauty of rural areas and celebrate the charm and simplicity of countryside environments. It allows photographers to explore and appreciate the quiet beauty and unspoiled landscapes that can be found outside of bustling urban centers.

What is the difference between bucolic and pastoral?

The terms “bucolic” and “pastoral” are often used interchangeably to describe rural or countryside settings, but they have subtle differences in their meanings.

Bucolic typically refers to a picturesque or idealized representation of rural life, often emphasizing its simplicity, charm, and tranquility. It evokes a sense of pastoral beauty and serenity, portraying rustic scenes that are idyllic and peaceful. Bucolic scenes may feature lush meadows, rolling hills, grazing livestock, quaint farmhouses, and other elements that evoke a sense of pastoral harmony and contentment.

On the other hand, pastoral refers to a broader literary or artistic tradition that idealizes rural life and nature. It often incorporates themes of shepherds or rural characters living harmoniously with the natural world. Pastoral works may include themes of love, nature, and the human connection to the land, portraying an idealized vision of countryside life.

In essence, bucolic tends to focus more on the visual and aesthetic aspects of rural landscapes, emphasizing their beauty and tranquility. Pastoral, on the other hand, encompasses a broader artistic tradition that explores the deeper themes and philosophies associated with rural life and nature.

Overall, both bucolic and pastoral convey a sense of appreciation and reverence for the countryside, rural landscapes, and the simplicity and beauty of life outside of urban settings. They evoke a sense of nostalgia, tranquility, and connection to nature, celebrating the charm and allure of rural environments.

What is Landscape as a Genre?

The Genre ‘Landscape’ is most often used within art and photography and it is the depiction of the natural elements/scenery around us, such as trees, rivers, forests, waterfalls, mountains, beaches and more. There are various types of landscape including:

• Natural Landscapes -the original landscape that exists before it is acted on by human culture

• Urban Landscapes – outdoor environments that are dominated by urban/man-made structures such as buildings, harbours, factories and more.

• Coastal and Marine Landscapes – ocean-related landscapes which may include waves, beaches, ships, cliffs, etc.

• Cultural and Historical Landscapes – historically significant places which show evidence of human interaction with the physical environment.

• Agricultural Landscapes – depicting farming and agriculture, such as farms and fields with crops.

The term ‘landscape’ originates from the Dutch word ‘landschap’, meaning ‘region, tract of land’. Landscape is now defined as ‘a picture depicting scenery on land’, this definition was acquired in the early 1500s.

Mood board – The Evolution of Landscape Photography

A Timeline of Landscape as a Genre

16th Century – Albrecht Altdorfer

Previous to the 16th Century, paintings of landscapes were seen as a setting for religious and figural scenes, rather than a genre themself. Albrecht Altdorfer was a German printmaker who was known for the 9 landscape etchings he produced between 1518 and 1522, the first known artwork to celebrate landscape as a primary subject matter, according to the met museum website. This particular etching is the Alpine Vista with mountains around it and it was created during the Renaissance.

17th Century – Nicolas Poussin

In the 17th Century, the Classical Landscape was born. In a Classical Landscape, the positioning of every feature, such as trees, flowers, rocks and animals, are considered. Nicolas Poussin was a French artist who is known for perfecting the Classical Landscape, along with Claude Lorrain. Nicolas Poussin worked to higher the status of landscape art because he believed that landscapes could express the same powerful emotions as history paintings. At this time, landscape art remained inferior, however, it became more popular as time went on.

18th Century – Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes

In the late 18th Century, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes worked to convince the Academy and his contemporaries that landscape painting was worthy of a higher status because he believed that it was. He published a book in 1800 on landscape painting, emphasising how the ‘historical landscape’ should be based on the study of real nature. The Academy created a prize for ‘historic landscape’ in 1817 in response to the success of this book.

19th Century – Theodore Rousseau

During the 19th Century, there were many milestones for landscape art, including the birth of landscape photography and romanticism. With the industrial revolution, it pushed more people to become interested in the genre of landscape and it became more popular around the world. Theodore Rousseau, among other Barbizon (realism) painters, focus less on classical landscapes and, instead, focused on plain air painting. Plein Air Painting is when the artist paints outdoors with the subject in clear view.

20th Century – Ansel Adams

In the early 20th Century, painters continued to support the landscape whilst landscape photography also grew in popularity. Ansel Adams is a very well-known photographer from this time who photographed breath-taking views of the American countryside, including locations such as various National Parks

Within the second half of the 20th Century, the definition of landscape was challenged and different concepts of the genre of landscape were introduced, such as urban landscape and landscape architecture.