Landscape photography is the practice of capturing a natural or outdoors scene in an artful or compelling way to engage the viewer’s eye and attention. Landscape photography is one of the most appreciated genres of photography. While landscape photography is commonly joined with nature photography, a cityscape can also be considered a landscape in many circumstances.

History of Landscape photography

According to records, the earliest known evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce.

Then in 1935 the English scientist Henry Fox Talbot came into play with various photography innovations.

Methods and Techniques of landscape

The ideal cameras you can use for shooting landscapes are DSLR and mirrorless cameras. While today’s most developed smartphone cameras are able to produce pretty nice landscape shots, they have yet to catch up to the quality of professional cameras.

Landscape shooters typically head out during golden hour (right after sunrise and before sunset) to get beautiful mixes of blue and orange in the sky. Pay attention to your image composition. The same basic image can change drastically when photographed from slightly different vantage points.

One problem with many landscape shots is that the subject is far away and there’s nothing to look at in the foreground. That gives landscape images a flat sameness that we want to avoid. As you look at some stunning vistas, pay attention to nearby rocks, plants, or even puddles of water that can add interest to your image and also create a stronger sense of the third dimension.

Artists have been painting the landscape since ancient times. The Greeks and Romans created wall paintings of landscapes and gardenscapes. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the tradition of depicting pure landscapes declined, and the landscape was seen only as a setting for religious and figural scenes. This tradition continued until the 16th century when artists began to view the landscape as a subject in its own right. The artistic shift seems to have corresponded to a growing interest in the natural world sparked by the Renaissance.

The term “landscape” actually derives from the Dutch word landschap, which originally meant “region, tract of land” but acquired the artistic connotation, “a picture depicting scenery on land” in the early 1500s (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000). A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. The development of the term in the Netherlands at this time was logical because the Netherlands was one of the first places that landscape had become a popular subject for painting. At this time, the rising Protestant middle class sought secular art for their homes, creating the need for new subjects to meet their tastes; landscapes helped fill this need.

Birth of the Classical Landscape

Landscape with a Calm, Nicolas Poussin, 1650–1651

In the 17th century the classical landscape was born.

VS

The Modern Landscape

Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1889

The 19th century held many milestones for the history of landscape art. As the Industrial Revolution altered the traditions of rural life, the old hierarchy of subjects crumbled. 

Comparison

Within these two famous paintings, you can instantly tell they are significantly different and have impactful contrasting qualities to one another but also similar. One similar quality they both have is they are both inspired by beautiful things. However the classic landscape contains man-made and is influenced by by classical antiquity and contains a ” rich” part of the land. Arcadia, a legendary place in ancient Greece known for its quiet pastoral beauty. In a classical landscape the positioning of objects was contrived; every tree, rock, or animal was carefully placed to present a harmonious, balanced, and timeless mood. This painting is also painted to look realistic and natural. Whereas, the modern landscape is not-man made and is natural in a different sense however is purposefully painted to look fake as if it has been painted. This creates a large contrast between the two. The modern landscape also only contains one natural object rather than multiple therefore you are only looking at one thing as there is no more eye catching objects.

Photography and the 20th-Century Landscape

In the early 20th century, painters continued to embrace the landscape. As photography gained acceptance as an art form, artists used the medium to create interpretations of the land through pictorialist effects and, later, through formal compositions of close-up, cropped views of the landscape. In America, photographer Ansel Adams captured the country’s attention with his breathtaking views of the wild beauty of the American West. Even though the major artistic movements of the mid-20th century were no longer dominated by the landscape as a subject, the genre’s importance continued as artists responded to fears of increased industrialization, the threat of global destruction, and ecological disasters.

In the second half of the 20th century, the definition of landscape was challenged and pressed to include concepts like urban landscapes, cultural landscapes, industrial landscapes, and landscape architecture. Landscape photography continued to evolve and rise in popularity. American photographers like Robert Adams and William A. Garnett used the medium to raise awareness of conservation concerns. Today, the landscape continues to be a subject artists turn to when contemplating the ways we relate to the places where we live and the impact we as humans have on the land.

SUBLIME IN ART

What is Sublime?
Sublime is the quality of greatness beyond all measure. The Sublime is a western aesthetic concept of ‘the exalted’ of ‘beauty that is grand and dangerous’. The Sublime refers to the wild, unbounded grandeur of nature. Sometimes, we photograph things that are awe-inspiring and not necessarily beautiful.

The sublime is both beautiful and terrifying in its power or potential darkness. Artists explored the sublime in depth through art using paintings and drawings of the imagination, however they could often turn into nightmares. Natural landscapes were mighty and nice to look at and people admired the aesthetics but they were always dangerous.

Ansel Adams’ photographs of towering mountains and canyons are arguably major expressions, exemplars and evokers of the sublime in photography. The sublime involves the formlessness of uplifting spectacles and produces feelings of awe and terror.

Humans subconsciously connect to nature as we admire it as we live in it however this contrasts as we also mistakenly destroy it e.g. by polluting the air, cutting down trees and leaving litter around. Us as humans are not grateful enough for the nature that we are given although we admire it. This is a large contrast within how we feel vs what we do which creates a significant debate.

Within this image, there is a disaster however it is sublime. The natural and non-man made objects are beautiful but the concept within its self is not but it is however grand. The clouds and other images are beautiful no matter the context. This makes it sublime

FAMOUS IMAGES

Richard Wilson 1713–1782

ROMANTISM

The Age of Romanticism (1800-1900ish)

Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental. Travel to the turn of the 19th century to experience the Romantic musical, literary, and artistic movement.

Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. For most of the Western world, it was at its peak from approximately 1800 to 1850.

How did romanticism change art?
Along with plumbing emotional and behavioural extremes, Romantic artists expanded the repertoire of subject matter, rejecting the didacticism of Neoclassical history painting in favour of imaginary and exotic subjects. Orientalism and the worlds of literature stimulated new dialogues with the past as well as the present.

Today, Romanticism can be found in a wide cross-section of film, television, literature, music, and art. Whether it is a focus on the eternal power of nature or an audience’s visceral reaction to a particular medium, contemporary society is ripe with Romance in the Romantic sense.

Romantic artists often sought to capture the moods, feelings, and emotions of their subjects, using expressive compositions, vivid colors, and dramatic contrasts of light and dark. Nature was another important theme in Romantic art, with many artists exploring the beauty and power of the natural world.

There are strong echoes of Romanticism in contemporary concerns about the environment and the need to appreciate and preserve it. Romantics also embraced the foreign and the exotic, especially eliciting an interest in Orientalism, and this too affected the history of art.

The Industrial Revolution 1760-1840 was based upon the efficient exploitation of nature’s raw materials and labour as new scientific theories developed by the Enlightenment thinkers were quickly transformed into practical, money-making applications.

MOODBOARD

A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.

Although paintings from the earliest ancient and Classical periods included natural scenic elements, landscape as an independent genre did not emerge in the Western tradition until the Renaissance in the 16th century. In the Eastern tradition, the genre can be traced back to 4th-century-ce China.

In the 16th century the renaissance happened which the culture and style of art and architecture developed during this time. A German Renaissance Master. Painter, draftsman, and printmaker active in Regensburg, Albrecht Altdorfer (around 1480–1538) was a major German artist of the 16th century.

Classical Landscapes

In the 17th century the classical landscape was born. 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 spent most of his career in Rome, immersed in the study of ancient art, where he painted classically inspired works for an educated elite. His art has long been considered the embodiment of the ideals of seventeenth-century

classicism.

Romanticism

Landscape painting eventually gained prominence in the late 18th century with the rise of Romanticism. Romanticism is a literary and artistic movement marked chiefly by an emphasis on the imagination and emotions: the quality or state of being romantic.

Additionally, it became a method of self-expression, with the emotions of the painter and their appreciation of nature demonstrated in the painting.

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes was a French painter who was influential in elevating the status of En plein air (open-air painting).

1826 and 1827
According to records, the earliest known evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce

Mood Board

landscapes are natural scenery, photos and paintings of land.

 

my photos

FEMININTY VS MASCULINITY

Femininity refers to traits which are associated with nurture whilst masculinity refers to traits which are associated with assertiveness.

Definitions:

Femininity= “qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.”- google

Masculinity= “qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.”- google

femininity and masculinity are binary opposites which means it is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.

mood board:

femininity

masculinity

Ways identity can be influenced.

Identity is not certain and constantly changes around different factors.

Place– The place a person is from can influence identity because we hold memories which relate to other people who have been or lived there compared to the people who do not have these memories.

Upbringing– The physical environments where children live affect their development and health. The conditions of a place can have positive or negative influences on child health and development. Environmental exposures early in life can cause lasting changes in developing biological systems.Our families play a crucial role in shaping our values and identity. They can help us become more confident, compassionate, and curious, or they can make us more insecure, selfish, and closed-minded. The good news is that we have some control over how we let our families and friends influence us.

Cultural– Culture influences our beliefs about what is true and false, our attitudes including our likes and dislikes, our values regarding what is right and wrong, and our behaviours.

Stereotypes– Impose limitations on the people they target, assign them roles that are not necessarily suited to them and make it harder for them to be their true selves, girls and women are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold. Every society, ethnic group, and culture has gender role expectations, but they can be very different from group to group.

Political– Certain people are brought up to follow normalities of their society ran by politics, this affects people by having strong beliefs which you may not understand until you are older but still follow in to or they may follow different beliefs’ those people would be very different as this is a part of their identity and how they believe and act.

Mind maps on femininity and masculinity.

Artist Reference

Claude Cahun

“Claude Cahun (1894-1954) was an artist, photographer and writer. She is best known today for her surreal self-portrait photographs which show her dressed as different characters. Cahun questioned the accepted status-quo, particularly the position of women, through her art and in the way she lived her life”- jersey heritage

This photo of Cahun also deals with the theme of masculinity. Because of the stereotype that men should be tough, strong, and protective of women, Cahun (women), who are typically supposed to look more feminine, actually look more masculine. Cahun relates to this stereotype because of the props she uses. In this photo, she uses support weights, suggesting that she is strong and tough, which is closer to male characteristics in society. Cahun is a more masculine woman in order to show society that gender fluidity is real, stereotypes are not accurate most of the time, and that women can also be masculine (and vice versa). Disguise yourself as a “character” or another version of yourself. ). However, her makeup in this photo also suggests that she is very feminine. Because at that time, society considered it appropriate for only women to wear makeup. Although Cahun wears feminine makeup, the use of more masculine props allows her to be feminine and masculine at the same time, increasing her gender fluidity. This proves the stereotype that men are strong and tough and women are weak and emotional. Because carrying femininity suggests that women can be just as strong and tough as men.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman works, play with womanish conceptions. Masquerading as a myriad of characters, Cindy Sherman( American, born 1954) invents personas and tableaus that examine the construction of identity, the nature of representation, and the artifice of photography. To produce her images, she assumes the multiple places of shooter, model, makeup artist, hairstylist, and hairstylist. Whether portraying a career girl, a fair stunner, a fashion victim, a zany, or a society lady of a certain age, for over thirty- five times this relentlessly audacious artist has created an eloquent and instigative body of work that resonates deeply in our visual culture, this also shows how the women we see in movies aren’t real, because Cindy is showing she can embody all these different identities and challenging the roles of females.

Cindy Sherman inspired my photo shoot by challenging stereotypes.

response shoot:

For this edit I have used four photos which have a binary opposite, the female model look unprepared and nervous, whilst carrying a briefcase, the briefcase indicates a work and serious environment, whilst the male model is assertive in his stance and looks as if he is on the move to show how a business man may be rushing around, he is also holding the briefcase up in comparison to the female model where it looks like it is holding her down. I paired these photos with close ups of the briefcase to give it a different perspective, in the top right photo the prop is darker with different rays of light on the side and handle to show it has been used but also is intriguing to open. The photo on the bottom left is brighter which makes it shine and appear cleaner and more elegant. I have used black and white for all of these photos because I think it helps to create a sense of work and power.

Cindy Sherman showed how things we see in tv aren’t real life and that the model or actor could be anyone so I made this photo into black and white as I believe it helps to emphasise the body and challenge the stereotypes of females and femininity. as you can see I kept the vibrancies but turned down the saturation to get the black and white but still have some colour in the skin.

I like this photo because it has a “feminine side” then a harsh line where it is much darker to show a split in fitting in to the background and being yourself. the skin shows us her but the darkness represents what we don’t know about her.

I like this photo as it shows strength from the male models which is a key feature in masculinity and the stereotypes of men but it also shows the female model being flexible which is a strength for females and plays on the “different roles/ aspects” for femininity and masculinity.

Ansel Adams was a photography born in San Francisco in 1902. During the 20th century. In April 1902, there was a big earthquake in San Francisco that caused the death of around 3,000 people. Ansel Adams broke his nose during this earthquake and caused his face to be disfigured, this caused him to be extremely shy in school because he was insecure about his injury. His dad moved him schools several times however Adams was never happy or settled which then meant his dad home-schooled him so that he could be comfortable in his own home. Adams was really into music and he loved to play the piano, however as the years went on he realised he would never become a professional musician. For his 14th birthday he received a camera called a box brownie which he was extremely pleased with. He first visited Yosemite National Park when he was 14 and he admired the views of all the mountains and the cliffs. He started to take photos of the views and he would climb cliffs to get a perfect picture from a high point. He had visuals of what he wanted the photographs to look like however he never achieved these pictures until he used a red lens and increase the shutter speed, after doing this he created his perfect picture and was extremely satisfied. Him and his friend, Fred Archer created something called the zone system :

Which splits the full range from black to white into 11 separate zones. This helped him in his photography because he would determine where each zone fits into his image.

In 1927, Adams became the trip photographer for the Sierra club which protected the wildlife and the nature of the Sierra Nevada and is now the biggest and oldest environmental organisation in the united states. After this, his role in the Sierra Club rapidly got more important and he started organising hikes and talks about the Sierra Nevada and his first photographs and writings became published on the clubs bulletin. He started to become very involved in the political side of the Clubs activities and was suggesting proposals for improving parks and wilderness areas and became a representative for the National Yosemite Park.

Later on in his life he was known best for his landscape photography and was often known as the “Father of landscape photography”. He took most of his landscape photography in Yosemite National Park because he was extremely moved by the experience he had when he visited the place for the first time. Adams photography is unique because of the realist style he uses to portray Yosemite National Park as it appears, whether as other landscape photographers use a pictorialist style to create an artistic image.

I really like Ansel Adams photography because it is very eerie and dark however it is also beautiful and graceful in its own way. This clearly links to the romanticism sublime because it is a very intriguing picture with several different aspects of beauty however the darkness makes the viewers feel nervous and anxious as there is no clear story of what is happening in the picture. To link to enlightenment, we can see that the picture is intended to be a picture that is negative because of the dull colours and the tone of colour on the trees and the mountains, this is contradicting as this picture is of a place he used to visit when he was young and it means something to Ansel Adams and it brings him joy and happiness when he is there because of the nostalgic feeling he gets.

Edward Weston

Edward Weston was an American photographer in the early to mid-20th century, he was best known for his careful composed, sharply focussed images of natural forms and landscapes. On his 16th birthday he was gifted a camera, this influenced him to start taking photos. Weston once said, take a picture of something ordinary, and make it extraordinary.

TECHNICAL: The lighting on this photo is very bright and exposed and shows a lot of the rocks natural colours, the intensity of the lighting makes the photo look really powerful and dominated and shows off the disasters, All the colours are positioned in different places, as all the bright colours are at the top and all the darker colours are at the bottom, it almost shows a blend in the colours. Each type of lighting can effect a photo, for example natural lighting isn’t seen as the best for for this photograph as it would destroy the point of this photo, although this is a painting and not actually a photo it still shows the point of what the the beautiful disaster’s. This photo gives off a cold tone as most of the colours a shade of green or blue which makes it have a cold tone, this makes the photo stand out a lot more than if the colours were warm as the bottom colours are quite dark and need some lighter cold colours to balance out the photos. In this photo there are still a few warm tones scattered around the photograph like in the middle of the photo it looks quite orange or yellow which just adds a sophisticated look to the photo. The photo looks slightly over exposed as it is very bright in the background, however it does draw the viewers eyes towards the photo. The level of control of this photo is quite strong as it shows how steady the photo is, but it would have bee nice to have seen different angles of this photo to see if any of the colours would had changed and which, would it because the sun in is now in the way and everything is a lot brighter and less dull or the opposite the whole photo becomes darker.

VISUAL: The layout of this photo was well positioned as everything seems to work well and look well in place. The texture of the photo looks very rough and dangerous however the photo itself looks really pretty and natural and that’s the conflict between the opposites of this image. The rocks look very detailed and have a very hard and unsmooth surface on them. This makes the whole image looks very dangerous its self, it could put images into our heads to think of the worst, such as someone slipping and hurting themselves because of the rough rocks, therefore this images gives a negative representation although the imagine itself looks really detailed and looks like a positive image, it gives us an overthinking feeling when it comes to explaining how this images makes us feel. The whole image is 3D, which makes all the colours stand out and attracts the eye compared to if the image was flat then nothing wold really stand out and the disaster wouldn’t be captured as well.

CONTEXTUAL: There are many colours around the photo which sort of represents the opposite of romanticism, romanticism is meant to represent the goodness of the world, Romanticism all started with the emphasis on the imagination and emotion. Its mean to be positive and give off a good vibe where as sublime is meant to do the opposite its meant to be a natural disaster that would destroy the world but the photograph taken makes the disaster seem beautiful with all the pretty colours in the photo, its meant to show the positive in all the negative.  It shows a convey of opposites, for example heavy rain pouring down, this can make people upset as they don’t want rain they would prefer it to be sunny hover the rain can be really heling, it can water plants and give water to any animals that have a lack of water. sublime isn’t meant to represent the worst but it can be seen as a very bad situation or idea of something, although there will always be something special that will lighten up the photo/situation. Another example of sublime is just the world in general, the world is full of beauty and allows people o live and survive, for us humans the world is our home and non of us would be alive if it wasn’t for the earth, but things such as global warming, world wars and conflicts, poorer countries, starvation, all of these things turn the world into such a nasty thing. If only life was that simple but there is always bad things happening around us and some of us are oblivious, these are the people who choose not to care and not to help and they help impact the world with their selfishness.

CONCEPTUAL: The idea of this image presents a significant meaning, it helps people to see the good in every bad situation, These types of photos shows the true significance of nature, there are not any manufactured items found in the photo and everything is natural, there are no people or any animals seen , it almost gives a peaceful and quiet effect. Overall this phot makes me feel as though I am not safe, it looks really dangerous and rough to be around and this can lead to overthinking about the image, although the image looks chaotic the point of the image defeats the that whole idea of chaotic. The landscapes taken are the beauty of earth and capture the exact natural surroundings and movements of the photo. As landscape photos are meant to capture the true beauty of the world the fact that sublime does almost the opposite it creates an idea thta the image is capturing beauty and a disaster whereas landscapes tend to just capture beauty.  

Rural landscape refers to an area of land that is predominantly used by farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural activities. It is typically characterized by low human population, open fields, wooded areas, and small communities. Rural landscapes provide both ecological and economic benefits to the region.

Rural landscapes include a variety of geographical features such as croplands, forests, deserts, grasslands, swamps, rivers and lakes. They provide natural resources, wildlife habitats and inspiration.

Rural landscapes are different to urban landscapes as urban areas are places with high populations and density. They are characterised by their man-made structures and expanded by them. Rural areas are the complete opposite where they have low population and density, and their lack of man-made structures.

Moodboard

Romanticism, also known as the romantic movement or romantic era, is an artistic and intellectual movement that began in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. For most of the Western world it was at its peak during 1800-1850. Romanticism was a reaction to the industrial revolution (1760-1840). It was shown strongly through visual arts, music and literature, it also had a major impact on historiography as well as education. Romanticism was identified by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, as well as glorification of the past and nature. It places emphasis on emotions such as fear, horror or the feeling we get when experiencing the sublimity (great beauty) of nature.

Romanticism can be shown in landscape photography by extreme weather or beautiful landscapes for example a sunset.

Main characteristics of romanticism:

• Emotion and passion
• The critique of progress
• The return to the past
• An awe of nature
• The idealisation of women
• The purity of childhood
• The search for subjective truth
• The celebration of the individual

The Sorrows Of Young Werther

The Sorrows Of Young Werther is a 1744 novel where a young man named Werther, a fictional character depicted by the German Poet named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is shown to be in despair after a broken heart due to an unrequited attachment, he later goes on to end his life. This was one of the main novels in the Sturm und Drang period in German literature. This novel then went on to be one of the influences of the romanticism movement due to the perfect example of one of the main characteristics of romanticism, emotion and passion. The novel also is an example of the sublime which is the idea of terror yet beauty.

What is Romanticism?

Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe in the late 18th century. Previous to Romanticism being introduced was the Age of Enlightenment, also known as The Age of Reason. This was when emotion had been sucked from art and literature and people focused mainly on science and logic, whereas, romantics later rejected the whole idea of science and reason. During the Age of Romanticism, people explored the beauty of nature, emotion and life, creating an idealised reality within art and literature. The Age of Romanticism was also introduced during the industrial revolution, the development of cities and machinery, which may also explain the obsession with nature as it could have been an escape from the new reality.

Romanticism in Photography emerged alongside this movement, in the 19th century, and it involves capturing images with dramatic lighting, sublime scenes and dramatic landscapes, creating a sense of awe and nostalgia. Romantic photographers evoke these feelings and emotions through techniques and paying attention to the smaller details like the lighting, focus, composition and depth of field. In Romantic Art, Artists used small, close strokes of complementary colours to create brilliance and vivid visual effect. Overall, romanticism is defying realistic and scientific views on the world and, instead, exploring the emotional effects of the beauty and power of nature.

Here are some examples of Romanticism:

Art

Photography

What is the Sublime and how does it link to Romanticism?

Typically, Sublime is when something is really great, however, the Sublime in photography is when images evoke intense emotions and feelings of awe, whilst also being overwhelmingly beautiful and powerful to the point that they cause terror. This is because it makes people feel small and insignificant. The Sublime links to Romanticism as it’s the emotional effect which is created by romantic photographs and paintings. 

Edmund Burke and The Sublime

Source 1, Source 2 and Source 3

Edmund Burke was an Irish Political Philosopher who was best known for his . He served as a member of the parliament between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain and has published many books based on political arguments. Burke was the founder of modern conservatism with his publication of the ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ in 1790. Back in 1757, Edmund Burke published ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful’. This was the first to separate the beautiful and the sublime into their own categories. Edmund Burke stated that the beautiful is aesthetically pleasing, whereas, the sublime is something that has the power to both compel and destroy us. Altogether, Burke transformed the meaning of the Sublime to ideas of the human experience and how things which are so beautiful can fill us with such horror.