Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was a talented pianist before an accident which damaged his confidence. This damaged confidence pushed him away from music and instead towards a different creative outlet: film photography. At 12 his uncle gave him a camera (Kodak Brownie which was the first ready available and reasonably priced at $1 when released(about £30 now) and introduced many amateurs to the subject), he began to take uninspired photographs on his trip to Yosemite National Park. It wasn’t until he finally decided to experiment that he had his first ‘successful’ photograph of the half dome:

He used both a yellow and red filter on his camera(Now a large format camera). The yellow filter (right) has the exact same composition as the red filter(left) only the red filter gave the photograph a greater variety of tone. The sky is much darker and the stone has more contrast creating an image with a stronger identity and looks significantly more dramatic. Using film was expensive and difficult which meant that you could only take a handful at once maximum. This resource management lead him to develop the zone system. The zone system was an 11 part gradient means to visualise how colours would translate into black and white where colours were assigned numbers on a scale with ‘0’ as pure black and ’10’ as pure white. In addition he began to take his photos 2 stops under exposed for exaggerated tonal values and edited them slightly while the glass films were developing. This 11 shade system shows the contrast in his images best when pixelated. The above is this same image with each pixel showing the tonal shades. Every neighbouring pixel is a different value and range massively across the image, this showcases the contrast present in the image. This process is reflectivitve of the quote “You don’t take a photograph, you make it” which was said by Ansel Adams himself. A photograph can be deceiving or awinspiring similar to art and requires much input from the photographer themselves. It was not just shot and taken away instead it was carefully planned and developed, requiring the photographer to make and weave a narrative. His well known grand images popularized art photography among the American public and inspired many to truly appreciate the natural landscape. The zone system also affected how other photographers could control exposure and achieve richer tone in their own images.

Group f/64 was made up of 11 photographers with a common style of photograph with sharp focus and careful framing. It was founded in 1932 by Ansel Adams with the name referring to the aperture on a camera resulting in sharp images. Ansel Adams was an environmental conservationist and his photographs were a way to protest the abuse of land. His photographs were made to showcase the beauty of the land to push for its protection. This was a sentiment that was common among the group of landscape photographers. The group was made up of Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, John Paul Edwards, Preston Holder, Consuelo Kanaga, Alma Lavenson, Sonya Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke, Brett Weston, and Edward Weston.

This photograph showcases a landscape of the American west. In this specific photograph value 10 is present in reflective river and the left snowy mountain without any overhead clouds. The river is surrounded by much darker trees which makes the brightness stand out significantly and is also near the centre of the image which helps to draw the eye. The value 0 frames the bottom of the frame which pushes attention upwards of the frame and makes it seem shorter which in tern makes the landscape seem wider and larger and therefore more impressive. The large range of tones makes the image seem like it has genuine depth, similar to how it would look to the natural eye. This makes the image seem much more impressive as it almost looks as though it could creep out of the frame. The whole photograph was lit with natural lighting, diffused by the clouds overhead for a softer outcome. The details are sharp throughout the whole image requiring and was taken 2 stops underexposed. The viewpoint was up on a bank which flows around the left of the frame. This angle allows the river to run below and be visible in its entirety. A grassy plane many meters away is visible clearly which would only be in frame if the viewpoint was higher like it is.

His work is reflective of romanticism. This one in particular encapsulates the sublime with grand, towering mountains. These large mountains and gushing rivers are awe-inspiring but also dangerous. The viewpoint alone could be dangerous with its height however provides a beautiful vantage point. Ansel Adams also valued the environment and large land masses. He created his photographs in an attempt to have the land protected by photographing and capturing the beauty in the landscape and to raise public awareness. He deliberately framed his images to cut out any human activity to show how the land should stay and to appreciate the natural landscape.

Edward Weston

Over the course of 40 years, Edward Weston photographed in monochrome. His work varied between still-life, landscapes and even parodies. He also photographed the American west and was the first photographer to earn a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1974, for the final 10 years of his life he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and focused on printing over 1000 of his most famous images.

This photograph encapsulates the sublime through the crashing waves. It is taken from a high viewpoint in order to capture a birds eye view and the effect of the waves along the beach as opposed to a normal viewpoint which would focus on the skyline. This photograph is in black and white and in a 4×5 frame. The sand is all one shade without contrast which is broken by the rocks and sea. Pure whites, shade 10, is present in the foaming waves and creates a clear contrast from the rest of the sea. This contrast shows the movement of the water while also showcasing danger which is furthered through the high viewpoint is looking directly down a drop. Pure black is present in the rocks which creates contrast with the fluffy water.

Compare & Contrast

This photograph was taken by Ansel Adams and also shows a beach with moving waves. This photograph however has darker rocks and lighter water. This creates greater contrast across the image as mid-tones are almost non-existent. This one was also taken from height however looks across at the landscape instead of down. By looking across at eye level the photograph is not looking down or belittling the sea. This gives the sea more power and therefore makes it more dangerous. This image also shows the sea during heavier winds with larger waves which are more dramatic. The raging waves juxtapose with the sunny, clear sky above and shows the dual nature of the natural world. Romanticism was the movement that acknowledged and marvelled at nature and I believe that both photographs reflect ideals carried forwards from the movements impact such as the sublime. I believe that both images are representative of the sublime however Ansel Adams shows much more danger and therefore is more intriguing.

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston were two visionaries in photography and both were a part of f/64 with similar styles and ideals. They both took high contrast photographs of nature and travelled together on occasion.

— A letter from Edward to Ansel in 1936

“I cant tell you how swell it was to return to the simplicity and natural strength of your photography … I am convinced that the only real security lies with a certain communion with the things of the natural world.”

Around this time saw the great depression and the world wars which were major events and seen as even bigger ‘failures’ of modern society. The great depression was caused by banks going bust and loosing money which created an unsteady, unreliable and unforgiving environment. This understandably soured people opinions of the government and the ways the county was evolving. Not only were people wishing to go back before the banks crashed, but also back to simpler times without the need for them. In addition more people then ever were working on farms or ranches and pushed them closer to nature which were reliable. People embraced nature and again romanticised a simpler life.

High Dynamic Range

Exposure bracketing is when 2 or more of the same images are taken at different exposures. One under-exposed and one over-exposed taken with the same composition so that they can be layered together, needing a tripod. High Dynamic Range (HDR) combines these images to create a uniquely exposed image as a camera has a limited dynamic range and can typically only capture lights or darks in detail.

Lightroom

This selection of images shows a normal exposure, 1 up/down and 2 up/down. This means there are a minimum of 5 different exposures for a range in detail.

I selected each exposure I was going to use and right clicked to create the drop down. One option: Photo merge, has an option called ‘HDR’ which automatically masks and layers the different exposures.

This opens a pop up which has 4 total options of customisation. I selected the ‘Deghost Overlay’ which shows in red the masking this option used. I then used the graduated filter to change the sky slightly so that it would not be one flat shade. This also meant that it would contrast with the trees. I then set the image in black and white and adjusted with some basic editing. This was to achieve a similar outcome to Ansel Adams where there would be high contrast in greyscale.

Photoshop

In photoshop, file has a drop down with option ‘Automate/Merge to HDR Pro’. This allows you to add in all the exposure brackets after selecting the option and also has more options than Lightroom.

These options include saturation, gamma, exposure, edge glow etc. These options allow for more control over the final outcome than Lightroom provides.

For the final outcome I again set it in black and white and adjusted the hues. Red and yellow made the most differences to the contrast whereas magenta changed very little. In normal images the sky did not have as much detail as the ground however this editing allowed both to have detail. I used the dodge tool to lighten the wooden whites as there was no other light parts in the ground which had little contrast. The sky had lots of light shades however that was the only light in the whole image. Overall I prefer how the photoshop one came out as I had more control to make the image how id planned. It has more contrast and detail. The Lightroom was too light with little dark whereas the photoshop one had more darks which made the split more even.

A landscape is all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of aesthetic appeal ( nice to look at .) Landscape emerged during the renaissance in the 16th century but is said to have originated around 1826 – 1827 where the first landscape photograph was ever taken by a French inventor that went by the name Nicephorus Niepce.

Classical landscape art emerged during the 17th century however and eventually gained prominence in the late 18th century with the rise of romanticism, and often continued to carry a religious significance. Additionally, it became a method of self expression, with the emotions of the painter and their appreciation of nature demonstrated in the painting.

Mood board –

The origin –

People have been fascinated by landscapes long before photography technology came around. This is proved by the multiple hundreds of landscape Paintings that came before the technology of the time, was advanced enough to produce photographs. In the earliest days of landscape photography, technical issues meant that photographers were bound to work with blurry views, this was due to long exposure times because of the technology and it being not very advanced, which made any movement blurry. This made landscapes and cityscapes perfect material for there unadvanced camera exposures.

According to the records, the earliest known evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photograph taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce. It was noted that the first exposure took him an astonishing 8 hours, which makes it understandable that he chose a still subject. A few years later, around 1835, an English Scientist named Henry Fox Talbot entered the scene and introduced innovations into photography.

It was quite revolutionary back then because this allowed people a much faster way of rendering reality into a two dimensional physical format that they were previously only able to do through painting, since the paining process took so much longer then taking a photo.

Frances Frith was a photographer from the 19th century, born and raised in England. He was most famous for his photographs of Egypt and the pyramids, he travelled around places like Egypt, Palestine, Jerusalem and other countries in the east to capture his photos. In Frith’s photographs he wanted to make the viewers feel like they were there with him and thought about how to bring to mind the feel of things for people who weren’t there to see what he did.

What is the Romantism period? Where? How?

• The Romantic period began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837 (Peaked during 19th century/Times can be negotiable). During this period the political and economic atmosphere was heavily influenced, many writers finding inspiration from the French Revolution. It was a movement in the arts and literature, it was characterised by emotion and by imagination and by individualism (constant poetry of emotions/subjective own opinion/not factual).
• Other focuses in the Romantism era was an emphasis on nature, freedom of form and the exploration of the Gothic and unknown.
• The main idea of Romanticism is that it is the celebration/the movement (of the 18th and 19th centuries) of the individual, idealisation of women as well the emphasis of emotion and glorification of the past and present (medieval over classical).

Linking French Revolution with the Romantisism period

• It had a significant impact on on the work of romantic poets, it inspired the themes of of liberty, equality and individuality in their poetry
• The Revolutions ideals of freedom and social change resonated with the romantic movement, making them lead to themes of and exploring nature, rebellion and passion in their work.

Social Change

During this change many things happened like:

• Calls for the abolition of slavery became louder and there was a lot more writing that was open about their objections.
• People moved away from the countryside and farmland and into the cities after the Agricultural Revolution.
• Where the Industrial Revolution provided jobs as well as technological innovations that after would spread onto the US in the 19th century, Romanticism was a reaction against this spread of industrialism.
• As well as the criticism of aristocratic and social norms (“ruling” social class) and a call for more attention to nature).

The Sublime

The sublime (from the Romantism era) in my opinion is the overwhelming feeling of awe mixed with terror in it’s most “fearsome”, as well as danger (Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry (1757)). Edmund saw “nature” as the “most sublime object, capable of generating the strongest sensations in its beholders”.

He was not the first philosopher to be intrigued and interested by the power/ complexity of the idea of the sublime but his account of it was very influential. Edmund broke the idea of the sublime down into seven aspects, all of which he argued were visible in the natural world and in natural phenomena:

Darkness – which constrains the sense of sight (primary among the five senses)
Obscurity – which confuses judgement
Privation (or deprivation) – since pain is more powerful than pleasure
Vastness – which is beyond comprehension
Magnificence – in the face of which we are in awe
Loudness – which overwhelms us
Suddenness – which shocks our sensibilities to the point of disablement

‘The sublime’ is many things: a judgement, a feeling, a state of mind and a kind of response to art or nature. By about 1700 an additional theme started developing, which was that sublime in writing, nature, art or in human conduct was regarded as of “such exalted status” that it was beyond normal experience, maybe even beyond the reach of understanding in human. As well as generally regarded as beyond comprehension and beyond measurement.

It has been long understood to mean “a quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder”.

Edmund thought that the ruling principle of the sublime was that “terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or more hidden and not obvious in the moment”.

1. The first step to making a panoramic image is to select the photos which you would like to merge together. You then select merge and select the ‘panorama’ option. Once you have done that it will create a panoramic image and you can then move onto editing it.

Finished product:

I like this photo however I feel it is slightly dull as there isn’t many bright areas especially in the foreground. However the panoramic itself has combined well and it looks as if it is one long photo rather than many combined.

Taking panoramas using a phone:

1. As well as making a panorama through adobe light room I also took one using my phone camera. I done this by using the panorama option when taking a photo.

2. I then applied the same settings I used in my other panorama edit to make the photo a highly contrasted black and white image.

3. Finally I cropped the image as I found that some areas looked off such as the curve of the railing in the foreground. I also wanted to crop out the people as I only wanted to capture the landscape.

Finished product:

I prefer this image which I took using my phone as I prefer the way the clouds look as they are extremely bright in contrast with the sky. This gives a romanticised feel as it looks very dramatic and strong, this effect is created by the extreme dark areas and the extreme light ones.

Panorama by hand:

To create this I used tape to tape three different landscape images together. I don’t like how it has turned out as all the images have a different brightness level, the middle one is too bright compared to the other two.

Virtual Gallery:

I added both the panoramic images into my virtual gallery collection (landscape gallery).

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