In this photoshoot, I mainly focused on the urban area around Havre des Pas beach as I thought this could link really well to New Topographics. I also tried to include photos of man-made structures vs nature to show the difference and development between the two. It was very interesting seeing the contrast between the older, traditional houses compared to the newly-built, modern ones. I was very much inspired by Robert Adams and his photography, and I tried to use his work to influence mine.
MY PHOTOSHOOT:
MY BEST IMAGES:
All of these following images are my final outcomes of the topic ‘New Topographics’. I edited them using Lightroom Classic, and I think they were all very successful. My favourite edited image is the last one, because I really like the dramatic detailing of the rocks and also, how the clouds have been exaggerated to look as if they’re looming over the beach. The clouds have been edited to make them look emphasised, as if they are storm clouds, which creates emotion within the image and towards the viewer. I have edited all of these images similarly to each other to make sure all of the photographs hold the same amount of feeling, and they present the natural world in a straightforward, realistic way.
ORIGINAL VS EDITED:
PANORAMIC PHOTO EDIT:
I tried to make a panoramic edit by merging 3 similar photos together, which then resulted in a panoramic-like image. I think this was very successful, and it’s a new way of exploring landscapes through different ways of presenting them. This is a good way of presenting landscapes because it includes all 3 images into 1, therefore it’s unique yet detailed. I carried on to edit this image to make it black and white, which links it back to New Topographics.
Ansel Adams was an important and iconic landscape photographer based in California.
He used his work to help increase the acceptance of photography by helping create the curatorial department of photography as an art, at the museum of modern art in New York. He also helped establish the San Francisco art institute which had the first ever department that taught photography.
He started off his career as a pictorialist but transitioned into pure/straight photography.
Most of Ansel Adams photos are based in the Yosemite National Park California, which is home to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. His love for the National park and nature started in 1916 when Ansel Adams was a child and visited the Sierra Nevada on a family vacation. After this initial visit he started visiting the mountains annually and spent a great amount of his life there.
When Ansel was 17 he took on a Job as a custodian for the Sierra club’s headquarters in the national park. Eight years later in 1927, Ansel’s passion for photography grew as well as prescience in the Sierra Club. He started going on outings with the club and quickly became the club’s official photographer and in 1930 became the assistant manager for the club’s outings.
Ansel Adams even said his life was “colored and modulated by the great earth gesture of the Yosemite Sierra” which shows that is had a great influence on his life.
Group f/64
In 1932 Pictorialism was the dominant style of photography where photos were made to look more like paintings by focusing on tone and composition as well as using soft focus lenses.
Ansel Adams wanted photography to be more pure and less arty by creating photos with a high contrast and a sharp focus rather than a soft focus. This was known as pure/straight photography.
So Ansel Adams formed Group f/64 and consisted of eleven group photographers all wanting to create pure/straight photography and to make it the dominant form of photography.
The f/64 group members were:
Ansel Adams
Alma Lavenson
Brett Weston
Consuelo Kanaga
Edward Weston
Henry Swift
Imogen Cunningham
John Paul Edwards
Preston Holder
Sonya Noskowiak
Willard Van Dyke
Why was the group named group f/64?
Back when the group was formed in 1932, the only cameras they had were called ‘Large format cameras’ and the smallest apertures the cameras had was f/64.
The group was named after this, as the f/64 depth of field was the best at the time for those cameras, and gave the images a sharp focus, making the photos look more pure/real, which links back to the groups aims of creating pure/straight photography.
The zone system
The zone system was developed by Ansel Adams and Fred archer, who was a portrait photographer who collaborated with Ansel to create the zone system, while they were both teaching photography at the art centre collage of design in Los Angeles.
Ansel Adams described the zone system as “A codification of the principles of sensitometry, worked out by Fred Archer and myself at the Art Centre School in Los Angeles”
The zone system was used to visualise different tonal values so they would be in a photo, leading to a higher contrast. It divides tonal range into 10 zones with 0 being black 5 being grey and 10 being white.
Ansel Adams + Romanticism
Ansel Adams’s work can be linked to the genre of romanticism as it has similar properties to romanticism art and photography, such as the focus on nature and its beauty. Ansel’s photos can also be linked to the sublime which is a key topic in romanticism. This is because his photos create awe by the beauty of the natural wilderness but also unease by how vast it is and how small we are compared to it e.g. the valley/mountains.
The Lighting used in the photo uses completely natural light and has a wide contrast as a result. The photo has a good exposure due to Ansel creating a high dynamic range. The photo also has a large Depth of Filed as the photo contains no blurring and has a sharp focus which Ansel wanted his photos to have.
The photo is taken in Black & White, hence having no colour, however it has a large tonal range, which creates depth, due to Ansel Adams using the zone system. The mountains in the photo are incredibly rocky and as a result it gives the photo a rough texture. However, because the photo is taken high up the trees in the bottom right look small and the leaves give that area a soft/softer texture, which contrasts with the rest of the photo.
The mountains in the background give the photo a triangular shape. This is due to the diagonal lines caused by the edges of the mountains, which form triangular shapes. In the foreground the rocks look three dimensional due to the shades of black and white created by the tone and the rough texture. This combination of tone and texture of the rocks in the foreground give them depth.
This photo was taken of the mountains in the Yosemite national park in California by Ansel Adams. The photo could be linked with romanticism and the sublime as the photo focuses on nature, giving it a sense of awe and beauty, but also a sense of unease due to the large scale of the mountains.
For this photograph, I used highlights, temp ands hue to make the colours pop out more, with a vibrant mixture of colour, Blue, Orange these help bring the viewers attention from the darkened alleyway.
Final Result:
Before:
First Edits:
Due to the lack of colour in the buildings stretching across the landscape, I decided to make it into black and white to create a visual contrast between their tones.
Final Result:
Mobile Edits:
These Edits have been made on the App, Snapseed, Using their features of filters, and adjustment settings, similar to Lightroom I altered with the exposure, White & Black balance and other settings to improve them further.
Photoshoot 2:
Before:
First Edits:
For this image, I was Inspired from the works of Lewis Baltz, With his dead-pan shots of purpose built environments I believe I have captured that in this image, by adjusting the exposure, contrast and the WB balance I was able to create, what I think is a similar image to his work.
Final Results:
Before:
First Edits:
Like the previous image, I took inspiration from Lewis Baltz as well as Robert Adams. With Lewis Baltz’s restricted shot angle and as a conceptual basis of housing being photographed due to an increasing population which I believe fits the topic of New Topographics. Using the WB balance, contrast and highlights this is what created that dramatic tonal difference from black windows to the flat white walls.
Final Results:
Before:
First Edits:
Having the same conceptual basis of Lewis Baltz, the empty, dystopian sense of his images of industrial areas on a grandeur scale. Using tone setting such as highlights, shadow and whites and blacks I was able to create a shiny effect on the sun surfaced part of the building and big tanker.
Final Results:
Before:
First Edits:
Inspired by the works of a New Topographics photographer, Kieran Gosney, who I didn’t mention in my art reference, he photographs large industrial structures similarly to this one.
By altering the dramatic tones of the whites and blacks in the image, this is how I created the dramatic sky behind the brutalist tower. Like the previous image, I used contrast to have that shiny effect on the metal structure of the towers support beams.
(Kieran Gosney’s work)
Final Results:
Before:
First Edits:
By turning down the saturation entirely and highlighting the tone of the black and white parts of the buildings this adds much more volume to their architectural features as prior to being edited their colours are quite faded and muted.
Final Results:
Before:
First Edits:
Specifically inspired by this image of the New Industrial parks by Lewis Baltz, the use of space within the photograph shows the dystopian emptiness of industrial areas. In my image I feel I replicated that conceptual idea through capturing a large empty are where no people are in sight (despite the car).
Using effects such as contrast and tonal features like shadows I was able to create a deeper feeling to the image of the sites vast size, to further express this I also increased the clarity.
In my editing, I’m able to enhance the pictures and give these what were once boring pictures, pictures that now have character and uniqueness. I think that my editing is one of my highest strengths in this topic because I think that I clearly edited the pictures that revealed that inspiration I felt when looking at Robert Adams work.
My pictures show whitewashed pictures just like how Adams pictures were produced. The certain bland and deserted look that Adams picture had was something that I really liked, and I straight away knew that I wanted to produce picture that showed how heavily influenced I was by Adams work.
As seen in Adams’ work, Adams did produce some dark pictures that had a dark tone and highlighted the shadows of the obstacle he photographed. I really liked how he was able to bring a certain darkness to industrialization and how he portrayed it as something negative not positive. As seen on presentation 1, I presented a picture that showed a blackened building which, as stated above, was heavily influenced by Adams. I edited this picture so that it would make the building dark and unnatural and made the sky bright and natural environments lighter to communicate that the environment does not need this dark evil which is industrialization.
I strongly believe that the comparison between my work and Adams work is evident, and it is obvious that my work was influenced by Adams work.
However, there are some improvements my pictures need, like the fact that some of my pictures did not show the impact on earth. I could have photographed more specific places or buildings that heavily impacted the world. I should have photographed a building doing the destruction like photographing the place where plastic and rubbish are burned. I could have edited it in a dark manner to highlight how negative and impactful such action is to the earth. I should have photographed more serious matters instead of photographing buildings that might not even have much significance.
Editing process: For this picture, I pressed on the tab called develop and I increased exposure to +0.35, and vibrancy by +100, and then decreased saturation by –100. I then cropped the picture, using the cropping tool, so that I could remove the moving bus that was captured in the picture. This was all I did for this picture in terms of editing.
Image 2:
Editing process:
For this picture, I pressed on the tab called develop and I increased vibrancy by +100 and decreased blacks by –100, saturation by –100 and exposure by –0.09. Then at the top bar I pressed on an icon that looks like a paint brush that looks like this,
In this icon, I decreased the whites by –19 and then brushed these adjustments on the clouds in the picture, making sure not to brush on the darker parts/building in the picture.
Image 3:
Editing process: For this picture, I pressed on the tab called develop and I increased vibrancy by +100 and exposure by +1.05 and then decreased saturation by –100. This was all I did in editing to improve this picture.
Image 4:
Editing process: For this picture, I pressed on the tab called develop and I increased vibrancy by +100 and exposure by +1.40 and then decreased saturation by –100. Then at the top bar I pressed on an icon that looks like a paint brush. In this icon, I increased dehaze by 68 and then brushed these adjustments all over the picture making sure I don’t miss any spot on the picture. This was all I did to edit the picture.
Image 5:
Editing process: For this picture, I pressed on the tab called develop and I increased vibrancy by +100 and exposure by +0.61and then decreased saturation by –100. This was all the editing I did to improve this picture.
Image 6:
Editing process: For this picture, I pressed on the tab called develop and I increased vibrancy by +100 and exposure by +1.63and then decreased saturation by –100. This was all the editing I did to this picture.
For this photoshoot we went for a walk from Havre Des Pas to the energy station. I took photos of textures and the environment. I went into the photoshoot knowing will want some panorama photos (will merge them in lightroom), so went to wide open spaces and took photos of the vast beach landscape. I tried to find interesting perspectives and objects to take photos of (e.g. using a worms eye view). I used a high f-stop to get more detail in every photo (foreground and background with be in focus). It was a cloudy day so I wouldn’t need to worry about the dynamic range of the photo, so I didn’t use the HDR method. I also used a low ISO level, but not too low as I did not have a tripod. I used the aperture priory setting in my camera so I can change the focal length, I kept it quite high for this to allow more focus in a larger range.
Above is the route I took, I went down a few more robust areas with less people and 60-90s architecture. Here are a few of my strongest photos, with the editing process.
photos 1
here are the unedited photos, inspired by Robert Adams
I didn’t edit this photo too much, only adding a B&W setting, with increased contrast, decreased highlights and whites, and increased texture. This was done to add a bit more depth to the image without making it too exciting as many of Robert Adams photos where ‘dead pan’, with little interest to most of them with a first look. The 3 main building’s in this image have very different architecture, making the final image look more ‘ugly’ and less pleasing to the eye. The building in the back especially draws the viewers eyes as its been built with little care and inspiration, only being made for its purpose.
Here is a picture of the power station, with leading lines from the pebbled road towards it. For editing these 2 photos, I didn’t do much except increase the contrast and decreased the whites , to make the clouds more visible. Since I was getting a lot of my reference from Robert Adams, who has a deadpan effect on lots of his images to show the ‘truth’, I didn’t want to make the image too dramatic.
Photo 2
Above I was inspired by Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photos, like the one below. They where well known for there topology photos and creating a form of photography arranged by type that, through repetition, encourages viewers to engage deeply with the formal qualities of the subject matter. Bernd and Hilla Becher aspired to direct the audience’s attention away from the photograph, emphasizing the content rather than light, perspective, or other artistic choices. So for these photos, I repeatedly took photos of a large tank, at different angles.
Romanticism is attitudes, ideals, and feelings which are romantic rather than realistic. Romantics celebrated the spontaneity, imagination, and the purity of nature. Along with these elements it also included a deep feeling of emotion as an authentic source of experience which put new emphasis on emotions such as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe.
when did romanticism come about and what was going on in the time?
The Romantic Period began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837. in 1789-1799 the french revolution took place followed by the napoleon war in 1815. romanticism emerged as a response to the disillusionment with the Enlightenment values of reason and order in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789.
The Enlightenment ,is a philosophical movement that dominated in Europe during the 18th century, was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state to create a sense of free will. This also inspired the romanticism art to start.
romanticism and the sublime is like a rebellion of the heart against the head
what are characteristics of romanticism.
what does sublime mean?
sublime is the quality of greatness, sublime is like extraordinary or glorious. Romanticism artist try to use the sublime because it increases emotional depth in the art, and could even create a juxtaposition. the sublime shows that we are so small and inferior to these natural landscapes and it is emphasised ny the darkness and the comparison between the light.
Landscape art in the early 19th century was guided by two rival concepts: the picturesque, which emphasized touristic pleasures and visual delight, and the sublime, an aesthetic category rooted in notions of fear and danger.
what did edmund burke think was the ruling principle of the sublime?
“and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror.” Here Burke makes the shocking and innovative observation that the sublime is in fact an important aesthetic category because of the terror
what is landscape photography?
Landscape photography is a broad genre that encompasses many different styles and techniques. Some photographers prefer to capture sweeping panoramas that showcase the scale of the natural world, while others focus on intimate landscapes close-up shots that reveal the intricate details of the environment.
john constable
the haywain 1821
Born- June 11, 1776, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England
Died – March 31, 1837, London.
John was a major figure in English landscape painting in the early 19th century. He is best known for his paintings of the English countryside, particularly those representing his native valley of the River Stour, an area that came to be known as “Constable country.”
In his studies of nature during the period, Constable reverted from oil to watercolour and drawing, and he exhibited a fascinating range of work, such as Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831).
Constable created this painting, which quoted motifs from his renowned Hay Wain, while agitation for parliamentary reform against the church made conservatives such as himself very anxious. This panic is perhaps embodied in the painting’s dramatic shifts in scale: the wagon appears enormous next to the houses, yet is dwarfed by the looming cathedral, which symbolically stands firm, enveloped in a rainbow, in the face of stormy skies.
I went through each of my images and rejected the ones that were blurry, angled in an awkward way or lack the detail that I wanted to capture. I created images of my own, however I also created responses to my artist references: Bernd & Hilla Becher and Joe Deal.
Contact Sheets:
I created virtual copies of my favourites so that I could experiment with them in black and white alongside other tones and temperatures.
My Best Images:
(Bernd and Hilla Becher inspired images)
This image would be my favourite as I think the light has hit off the metal so perfectly so it didn’t require much editing. I think the composition has worked together well too by zooming in on a smaller area of these structures.
Joe Deal inspired images:
In this image I chose to shoot a construction site against a modern house as I feel this shows how modernisation is taking over from typical buildings and structures.
My own:
I took this image as I liked the contrast of the new modernized building behind an older, more timely structure as its a prime example of how society progresses.
Similarly, I shot this image with the same idea behind it. This structure used to be a part of an old railway track flowing around the island however, they are no longer is use. I wanted to capture this as there is black graffiti on the bench showing the change in timeline. I also wanted to do this as people would usually just walk past the many of these huts located around the island without even acknowledging the history behind it.
Similarly, I liked the contrast in this image with the new modern flats in the background of an obviously old wall as it shows the fast progression we have as a society. It shows the rise of modernisation.
For this photoshoot I visited Harve Des Pas, where I could capture both urban and rural landscapes. I thought this would be an interesting place to photograph as for some I could feature both landscapes in one photo.
Robert Adams (born May 8th, 1937) is an American photographer who focused on the changing landscape of the American west. His work first because popularised after he participated in the New Topographics exhibition (1975), and his book the New West (1974).
During his childhood Robert Adams liked Adams often accompanied his father on walks and hikes through the woods on Sunday afternoons. He also enjoyed playing baseball in open fields and working with his father on carpentry projects. He was an active Boy Scout, and was also active with the Methodist church that his family attended. He enjoyed being outdoors and that likely sparked his care for the natural environment, and how a lot of it is getting destroyed.
he first anticipated he would be in a career of teaching, but due to his passion for nature and how he saw it in it, he when down a path of photography. He bought a 35-mm reflex camera, taught himself the fundamentals of photography, and began making pictures infused with a love for the geography of his home state.
His vision is inspired by his joy in nature’s inherent beauty, yet tempered by his dismay at its exploitation and degradation. Adams uses photography to express his love for the landscape and to understand how urban and industrial growth have changed it, all the while insisting that beauty in the world has not been entirely eclipsed.
Photo Analysis
Robert Adams, Tract house, Boulder County, Colorado, 1973, gelatin silver print
The photograph pictures a two-story house whose half-timber framing appears decorative rather than structural. It was taken under bright noon sunlight, the house’s shadow barely extends into its grassless yard. The house is almost covering the vast organic mountain range from behind, which is appearing much more durable that the uninspired, geometric house in the suburb. The composition creates a deadpan effect, added with the vast emptiness of the background and the lack of life. The lack of life creates a feeling of isolation, almost as a metaphor to how we are slowly isolating are self’s to the natural environment.
