Stephanie Jung works as a freelance photographer, based in Germany. She Discovered her passion in photography after finishing her studies in visual communication back in 2010. Since 2012 she has been working as a freelance photographer. She Enjoys traveling the world, especially to large, vertical cities where her photography work is in its best elements. She has had many of her photos shown in various magazines and art galleries. You can see her portfolio here.

how to take photos like Stephanie Jung:

She decides her location by walking round cities and does it spontaneously, this gives her the freedom to shoot where ever she feels she wants to. She then takes multiple exposures and then uses post production techniques to enchance the colour and feel of her images. She creates layer upon layer of each image. This make the image feel like its moving along in time, instead of a single snippet of time.

Her Photos are often multiple merged images, each slightly offset from each other. Stephanie Jung does this to create a sense of movement, matched with the busy environment. This is a better way to present the busy, chaotic city life rather than using long exposure methods. I think her photos like strongly with Anthropocene as her urban photos are almost overwhelming, in addition to being completely disconnected with nature. Compare this to some of her Nature photoshoots, they more still and peaceful as there is little movement happening in the natural environment. The photo below is a good example:

Edward Burtynsky:

Edward Burtynsky, born in 1955, is renowned for his continued investigation of the ‘indelible human signature’ of the planet, caused by are excessive destruction of the natural landscape, for resources, land, energy, dump sights and more. He is famous for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes, That show immense detail of the increasing development of industrialization. This size and detail can overwhelm the viewer with with “astonishing colour and relentless detail”, always focusing on the consequences of global consumerism. He is an advocate for environmental conservationism and his work is deeply entwined in his advocacy.

“Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times.”

He has received the inaugural TED Prize in 2005, and won the Tiffany Mark award in 2012. In 2006, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2016 he received the Governor General’s Award for Visual Arts. He also holds six honorary doctorate degrees.

You can find more about Edward Burtynsky Here.

He has many pieces of work, but the one I will be focusing the most on is his recent Anthropocene Project. In the photos below, taken from both aerial and subterranean perspectives, and presented at a large scale, the patterns and scars of human-altered landscapes appear to form an abstracted painterly language.

Photo Analysis:

This photo found in his ‘oil’ series was taken in Pennsylvania USA, called ‘breezewood’. The photograph depicts around 5 gas stations all within seconds of driving distance between them. This photo instantly stands out to the view with bright colours from the various bill boards, trying do draw drivers in. Its almost unreal how many gas stations, shots and restaurants are all crammed into one image, along one road. It removes the power of an individual human in comparison to all the huge, globalized franchises. It shows how much we have evolved as humans from the single corner shop that would sell only the essentials to these company’s that sell everything we could ever need at our fingertips. The automobiles are the most common object in this photo, and are seen throughout the whole image, likely on purpose as Burtynsky has strong views on how cars have impacted the world as seen from this quote:

Burtynsky states, “The auto-mobile is the main basis for our modern industrial world, giving us a certain freedom and changing our world dramatically. The automobile was made possible because of the invention of the internal combustion engine and its utilization of both oil and gasoline. The raw material and the refining process contained both the idea and an interesting visual component for me.” 

Photos I like from his Anthropocene series:

anthropocene is defined as the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The official geological time is the Holocene (begging 11,700 years ago) making Anthropocene an unofficial unit of geological time, but as humans have changed the climate and ecosystems so much recently, many are beginning to accept it as a new geological time. The national geographic go into further detail about anthropocene.

Anthropocene in photography/Mood Board:

The main issues explored in Anthropocene photography mainly the human effects, and future of or planet. We all live on the same planet, and will be doing so for many more years, so humans need to start looking after the planet that they live on. This could be through less human resources being produced (for example, recycling plastic so less new plastic will need to be made), or from being conscious of using fossil fuels (like walking to the store instead of driving and turning off lights when you leave the room). Voting for environmentally conscious governments can also help keep the planet sustainable for future generations, meaning we would not need to create a new geological time for humans effect on earth.

A lot of the photos above are showing the human effects on the environment, but allowing the viewer to work out how to solve these problems. A lot of the photos can be seen as quite beautiful, with lots of symmetry, geometric shapes, vibrant colours, and being very dramatic. This is done to draw the viewer in, and as they look, they see more details and more destruction of the natural environment. The difference between these highly human impacted areas, compared to work like Ansel Adams with the untouched, natural landscape of parts of America, it can make the viewer hope these areas wont disappeared forever in the future.

do these photographers solve the problem of environmental destruction?

Not directly, but indirectly I would say they are contributing to helping the environment. They are trying to change the viewers ideas on the environment, which it turn leads to better actions and habits that will ultimately be better for the world. For example, many photographers take photos of the plastic that’s been eaten by birds in areas full of plastic. Lots of bird see plastic as food, so they eat it and it stays in there digestive system, building up and eventually taking there life.

Mind Map of photography Ideas/ where I can take them?

I will be going to the Pyrenees over Easter, so I’m planning to take some photos over there. When I get back to jersey I will find some photographers that I like and use there photos as reference for my second photoshoot.

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

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.

Other strong photos:

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

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.

Other:

The New Topographics represented a radical shift by redefining the subject of landscape photography as the built (as opposed to the natural) environment. As environmentalism took hold of the public conscience in the 1970s, The old landscape photography from people like Ansel Adams, which where heroic and displaced the power of nature, where rejected in favour of how human activity connects with the natural world, rather than separating it. This means the truth of the natural world is captured, which making people understand the cruel impacts they are having on the world. 10 photographers pioneered this new way of landscape photography, and first displayed there photos in a small exhibition, in upstate NY, called new Topographics.

The Images they took showed the juxtaposition between humans and nature, and how we are constantly colliding with the natural world. They remind the viewers of the larger issue with our destruction towards the environment, as the heroic images of the natural landscape before often hid the truth. The celebration of nature continues to exist and photographer still try to capture the beauty of untouched nature. It is necessary for the causes of conservation.

Many people believed new topologies was the opposite of romanticism (anti-romanticism). Instead of trying to find the beauty in nature, by going to national parks for example, photographers of this exhibition tried to capture the by-products of Americas post war industrial expansion. Where the rise of urban sprawl and the reliance on cars are becoming a large worry.

the 10 photographers where Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel. They are tying to move away from a celebration of nature to a critique of humanity’s desire for expansion.

The image above is a very famous image from the new topographies. It has a very deadpan look, with nothing inherently interesting about it, due to its strait centre framing and blank lighting. Adams also had a very pessimistic tone towards this humans impact on the natural environment, trying to make the square and uniform mobile homes ugly in comparison to the smooth edged mountain top in the background. The harsh sun light reflecting off the mobile homes, with the dark and sinister background of a natural landscape, creates an obvious conflict between humans and nature. Many photos had basic composition, simple aesthetics and no beatification involved.

New topographics presents the American west being a landscape full of human developments, unlike how photographers of the pasted tried to present it as an untouched, beautiful piece of land.

Below are more examples of new topographics:

Photoshoot 3 – pyrenees

Other Strong photos from this photoshoot:

This is a part of the photoshoot I did In the Pyrenees. I Thought the mountains looked very similar to the mountains in the national park Ansel Adams took photos of. So I didn’t want to miss the chance of getting some photos of the vast mountain range. Here Is my favourite photo from the photoshoot:

Photo 1:

I took this while walking in the Pyrenees around early spring time. I’ve edited it to match how Ansel Adams photo turned out. He often used a red filter over his camera to make the scene more dramatic, so I replicated this in Lightroom by increasing the contrast and adjusting the highlights and shadows. I used Ansel Adams zone system, making sure there was some pure black and pure white in the image, With an even spread of the rest of the zones.

Photo 2:

Photo 3:

Photo 4:

Virtual Gallery:

Here is the link, I also edited the mountain range photo with different settings.

For this photoshoot, I really wanted to use the merge HDR method, so I set my camera to shoot 3 photos, each with different levels of contrast (as it will effect the shutter speed). Then In light room I merged the images together to get a higher dynamic range with the photos. This means the images would look more like what the eye sees (as eyes have every high dynamic range). This would allow me to get images very similar to Ansel Adams who’s images also had life like dynamic range giving a drama packed image. I went to Plemont just before the golden hour so the lighting and contrast would be very powerful. Also, the cliffs are very tall and dramatic, which will help make my image more interesting. Here are some good photos with the editing process:

Photo 1:

I took this image from the side of a bridge, keeping a visualisation on how I want the end photo to look like. I wanted the house to look insignificant compared to the large cliff sides of jersey. The dark and sinister cave below shows that humans don’t have the same power as nature.

I bumped up the contrast to make the scene far more dramatic from the textures of the rocks to the now visible clouds. However, Increasing the exposure too much left the highlights being to over exposed and the shadows being under exposed. I felt like the rocks could do with some more detail so I increased the texture which automatically adjusts certain sections of the image for me.

Photo 2:

Here I combined the 3 images below to increase the dynamic range of my image, each with a different exposure level:

below is the final image after the HDR processing:

I wanted to use visualisation again for this picture. I knew not to take photos with the sun in frame as it can make the image look less exiting if not done on purpose. I also saw some surfers going into the water before taking the photo so I waited for them to get in a nice position before capturing this image. The eyes are brought away from the dark rocks and towards the surfers, placed on the rule of thirds. This means the viewers eyes are always drawn to the surfers (focal point).

I wanted to bring the clouds out more in the photo so I increase the contrast and decreased the highlights and whites. This also gave the rocks some more detail. However, I believe that in photoshop It might be better as I can add detail to the image without the surfers blending in with the sea.

Above is some of the damage that people witnessed the Morning after the storm.

photoshoot:

For this photoshoot I went around St.Catharines woods in Jersey, as there where still lots of debris (e.g. fallen over trees) which I could capture. However, Its very difficult to get wide shots as the wood is in a valley, making close up shots the only option here. To capture the sublime I went around, looking for scenery that was very destroyed, yet still beautiful, showing how even a huge, dangerous storm can be beautiful.

Here are the photos I picked out and edited:

1st image:

Here, me and my family just entered the forest where we believed we could find some damage still left after storm cereal. The rain just happened to have stopped and the sun came out, allowing the path to ‘glow’, creating a warm and divine feel. I only bumped up the contrast slightly, allowing the road to glow more.

2nd image:

I found a broken tree, with 2 wide stretching branches growing outwards. The photo itself is not that interesting but with some editing (e.g. using the zone system in the style of Ansel Adams), I can bring this image to life and create depth in the complex textures of the trees and the stubble on the ground.

Here was the first edit I tried using light room, However, I wanted more control over the highlights and shadows is areas where the intensity is lost (especially in the Brocken tree). So I imported the image into photoshop so I can select areas where I don’t want shadows.

I edited the tree stump with the dodge and burn tool, to bring out the detail but reduce the exposure slightly. I also went into the B&W settings and reduced the amount of blue colour to make the sky more dramatic:

3rd image:

I dont think these are my strongest photos however, so to represent the sublime and romanticism, I will be retaking photos of cliffs sides around Jersey.

Here used a photographic method to increase the dynamic range of my photos, I will apply this method on my next photoshoot.

It works by taking 3 or more photos, one with a exposure unit of 0, and other photos with a higher and lower exposure level (the aperture is kept constant but the shutter speed changes). You are now left with multiple photos of the same scene that capture every detail of the image (including the darkest shadows and the brightest parts of the sky). To make sure each image is taken is in the exact same place you use a tripod and a external shutter release. Then you follow this process:

Collect the images with different exposure levels.

Use HDR merge (High dynamic range) and set Deghost to high (removes ghosting effect that is caused from wind normally).

The image on the right is the HDR merged image and looks much more vibrant and full of life.