‘Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.‘

Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images, documenting his experiences in the West. He had a visionary belief in the conservation of nature and wanted to inspire that through his images. At the age of twelve, Adams found a passion for the piano, acting as a distraction from the bullying he received from classmates due to his disfigured nose from an accident that occurred when he was four. Throughout the 1920s, Ansel was pursuing both music and photography however once realising that he wasn’t able to become a professional musician, he transferred to photography for his future. Adams always enjoyed spending time outside taking images of nature and growing a strong love for it, desperate to capture such an overwhelming experience on film. The process began when he was just age 14, gifted a Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie Camera. This passion grew as he got older whilst more natural spaces were destroyed by the growth in man-made machinery and building of factories in the 20th century as he wanted to conserve these important spaces.

In 1932, Adams founded Group f/64 with Edward Weston, referring to the smallest aperture setting on a camera to achieve the sharpest detail and depth of field. He would travel on hikes through areas such as Yosemite National Park, being his greatest inspiration as these were areas with great natural structures.

The Zone System

Ansel Adams used a technique called the zone system – a scale from 0-10 showing the different shades beginning at pure black to pure white. He used this as a way of visualising how the image would look before he even took the image, he called this seeing into the minds eye. By doing so, he could use his exposure to show the illuminance of each subject in the image to achieve his intention. For example, due to exposure metering the camera may not be able to fully show the detail of a darker object in the image however by using the Zone system it allows tonal balance and contrast. This means that Ansel Adams was able to achieve the shot he previsualised as he will know what it will produce before he even takes it.

Analysis of his most famous image

My favourite images:

I feel that these two images represent Romanticism well because the in the image appear small and weak in comparison to the enormous cliff edges behind them which highlights natures greatness and how much power it holds in contrast to mankind. I also feel as if it shows how such beautiful things go unnoticed, for example there isn’t a single person paying attention to the incredible natural structure behind them. This is a key feature of why Romanticism began and I think this image encapsulates that.

I feel that this image also has representation of the sublime due to the vibrant greenery and flowers towards the foreground of the image, whilst a dark looming cloud hovers over this beauty as if it is all about to be destroyed. This also reflects well as the eyes travel up over the hills, getting darker and darker further into the background.

I feel that this image represents Romanticism because over every hill and mountain, there are hundreds and hundreds of houses and buildings taking over this natural space, showing the large amount of urbanisation within this area. This indirectly represents Romanticism.

The late 18th/19th century

“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. This movement brought a new view of upon artists, believing that their creative spirit is more important than adhering to strict rules and procedures. This emphasized imagining a gateway to a transcendent experience and spiritual truth whilst having an obsessive interest with folk culture, looking at the exotic, mysterious and even the satanic. This movement emphasized the individual, the irrational, the transcendental and the spontaneous.

This movement originated in Western Europe in the 18th century during the cultural movement of Neoclassicism, inspired by the aesthetics of ancient civilisations; valuing order, self-control and promotes ideal values. Romanticism contradicted this, focusing on instinct rather than reason. The German poet Friedrich Schlegel defined ‘romantic’ as literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form”. In each separate culture across Europe this was interpreted differently. In England, William Turner was one of the artists at the head of this movement, painting surreal yet chaotic landscapes where he would blur areas of his work to give the impression of dream vs reality. In France, the artist is usually a failed poet, their work misunderstood and rejected in majority of society acting as a detached observer to express feelings freely. However in Spain, Francisco de Goya used a genre of ‘dark romanticism’, full of anxiety, imaginary and insanity, typically consisting of characters facing demons. This speaks out for how the romantics in this period did not hide from their suffering anymore but turned it into a source of imagination to inspire.

This was during the era of the Industrial Revolution where machinery and factories were constantly being built, so the interest in landscapes grew due to the lack of them and how they began slowly disappearing. These landscapes preserved the nature in time during this period. Romanticism offered an escape from the stresses of the early Industrial Revolution as it was a place of urbanization and consumerism, trying to show how nature is more important and powerful compared to mankind. After the French Revolution in 1789, François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, and Madame de Staël were the chief initiators of Romanticism, by virtue of their influential historical and theoretical writings. This was a response towards the disillusionment within the values of reason and order, explaining why this movements key principles were emphasizing imagination and emotion. Such explorations of emotional states extended into the animal kingdom, marking the Romantic fascination with animals as both forces of nature and metaphors for human behaviour. 

The Sublime

The sublime played a part within Romanticism, discovered within the natural world’s wild and mysterious expanses. This was a concept that was beautiful and awe inspiring however to contrast, it could be terrifying due to the potential darkness in the image. Through paintings, romantic artists explored this by using the fluidity of their imagination however these could turn to nightmares with mysterious tones to them.

The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful’ published in 1757. He defined the sublime as

‘an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling’.

The sublime was used to evoke emotion within the viewer, giving them and experience of self-forgetfulness through nature or natural events. For example, Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings typically infused mist, fog and darkness to convey an experience of the infinite, leading to the viewer feeling an overwhelming sense of emptiness.

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.

I made virtual galleries of each theme in portraiture using Photoshop.

Femininity vs Masculinity:

Environmental portraiture:

Headshots:

(Using Artsteps)

MY EVALUATION & CRITIQUE:

Overall, I really enjoyed portraiture however my favourite has been femininity vs masculinity as I had a lot of ideas on how to be creative and experiment further which I feel I achieved. I really enjoyed researching identity politics and culture wars because I found a lot of information for context and it helped me come up with ideas of how to represent gender in society which is really important. I think that my images in this theme produced well as I was able to not only represent modern stereotypes but also show gender fluidity through the inspiration of my artist references. I like the way I have used coloured and monotone images in my work because both of my artists tend to use black & white yet I still wanted to add vibrancy to my work to make it more personal to me which meant that I wasn’t just using one or the other. I think that my intentions for the photoshoots are clear in my final images because it is clear what I was trying to create and they distinctly correlate with my Francesca Woodman, Shannon O’Donnell and Cindy Sherman. My work relates to Francesca Woodman as I have created a motion blur that covers the subject’s face using a slow shutter speed that creates the same mysterious look. Shannon O’Donnell’s – That’s Not The Way The River Flows– has been represented in my work through the images of my subjects hands and body with feminine and masculine characteristics also produced in black and white. I also think my work relates to Cindy Sherman’s work as she represented different stereotypes of women in the 1950s/1960s whilst I have represented the modern stereotypes of young girls and women. However, I feel that I should use a further analysis into my artist references’ work in the technical area because it would show a greater understanding of how they have managed to create the image as this will help me to produce similar and related images, as I will know how to do it.

The two artists that interested me especially in Masculinity & Femininity are Francesca Woodman and Shannon O’Donnell. I found them both extremely interesting people, however I think the reason why I like these artists is because their work is about the fluidity of identity and puts pressure on the stereotypes that are within masculinity and femininity. On the other hand, another artist I looked at was Cindy Sherman who explores these stereotypical roles and views of women which was something else I also wanted to represent.

Shannon O’Donnell

These were inspired by Shannon O’Donnell’s work – That’s Not The Way The River Flows. These are the images I wanted to use:

I put my images into black and white and got my subject into positions similar to O’Donnell’s. Similarly to her, I wanted to conceal the gender identity of my subject so I incorporated different parts of masculine and feminine stereotypical characteristics. For example, the first image is of a hand with an oversized plaid blazer yet the subject has long nails. In the second, my subject is dressed with large masculine shoes and a tie however they are also wearing jewellery with long nails. One hand has painted nails however the other is unpainted with a watch. In the last, I wanted to incorporate a more feminine aspect, so using the blazer to keep a slight sense of traditional masculinity, the subjects hand rests on a group of flowers with painted nails and a ring.

Comparisons and contrasts:

I think that these three images from my photoshoot shows a clear correlation to Shannon O’Donnell’s work because it joins the stereotypes of men and women onto one person which hides their gender identity. This shows how these masculine and feminine attributes can apply to anyone regardless of gender. As well as this, I feel that the images I produced look very similar to hers because they zoom in on certain areas of the body instead of an entire person.

In Shannon O’Donnell’s work she tends to use a plain one-toned background. In my first image I tried to replicate this however in the second one there is objects in the background such as a table, partially some flowers and the floor which adds more context for the viewer e.g. it is a home environment. Also, in the third image I have used some flowers coming up from the bottom left as I felt that this adds a more intricate design behind the image alongside a feminine touch.

Francesca Woodman:

I inspired a photoshoot by Francesca Woodman’s series of self-portraits. This was my favourite image:

For this image I used a slow shutter speed to recreate that effect on the head that Francesca Woodman used in her work so that it gives the viewer a sense of displacement. This applies well in gender identity as this can represent the struggles of growing up in a strongly gendered society. I put the image into black and white, not only from inspiration from both my artists but because I feel the light background causes the viewer to become drawn to the subject as she is dressed in darker clothes.

Comparisons and contrasts:

I think that this image shows a clear correlation with Woodman’s work because of my use of a slow shutter speed as that is what she does by turning away to the left.

In her work she tends to completely conceal the face from the camera with motion blur however, whilst I have captured this in my image, I have still managed to capture my subject’s eyes looking through. If I had turned down the shutter speed even more I would’ve gotten the same outcome, but I really like the way this gives a ghostly feel to the image, making it mysterious and unnerving. Although there is a plain background in my image, I feel that this hidden stare makes up for it as it adds that unnerving feel that Francesca Woodman’s backgrounds give.

Cindy Sherman:

My images:

Comparisons and contrasts:

Cindy Sherman in her work of ‘Untitled Film Stills’ acted in different personas of stereotypical women in the 1950s/1960s. However, in my work I have tried to represent the stereotypes of women in the modern day and the culture around it, especially with teenage girls instead of the traditional roles. In the 1950s and 1960s women were seen to be housewives however in the society we have now, the idea is that women are infatuated with how they look and become overly obsessed with this.

I am very happy with how my artist references turned out as I feel that they really inspired me.

I manipulated my images with one another in Photoshop after editing in Lightroom.

My concept behind this experiment is a shared societal insecurity of how we all never feel that we are beautiful enough and feel that we cannot be happy with ourselves until everything about us is improved. I wanted to represent how, especially girls, are so eager to grow up however once you have it makes you reminisce on being young and not cherishing it enough. My idea was a woman looking back into her young teenage years, which is why it is in black and white, recalling the memories of her as a young person in a society of beauty standards, trying to ‘improve’ every characteristic about herself. This is representative of how much pressure is put on women in society and how it causes young girls to be infatuated with their looks, when realistically they should be living the best years of their lives.

In this image I wanted to represent how through society’s strict perception of beauty, and how our reflections and opinions on our own looks become warped through the constant attempt to find something else to change.

I made these two images look as if they are shaking to represent the stress, betrayal and drama within the culture of teenage girls.

I took 3 photoshoots for this theme so that I would have a range of ideas to assess.

My images:

For this image I used a slow shutter speed to recreate that effect on the head that Francesca Woodman used in her work so that it gives the viewer a sense of displacement. This applies well in gender identity as this can represent the struggles of growing up in a strongly gendered society. I feel that this also correlates with Shannon O’Donnell’s work because of the hidden identity on the face however I’ve still managed to capture her eyes looking straight at the camera which I feel looks very mysterious and unnerving because you can ever so slightly see them staring. I put the image into black and white, not only from inspiration from both my artists but because I feel the light background causes the viewer to become drawn to the subject as she is dressed in darker clothes.

These three images are inspired by my artist Shannon O’Donnell as she likes to disclose the subjects identity and mix up the modern perspective on femininity vs masculinity.

In these two images, one subject sat in front of the other to catch their reflection whilst capturing an image of the second subject too. I played with the tone in both images with the first one, a more dramatic pose, has a contrasting warm pinkish tone to it however the cheerful image has a more cool tone to it.

I chose this image as I feel like this represents the culture of teenage girls in school as this stage in their life is filled with drama and arguments with friends. I sat the two subjects alongside one another, the girl on the right looking really devastated while on the left she is holding a knife with a smile, as if she is ‘stabbing her in the back’ through betrayal.

For this image I place feminine objects in front of the mirror such as makeup, perfume and a hairbrush to the right of the subject as if she is getting ready. This heavily represents stereotypes around women because it shows the way that women pamper themselves with products of this sort and how when growing up this is the ideology around teenage girls only caring about growing up too fast. This would generally be the image of a magazine cover for women, in which young girls would see and usually compare themselves due to the unattainable beauty standards for women in fashion.

In this image I put the light behind me to catch my subjects face in the mirror which gave the image Chiaroscuro lighting. I like the way it has made the background dark and lit up one side of her face through her reflection because it means that her face is the only thing you can relatively look at. The way the girl looks into the mirror represents the idea in society that girls/women are overly obsessed with their image.

Again in this image the light was directly behind me to give a visible reflection into the mirror and a dark background behind the subject so the focus is entirely on the face. However, instead of there being a strong Chiaroscuro aspect to this image I used the snout light with a pink-coloured gel alongside the flash-head and I have raised it to a warmer tone so the outcome has turned a vibrant pink. There is a strong theme of femininity throughout this image alongside that due to the nails, lipgloss and lashes. I feel the use of the mirror has helped reinforce the stereotypical idea of young women being overly obsessed with their looks and presentation throughout the image.

I’ve chosen this image as she is showing real emotion with the tears just under her eyes which is relative to the stereotypical views of women being that they are emotional. My subject sat just off-centre towards the left wearing black as I feel that the monotone jumper and background reflects the mood of the image, making the viewer focus on how this image brings an element of sadness to the viewer and makes them feel it too as she is looking straight into the camera.

Shannon O’Donnell is another photographer who I would like to incorporate into my work as an inspiration because her work is very moving and attempts to grasp an understanding of the way gender can be represented in a fast-growing society.

Shannon O’Donnell:

Shannon O’Donnell is a contemporary artist, photographer and short filmmaker currently living in Jersey Channel Islands. Her work is documentary yet performative which explores a gendered experience which focuses on the characteristics and traits of femininity and masculinity. The outcomes she produces challenges the traditional stereotypes placed on women and men in a sociological way, attempting to gage an understanding on how gender is seen in general society. Her work that particularly stands out to me is That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019).

That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019) is a collection of images that playfully explores the themes of masculinity and femininity through a series of self-portraits. However, this (similar to Cindy Shermans work Untitled Film Stills) comes from selections of stills from moving scenes of her masquerading as different personas however she opens up to a multitude of different sub-categories of gender differentiating from male or female: non-binary, transgender and gender fluidity. By doing so, this unpicks the traditional conforming narrative of gender causing the viewers to re-imagine our society and understand what makes us who we are and how we identify. This project gives another insight into how the photographer may have conflicting thoughts on her own identity and gender experiences. This project is fundamental to a growing and fast-changing society because it helps people (especially those who find it harder to comprehend) see the struggles and hardships that many people during the exploration and acceptance of themselves, revealing the pressures, stereotypes and difficulties that they face whilst growing up in a strongly gendered society.

That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019) is from a short film, described as a moving visual poem demonstrating the claustrophobia of identity in peoples lives and the demanding pressure to ‘fit in’. This piece also pokes fun at the ideals surrounding masculinity and femininity and pushing the boundaries and characteristics that were dictated to these themes.

Image Analysis:

I find this image one of the most powerful of the visual poem series. Initially, the monotone to the image creates drama with a sense of seriousness and professionalism. Due to this, the clothing on the subject has a high contrast from the pale wall behind, with the aspect of blankness throughout the image this means that the detail of the blazer and the material over the face gives the ability to focus on the textures more. The most appealing part of this image for me is the face in this headshot. The greyscale linen looking material draped over the face seems to be pulled back and behind the subjects head, covering the identity and ability to differentiate the gender of this person which highlights one of points of this series; the growing exploration of gender fluidity within society. However, as the material is sheer, the subjects pained expression through the pulling of the material describes the suppression and pressure that people struggling with their gender identity have to face. I also feel the panic in the subjects face shows how terrifying this must be in a society that has strong expectations and set propositions of gender. Alongside that, I feel the headshot represents this theme really well as the closeness of the camera to the subject makes a connection with the viewer which forces them to listen. The way that the subjects face is only partially visible through this material that almost blends into the wall in the background, means that we can infer that this makes people want to hide away their struggles with their gender and attempt to fit in. The focal point of the image is on the subjects face with the shoulders slightly blurred so that the raw emotion of the image really speaks to the viewer too, which means that it educates them on how difficult this matter is in a visual manner. I think the photographers intentions of displaying the claustrophobic pressures of gender identity has been represented really well in this image.