Earlier Stages/His background & Style:

Edward was an American Photographer (Born in Chicago in 1886 and moved to California at 21 years old), he has been called the “one of the most influential and innovative American photographers” as well as “one of the masters of 20th century photography”. Over the course of Edwards’s 40 year career he too photographs of a large amount set of subjects, including landscapes, still life’s, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies.

He spent the years 1923-1926 in Mexico City as part of a international milieu of creative minds which was attracted by the post-revolutionary excitement of political activists/artists such as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, Tina Modotti as well as others.

In 1937 he was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as over the next two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. 

It is said that Edward developed a “quintessentially American, especially Californian, approach to modern photography” because of his focus on the people and the places of the American west.

As well as Ansel Adams along side him Edward evolved a modernist style which was characterized by the use of a large format in order to create rich black and white photographs with a sharp focus.

In the initial stages of his work it revolved around and was the typical soft focus pictorialism, which was popular at the time. Edward abandoned the style after a few years and he went on to be one of the “foremost champions of highly detailed photographic images”, he concentrated on precise studies of such forms as fruits, vegetables, shells, and rocks.

In the year 1947 Edward was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and soon after stopped photographing. The photographer spent the rest of his 10 years remaining spent on overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous images.

More on his style:

With the combination of Edwards passion for the love of nature and form as well as his stark objectivity, these factors came in play with and gave his still life’s, portraits, landscapes, and the nude qualities that seemed suited for expressing the New American lifestyle and aesthetic (that had emerged from California and the West from the end of the two world wars)

Edward helped develop a more modernist style characterized by using a large-format camera to create these focused and detailed black and white photographs.

The photographs below present some of my ideas about the broken and destroyed trees. I think that especially in the first photograph the element of adding something that’s man made and the something being put together/intact whereas the background divides that as the tree branches are all around and the tree is not

In this photoshoot I looked at the sandy dunes specifically and how it can intertwine and show inspiration from Ansel Adams’s work. I looked after different pictures from many different perspectives and from different heights to get different views. Despite the heights of the hills not being as high as Ansel Adams’ I was still able to get a nice range of different photographs from a different stance.

In my photoshoot I took them in daylight so the textures are able to be seen, if I were to taken them in a darker setting the outlines and different gradients of the photograph would not been able to be seen, especially if I were to edit them in a black and where monochromatic scale then the features would not show up clearly as I want them too. Despite the dunes not presenting themselves as high as they appear in person rather than on camera, I believe they look interesting and dramatic due to the different patterns and appearance of the grass, greenery, sand and rock.

I think that in the photographs above I have tried to display my ideas of natural landscapes. I believe it was a good locations where the combination of the dunes of sand and the different textures of grass and the land especially with the different heights put into perspective. I took photographs from many perspectives eg. up close, from below, from above, across the horizon, zoomed into a specific area highlighted etc.

I believe that the photographs produced and presented on the page look interesting and how the different textures are shown looks appealing as it not just a flat structure and flat organisation of subjects. I believe that the black and white contrast to the colour looks even more dramatic with the shadowed and darker shades presented the difference between the light and dark shadows looks.

In the photographs above I show the difference between the light and the quality. The white and dark tonalities look more prominent in the black and white photograph therefore looking similar to the photographic work of Ansel Adams where his “Zone System” comes into play where the level the darker tones range at 0-4 mostly in that specific photograph and the brighter ones from 7-10.

In the photographs above I believe that the landscapes looks interesting as the different patterns of the paths looks almost as if the continuous patch of greenery is almost cut and disassociated, it almost looks as if it’s separating from it.

The combination of the sand and different coloured/shaded grass looks almost like a swirl patter as the landscape presented is not in a straight pattern (almost looks like a maze or a map where there is many paths and journeys).

Especially in the first photograph below the previous writing the “map/maze” ideas comes into terms as it shows the landscape below in a bigger perspective whereas the second photograph the landscape below is cut off in half but the landscapes and feature closer to the lens which is a complex of textures of sand especially and rock at a slant.

The third photograph looks directly downwards onto the landscapes in a lower down perspective. The photograph includes the ocean and the element of the coast so not only is the greenery included the contrast between that also appears.

The integration of natural vs man-made is evident here where the subtle element of man made structures is presented here.

In this specific photograph, I believe that the picture could look interesting with contrast such as giving the artificial intelligence words to create such as “drought”, “desert”, “dried up” or “emptiness”. This contrast works well with the topic of Anthropocene as it could present how the future may look for the dam if the water continues to run out progressively.

In the image above presented the intelligence worked well with the image and created what result I wanted despite it showing the results of dryness and drought, I believed that the lower ground approach would have been more effective due to its ingratiating/decreasing in level.

The images above are my artificial intelligence photos of the different results, I feel as though the different outcomes look very realistic as indeed the reservoir could be predicted to look like those outcomes if environmental changes continue to affect the planet in ways like these:

In the print screens above I took inspiration from the topic Anthropocene and its response on the planet to create a dirty and polluted area in the waters as generally, the ocean is contaminated all around. I selected the areas necessary that I thought looked the most lifelike and inserted connotations and ideas of muckery, dirt as well as dangerous environments of potential risk.

I believe that the bright plastic contrast to the rest of the simple and timid coloured photograph looks unique and interesting almost as a piece of art as the plastic due to its bent form in a sort of collage looks almost even if it’s extremely damaging.

In this photoshoot I experimented with taking photographs near Corbiere. I believe that taking photographs in this particular location is good as it captures the landscape well, including the different textures of the rocks on the cliffs, the rock and different colours contrasting to the water below looks interesting and brings the audience into the scenery as each element appears.

It also looks appealing when the photographs are taken at a high vantage point as well as the photograph gives the viewer a view they may not see normally.

In these photographs I believe that more of the colour adds to the textures as in the brighter colours such as the yellow and green the textures and different

I have presented my contact sheet, in this photoshoot I focused on getting a perspective including the greenery, the rock element and the coast so that sand and waters.

I believe that including the black and white feature in the photograph plays well with the outcome, the darker elements of the photograph look even more dramatic.

Ansel Adams Early Childhood:

Ansel Adams, born in San Francisco in 1902 before the “The Great Quake”, four years later he broke his nose in an accident and disfigured his face. Due to this as well as not fitting in at school, he struggled a lot in school land due to this moved to many school throughout his childhood until his father decided to pull him out out of education and get him a tutor. Near Ansel’s home he often walked around sand dunes and trees and found solace and a sense of support/comfort in it.

When he was younger Ansel had an interest for music as well as photography and he wanted to become a musician as he enjoyed playing on the piano, after some time he decided he wasn’t cut out for it and at age 14 he received his first ever Kodak Box Brownie Camera. At this age Ansel and his family would visit the Yosemite National Park as well as the Sierra Nevada mountainous range and from there he continued with his passion for photography.

Growing up/His background:

Ansel Adams was a well known American photographer and environmentalist. He was an advocate of environmental protection, national parks and as well as creating a legacy of responses to the power of nature and sublime conditions around. an He was known for his black and white photographs of the American West. Ansel helped found the group “Group f/64”, it was an association of photographers which advocated “pure” photography (they favoured a sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph). Other members in this Group f/64 included Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham (among other female photographers who had been overlooked in photography/history) and as well as Dorothea Lange.

• Imogen Cunningham and William Van Dyke

In terms of his landscape work I believe that his work is very interesting and is explainable for the amount of attention his previous work has gotten, I understand how the mountainous regions, to the lakes to the swaying grass can effect the attention and can gather there attention as his work is very mesmerising and can be adored when looked at, I believe that especially during modern day when Global Warming is a big factor in society and park preserves and landscapes don’t appear the same as many decades ago. I believe an audience can also find his work appealing as they find a sense of comfort in the fact that the range looked so calm and lively in the nature aspect despite the photographs being monochromatic.

Ansel Adams Advocate for wildlife and preservationist:

Ansel was known for his courage and constant battle with congress in order to preserve the landscapes, he dedicated his life to this nature, advocating for the protection of wilderness areas and he did not just allow “his photographs to do all the talking”. His advocacy included: essays, letters, speeches and trips to the US Congress.

In Ansel’s autobiography he wrote that “I knew my destiny when I first experienced Yosemite”. As a young boy he took his very first photographs there and continued to return to it repeatedly through his lifetime. Yosemite National Park was central to both his photography outcomes but as well as his environmental activism.

Ansel had framed his photographs to cut out any trace of human activity in the areas, bringing forth the “untouched” wilderness. As in the Yosemite which were captured in Adams’s photographs Yosemite Falls crashes down severely, a winter storm clears over Inspiration Point, and Half Dome rises like a monolith over the snow-covered Tenaya Peak.

“The final Sierra report also predicts greater snow losses during both drought years and very wet years. The findings suggest that longer, hotter dry seasons would follow the wet seasons, drying out plants that grew in those water-rich months and making record wildfires such as the state saw in 2017 more common. Extreme weather could also lead to additional challenges in flood control.”

This report can further emphasise my point where individuals can find a sort of peace in time as they can be used to such change in terms of the climate and weather overall that they feel relief and calmness.

His technique:

Ansel Adams photographed using mostly black and white film and large format cameras. He enhanced the landscapes by using yellow or orange filters in order to make the skies appear darker.

Ansel was never shy about dodging and burning to create the image he wanted despite being seen as a photographer who never manipulated his images.

The technique name he used was called “Visualisation”, it requires the photographer to take in a subject without a camera and imagining how the final photo will come out. In modern day the term “previsualisation” is used for this technique despite the concepts being the same.

In his “zone-system” technique Ansel divides the photograph into eleven zones; nine shades of gray; together with pure black and pure white. (“You could assume that a normal photo does not contain pure black and pure white. Therefore the nine shades of gray would be the only zones you can find in a photo.”)

The Zone System applies as much colour, digital and video as it does to black and white. It allows to get your the right exposure “every time without guessing”. Ansel Adams presents this in “The Negative” (his book where he cover the use of artificial and natural light, film and exposure as well as darkroom equipment and techniques) where he even shows the viewer how to use it and shoot cameras.

 zone 5 being middle gray, zone 0 being pure black (with no detail), and zone 10 being pure white (with no detail)

• I experimented with Lightroom and used specifically three photos that I wanted to bracket in the specific locations.
• I imported these test images taken of buildings and nature/greenery.

• In the image above it is presented that the the merge went ahead and the level can be adjusted, the medium/highest level seems the best appearance when looked at the image.

• The image above presents the photograph in it’s best selection and the merge which does not look to dark yet too bright. This middle selection works best with all the elements presented as the darker features of the building contrasting to the sky which contrasts in terms of the grassy areas in the centre-lower area of the photographs.

• I decided to merge another photograph in a similar environment taking in the same process I did in the previous photograph. As well as choosing the medium level as it suited it the best with the different tonalities.

The image above presents the merge between the three different shadowed photographs. I believe the merge in HDR bracketing is a god option when choosing the right scale for the landscape and nature like photographs as it suits it well.

Own Interpretation/ Opinion of artwork:

The artwork (called “Noon”) clearly presents as the central focus on the three horses pulling what appears to be a large “farm wagon” across the river from the cottage on the left. The people presented in the off centre look like some sort of workers if not labour for the individuals that live in the well established cottage. The artwork can also highlight the social class of the subjects, even though there are not any “higher class” individuals present in the image the house speaks for itself as it can show that the house is in a higher position than the individuals therefore it stands in a higher class compared to the workers opposing the household.

Information of the artwork:

Originally called Landscape: Noon.

The image can depict a rural scene on the River Stour between English Counties Essex and Sussex.

Is one of most popular and greatest english paintings as well as being regarded as “Constable’s most famous image”.

Willy Lott Cottage still survives practically unaltered, but none of the trees in the painting exist today.

reflections on water, the shadows beneath the willows, the smells, the sounds – while waiting for a bite.’  Constable wrote of a “painting of a mill” by Jacob van Ruisdael, that he could ‘all but see the ells [eels]’ in its water. ‘The most famous of all Constable’s statements was sparked/adapted by the topic of fishing.

In 1821 the younger John Fisher wrote, mentioning that he had been up to his middle in a fine/ deep New Forest river and as happy as a ‘careless boy’.  He caught two pike and thought of John Constable.  In reply, John Constable produced an amazing sequence of free sensory cooperation:’

“The sound of water escaping from Mill dams… Willows, Old rotten Banks, slimy posts, & brickwork. I love such things… As long as I do paint I shall never cease to paint such places….“