These images are inspired by the works of George Marazakis and Edward Burtynsky and they display the industrial areas of Jersey and places where the landscape has been highly affected by man. I am going to make my images B&W because I think that it will have more of an industrial effect and less natural due to the lack of greenery.
Contact Sheet
Image Selection
Edits
Edit 1
This is my base image for my first altered landscape:
I continued to edit this image by making it B&W and adjusting the following:
Tanja Deman is a visual artist who was born in Split, Croatia in 1982. She received her BFA and MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and has since been included in at least 24 exhibitions, 4 of them being solo and the majority of them being held in Croatia and Austria. Tanja Deman’s art is highly inspired by her interest in architecture, geological formations, the relationship between human and nature and the physical and emotional perceptions of specific spaces. Throughout Tanja’s career, she has produced many series, the ones I am most inspired by include:
Fernweh
Fernweh is a series which explores the extreme contrast and effects of modern cities to the landscape. The images in this series refer to the ideas of man conquering the natural environment and the longing to escape from urban environments.
Sight Densification
Sight Densification is a series which is based on the aura of coexistent urban infrastructure such as skyscrapers, bridges, dams and roads and their dramatic relation to nature. These images have been edited to create a more exaggerated city landscape which features both an urban environment and natural forms.
Collective Narratives
Collective narratives is a series of photographs in which Tanja Dean framed natural environments within theatrical spaces with audiences. When making this series, Tanja was interested in different types of spectatorship and architectural settings and the act of a large group of people gathering to experience something together.
Overall, I am inspired by Tanja Deman’s creative tie between nature and humans in these series and how she makes a false environment look like reality. I would like for my own image to look as real and impactful as Tanja Demans and I will do this by ensuring that the features of the landscape I create look like they belong. In addition, I think the series which my vision is most similar to would be Fernweh as, although you can tell the landscape isn’t real, it just works and that is what I am hoping to do with the Industrial areas of Jersey.
Image Analysis
This is a photograph by Tanja Deman which displays an audience inside a theatre who, instead of watching a play, appear to be looking at a depiction from a woodland. This piece of work is part of a collection by Tanja Deman called ‘Collective Narratives’. Tanja Deman wanted this image to give the impression that a large group of people have gathered to experience something and observe together. I personally think that Tanja Deman has displayed this image particularly in an attempt to get people to make a change and reduce environmental impacts. In this image, there is also a high contrast between the theatre and depiction which highlights what she wants you to see (the forest). There are also clear leading lines in this image which are the balconies in the theatre. These lines lead your eyes to the focal point, the depiction, as well as the fact that it looks as if this depiction is lighting up the room. Finally, this image looks as if it was taken using a high aperture as there is a large depth of field and a fast shutter speed as there is no motion blur from the audience and the details in the image are very clear.
Living in Jersey makes it quite difficult to photograph the impacts on the environment from humans as it’s not as obvious as other places in the world due to the island being less developed and big on agriculture, however, here are some of my ideas:
Idea 1
My first idea is to photograph areas in Jersey which experience traffic and over-population, specifically St Helier. My plan is to go into town around rush hour and take photos of the traffic in various places, preferably from above. Some places I could do this are along the Waterfront near La Frigate and from above the tunnel. I am also planning on taking images of full car parks and places which are clearly over-populated.
Idea 2
My second idea is to create an altered landscape image (or two) which consists of the various industrial areas and areas which have been hugely impacted by humans around the island. This will be inspired by Emily Allchurch, an artist who hosted a talk at Jersey Library last year which I attended with my Dad. I was really inspired by her work, therefore I have decided that it is something I would like to do for this project as I think it would be an effective way of displaying our Island’s impacts on the environment. Some locations which I am planning on photographing include La Collette, Bellozanne, German Bunkers, Le Marais Flats, Quarries and Dams. I will then create my final image by using photoshop.
Art by Emily Allchurch
Another photographer who has similar work to Emily Allchurch that I am greatly inspired by for this idea is Tanja Deman. (Link to my blog post about Tanja Deman)
Idea 3
My third idea is to take images of potholes as there are many in Jersey and they are caused mainly by traffic and not being able to support the weight of vehicles, therefore, they are caused by human activity and sometimes you could say overpopulation, corresponding to themes of Anthropocene. I am planning on editing these images to look like moon craters by making them appear as similar colours to the moon. This idea hasn’t been inspired by any photographers as it is just a thought I had, therefore, I may not go ahead with this idea as the outcomes may not align with my vision.
Surface of the Moon
Idea 4
My fourth idea is to photograph agricultural land in Jersey as, although agriculture is great for the Island’s ecomony, it can also have harmful impacts on the environment such as polluting water and soil and releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Moreover, around 50% of the Island’s area consists on agricultural land and it is also one of the factors which promotes a great problem on the island – sea lettuce. The Island has had numerous problems with sea lettuce, which is often caused by streams running onto the beach containing fertiliser. For this photoshoot, I am planning on photographing fields from above, most likely in Grouville and St Ouen, inspired by Edward Burtynsky’s photograph of plastic-covered fields. In addition, I will also photograph old glass houses around the Island.
Edward Burtynsky’s photograph
Idea 5
My final idea is to photograph rubbish which I find on the beach and on the streets in its place but also collect it to photograph it again together and create an abstract image. This may, however, be quite difficult as it’s not easy to find rubbish on the beach at this time of year compared to summer. My inspiration for this is Many Barker’s: Our Plastic Ocean.
Mandy Barker: Our Plastic Ocean
The Ideas I have gone for
For my photoshoots, I have decided that I am going to create an altered landscape, inspired by Emily Allchurch and Tanja Deman, of the industrial areas around the island. The areas featured within this landscape will be similar to what can be seen in both Edward Burtynsky and George Marazakis’ photographs. The locations which I will be taking these photos include Bellozanne, La Collette, Sorel and St Peters Quarries, Val de la Mare Dam and various fields round the island. This is a rough sketch of my vision:
I am going to present the images I take both on their own, similar to Edward Burtynsky and George Marazakis, and as an altered landscape.
I went to visit ArtHouse Jersey for an exhibition named “The Land and Us”. This is an exhibition which was created as a way to reconnect and prioritise Jersey’s ecosystem, whilst exploring the past, present and future habitation of the Island. This exhibition included the work of various photographers such as Alexander Mourant, Hannah Fletcher, Remi Graves, Alice Burnhope and Sam Carvosso and many of the pieces have been created in collaboration with groups such as Youthful Minds, Highlands College, Dementia Jersey, Cheval Roc care home and Hautlieu School. These are some of my favourite pieces which I saw at this exhibition:
This is a recreation of dolmens from when our ancestors were building them 6000 years ago. This structure was created by Alice Burnhope with the use of naturally dyed waste textiles, community embroideries, reclaimed zips, threads, scrim foam and hay. I personally really admire this piece as I think it is amazing how much detail there is when you look closely and the amount of thought that would have had to go into it to ensure that each piece will hold.
This is a piece of sweet chestnut wood which has been engraved by Alexander Mourant, in collaboration with EYECAN. The carving in this wood represents St Martins Village Green and is a sensory piece in which they advise people to feel and imagine they are walking through a landscape.
As you can see here, there were paths which were created around the art gallery in the shape of the Island. These paths were made by Sam Carvosso with materials such as wood, sand, gravel, soil and hoggin. It is said that he chose these materials based on how long it took to walk each section. As you can also see below, he created an elevated area to represent the steep inclines of the North Coast. I really liked this feature of the art gallery as I think that it was a good representation of the nature of the island.
This is a piece which was created by Hannah Fletcher in collaboration with Hautlieu School and it is a chemigram which was made using silver gelatine paper and craic based photographic developer. I personally really like the abstract appearance of this piece and believe it looks like oil spillage, with links with Anthropocene.
These are various species of seaweed which had been pressed and selected by Hannah Fletcher. I really like the look of this piece and was quite surprised as I never knew how many different types of seaweed there were.
At first glance I thought that these were real rocks, however, they have been made by Sam Carvosso and Highlands Art School in Greve de Lecq woods using plaster. In the art gallery, they displayed a film showing how they made these on the trees and then collected moss to decorate them. I really admire the hard work they put into making these and how real they look.
Overall, there was a lot of impressive artwork displayed at this exhibition, my personal favourite definitely being the dolmans as I liked how vibrant and large-scale they were. I also liked how they used recycled materials for many of these pieces and collaborated with local communities/groups.
Anthropocene is a word which is used to describe the period of time in which human activity has greatly impacted the Earth’s climate and ecosystems.
Anthropocene in photography often explores issues such as:
Extreme Human-altered environments such as quarries, mines, dams, power stations and cities
Deforestation
Plastic waste and landfill
Traffic/Over population
Modern ruins
Farms with plastic covering
Anthropocene photography is a term which was first used in 2015 within a blog written by the photographer Kristin Wilson (Link to Blog). In this blog post, Kristin describes that Anthropocene is a vague concept and can be used to describe photos showing negative impacts of humans on the environment. Overall, the purpose of Anthropocene in photography is investigating and understanding the impacts which human’s are having on Earth and bringing attention to the fact that things need to change now in order to save our future.
I personally think that, by documenting global issues, photographers are helping in many ways by spreading awareness and promoting taking action, however, I also think that they apart of the problem themselves. I think this because the majority of photographers travel for their work and print their images, which will heighten their carbon footprint. In addition, the equipment used by photographers is not very sustainable as, for example, cameras contain various resources which are being depleted and can contaminate soil and water. Altogether, if photographers are wanting to make a change for the environment, they should be more considerate of the impacts they are causing through their job and contemplate using more sustainable equipment and methods.
Finally, it is very controversial as to whether Anthropocene images are beautiful or ugly. In my opinion, I think that it depends on the photograph. For example, an image may appear beautiful but the message behind it is not so much. The case could also be that the image is ugly to show the viewers the impacts we are having on Earth so that maybe people will act to make a change.
Edward Burtynsky is a photographer, born in 1955 in Ontario, who is best known for his images of nature altered by industry. Burtynsky grew up near a General Motors plant, which sparked his interest for photographing the impact of human industry on the planet. He was also greatly inspired to pursue photography by photographers such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Eadweard Muybridge. Edward Burtynsky studied Photography/Media studies at Toronto Metropolitan University and has since received his BAA (1982), an Alumni Achievement Award (2004) and an Honorary Doctorate (2007). He is still involved with this University community and sits on the board of directors for The Image Centre. Throughout Burtynsky’s career, he has gained various awards such as the TED prize (Technology, Entertainment, Design) and he has had his work displayed in over 80 museums worldwide including the Tate Modern in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Burtynsky displays his images as very large, high-resolution prints as they are more immersive and will really draw the viewer’s attention.
The making of Burtynsky’s photographs often requires the use of technology such as helicopters, drones or even lifts in order for him to get his desired perspectives. This may make it difficult for me to imitate his images as I don’t have access to the same technology.
George Marazakis is a photographer who was born in 1976 in Crete Island, Greece, where he lives with his Wife and Son. He studied Mechanical Engineering and he works at the Municipality of Heraklion (Administrative Centre of Crete). Marazakis began his career in photography in 2010 after having a knee injury, causing him to stop playing basketball and having to walk more as exercise, and he uses a Canon 60d and a small Samsung nx1000. He mainly does street photography and he describes his photos as candid deceptive. Other than street photography, George Marazakis has also produced a series of photographs titled ‘A Cure for Anthropocene‘. This series is featured on Lens Culture and displays his images, along with an essay written by Cat Lachowskyj. Within this essay, it is said that George Marazakis stated ‘While I was photographing the landscapes affected by human interactions in the middle of natural spaces, the topography started looking like a body to me – like something with the early stages of psoriasis on its skin‘. He then explained that ‘we can say that we are a disease attacking our own organism, just like an immune system can attack its own body‘. I personally think that this is a really powerful way to think about the impacts in which we are making on our ecosystems and it is something which I am inspired to imitate in my own photographs.
Photos by George Marazakis:
A Comparison of these Photographers
At first glance, these photographers have a very similar style of work in terms of photographing the impacts of humans to the environment, however, their images also have many differences. For example, Burtynsky photographs more extremely impacted landscapes, often from an aerial view, however Marazakis’ landscapes are more minimally affected and the majority of them have been taken on ground. Burtynsky’s images also appear higher resolution to Marazakis’ and are more varied in colour. Overall, it will be much more simple to imitate George Marazkis’ photographs as I won’t need to use expensive technology and I can find many more similar landscapes on the Island to his.
Images by Lewis Baltz – Inspiration for photoshoot
Photoshoot Plan
For this photoshoot, I am going to go to for a walk around St Brelade, mainly the area near the old Les Quennevais School, and try to find similar scenes to the ones featured in Baltz’s photographs. I am then going to make these images monochrome and edit them as little as possible in order to keep them natural and present the landscapes truthfully.
Contact Sheet
Image Selection
My Images in B&W
I edited these images in Lightroom Classic by making them B&W then increasing the contrast. For most of these images I also slightly cropped and rotated them.
Virtual Gallery/Evaluation
I believe that my images share some similarities but also have differences towards Lewis Baltz’s work. For example, they are similar as they display many straight edges and man-made structures such as doorways and walls. Some of these photos also depict man-made structures with plants and natural elements, alike Lewis Baltz. On the other hand, I think my photographs are different to Lewis Baltz’s in terms of locations as it wasn’t very easy for me to find many warehouses or buildings like what he depicts as Jersey is quite different to America.
As a class, we will be going on a walk from Havre Des Pas to La Colette to take photographs of landscapes, inspired by The New Topographics. I am going to aim to take photos of how urbanisation has transformed the landscapes of Jersey. For example, La Collette area is very heavily urbanised, therefore, I am going to try take some photos there.
Walk Route
Contact Sheet
I took these images using exposure bracketing in order to ensure that I get the correct exposure and to practice the technique.
Image Selection
As there were many images for me to sort through, I started off by labelling all the good photos yellow so then I could go back through the set of the yellow images and label the ones that I wanted to use as green.
Selection
Sub-selection
Edits
Photos I have left unedited:
I didn’t edit this image because the sky is very over-exposed so if I were to lower the contrast or highlights it would make it grey. On the other hand, I think this is a very effective photo as it shows development being done on the beach.
The following images I didn’t edit as I was already satisfied with how they looked.
Edit 1
I edited this photo by slightly decreasing the exposure and cropping the sides.
Edit 2
All I did to edit this photo was crop and rotate it. I rotated it so that the roofs of the buildings were horizontal to make the image look better.
Edit 3
I edited this image by lowering the exposure, vibrance and highlights as it was a little too saturated then increased the texture to make it more detailed. Finally, I cropped the edges.
Edit 4
I edited this image by, firstly, lowering the exposure and increasing the texture then cropping it. After this, I used the brush tool to select the apartment building as in the original image it was quite blurred, therefore, I did what I could to minimise this.
Edit 5
I edited this photo by, firstly, lowering the exposure, highlights and vibrance as I wanted the image to be dull to show how infrastructure has impacted the beauty of the nature. I then increased the texture and slightly rotated the image.
Edit 6
All I did to edit this image was make it B&W then lower the exposure and contrast so that tones of the sides and bottom of the balconies contrasted. I then finished this off by slightly cropping the bottom.
Edit 7
I edited this photo by slightly increasing both the exposure and contrast and making it B&W.
Edit 8
I edited this photo by making it B&W then slightly decreasing the exposure and increasing the contrast as I wanted the rock to display a gradient of different tones.
Edit 9
I edited this photo by, once again, slightly increasing the exposure and contrast. After this, I faintly rotated it.
Edit 10
I edited this image by lowering the exposure and clarity and increasing the contrast and texture as I wanted the picture to appear more detailed with the edges of the stone. After this, I then slightly cropped the top and left to get rid of the area in the corner.
Edit 11
To edit this photo I started off by increasing the exposure and contrast to make the chimney more visible, however, the sky became quite over-exposed so I lowered the highlights. After this, I finished off by rotating it slightly so that the chimney was vertical.
Edit 12
I edited this photo by making it B&W, lowering the exposure, increasing the contrast and highlights then slightly rotating it.
Edit 13
I edited this image by, simply, making it B&W then decreasing the exposure and increasing the contrast.
Edit 14
I did the same for this image as I did the previous, however, I also rotated it.
Edit 15
All I did to edit this image was crop and rotate it as I was happy with how everything else looked.
Virtual Gallery/Evaluation
These are my final images which I had taken during the photo walk. As you can tell, there is a variation of different scenes displayed, however, I personally think that they all link to the New Topographics as they all show how Jersey has been developed over time.
‘The New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape’ was an exhibition at the George Eastman museum in Rochester, New York. This exhibition was created by William Jenkins in 1975 and included the work of various photographers such as:
Frank Gohlke
Robert Adams
John Schott
Lewis Baltz
Stephen Shore
Joe Deal
Nicholas Nixon
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Henry Wessel
The word ‘topographic’ refers to the arrangement of physical features in an area, therefore, The New Topographics is a way of stating that the arrangement of physical features have been changed. In addition, The New Topographics was a reaction to the Post-war American Landscape, where the world was becoming increasingly suburbanised and landscape photography was becoming progressively romanticised and idealised. Moreover, the purpose of this exhibition was to highlight the effects of human intervention on the environment and, as a result, this exhibition significantly contributed to conservationism, a movement which aims to conserve and protect natural resources and wildlife, as it made people realise what the world was becoming.
Key Features of The New Topographics
The New Topographics inspired the beginning of the genre Urban Landscape and these images often included features such as petrol stations, industrial parks, trailer homes, industrial buildings and houses. These images brought attention to landscapes and areas which people see everyday but never think twice about in an attempt to protect natural landscapes from human intervention. The industrial features in these images are often paired with natural landscapes in the background to create contrast between natural and man-made.
Case Study of New Topographics Photographer
Robert Adams – The New West
Robert Adams, a photographer who was part of The New Topographics, published a book in 1974 named ‘The New West’. This was a book containing landscapes along the Colorado Front Range (Mountain Range) and it is regarded as a classic book of photography. Adams created this book as a way of documenting the development of freeways, mobile homes, low-rise business buildings and signs in the suburbs, rather than romanticising it. The images displayed in this book are all mostly of middle-grey scale which is a common feature amongst Adams’ work.
Bernd and Hilla Becher where a married couple who began collaborating in photography together in 1959, 2 years after meeting each other. After 2 years of collaborating together, they got married and they travelled around Europe and North America together photographing industrial architecture. Their images often displayed industrial structures such as water towers, coal bunkers, gas tanks and factories and they exhibited their work as sets of typologies:
Additionally, Hilla Becher stated:
‘By placing several cooling towers side by side something happened, something like tonal music; you don’t see what makes the objects different until you bring them together, so subtle are their differences.‘
‘For me, photography is by its very nature free of ideology. Photography with ideology falls to pieces.‘
‘We photographed water towers and furnaces because they are honest. They are functional, and they reflect what they do – that is what we liked. A person always is what s/he wants to be, never what s/he is. Even an animals usually plays a role in front of the camera.‘
These quotes prove that the purpose of their photographs was to display the beauty, similarity and complexity of various functional, man-made structures.
Lewis Baltz is another photographer who was involved in The New Topographics movement. He was born in Newport Beach, California and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he received a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in 1969 and at Claremont Graduate School, where he received an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in 1971. Baltz worked as a freelance photographer and taught at various institutions in California, as well as some others across the globe. During his career, Baltz produced numerous photo books and has had his work featured in a variety of Museums, including Tate Modern, Metropolitan Museum of Art and many in the United States.
Photographs by Lewis Baltz:
Baltz’ work, featured in The New Topographics, challenged 19th century western landscape photography by presenting a more realistic view of the landscape, displaying the effects of suburban development on the topography, rather than picturesque landscapes. His images were all displayed in monochrome and featured man-made structures with straight edges, such as doorways and warehouses. These features, in most of his photographs, are accompanied by natural features/vegetation such as trees, grass and rocks.
This is one of the most well known images by Robert Adams, titled Mobile Homes, Jefferson County, Colorado. It was taken in 1973 and it is best known for splitting the Colorado landscape into two, presenting both a sublime mountain-scape and the harsh reality of mobile homes impacting the landscape. Additionally, this image displays a contrast between the man-made, smooth edges of the mobile homes and the natural form of the mountain, conflicting between humans and nature. This photograph shows that the Colorado landscape and wilderness is not quite what you would envision after seeing the work of Ansel Adams. Rather, it is a site of interaction between humans and the inhuman, an environment scattered with human development rather than an untouched natural environment.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and they are images which display very high contrast, similar to the human eye or sometimes even more. These images often display details within an image which wouldn’t usually be seen such as shadows which would normally be black or details within highlights that would normally be washed out. This is because the image displays a combination of exposures which merge to create one final image.
Examples of HDR Images:
How to create HDR Images:
To create HDR Images, firstly, you should produce images which have been taken of the same landscape and in the same positions but are of various exposures. This can be done using a camera by adjusting the Exposure Meter in settings to be on -1, 0 and 1 then turning on Continuous shooting, also with an aperture of 16. After taking these photos, you should upload them to Adobe Lightroom and, for each HDR Image, select multiple photos with different exposures and merge them by right clicking then going to Photo Merge > HDR.
Exposure Meter on Camera
My Own HDR Images
Merge 1
These are the images that I merged:
Merge 2
These are the images that I merged:
I used the brush tool to lower the exposure and saturation of the water as it was a bit too bright.
Merge 3
These are the images that I merged:
I decreased the saturation and exposure slightly of the whole image as it was a bit bright then I used the brush tool on the cliff to make it more vibrant and contrasting between the green, orange and brown by increasing the exposure and saturation.
Merge 4
These are the images that I merged:
I thought that this photo was a bit over-saturated, therefore, I lowered the saturation and exposure slightly. I also rotated the image as it was taken at a bit of an angle.
Merge 5
These are the images that I merged:
This photo, at first, turned out very over-saturated and the sky was very dull so I lowered the entire saturation then used the brush tool to increase the saturation for the sky so that there was a little bit of blue.
Merge 6
These are the images that I merged:
I slightly cropped the left side and bottom of this photo as they looked a bit out of focus, making the quality of the photo look worse.
Merge 7
These are the images that I merged:
Virtual Gallery of Final Outcomes
I used ArtSteps to create the following Virtual Galleries:
Evaluation
Overall, my images relate to Ansel Adams’ as they display high contrast, however, my images are in colour rather than B&W. These images also relate to the sublime as they display the beauty of the cliffs, however, their size and brilliance is terrifying when in comparison to a human.
These are some of my images in B&W:
As you can see, each of my images display a range of tones within the Colour Zonal System, alike the work of Ansel Adams.
Ansel Adams with his large-format camera and his wooden tripod
Early Childhood
Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco in 1902, shortly before the ‘Great Quake’ in 1906. As a result of an aftershock of the Great Quake, Ansel was slammed to the floor and he suffered from a broken nose, leaving his face disfigured. When Adams was in school he was very introverted and conscious of his nose, which he never got fixed, so he didn’t fit in very well at school, resulting of him moving schools a lot. After moving around various schools, his Father decided that it was best for Ansel to get home-schooled. During this time, Adams would find comfort in going on long walks to the forest and dunes of the Golden Gate, which was near his house. When Adams was 12, he taught himself to play and read music on the piano, which he really enjoyed, however, after years of lessons, he realised he wasn’t cut out to be a professional. When Adams was 14, he was gifted a Kodak Brownie Box Camera by his parents and was taken on a trip to the Yosemite National Park, where he later met his Wife and would frequently visit up until his death in 1984.
Professional Career
In 1919, Ansel Adams joined the Sierra Club, an organisation which worked to protect the environment by creating national parks. In 1927, Adams was officially named the Sierra Club’s trip photographer and he published his first photos on the Sierra Club Bulletin. Adam’s reputation as a photographer and environmentalist grew over the next few years and he became more politically involved with the Club’s Environmental Activities such as the fight to create King’s Canyon National Park. In 1934, Adams was elected as a member of the Board of Directors for this club and maintained the role for 37 years. In 1936, Ansel used his portfolios as a way to try and convince the members of congress to transform the area into a park, however, this proposal failed. This failure did not stop Adam’s fight for the park so in 1938 he published a book with his photos of the King’s Canyon National Park which then gained the attention of many people, including President Roosevelt. Finally, in 1940 the King’s Canyon National Park was created and Adams became known for being both an artist and defender of Yosemite and the environment. Ansel Adams went on to gain multiple Presidential rewards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980, and he was (and still is) admired for preserving nature in both his photos and in real life.
Map showing San Francisco, Yosemite National Park and Kings Canyon National Park
Cover of Ansel Adams’ Kings Canyon Book created for fight for the National Park
Image showing Ansel Adams climbing to photograph the Dome
This is the photo which Ansel Adams took in 1927 that ultimately changed his career. Adams started the journey to take this photo on the morning of April 10th, alongside his Fiancé and 3 of his close friends. During this journey, the group had to climb to mountain with all their gear to get to the diving board, a platform where they could view the face of the dome. At the time this photo was taken, out of the frame there was the sun which was highlighting the face of the dome, creating contrast between the black sky, grey dome and white snow. The photo on the right shows the result from the use of a yellow filter, which Adams didn’t believe fit his vision so he swapped it to a dark red filter, which can be seen on the left as his final image. Furthermore, Ansel used visualisation to take this image by imagining what he would like the image to look like in his head before actually taking it.
Some more photographs by Ansel Adams
Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain, Yosemite National Park, California, 1948
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, 1937
Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, 1934
Thunderstorm, Yosemite Valley, 1945
Nevada Fall, Rainbow, 1947
Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite National Park, 1935
As you can see, Ansel Adams enjoyed taking photos of mountains, especially within Yosemite National Park, and water courses. Although Adams took many photographs within his lifetime, these were some of my favourites as I think that they are a good representation of his capabilities and style.
Colour zonal system
The colour zonal system is a system which was used thoroughly by Ansel Adams that ranges from 0 to 10 in roman numerals. Each number represents a tonal value from black to white, with grey tones in the middle. This system is the exposure meter on a modern camera and each zone represents an f-stop which is used to change the aperture. In addition, Adams used this system to control the contrast in his images so that they display both highlights and shadows.
The Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, 1942
This is a very well known photograph by Ansel Adams. As you can see, it clearly displays tones ranging from 0 to 10 in the colour zonal system. For example, the colours in the river range from 8 to 10 and the bottom left corner is clearly 0. Also, the snow on the mountains is 10 but the mountains that it is upon appear to vary between all tones.
Ansel Adams and Group f/64
On the 15th of November 1932 at the M.H Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, Ansel Adams, along with 10 other photographers, announced themselves as Group f/64. This was a group of photographers with the same style of sharply detailed, purist photography, such Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, his son Brett Weston, Willard Van Dyke and more. This group was created against pictorialism and, instead, promoting realism in photography.
Edward Weston was an American Photographer, born in Illinois in 1886, who was best known for his detailed images of natural forms, landscapes and nudes. Weston received his first camera at the age of 16 as a gift from his father then studied at the Illinois College of Photography. In 1911, Edward Weston moved to California to pursue his Photography career after falling in love with it when visiting his sister.
Edward Weston and Ansel Adams became great friends through their careers and Group f/64 and they were two of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. Whilst Ansel Adams liked to focus on depictions of mountains and clouds, Edward Weston would focus mostly on close ups of natural objects such as fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, Weston also depicted many landscapes, mostly of sand dunes, capturing their finer details. Although their work differed in some ways they were also very similar in terms of displaying high contrast and detail. Each of their work also displayed themes of Romanticism as they displayed the natural beauty of the world and things within it that have not been impacted by humans.
Photographs by Edward Weston:
Quotes
‘You don’t take a photograph, you make it.‘ – Ansel Adams
This is one of the most well-known quotes from Ansel Adams where he is referring to the fact that taking photographs is much more than just the click of a button and, instead, it is what you make it by visualisation and hard work.
‘We don’t make a photograph just with a camera, we bring to the act of photography all the books we have read, the movies we have seen, the music we have heard, the people we have loved.’– Ansel Adams
Similarly to the previous quote, here, Adams explains that there is more to photography than just taking a photo on a camera which is what motivates us to take the image and the story behind it.
‘Good composition is merely the strongest way of seeing.’ – Edward Weston
This quote describes what the art of photographic composition really is and describes that it is one of the key points to success when taking a photograph, rather than the subject matter. For example, if you were to get a professional photographer and a child to take a photograph of the same subject, it is most likely that the professional photographer will have a more successful outcome as they have more knowledge of composition.
