The land and us is an exhibition located at Capital house, and is a collaboration between ArtHouse Jersey, artists: Alexander Mourant, Remi Graves, Alice Burnhope, Hannah Fletcher and Sam Carvosso, as well as local organisations such as EYECAN Jersey, Dementia Jersey, Youthful Minds and L’Office du Jèrriais.
The Exhibition’s focus is on the need to reconnect with jersey’s natural word and consists of photography, poetry, sculptures, art and textiles.
Photos from the exhibition
Overall I enjoyed the exhibition and liked the sculptures they had as I thought that they were very creative and the detail was interesting. I also liked the way they included Jèrriais at the exhibition as it is a good way to help preserve the language.
Ansel Adams was an important and iconic landscape photographer based in California.
He used his work to help increase the acceptance of photography by helping create the curatorial department of photography as an art, at the museum of modern art in New York. He also helped establish the San Francisco art institute which had the first ever department that taught photography.
He started off his career as a pictorialist but transitioned into pure/straight photography.
Most of Ansel Adams photos are based in the Yosemite National Park California, which is home to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. His love for the National park and nature started in 1916 when Ansel Adams was a child and visited the Sierra Nevada on a family vacation. After this initial visit he started visiting the mountains annually and spent a great amount of his life there.
When Ansel was 17 he took on a Job as a custodian for the Sierra club’s headquarters in the national park. Eight years later in 1927, Ansel’s passion for photography grew as well as prescience in the Sierra Club. He started going on outings with the club and quickly became the club’s official photographer and in 1930 became the assistant manager for the club’s outings.
Ansel Adams even said his life was “colored and modulated by the great earth gesture of the Yosemite Sierra” which shows that is had a great influence on his life.
Group f/64
In 1932 Pictorialism was the dominant style of photography where photos were made to look more like paintings by focusing on tone and composition as well as using soft focus lenses.
Ansel Adams wanted photography to be more pure and less arty by creating photos with a high contrast and a sharp focus rather than a soft focus. This was known as pure/straight photography.
So Ansel Adams formed Group f/64 and consisted of eleven group photographers all wanting to create pure/straight photography and to make it the dominant form of photography.
The f/64 group members were:
Ansel Adams
Alma Lavenson
Brett Weston
Consuelo Kanaga
Edward Weston
Henry Swift
Imogen Cunningham
John Paul Edwards
Preston Holder
Sonya Noskowiak
Willard Van Dyke
Why was the group named group f/64?
Back when the group was formed in 1932, the only cameras they had were called ‘Large format cameras’ and the smallest apertures the cameras had was f/64.
The group was named after this, as the f/64 depth of field was the best at the time for those cameras, and gave the images a sharp focus, making the photos look more pure/real, which links back to the groups aims of creating pure/straight photography.
The zone system
The zone system was developed by Ansel Adams and Fred archer, who was a portrait photographer who collaborated with Ansel to create the zone system, while they were both teaching photography at the art centre collage of design in Los Angeles.
Ansel Adams described the zone system as “A codification of the principles of sensitometry, worked out by Fred Archer and myself at the Art Centre School in Los Angeles”
The zone system was used to visualise different tonal values so they would be in a photo, leading to a higher contrast. It divides tonal range into 10 zones with 0 being black 5 being grey and 10 being white.
Ansel Adams + Romanticism
Ansel Adams’s work can be linked to the genre of romanticism as it has similar properties to romanticism art and photography, such as the focus on nature and its beauty. Ansel’s photos can also be linked to the sublime which is a key topic in romanticism. This is because his photos create awe by the beauty of the natural wilderness but also unease by how vast it is and how small we are compared to it e.g. the valley/mountains.
The Lighting used in the photo uses completely natural light and has a wide contrast as a result. The photo has a good exposure due to Ansel creating a high dynamic range. The photo also has a large Depth of Filed as the photo contains no blurring and has a sharp focus which Ansel wanted his photos to have.
The photo is taken in Black & White, hence having no colour, however it has a large tonal range, which creates depth, due to Ansel Adams using the zone system. The mountains in the photo are incredibly rocky and as a result it gives the photo a rough texture. However, because the photo is taken high up the trees in the bottom right look small and the leaves give that area a soft/softer texture, which contrasts with the rest of the photo.
The mountains in the background give the photo a triangular shape. This is due to the diagonal lines caused by the edges of the mountains, which form triangular shapes. In the foreground the rocks look three dimensional due to the shades of black and white created by the tone and the rough texture. This combination of tone and texture of the rocks in the foreground give them depth.
This photo was taken of the mountains in the Yosemite national park in California by Ansel Adams. The photo could be linked with romanticism and the sublime as the photo focuses on nature, giving it a sense of awe and beauty, but also a sense of unease due to the large scale of the mountains.
For the photo I applied a Black and White filter and adjusted the levels.
Before I made the photo Black and White I made a copy of the layer and used the colour range selection tool to select the reds as I want the reds to show in my B&W photo.
The tool selected the reds then I did Ctrl+Shift+i to invert the selection and pressed delete and I was left with this. I also did the same for the yellow thing in the background.
After doing some final finishing touches, this was the end result. I am quite pleased with the end result as I feel it looks good and the reds and yellow in the photo go well and really compliment it.
Photo #2 edit
On the Left photo I slightly adjusted the saturation for the grass making it look greener and for the sky to make it slightly enhanced. The contrast, whites and shadows was also slightly increased, whilst also gradually decreasing the highlights and blacks. Basically small adjustments to enhance the photo.
On the right photo is the same photo but in Black and White as another variation.
I chose the edited colour photo as the better one, rather than the one in black and white, as I really like the colour detail and the contrast.
Romanticism is a movement which originated mainly in England as well as parts of Europe during the late 18th centaury, being sparked by the industrial revolution and the French revolution, and quickly spread to other parts of Europe and America.
The French Revolution began in 1789 and was caused by France being on the brink of bankruptcy and the growing dislike for the French monarchy. Before the revolution literature and also art was mainly made about high class people and religion, but after the revolution people were given more creative freedom to express themselves so started writing about nature and emotion instead. Romanticism was also used as an escape from reality which the French citizens needed after going through the revolution, further boosting romanticism and its popularity.
Industrialisation causes an increase in urbanisation (the increase of people living in towns and cities) and the increase in factories due to the demand for manufactured goods increased during the mid 18th centaury. This cased more people to live in cities and get factory jobs away from nature, which romanticists argued against and felt that this new industrial lifestyle was harsh and was supressing the natural human spirit. This caused romanticists to focus on nature again and natural human emotion as away to escape from this lifestyle.
The Romanticism movement mainly consists of an interest in nature and its beauty rather than the industrialisation which was going on at the time. Human emotion by expressing intense or true emotions, as well as the sublime. It also consisted of beautifying the past commonly the middle ages (medieval era) as ether a respect for the traditions and architecture or a sense of nostalgia. The movement was commonly displayed in the arts and forms of literature.
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a popular romantic poet during the late 18th centaury and has been described as ‘the farther of romantic poetry’. Wordsworth moved into dove cottages in the lake district, which was known for its outstanding beauty. Wordsworth would commonly write about nature, history and an emphasis for a simpler life saying “For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity.”
Wordsworth also had a hatred for anything industrial, which was happening at the time, saying at the start of one of his poems: “Is there no nook of English ground secure From rash assault?” And when a trainline was proposed to run through the lake district Wordsworth and his fans did everything the could to get the train rerouted away from the lake district.
Romanticism vs The Age of The Enlightenment
The Age of The Enlightenment which is also known as the age of reason was a movement that occurred mainly in western Europe during the 17th to early 19th century which focused on science instead of religion an rationality over beliefs. The romanticists were against this idea and felt that reason was overemphasised and believed in connections to nature and human emotions even if it was irrational.
The Sublime
Nowadays the word sublime means really good or excellent, however the sublime was actually a key part of romanticism and has a completely different meaning.
Edmund Burk was an Irish philosopher who moved to London in 1750 and served in parliament in 1766. Edmund also wrote books, in 1757 he wrote a book called A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. In this book he would go on to explore the ideas of ‘the sublime’ with Edmund describing the Ruling principle for sublime as the awe and beauty of nature, but also elements of fear and terror because of how merciless it is.
A common theme with the sublime is the sea as it can create awe by its beauty, but also terror by its vastness and powerfulness.
This is why shipwrecks can be a popular subject in these paintings as they can create feelings of terror, by the destruction and power of the sea/nature on the ships and awe by the emphasis on nature in the paintings, for example the sky and the waves.
Landscape is the visible features of an area of land often with an aesthetic appeal, and could be anything from natural to urban landscapes.
When did landscape emerge as a genre?
In western civilisations landscape emerged as a genre in the 16th century during the renaissance era. However it can be tracked even earlier in ancient China.
When did classical landscape emerge as a genre?
Classical landscape emerged in the 17th century and was influenced by classical antiquity, which means the culture and art of ancient Greece and Rome, and was used to illustrate Arcadia, a mythical, legendry place in ancient Greece known for its beauty.
How did the Landscape genre become popular?
During the late 18th century Romanticism started becoming increasingly popular in Europe due to the end of the French revolution and the increase in industrialisation. Romanticism has a large focus on nature, hence causing landscape genre to become increasingly popular.
As Collier Schorr is my artist reference I wanted to present my final images as a collage, so I started off by selecting images I want in my collage and putting them in a folder I probably won’t use all of the images in the folder but this is a good starting point.
Creating the collage
⬆ I started Selecting a few images and moving them around until I came up with this layout. I like the way the images positioned however I want to experiment even more and see if there are any other layouts I like.
After moving the photos around I also came up with this layout I prefer this layout more than my previous one as I like the composition and the way the photos use the space more.
Virtual gallery
Above is my virtual gallery which includes my final images. On the left of the gallery is photos I took in the lighting studio which have been edited and used as my final images as they are the best outcomes from the photoshoots I did in the studio with the lighting.
In the middle is my response to Collier Schorr’s Americans collage which includes some of my final images which have been edited and placed in a collage form. This is also why I put it at the centre of my gallery.
On the right is some more of my final images but they are more natural ones and are more simplistic than my other final images but are still equally important.
Evaluation & Comparison
Overall I am pleased with my final outcome and all the time and work I put into this project.
My work
I felt that my final outcome is quite successful as it is like Collier Schorr’s work but with a more modern feel to it, this is because my work resembles more of modern masculinity with the use of lighting and the studio in some of the photos. It is like a comparison to Collier Schorr’s photos which looks quite old and use more older men in the photos, some of the men are cowboys which gives her photos a more wild western feel.
However, there are some similarities such as the pose and facial expression in the main middle photo on both pieces of work which may hint that even though the idea of masculinity is changing, some things are still the same I also tried to use similar visual and technical references in the middle photo on my response, but for the other photos in the collage I tried to be more creative. If I could do the project again I would try and produce multiple outcomes and use a wider range of people in my photoshoots to make my photos more diverse.
⬆ For my first photo I edited I started by cropping it, so the subject was more centred and enhanced the blue by adjusting the colour levels and vibrancy and I also got rid of the blue glow, in the background, on the left behind the arm as the photo looked better without it.
BeforeCreating a black and whiteAfter
⬆ For my next photo I started off by cropping it to make the subject more in centre and removed any marks with the spot remover tool. Afterwards I wanted to experiment by having my photo in black and white, I liked it but I thought the back and white could be better, so I went through all the options until I found one I really liked.
BeforeAfter
⬆ I edited the photo above in the same way I did with the previous photo I edited, so I can decide which one to use when I finalise my photos and because I wanted to see how this photo would work in black and white and I think it works well.
BeforeAfter
⬆ The photo above didn’t need much editing so I only cropped it and slightly adjusted the temperature, exposure and contrast. Which I personally think the photo looks better now as it only need small adjustments and nothing much more than that.
BeforeAfter
⬆ For this photo I wanted to edit it so stood out especially when it came to colour. I spent ages adjusting the colour levels, shadows, contrast, vibrancy and saturation until I found the perfect balance. What I like about the edited photo is the colours seem more stronger and powerful also the image feels more clearer than in the unedited photo.
In this photoshoot I took photos of my friends outside rather then in the studio, as some of the photos in my artist reference are taken outside. I took photos of them standing there looking masculine.
A collection of my favourite photos from the shoot
Next steps…
Edit the photos I took from my last two photoshoots
Present the images in a collage or another composition
For my first photoshoot I was experimenting with coloured gels and lighting. In some of the photos the lighting wasn’t that good as we were only experimenting however some photos turned our really good.
A collection of my favourite photos from the shoot
In this photo I used a bit of red to hint that even the most masculine of men may have a bit of a feminine side.
Outcomes for my next photo shoot
For my next photo shoot I want to try and focus on three things:
Out of the three artists I picked I chose Collier Schorr as an artist reference, but first I need to analyse and find out more about his work.
About the photographer
Collier Schorr is an artist and fashion photographer who grew up in New York. Her work explores themes such as history, nationality, war and gender. She is most popularly known for her adolescent portraits which blend photorealism with elements of youthful fantasy.
Examples of her work
Americans
Collier Schorr created a collection of montages called Americans, which would be great to use as a reference for my masculinity final photos as I could create a montage of photos of males and how they look today, they could even be doing poses which are stereotypically seen to be more masculine.
Analysing the photo
The photo is a collection of four photos with one of them being placed in the middle. The photo in the middle is a black and white photo of a cowboy. The photo is taken outside and uses natural light.
The photo has horizontal lines from what is believed to be metal bars on a wooden gate, the wood on the gate gives the background, of the photo in the middle, a rough texture.
The photo at the back of the montage is taken indoors and uses artificial light. in the photo it looks like there is a man with a hat playing snooker/pool. Having that photo at the back could imply that it is less important and there is a hierarchy in the photos as the photo of the cowboy is placed in the middle, drawing the attention.
The photo in the top left behind the middle photo has a yellow filter to it, you can’t really see what is happening in the photo but it does have a man with a hat in it.
The photo in the top right has a group of people standing possibly around something but you can’t tell what it is because the photo of the cowboy is covering it, the photo looks like it was taken at night with an artificial light possibly from a torch shining at them, however the light is not too bright that it affects the exposure of the photo.
