Tranquility
My idea for responding to the word tranquility is presented through escaping crowded areas and how I could present a sense of calmness through my images. Through my three stands I planned to explore how I could present both urban and natural landscapes in a tranquil manner. I planned one of my three stands would be urban landscapes however my images would only incorporate structures and not people. Whereas my other two strands would focus on natural landscapes. One of the two strands would be directed towards water and how I could present it through involving surrounding wild life to portray a feeling of tranquility. The other natural landscape strand would focus towards grasslands and fields where Id use small plants to create depths of fields. |
Strand 1-Photographer 1
Eric Manten
Eric Manten Photographs the "Round lake in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York". Manten was inspired by the Round lake and has always felt "drawn to it and capturing its ghostly charm on an early morning shrouded in fog". While this natural phenomenon can occur at any time of the year, it is most common during the spring and autumn months, when the temperature fluctuations between night and day are most pronounced. This unique weather pattern creates a magical and ethereal atmosphere that is a photographer's dream. Manten said his main focuses when arriving at the lake where "timing, composition, long exposure and patience". Timing was one of his focuses as he planned many of his shoots ahead of time and arrived to the lake before sunrise so that he had plenty of time to find the best locations and set up all of his equipment. Composition was another focus as the mist can be used to create "depth and mood in the photographs and elements like trees and rocks can serve as foreground elements that emerge from the haze, adding depth and interest to the image". Long exposure was more of tool that he used rather than a focus as was able to get rid of any ripples in the water and thus creating a sense of serenity and tranquility. Finally patience because fog is a dynamic phenomenon whose density can change rapidly. Patience is essential when waiting for the perfect moments to capture the desired mood and atmosphere. Manten edited the raw images in ON1 with some basic adjustments:
- basic image enhancements
- converting to black and white
- increasing the 'whites'
- increasing contrast
- basic image enhancements
- converting to black and white
- increasing the 'whites'
- increasing contrast
Response
For this response I main focus was to photograph plants growing through and out of the water and how Id be able to photograph a frame them while also being obstructed by other plants is the surroundings of the body of water. I then planned to incorporate the natural light and how I could use that to create reflections on the water.
Edited Response
www: I am pleased with these images as while I was photographing I aimed to get close enough to the water as to get a reflection off of some the objects in the water while still being able to include enough negative space.
ebi: I would have liked to photograph more animals within the water as there movements would have created more ripples in the water.
ebi: I would have liked to photograph more animals within the water as there movements would have created more ripples in the water.
Strand 2 - Photographer 2
Tammy Schilds
Schilds felt the act of capturing these moments in North Carolina where she was born, provides "a tangible connection to serenity, a rare respite amid life’s turbulence". Shilds photographs with a 'Canon 5D Mark III, accompanied by an arsenal of lenses that include the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 and Canon 85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2.8L, and 135mm f/2L". Schilds said that she "firmly believe that, by breaking down the whole, you uncover beauty in unexpected places, and the creative possibilities become boundless." This explains to the reader of Schilds photographing process which involves constantly observing the ground for what she thinks is worth photographing. Explaining how their is so much to photograph as their are endless fields and woodlands to photograph. Her editing process is straightforward: "warm it up, add contrast, apply a deep matte, throw in a vignette, and done. she aim to keep it simple and efficient, finding that these fundamental steps often yield the desired aesthetic". While a few additional tweaks may be incorporated depending on the image, she generally leans towards a quick and straightforward approach.
Response
For this response my main goal is to was to get detailed photographs of the textures of plants that grow low to the ground and to be able to use those plants to create a foreground while other shrubbery and trees in less focus would be used to create the background. My plan is to experiment with different heights of plants and which angle I would photograph them from so that the background can be completely interchangeable within 360 degrees.
Edited Response
www: I am happy with these images because I felt like I was able to isolate certain pieces of nature very effectively through adjusting the focus on my camera and finding part of nature that weren't overwhelmed with shrubbery.
ebi: I would have liked to have found a wider variety of colour in nature as to have a larger selection to experiment with.
ebi: I would have liked to have found a wider variety of colour in nature as to have a larger selection to experiment with.
Strand 2 - Photographer 3
Alexander Rodchenko
Alexander Rodchenko was born in St Petersburg in1891. The Russian Revolution was Rodchenko inspiration. In the 1920s, Rodchenko abandoned painting, and the painterly aesthetic, turning instead to a range of new media, focusing on the more tangible and material aspects of art, from sculpture to photography to graphic design, to help promote the new Soviet state, designing everything from advertisements to furniture to book covers. When photographing Rodchenko thought "new objects should be depicted from different sides in order to provide a complete impression of the object" and was able to achieve this as he believed that "photography allowed contradictions of perspective, contrasts of light, contrasts of form and points of view impossible to achieve in drawing and painting". One of Rodchenko main techniques in his photography is his used of "leading lines which are a compositional technique where human-made or natural lines lead the viewer's eyes through a photograph to the subject or the heart of the image".
Response
For this response I planned to travel through central London to utilise the vast variety of different architecture. Through this I plan to photograph these images from different side of the street and direction. Through this change is angle and direction of where to photograph is taken I plan to be able to manipulate how much natural light will be able to affect my images while also having control of negative space and "leading lines" within the structures.
Edited Response
www: I think these images came out well because I was able to capture similar angles as to Rodchenko however his image had a much closer approach to the building whereas I feel my images have more distance and therefore allowing the view to analyse the building into further depth.
ebi: I would have liked to have founds buildings with balconies as they always contain personal items which I think would have added more to the image rather than just the building.
ebi: I would have liked to have founds buildings with balconies as they always contain personal items which I think would have added more to the image rather than just the building.
Developed Strand
Development 1
Nadav Kander
Kander was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, but two years later, his family moved to South Africa and settled there. He began to take photographs using a "Pentax camera in 1974". He was later drafted into the South African Army, "where he worked in a dark room, printing aerial photographs". Kander's primary intention with "Dark Line – The Thames Estuary" is to explore "the relationship between landscape and human activity, particularly in the context of environmental change". In "Dark Line," he captures the quality of the estuary's landscape, "often shrouded in mist and darkness". This lends a sense of mystery and foreboding to the images, "inviting viewers to contemplate the precarious balance between beauty and decay". He often incorporates elements of symmetry and balance, juxtaposing natural forms with man-made structures.
Response
For this response I planned to travel to one of the many Thames River beaches. I had to do some prior research to calculate when their would be a low tide to allow me to access these beaches. Once I arrive I planned to used the placement of the ridge to my advantage as Id be able to manipulate how much of it appears inn my images while also being able to exclude it completely and maintain the focus of the image of the rocks and ripples in the water. While photographing I plan to experiment with different heights and framing so that I have further control of how much water, beach and negative space is with my images.
Edited Response
Development 2
Second response
For this response I travelled to Walthamstow wetlands reservoir. I walked around multiple reservoirs and stepped down to use the fishing platform to take my pictures and allow me to get closer to the water. I aimed to involve the environment surrounding the water side in my images creating depths of fields and possible frame the image. My intentions for this shoot was to photograph landscapes involving a depth of field of water and its surroundings.
Edited Response
www: I think these responses came out very well because I was able to experiment with Nadav Kanders techniques to manipulate colour and the framing of his images.
ebi: I would have liked for their to have been stronger winds, to cause more ripples in the water. This would therefore draw more attention towards the water rather than the foreground.
ebi: I would have liked for their to have been stronger winds, to cause more ripples in the water. This would therefore draw more attention towards the water rather than the foreground.
Development 3
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Sugimoto's primary intention with the "Seascapes" series is to explore "the concept of time and its relationship to photography". By photographing the horizon where the sea meets the sky using a "long exposure technique, Sugimoto create images that convey a sense of timelessness and eternity". Sugimoto's technique in capturing the "Seascapes" involves "using a large format camera with black-and-white film". He typically exposes the film for an extended period, often ranging from "several minutes to several hours, depending on the lighting conditions". This long exposure blurs the distinction between water and sky, resulting in images where the horizon appears as a seamless, ethereal line.
Response
For this response my focus changed and was far more directed towards photographing solely water and the ripples and reflections within them to allow more attention to be brought to them by the view. My plan for these images was to photograph images with a focus towards the water while not paying much attentions to what filled to top half of the image as I knew I would edit over it using photoshop to allow me to create a sky that appeared like a opaque cloud of fog.
Edited Response
www: these images came out successfully because I was able to use Sugimotos techniques to allow the images horizon to blend into a blur, while still maintaining clear textures and details in the foreground.
ebi: I would have liked to find a method to allow me to blur what is above the horizon into what appears like a white fog rather the rain and the streaks that it creates.
ebi: I would have liked to find a method to allow me to blur what is above the horizon into what appears like a white fog rather the rain and the streaks that it creates.
Development 4
Roni Horn
Horn lives and works between "New York, NY and Reykjavik, Iceland". Born on September 25, 1955 in New York, NY, she went on to study first at the "Rhode Island School of Design and then the Yale School of Art, where she received her Masters of Fine Art in 1978". One of Horn's water related projects is a series of "15 photo-lithographs of water each focusing on a small area of the River Thames some dark and some light and yellowish". She exploits the different "textures on the surface of the water, and uses the light to present different images". Horns's project was very much influenced by some of her other works from London, where you just kind of get the surface of the water, its relationship to the weather and light. Horns' dark and lushly printed "lithographs are sprinkled with tiny numbers that refer to texts printed like footnotes beneath each image". Usually the texts refer to Horns' private thoughts, although some are "quotations from sources as varied as popular song lyrics, poetry, and news stories of suicides in the Thames". The reiteration of these texts and repeated questions and answers "evoke the rhythms and surges of waves and tides". This gives Roni Horns images more than one way to interoperate her images and still receive both the calmness and the aggression the water can present.
Response
For this response I focused on filling 100% of the frame of the camera with water. The plan for the shoot was to explore different angles and heights from where I could photograph. I would use these different viewpoints to emphasises the reflections and the contrast of the ripples in the water. I then plan to experiment with the use of fishing piers and ledges to allow me to get closer to the water and further fill the whole frame.
Edited Response
www: I am pleased with these images as I was able to create atmosphere in my photos by focusing on the ripples in the water. What particularly intrigued me was how the light hit the water and the way the waves reflected the light from the sky. In response to Horn's work, I think my work was a great representation of the type of image Horn creates.
ebi: I would have liked to have the same accessibility as a beach so that I would be able to go down to the water level rather than looking dow onto the water from a bank.
ebi: I would have liked to have the same accessibility as a beach so that I would be able to go down to the water level rather than looking dow onto the water from a bank.
Development 5
Antony Cairns
Antony Cairns who was "born in 1980 and has been taking photographs since the age of 15". The processes that cairns undertakes to give his images their uniques look are "solarisation, multiple rounds of development, or printing on metallic surfaces". These processes make his images appear cold, dark, empty, even brutal. His aesthetic portrays a "monochromatic palette, often with high contrast and grainy textures".
Response
For this response I planned to further refine my ability to fill the frame with 100% of water while also exploring more locations where Id be able to access large bodies of water. While developing these images I plan to invert them and experiment with different levels of contrast and brightness. Through experimenting in photoshop I plan to be able to manipulate the contrast between the ripples in the water caused by birds or winds.
Edited Response
www: I am pleased with these images ad how Im able to capture the detail of each ripple while still being maintain the reflection on the water from the sun
ebi: I would have liked the opportunity to photograph a watery environment with waves. This is because waves create a completely different atmosphere which appears much more aggressive while still giving me the opportunity capture a water feature with plenty of detail.
ebi: I would have liked the opportunity to photograph a watery environment with waves. This is because waves create a completely different atmosphere which appears much more aggressive while still giving me the opportunity capture a water feature with plenty of detail.
Development 6
Second Development
For this development I travelled to the Camden locks. I planned to walk down the canal from kings cross to the centre of Camden. My intentions when arriving at the canal were to capture images of ripples in the water. I experimented with different angles to change what the water refelcted ad possibly choose between a reflection of buildings or sky.
Developed Response
www: I am pleased with these ad all the reflections that I was able to capture. I am also happy that I was able to photograph ripples in the water which would distort the image reflected onto the water.
ebi: I would have preferred to photograph a larger body of water. This because due to the narrow width of the canal I wasn't able to capture as large of a picture and preset more of the water in my images. This meant I had to crop large sections of the image where as when I travelled to the Walthamstow reservoir I was able to capture vast images filled with ripples going in different directions due to the wind.
ebi: I would have preferred to photograph a larger body of water. This because due to the narrow width of the canal I wasn't able to capture as large of a picture and preset more of the water in my images. This meant I had to crop large sections of the image where as when I travelled to the Walthamstow reservoir I was able to capture vast images filled with ripples going in different directions due to the wind.
Exhibition visit - Saatchi Gallery - BURTYNSKY: EXTRACTION / ABSTRACTION
While visiting the Saatchi Gallery I observed may images however this image below intrigued me the most. I was visually pleased while observing this image due to the framing the photograph as it present half of the image with natural landscape and the other half with urban landscape. I enjoyed the minimal editing doe to the image and therefore allowing the viewer to observe the differentiation between each house and the deep blue water in the canals which split each streets.
Development 7
Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky who was born 15 January 1955, is a German photographer and professor at the "Kunstakademie Dusseldorf which is the academy of fine arts in Dusseldorf Germany". Gursky was born in Leipzig, East Germany however "his family relocated to West Germany". Gursky's photographs are often shot from an elevated, aerial perspective. This allows viewers to experience a scene in its full proportions, which would ordinarily be impossible, "allowing for a visual comprehension of scope, center, and periphery". Gursky's photographs create a dialogue between painting and representation in that they go beyond merely capturing a piece of visual documentation. Light reflected on the surface "illuminates the waves and renders the water visible". the reflections create vertical strips that bifurcate the image and various colours have been "digitally added to the areas of reflected light". Small details of objects and plants floating in the water are "added here and there and act as a kind of narrative subtext". These additions look either too blurry, almost "painterly, or too sharply delineated in relation to the surrounding water". The differences in scale of this incidental floating debris create the appearance of seamlessness.
Response
For this response I planned to experiment with photographing vertically and having a much more upright angle while photographing as to allow light to have as much effect on the image as possible. Through this
Edited Respose
www: I am pleased with this response because I was able to recreate the similar relationship that Gursky has with the water and the light and the reflections and refractions on the water surface. I also think that maintain this relationship while still having colours present in a different manner to Gurskys as mine have much more day light surrounding it as Gurskys lights and colours are mainly photoshopped.
ebi: I would have like another opportunity to photograph a body of water during the night with nearby lights so that I could have two opposite results.
ebi: I would have like another opportunity to photograph a body of water during the night with nearby lights so that I could have two opposite results.
Development 8
Final Development
For this development my intentions where to photograph more images of water that contain different types of ripples in the water and how the light reacts the waters surface. Once I had edited the images of water I planned to enlarge the images onto thin newsprint paper, which I would then photograph with the posters surroundings. After I had photographed the poster with its surroundings I would further edit that image.
Edited Response
Poster (Hung up) Response
For this development I used the edited images from the same development and enlarged each image. I then printed each image in sections of A3 newsprint which I then put together to create one larger image like a large poster. This is because my intention for the development is to experiment with the integration of landscapes and urban environments, I experimented with different methods to attach the image to the wall. I decided to use a mixture of PVA glue and water to stick the posters up as it was the best application to see the textures and indentation appear through the thin paper.
Edited Poster
www: I am pleased with the outcomes of these images as I was able to show textures through the posters as planned while still being able to incorporate other textures and colours within the image.
ebi: I would have liked to have planned further ahead as while sticking up these paper posters I was affected by the rain which distorted the way the poster looked and how it made the walls which it was stuck op on appear.
ebi: I would have liked to have planned further ahead as while sticking up these paper posters I was affected by the rain which distorted the way the poster looked and how it made the walls which it was stuck op on appear.
Final Piece
For my final pieces, I chose these images because I feel as though they show how my experimentation of photographing and presenting my images throughout the project. All of these images began digitally however one of the images I created a poster with which involved experimentation with different types of paper and glue, to see which end result best showed my intentions for the image. Once the image was successfully stuck up and dry I continued to play with photographing in different angles and involving the surrounding environment inn different ways. With my other final pieces I experimented with photographing at different heights, sunlight, wind and reflections. With one of the images I had a low angle, but from further away from the water as to capture more waves and ripples in the image. Where as my other image of water was from much closer up as to have more control over the reflection on the water and its framing in the photograph.