This is a fairly basic mind-map on what first springs to mind when I think of a landscape photo.
These are some cliché landscape photos taken within school. This was somewhat challenging as aside from the sports field there is not much in the way of your typical landscapes to photograph. My favourite photo is the top right, I think that this is a good landscape. The first thing that comes to mind with the word landscape is nature, this photo was the most green and outdoors I was able to take in school.
- Describe what you can see in each picture - focus on the overall impression of the pictures and what you notice about them. What do the two pictures describe about the world?
- Identify the main similarities between these pictures?
- Identify the main differences.
- Explain which details in each picture strike you as most important?
- Explain how each picture makes you feel. What ideas or sensations do you have when you look at each of them? What is/are the source of these feelings/ideas? Where do they come from? What do the pictures suggest about landscapes and people?
- Explain which of these pictures seems (to you) to be most accurate or reliable as a source of evidence about something.
- Both of these pictures are famous partly because they are controversial. Can you suggest why?
The photos are both of landscapes, the one on the right is a photo of The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death. This is the valley where the events that inspired the famous poem, The charge of the light brigade. The photo on the left is a photo of a photo, taken by Richard Prince, this a photo of an already existing photograph used as a cigarette advert. The main similarities of the photos is that they are both in one way or another are effectively landscape photos. However there are many differences, one obvious difference is that the Richard Price photo has a person featuring in it. A second difference is how much of the photo is made of sky, the photo of the valley is around 1/3 sky however the Richard Prince photo is around 3/4. The details that strike me as the most important in the Crimea photo is probably the cannon balls on the road for two reasons, firstly it creates a powerful image as that is the place where 600 soldiers lost their lives in battle. The second reason that they strike me as important is because of the theory that the photographer, Roger Fenton, places the cannon balls on the road on purpose. In the Richard Prince photo the detail that strikes me as the most important is the proportions and the land to sky ratio within the picture. To have a photo with that much sky and so little land is unusual and could provoke unique thoughts and emotions that are normally associated with a landscape photo. The Richard Prince photo doesn't really evoke any emotions as to me it is just a cropped photo of a cowboy, however it's understandable why the photo is so popular, especially in America, firstly it was used to advertise cigarettes so for many people the image is recognizable. The second reason is to do with the idea of the Cowboy, in modern times the Cowboy has become somewhat of an urban legend, the cowboy to many represents freedom, strength and skill. This was most likely why a cowboy was chosen to promote cigarettes, however the image itself could easily promote similar feelings, the cowboy has his lasso ready (pressingly to catch a large animal, a skillful task) the cowboy also seems alone in this vast landscape, potentially provoking a sense of freedom. The Crimea photo provokes a somewhat eerie feeling, like the clam after the storm. We know this is the place where 600 men charged through that lead to their deaths. So for that reason alone the image is incredibly powerful, secondly the cannon balls are still there, suggesting that the photo was taken very shortly after the deaths of the soldiers. To me the Crimea photo would've been the most reliable photo to be used as a source of evidence because of how famous it is. However upon further research into the photo I struggle to see it as reliable. Given that there is a high chance that the photo was staged it makes it much harder to believe.
Pictus Interruptus research
Pictus Interruptus is a series of images made by Ray K. Metzker, made between 1976 - 1981. These images are unexplainable, using a combination of natural and city landscapes Metzker creates confusing images.
Constructed Landscapes: What Remains
In Geraldo de Barros' picture you can see a paper cut out of a tree in front of a black background. In gardening with you, you can see a collection of black shapes that are open to interpretation, personally I make them out to be a tree or bush. What I find surprising is how they are so similar yet so different, they both appear to be landscape photos or at least inspired by landscape photos. When looking at these photos I feel inquisitive as to why they are the way they are. With Geraldo de Barros' picture I would want to know why the cut out is positioned like that, there are cut out holes that show the blank black background.
What remains response
Dafna Talmore
Dafna Talmor is a London based artist who has created a series of images called 'Constructed Landscapes'. These pictures are made through a process of cutting up negatives, taping them together and scanning them together. The red lines are light that can be seen through the tape. The idea behind these images according to Talmor is the idea of utopia, more importantly the idea of a natural utopia, these landscape photos have had any human elements removed.
Constructed Landscape Projector experiments
Here are some photos of my work with projection of a constructed landscape slides. During this project I used old photo slides that had been thrown away by the original owners. These slides were old family photos or holiday photos. I layered multiple photos by cutting them and placing them back into the slide case. I then projected them onto a structure made of two chairs and orange plastic (the orange plastic used to add orange tints to the sculpture) this structure was placed on top of a table so that the projected image would cover all of it. I liked the outcome of this project, I found the merging of real objects with projected images interesting and that it made some equally interesting photos.
'Chemigram' researchA chemigram is a style of experimental art that is made by using chemicals on light sensitive paper. It's thought that the first chemigram-like piece of art was created in 1725 by Johann Schulze by using opaque bottles and sliver salts. Chemigrams as we know them today were developed in the 1930-40s. The way modern chemigrams are made is by painting chemicals onto photographic paper. They can be made with just; photographic paper, developer and fixer, this will create a watercolour like effect on the paper.
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Chemigram workshop
During the workshop we made sustainable chemigrams. Sustainable meaning that almost all ingredients are natural and better for the environment, many of the chemicals used in analogue photography are harmful to the environment. Photo developer is a high alkaline chemical and harsh on the environment. So during this workshop we made our own developer from herbs, dishwasher salt and vitamin C tablets.
The process of making these chemigrams was simple. We poured the natural developer onto some photo paper, then used natural resistors to create patterns. Ideally by using leafs or flowers as stamps to create shapes. However in my experience I found that
Final Evaluation
During Constructed landscapes I have researched the work of multiple photographers for inspiration and to try and better my understanding of what landscape photography is. For example I have looked at the work of; Dafna Talmore, Geraldo de Barros and Liz Nielsen. One photographers work that stood out to me was Dafna Talmore's, I found her work interesting as it questioned landscape photography and used a process of making photos I had never heard of. Her use of light and making use of gaps where different photographs had been stuck together was something I was inspired by and wanted to aim to incorporate similar ideas and theme within my own work. Another artist who's work stood out was the work of Liz Nielsen and their use of simple imagery to create landscapes. I was inspired by her images to create my own constructed landscapes using black card stuck over white paper.
I have investigated, what landscape photography is and how we view it, photography's impact on the environment and the theme/idea of a constructed landscape. When looking at the idea of landscape photography we looked at the most popular forms and themes in landscape photography such as sunsets and uninterrupted landscapes. I then attempted to make some classic landscape photos within school, these photos were my first somewhat successful dive into landscape photography. I then looked at the idea of incorrect landscape photography- similar to when in other projects I have looked at 'wrong photography'- and made purposely interrupted or 'bad' landscape photos. This helped me to think deeper about the theme that I had been given for the year.
The second investigation into photography's impact on the environment was done in the form of a workshop. I looked at chemigrams, a way of making photos using the chemicals that are normally used in developing of photos to make images on their own, and it turns out the chemicals used in their creation are harmful to the environment. This is where the sustainable darkroom workshop comes in, the sustainable darkroom focuses on making photographs using sustainable methods. In our workshop we made chemigrams using natural chemicals or chemicals that aren't damaging to the environment. We made our own photographic developer using; herbs, dishwasher salt and vitamin c tablets. We also used olive oils and natural resistors that we used to create the patterns of the chemigrams. I found the process interesting and decided to continue with more physical methods of making photography.
The final idea I investigated was the idea of a constructed landscape. This involved a lot of thinking about what we consider photography to be and it' relationship to the natural world. One way I looked at the theme constructed landscape was by re-visiting 'Google Streetview Photography' and looking at how the camera's literally constructs landscapes by stitching together many different photos to create a 360 degree image of a location.
Over this year I have practiced and learnt multiple skills some of these include; learning how to properly use a DLSR camera, learning how to use a slide projector and create images that are compatible with one, I learnt how to make photograms (a method of creating an image by not using a camera and by exposing photographic paper to light while certain objects block light to create patterns, this is then developed using the regular process of developing analogue photos) , I also developed better general skills used in photography such as setting up backdrops and lighting a photo correctly. I did find getting the hang of photograms rather challenging at first as it took a while to work out the right length of time I needed to expose the paper to light in order for the image to look it's best.
For my final project I wanted to further look into the way we view nature within photography. I also wanted to continue with much more of a 'hands on' approach to making the images rather than the digital methods I have used in previous projects. My choice of method was to use brightly coloured spray paint in order to draw attention to nature that is all around us, hence the project name 'Weeds'. The reason for that name specifically is due to the fact that I had originally intended to only focus weeds as we tend to try and get rid of them or at least ignore them. However later on I found the patterns made by plants that were not weed equally if not more interesting and intricate, and wanted to use those shapes. My initial plan was to spray paint weeds that had grown in places such as the cracks in paths or up the sides of walls, with the intention of drawing peoples attention to the nature that surrounds us, yet we take almost no notice of it whatsoever. My first attempt went some what astray as I noticed that the card I used to prevent any paint going onto the walls was left with almost a shadow of the plant where it had acted like a stencil. I admittedly became distracted by this, and started to focus on the shadows of the plants after they had been spray painted. This is why I ended up making these print like images of plants I had found around my school grounds. Upon reflection of the first attempt, I began to realise that despite my liking of the images they were far from my original plan and not quite exactly a photography project. I decided to make a second attempt at the original idea, this time outside of school and determined to stay focused on the plan and ensuring that I keep working on my original idea. This attempt was much more successful at executing the original plan, I also thought that as this attempt was done in a public place more people would notice the plants and pay them more attention. I like both attempts equally however if I had to take a more critical approach to my refection on the final project I would have to say I prefer the second attempt. This is because I was able to complete what I set out to do and also, like I mentioned earlier, I am pleased that there is a chance I could have made someone passing by stop for a brief moment and take in nature, even if it may be because it had been spray painted a bright sky blue.
In summary, constructed landscapes has been a thought provoking and well worth while project. Constructed landscapes has changed the way I view landscapes and landscape photography for the better, it has improved by creative thinking and my approach to making photographs. It has been both an enjoyable yet sometimes challenging concept, however I think I have done well and made some of my best work in photography over the course of this year.
I have investigated, what landscape photography is and how we view it, photography's impact on the environment and the theme/idea of a constructed landscape. When looking at the idea of landscape photography we looked at the most popular forms and themes in landscape photography such as sunsets and uninterrupted landscapes. I then attempted to make some classic landscape photos within school, these photos were my first somewhat successful dive into landscape photography. I then looked at the idea of incorrect landscape photography- similar to when in other projects I have looked at 'wrong photography'- and made purposely interrupted or 'bad' landscape photos. This helped me to think deeper about the theme that I had been given for the year.
The second investigation into photography's impact on the environment was done in the form of a workshop. I looked at chemigrams, a way of making photos using the chemicals that are normally used in developing of photos to make images on their own, and it turns out the chemicals used in their creation are harmful to the environment. This is where the sustainable darkroom workshop comes in, the sustainable darkroom focuses on making photographs using sustainable methods. In our workshop we made chemigrams using natural chemicals or chemicals that aren't damaging to the environment. We made our own photographic developer using; herbs, dishwasher salt and vitamin c tablets. We also used olive oils and natural resistors that we used to create the patterns of the chemigrams. I found the process interesting and decided to continue with more physical methods of making photography.
The final idea I investigated was the idea of a constructed landscape. This involved a lot of thinking about what we consider photography to be and it' relationship to the natural world. One way I looked at the theme constructed landscape was by re-visiting 'Google Streetview Photography' and looking at how the camera's literally constructs landscapes by stitching together many different photos to create a 360 degree image of a location.
Over this year I have practiced and learnt multiple skills some of these include; learning how to properly use a DLSR camera, learning how to use a slide projector and create images that are compatible with one, I learnt how to make photograms (a method of creating an image by not using a camera and by exposing photographic paper to light while certain objects block light to create patterns, this is then developed using the regular process of developing analogue photos) , I also developed better general skills used in photography such as setting up backdrops and lighting a photo correctly. I did find getting the hang of photograms rather challenging at first as it took a while to work out the right length of time I needed to expose the paper to light in order for the image to look it's best.
For my final project I wanted to further look into the way we view nature within photography. I also wanted to continue with much more of a 'hands on' approach to making the images rather than the digital methods I have used in previous projects. My choice of method was to use brightly coloured spray paint in order to draw attention to nature that is all around us, hence the project name 'Weeds'. The reason for that name specifically is due to the fact that I had originally intended to only focus weeds as we tend to try and get rid of them or at least ignore them. However later on I found the patterns made by plants that were not weed equally if not more interesting and intricate, and wanted to use those shapes. My initial plan was to spray paint weeds that had grown in places such as the cracks in paths or up the sides of walls, with the intention of drawing peoples attention to the nature that surrounds us, yet we take almost no notice of it whatsoever. My first attempt went some what astray as I noticed that the card I used to prevent any paint going onto the walls was left with almost a shadow of the plant where it had acted like a stencil. I admittedly became distracted by this, and started to focus on the shadows of the plants after they had been spray painted. This is why I ended up making these print like images of plants I had found around my school grounds. Upon reflection of the first attempt, I began to realise that despite my liking of the images they were far from my original plan and not quite exactly a photography project. I decided to make a second attempt at the original idea, this time outside of school and determined to stay focused on the plan and ensuring that I keep working on my original idea. This attempt was much more successful at executing the original plan, I also thought that as this attempt was done in a public place more people would notice the plants and pay them more attention. I like both attempts equally however if I had to take a more critical approach to my refection on the final project I would have to say I prefer the second attempt. This is because I was able to complete what I set out to do and also, like I mentioned earlier, I am pleased that there is a chance I could have made someone passing by stop for a brief moment and take in nature, even if it may be because it had been spray painted a bright sky blue.
In summary, constructed landscapes has been a thought provoking and well worth while project. Constructed landscapes has changed the way I view landscapes and landscape photography for the better, it has improved by creative thinking and my approach to making photographs. It has been both an enjoyable yet sometimes challenging concept, however I think I have done well and made some of my best work in photography over the course of this year.