What is a landscape picture?
When we talk about landscapes, I would normally imagine a pretty view of nature, sunsets or a view of the city. In other words, the glorified world.
A list of words that pop into my head when we talk about landscapes would be:
-Sunset. -Buildings
-Nature. -Clouds
-Mountains. -Blue skies
-Beach. -Hills
-Ocean. -Plains
-Scenery. -Coastal
-Cities. -Desert
-Flowers. -Water
-Night-time.
-Gardens
My ideal landscape photo would probably be a photograph containing a sunset on a beach or over mountains, as I think it shows a beautiful aspect of nature and the positive side of our world.
I am drawn to images containing sunsets because they are always different. The clouds will often be different shapes, sizes and patterns, the colours of the sky can range from orangey-yellow, to pinky-purple. The fact that nature and the world is always different, with different views and colours yet still has an aspect of beauty everyday shows that everyone is different, yet we are all still beautiful in our own ways.
What is the purpose of a landscape picture?
In the landscape images above, the photographer has chosen to include skyscrapers, therefore they have included the buildings and the sky behind them, although they also included the river in some, they have tried to get a wide range within the image to express the beauty of the area. The relationship that the photographer may have to the landscape picture could be that it’s s their home. They could live there or around the area and they are trying to capture and present the beauty of their area. The vantage point of the area in the first and second image is straight on, the photographer is standing on the ground presumably taking the image straight from their view of the landscape, whereas the third image is taken from more of a high vantage point capturing the view from upper ground putting more focus on the buildings.
Tanja Deman
Tanja Deman is a visual artist who is working in the medium of incorporating photography, film and public art. Deman's works are evocative meditations, on urban, space and landscape. Since 2015 her work has been focused on natural environments, ecology and climate crisis. One specific project she started in 2015 that is titled 'saltwater', she focused on the silent observation of the hidden rhythms of the underwater landscape of Jersey, Channel island. She looked at the world of sea plants and grasses illuminated by sunlight. Demans photographic camera visualises art that evokes hyperobjects by providing aesthetic experience with mandatory effect of disturbing intimacy through her photography (she used global warming as a dramatic example). Deman's images are very interesting and really showcase digital editing of images and the stitching of reality that it can provide. |
This is my response to Tanja Demans work and my attempt at collaging nature and man made structures together by using paper, scalpels, scissors and glue. Personally, I like my response and I think that it turned out well, although I don't think its as flawless as Demans work as hers looks more realistic and put together. When creating these images I had the thought process of having a city like state behind a more natural landscape, hence the building behind the hills and water. The context behind my work is that nature and naturalistic landscapes came first, before man made landscapes were put in place of many natural places. After creating my collage of the mountains and buildings I then photocopied it onto acetate to take it into the darkroom and experiment further. The next step I took was creating my negative piece from the acetate (the images to the left are in order of how I am explaining them). To create the negative I put the acetate onto photographic paper and exposed it to light from a machine in the dark room for 4.5 seconds, I then took the photographic paper and put it into the chemicals to develop and left it to dry. Then using my negative I used the same process to create my positive but swapped the acetate to my negative piece. The first attempt I made at a positive I wasn't happy with, this is because it turned out too blurry and I was looking for a clearer image, I gave myself feedback and figured out what I could do differently to make the image clearer and portrayed that as I made my second attempt- which I was happier with and used that as my final attempt to wrap up the project.
In conclusion, I enjoyed doing this collage work as a whole and I liked spending time to use my own knowledge and create what I wanted. It was fun to experiment in the dark room. I think my response to Tanja Demans work was successful and I like the outcomes of the project. From this work i have learnt that I prefer experimenting in the dark room and with physical work more then I do online and using photoshop.
Cyanotypes
Following up on the darkroom responses, my second project was to experiment with cyanotypes. Using the acetate again, I made a cyanotype, which works very similarly to making a photogram in the dark room. Using sunlight on the concourse I pinned the acetate image to the cyanotype to create an outline onto the specialised paper. Once released to sunlight for about 7-8 minutes I brought it back inside and washed the chemicals off of the paper and left it to dry. As shown below I made two attempts at this (where the left image is my first attempt and right image is my second attempt), the first attempt I made the image was underexposed because it was only left for 5 minutes, I didn't like how it turned out so attempted again and my second attempt was much better and the image printed correctly and is visible.
Out of focus landscapes
Uta Barth
Uta Barth is a contemporary German-American photographer, her work addresses the themes of optical illusion, perception and non-place.
The 3 images you will see above show some examples of Barths work as it can make you question the image. For example, we cant really tell what the third photo is containing and it draws you to the image because it will make you think about it and create an image in your head as you may wonder what the image would look like if it was in focus. Two words I would use to describe her work are abstract and concealed as majority of her photography is out of focus which is abnormal because usually in images photographers like to make sure there is at least one thing in focus- which makes Uta Barths work different and unique.
The 3 images you will see above show some examples of Barths work as it can make you question the image. For example, we cant really tell what the third photo is containing and it draws you to the image because it will make you think about it and create an image in your head as you may wonder what the image would look like if it was in focus. Two words I would use to describe her work are abstract and concealed as majority of her photography is out of focus which is abnormal because usually in images photographers like to make sure there is at least one thing in focus- which makes Uta Barths work different and unique.
Bill Armstrong
Bill Armstrong is a New York based fine art photographer who is known for his work with out of focus, coloured images.
The 3 images you see above are examples of Bill Armstrongs out of focus photographs. I am drawn to his work because of the vibrant colours, they have an effect on the images and it is also intriguing that they also have a concealed silhouette in them. I would also use the word abstract to describe his work, this is because in his work it seems that he is not attempting to represent external reality, he is instead seeking to achieve the effect using uncommon shapes and colours. For example, in the first photograph i can see a blurred silhouette with a colourful background, a mix of the colours pink, orange, purple, and red. When looking at this photograph i cant tell directly what the image is displaying, but i can infer that the background comes across as a sunset. I would describe this photograph as an out of focus sunset with a dark silhouette of a man standing to the right side. It is an abstract image, i think this because although i can make an inference about what the image is, i cant be sure because it is hazy. This photograph reminds me more of a drawing then a photo, like someone has used watercolours. The reason this photo interests me is because i am drawn to it as its very unique and makes me wonder what it would look like if it was in focus.
The 3 images you see above are examples of Bill Armstrongs out of focus photographs. I am drawn to his work because of the vibrant colours, they have an effect on the images and it is also intriguing that they also have a concealed silhouette in them. I would also use the word abstract to describe his work, this is because in his work it seems that he is not attempting to represent external reality, he is instead seeking to achieve the effect using uncommon shapes and colours. For example, in the first photograph i can see a blurred silhouette with a colourful background, a mix of the colours pink, orange, purple, and red. When looking at this photograph i cant tell directly what the image is displaying, but i can infer that the background comes across as a sunset. I would describe this photograph as an out of focus sunset with a dark silhouette of a man standing to the right side. It is an abstract image, i think this because although i can make an inference about what the image is, i cant be sure because it is hazy. This photograph reminds me more of a drawing then a photo, like someone has used watercolours. The reason this photo interests me is because i am drawn to it as its very unique and makes me wonder what it would look like if it was in focus.
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and architect, he leads the Tokyo based architectural film New Material.
Sugimoto is best known for his black and white photographs of particular subjects that he has explored in depth over many years, he takes out of focus photographs of installations, sublime seascapes and ornate movie theatre interiors. The photograph that interests me most out of all 3 above is the third one. In this image i can see a bright light flooding through something that looks like a cross, it seems to be a church setting, as i can see something that resembles rows of seats towards the bottom of the photo. This photo seems more naturalistic than abstract to me, I think this because it seems like a real life setting, compared to just splashes of colour. I think the photo has a high vantage point, although I cant tell how high the camera is from the floor, it seems higher up then a persons point of view.
Sugimoto is best known for his black and white photographs of particular subjects that he has explored in depth over many years, he takes out of focus photographs of installations, sublime seascapes and ornate movie theatre interiors. The photograph that interests me most out of all 3 above is the third one. In this image i can see a bright light flooding through something that looks like a cross, it seems to be a church setting, as i can see something that resembles rows of seats towards the bottom of the photo. This photo seems more naturalistic than abstract to me, I think this because it seems like a real life setting, compared to just splashes of colour. I think the photo has a high vantage point, although I cant tell how high the camera is from the floor, it seems higher up then a persons point of view.
My response: out of focus landscapes.
This was my response to the work by Uta Burth, this task was to take out of focus photographs, which was set as independent learning. Taking these photos wasn’t difficult, the process only takes a-few seconds, although the only part that takes time is deciding what landscapes i wanted to photograph, and wether it would look as planned when completed. To take these photos all i had to do was go onto my camera app on my phone, make the decision on where i wanted to take my image, then i hovered my finger over the lense of my phone camera, I held down on the screen and waited for the 'AE/AF lock' sign to appear, once that had appeared i moved my finger out of the way whilst still holding down the screen and clicked the shutter to take the image.
Dionne Lee's Drafts
Drafts from Dionne Lee on Vimeo. |
This video, by Dionne Lee is weird because its hard to understand what Dionne is trying to achieve with the video. Her work and projects seem interesting but presenting it in such ways confuses me. Lee is an artist who creates collages and drafts. In her work I can infer that she re-assembles different landscape photos, and sometimes she will not actually know how the finished project will turn out, she just experiments with different images and compiles everything together- which creates an abstract form of a collage. Her work is impressive because it relates to the idea of unpredictability. This relates to my confusion, as a viewer will never really know what will come next in the video and the collage. In conclusion, her work creates an abstract idea surrounding landscapes and creativity.
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Minimalist Landscapes
minimalistic landscapes isolate and replace different elements in a landscape, changing the context of it completely- and even changing the landscape itself. A landscape always has many distinctive parts involved, and when these parts are replaced or removed a completely different photo arises.
Google street view bingo
Asmara: Shadow of a tree
San Fransisco: Animal
Taipei: Water
Peckham walk and South London gallery
South London gallerys
Geraldo de Barros
Geraldo de Barros works in engraving, graphic arts and industrial design. His work is very abstract and interesting to look at. His photos can almost be unrecognisable and i cannot make out what exactly it is that is being shown. In the second photograph above, the lighting in the image is playing a big role on how the image is presented, wether its the colour and tone being played with or light flowing in, it adds more texture to the image and makes it more interesting to look at. The black shapes in the middle frame of the image disrupts the pattern and show as anomalies. The shadows seem almost unrealistic and looks edited. The lines represented in the photograph seem purposeful when contradicted to the black shapes changing the image into an abstract style.
Maja Strgar Kurecic
Maja Strgar Kurecic presents abstract photography. She has multiple portfolios and projects, the one i am focusing on is called "Escape landscapes". Maja's inspiration and motivation to create these projects and absract photography came purely from curiosity and interest of creating beautiful photography 'out of nothing'. The images are mainly created out of water, paint, food colouring and other liquids. Her work interests me because they are abstract pieces of art and i haven’t seen photography like this anywhere before so it intrigues me to know where Maja got her ideas from and what experiments she used to end up with this work as an outcome project. From looking at her photography i can tell that she took an abstract approach, the images are very textured and have obviously been experimented with in alternate ways. The second photograph of the three above is interesting because the blank space above the 'spike' like water helps to make the image seem less busy and easier to look at.
Pacifico Silano
Pacifico Silano is an artist who uses collage and photography to create these types of images using colour and black and white to create some type of illusion with his art. It creates an affect of confusion and makes me interested into how he created these images and how he experimented to end up with this outcome. The reason I want to look into his work and create my own ideas surrounding his is because i find this idea interesting and want to further expand on how i can experiment on my own. Although the content of his photography and ideas doesn’t relate to landscapes, I really like the way he has experimented by rephotographing magazines and created his own sort of 'landscape' style photography. I like the idea of colour disrupting the black and white photos and making them interesting to look at.
My response
This is my first response to Pacifico Silano and these images are the base of my response. I am going to experiment further and edit the images by adding colour into the black and white to compose them and create different outcomes from single images.
First digital experiment
First darkroom experimentation
I started to refine these further - I have so many it's too many to photograph and add to the site so here are some of my favourites.