Hopefully I have got my head around the difference between "in the style of" and "informed by" although I still have some lingering doubts. Spent last week in the North of England and the South-West of Scotland on a trip to photograph shots that will be useful in meeting the needs of assignment 5. Spent most of yesterday sorting them and trying to reach a final 12 from this work and some earlier work that I have done.
I have decided that, as Adams never used colour in his photographs, part of the 'information' I wish to bring into my submission will be the use of black and white images. I therefore, whilst selecting the images, temporarily converted them using the black and white conversion available in LightRoom. Some images are better/worse in monochrome although as always this is a personal matter. Further the algorithm used adds contrast to give the image "oomph" so the results were slightly at odds with the second piece of 'information' I gleaned from the study of the work of Adams. The tonal range in most of his images is limited. Such a limited range underpins his overall message about the damage caused by man to the 'natural' American West. I am still undecided whether to artificially introduce this element into the images that I have taken but currently my thinking is to test it on a image by image basis.
Adams also cropped his images, either in camera or later, without too much regard to the edges of buildings. I could not decide whether this was a deliberate ploy or something that just happened. It certainly 'jars' the eye of someone who has been raised on the principle that it is not something that you do. Whether it adds or detracts from the image is another matter. Examples of this composition are the photographs on the front covers of "What we Bought: The New World"; "The New West" and "Prairie" all books by Robert Adams. Again it is something that I plan to test on a case-by-case basis.
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