Assignment 1/Project15

Decided to visit the site (Ickworth Park in Suffolk) to take the 'Spring' shots. Unfortunately Spring was not very evident other than on a small scale (tress coming into bud; undergrowth within the trees that were bear thus allowing maximum light into the area. Not a great success but I did manage to find some possible images that I could use.

I like this shot (not currently part of my portfolio) because of the position of the sun throwing deep shadows across the foreground, the presence of the daffodils in the sunlight and the presence of Ickworth House glimpsed through the trees. All of the landscape within the park is 'man-made' and is controlled in the sense that there are no real wild areas so that linking the landscape to the Stately Home offers an explanation of what is seen in other photographs.

I include this shot because there is a hint of spring with the tree in the centre of the image coming into leaf. It is not a great image because the tree does not stand out clearly from the background. It will be interesting to return and see if it is clearer when it has more foliage.

An intimate shot of the landscape with just one leaf bud about to open. Very illustrative of spring.

I have included this shot because it shows how very little Spring is evident. It was shortly after this that I decided that I would return later when, hopefully, Spring will be more advanced.

Project 28 - Intimate Landscape

I recently went to Marsden Moor Yorkshire to a photographic day organised by the National Trust. The moor is over 5000 acres of moorland to which the public have access although on this occasion we were accompanied by a National Trust volunteer and a landscape photographer. I took a large number of general shots although distant areas were covered in a haze that had a mixed effect upon the photography - in some cases it added to the sense of space and distance whilst in others it obscured detail that would have added to the overall image.

For this project I looked for shots that gave a sense of the moor whilst being only a very small part of it.

This first image is typical of the lower slopes of the moor showing evidence of the effect of man upon the landscape. I selected the image because of the 'terracing' and the stone wall set against the trees that show evidence of the bleak nature of the moor.

The key element in this image is the stone bridge. The line of the path across the image draws the eye towards and gives some sense of scale. I did consider zooming in on the bridge to make it very much the dominant feature but I found that this took it out of context so I left in the area of moor surrounding it. Looking at it in the blog I wonder whether it would have not been better to crop the image to exclude the sky to give the following result.

I think on balance I prefer the first image although the second 'cropped' image has the merit that the bridge is placed roughly on the crossing of the vertical and horizontal 'thirds' line that gives balance to the image.

The moor has been worked for its stone for many centuries. The choice of this image was to show that nature works  to reclaim the land taken. 

and yet parts remain as man left them with the warning notices keeping people away from the things they have come to enjoy:

As I was writing this blog it struck me that the images lacked the presence of people and so scale was difficult to decide. I had not realised this when I was taking the images and often took steps to keep people out of the image (there were 26 others in the party). I do have a few where I included people such as:

that illustrate the point. For me there is a danger in thinking about the landscape as unpeopled whereas in the right context they can add a great deal of information about scale and the environment.

Robert Adams

Again on the advice of my tutor I have spent some time looking at the photographs of Robert Adams. I found that I was more in sympathy with his style. Although there is a simplicity about his style of landscape photography I was still left with the feeling that he had applied most of the 'rules' about photography that we, as amateurs, so slavishly follow. There is evidence that some thought has been given to the composition and the overall impact of the image. There is a message that is discernible particularly when several linked images are seen one after the other. There is also a sense of the photographer wanting to present the best image that he can achieve from the view in front of him.

His use of light, including artificial light such as that given by street lamps, is shown at its best in his twilight series that is held by the V&A Museum. (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/photographs-by-robert-adams/.) I particularly liked this set of images that evoked in me a wish to see further into the image (what is beyond what is shown!).

I preferred this style to the starker imagery of Aarmson as discussed in my last blog.

Hans Aarsman

Following a comment by my tutor in his response to my submission for Assignment 2 of Landscapes I followed up his suggestion that I look at the work of Hans Aarsman a known photographer in the genre called Neo-Topographics. At first I looked at the photographs shown on the Nederlandfotomuseum. I was immediately struck by their lack of artistic merit. They are snapshots of a man made environment usually incomplete or in decay. I was left wondering why he had bothered taking the shot. As a record of the environment I felt that there was a sense of detachment almost disinterest in what was seen through the viewfinder. They were very ordinary.

I then watched a recording of a lecture by Aarsman in which he explains the reasons for his approach. All my responses were more or less in line with the aim of the photographer.  Following the work of the New Topographic Photographers such as Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz and others Aarsman and his contemporaries deliberately chose to work outside the accepted 'artistic' and story telling approach of photography, they eschewed the beauty and recorded the ugly. Based on the images I have seen of Aarsman he was very successful.

Even now I am not sure that I like them but it has made me think that I, as a photographer, am very much conditioned by the majority who seek out the artistic, the emotional and the beautiful image. The chances of such images being accepted in a general exhibition are small perhaps because we do not like to be reminded that not all is beauty and that some of our environment is very ugly and often such ugliness is created by man.

At least I will look afresh at the 'landscape' and see beyond the accepted coffee table book image.

Newcastle Life - 1880

Just seen the photographs on the centre spread of the Guardian (Friday 20th March 2012). Of working class people they are stunning in their clarity and in the story that they tell. The main image of the Cloth Market is full of detail and remarkable clarity. When one thinks of the equipment that was available at that time obviously whoever the photographer was he/she was a master of the art.

Television and Photography

Have been watching the series by John Sergeant - Britain's First Photo Album in which he tried to capture the essence of the work of Francis Frith. The Frith photographs, which were taken by a team of photographers under the leadership of Frith, are outstanding allowing for the difficulties faced by the photographers in the late 19th Century. There is something quite magical about them seemingly capturing the atmosphere which takes the photographs out of the ordinary. In part it is the attraction of seeing places that you know as they were over 100 years ago but also the skill of the photographer in the way that the image is composed and presented. Such ability can be learnt but one wonders how long it is before the necessary thought processes become second nature.

The disappointment, for me, was the attempts by Sergeant. He decided, sometimes for good reason, not to take the 'same' image but tried to capture the same spirit. In nearly all cases he failed and his work suffered from the immediate comparison with his forebears. In some cases his work were little more than snapshots and poorly composed although he seemed pleased with them. This may be because, as common with all photographers, he remembered the emotions he felt at the time of taking the image rather than assessing the result in the cold light of day.

For me the attraction of the series was the work of Frith.

I also watched the David Suchet programme "People I have Shot". Here Suchet was following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather Jarche. He was a press photographer who covered most aspects of that particular discipline and the majority of his work would now be seen as part of the genre 'Social Documentary' although that is to pigeon hole work that crossed several artificial boundaries. I am not good with people and find social documentary photography difficult so seeing the work of someone who appeared totally at home in this type of work was a valuable opportunity.

Suchet also followed in his grandfather's footsteps indeed using a camera given to him by his grandfather. For me Suchet's work in many respects matched that of his more illustrious relative and clearly he has a talent for putting people at ease and getting the best shots. Maybe this has something to do with his own fame as a well known actor and he gained access that perhaps would have been denied to others. Whatever the reason he provided an excellent programme that provided an insight into the work of his grandfather and his own talent.

I thought that this was a very good programme from which I gained a great deal. I may still be unprepared to undertake social documentary work but at least now I know awhat can be achieved.

Project 23 - Soft Light

Back to active photography. Spent a day in the Peak District in the Matlock/Bakewell area that I have known for many years both as a child and an adult. The advantage of knowing an area is that you can make a fairly good guess where the conditions that you want can be found. In this case round the village of Stanton in the Peak.

The weather was pretty good with the wintry sun being shrouded by wispy clouds so that the overall contrast in the image was low but at the same time there was an interesting sky that added to the final results. All images were taken with the sunlight coming over my shoulder which allowed for the depth of blue in the sky. Worked the images in Lightroom 4 beta version so as to get the best result possible which I assumed was the purpose of the project. Had the sky been covered completely in cloud then I would have taken the image to reduce the amount of sky in the image but worked on the remainder to again get the best result.

The attraction of this image was the farm cottages together with gardens in the left foreground with the gap in between those and the trees on the right leading the eye into the picture towards the distant hills. The cloud formation adds further interest.

The pattern of the stone walls was the part of the image that caught my eye. The copse of trees on top of the hill balance the farmstead right centre of the image. It was a deliberate choice to include the barbed wire fence at the bottom of the picture to provide the viewer with a sense of scale whilst at the same time to make the viewer aware that the land is private and man-made.

Here I have used the two stone pillars that presumably supported a gate at some time to encourage the viewer to again look into the image both to the mid-horizon where the trees offer a sense of distance between them and the distant hills. I tried the image both as it is shown but also bringing the base of the wall to the bottom of the picture. I chose the former because the rutted track is in contrast to the apparent smoothness of the fields beyond. Although no human being can be seen in the image the presence of man is strongly indicated by the ruts made by a tractor and the structure of the stone wall.

I enjoyed this project although I was fortunate to have some variation in light  as different cloud covered the sun. Had this not been the case I feel that the structures either man-made or natural that gave pattern and interest to the images would have been sufficiently strong to still get satisfactory results.