When I hear the word landscape I instantaneously think of landscapes of central London or just cities in general, which I feel like its the opposite of what |
WWW: The colours are very cohesive and the buildings in the school make for quite interesting, aesthetically pleasing photos. I also quite like the lighting of all the images, the sun really captures the colours all around and especially the blue tinges in the windows of the buildings.
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EBI: I went up closer to take some of these images, as many look blurred due to my far zoomed in approach to them. Also the framing of some of the photos could be better, there is too much happening in some thirds and not enough in others and I quite like to follow the rule of thirds. Some of the lighting in the pictures is too dull and makes the buildings near to the school look so drab whereas in real life they look like these massive cleverly designed giants, the images don't give them justice.
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WWW: These photographs have very nice colour schemes and lighting. And the pictures of buildings give for a quite cool towering feeling to them, which i love and really wanted to capture in these images.
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EBI: When I uploaded them the quality didn't deteriorate so much, the inital photos have a somewhat decent quality to them but after uploading them they look so blurry. Some of the lighting makes the images seem a bit dull so if there was better lighting I think I would like them that much more. Maybe if I stuck to urban landscapes as well rather than trying to change it up and include some nature, as I think those are the weakest photographs.
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This is Dafna Talmor she is an artist and lecturer from London whose practice includes photography, spatial interventions, curation and collaborations. Her photographs are included in collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Deutsche Bank, Hiscox and in private collections internationally. We are looking at her landscape works specifically; she does something quite unique with them. She almost merges and fuses her landscape photographs together to form a new perspective of the original landscape. It is quite interesting to me as I have never seen such a process before, its like a collage but on an entirely new level. Talmor describes her constructed landscapes as “a virtual space that opens up behind the surface” which I find quite intuiging. Her work stems from a frustration with photographing landscapes For years, her work consisted of photographs taken in interior spaces, with the suggestions of outside spaces. But as soon as she went outside with her camera, she felt overwhelmed with the unlimited possibilities of photos and became aware of the lack of limitations (which one would have in an interior space). |
WWW: the colouring and vibrance of these photos are my favourite thing about them, the colours really pop and catch your eye.
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EBI: the framing followed the rule of thirds, the image quality wasn't so incredibly bad, the framing was a wider angle, there was more variety rather than just my local area, the colours all correlated, a wider mix of urban and rural images and if these images looked more aesthetically pleasing.
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In this composition this photographer has chosen to include what appears to be mountains and the sky, a kind of rocky plain almost, very empty and open. The photographer has decided to exclude colour and make this image a more black and white/beige kind of hue. This seems like a very boring landscape, there is nothing particularly interesting or pretty or different - its just very plain which leads me to believe that the artist may have a personal connection with this space, possibly having memories of being there ( which links to the colouring of the images as when you think of the past you don't think of things in bright colours), it's impossible to tell though without context so thats just my inference. The photographer has taken this image from a kind of mid to low point whilst angling the camera slightly upwards, so that you can
see the rising of the mountain slopes. The photographer has taken this image in what |
This photo is an almost complete contrast from the previous one, but there are some parallels between the two. Unlike the other photo this photograph has colour in it, as well as living organisms. Similarly to the other image, this one also features the sky and a rocky like plain. However where the horse and its rider are heading isn't included, which irks me slightly because I want to know. The view seems to be dead on which makes me feel like the photographer is incredibly high up as the sky takes up almost the entirety of the background, without it being taken from an upwards angle (which almost makes me feel like this is fake as the ground isn't usually so flat so high up). The photographer seems quite close to the subjects as you can see quite a lot of detail on the horse, which you can't really capture when at a far distance. Both of
these photos contain this grainy, olden days feel - it makes me feel |
This is Mark Rive. He is a landscape photographer who creates landscapes by combining real life scenes with photoshop. He creates a unique style of work which feels almost disorientating - as if it's photographs of a world I am familiar with but at the same time can't recognise or comprehend. I picked him because not only does his work look incredibly well crafted, it also is very creative - as there feels as if all landscape photographers do the same thing and just photograph the real world so its refreshing to see photographers that take that step further and refine their work. |
WWW: I like the cohesive aspect of quite a few of these. The colour coordination is also to my liking - it makes the collages significantly more aesthetically pleasing to look at. I quite enjoy the abstract formation to these collages - its different to most collages ive created.
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EBI: I feel like this process would have been better represented in a video/time lapse, rather than as photographs. I think next time I will make a video of some sorts to capture my thought process and decision making as well as the final products.
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WWW: I liked this process a lot more than the taking photographs one, as it allowed me to play around a lot more and its something I have never tried out before - so it was new and fun. I also thought the work produced was more out there, as I had more time to really think and manipulate the images.
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EBI: the framing were better positioned and if it were a normal video and not a time lapse, as you would be able to see my thinking and care when placing and deciding what to do much more than you can in this video.
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WWW: I think my idea to experiment with folding and making things 3D was a good idea. I think this has sparked an idea for various different experiments and processes to try out. The main idea that has branched from this is the idea to play with the delicateness my work has been given by making them 3D. And although I do not like to mix black and white photos with coloured ones, in this context I think it works rather well.
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EBI: I think this would be even better if the images were all in order and all there, as I had camera difficulty which resulted in the use of 3 different cameras, which led to the loss and corruption of some images. Also if I were to take some of the pieces I have already created in response 1 and 3 and possibly distort or recolour them and create some more 3D pieces that look really fragile. Also videoing this process whilst inserting final arrangements would be a good idea.
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This is the image that made me want to refine this process even further. The colours, the composition, the folds and creases all intrigue me and gather my attention. It made me think more into depth about what I was doing and how I could make that process significantly better/pleasing to the eye. The slight blur to the photographs - more in the background - also helped me create a link between this idea of collaging landscape photographers and the blurred landscape artists we have been looking at. This difficult to mess up this process has also made me want to take this idea to the next step, as it is very hard to get wrong and you are almost always likely to create some interesting outcomes. |
Uta Barth is a contemporary German-American photographer who uses her work to address themes such as perception, optical illusion and non-place. Barth's main process is: she takes all of her photographs with a traditional film camera, she then digitizes her images and carries out all her manipulations on a computer. The process that I'm looking at however is that of the out of focus process. For this process she does everything I just said but whilst having the camera out of focus. I decided to look at Barth, because of a video of hers that we looked at in class, as it was quite captivating to say the least. |
WWW: the blurriness is definitely there. The sunset images with the trees are the only half decent ones, as they look pleasing to the eye despite being blurry - as well as the compositions of them.
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EBI: These images just aren't pleasing to the eye at all. They look like blurry messes. The process was really difficult to get right, so it was hard to take nice looking images - so maybe if I mastered the process the images would look better. The main issue was the exposure of my phone, it would almost fluctuate when I locked the focus to my finger - very frustrating.
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Ray K. Metzker was (he died in October 2014 at 83) an American photographer known mainly for his bold, experimental B&W cityscapes and for his large "composites". His work is held in various major public collections. We are looking at the ‘Pictus Interruptus’ series - that he created from 1976 and 1981 - specifically as it follows the out of focus theme we have been experimenting and playing with in class. To create this series he simply incorporated a single object, an "interrupter", is held up between the camera's lens and the subject, in every photograph.Metzker views landscapes as " fragments and distortions " which he then feeds into by adding his own distortions to them. He makes these images by essentially putting various different objects close to the lens of a camera whilst simultaneously photographing the landscapes behind the objects. He makes sure that the objects are out of focus whilst the landscape is in focus to mask the identity of said object.
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WWW: The pictures are definitely disrupted. I also got to use one of the more advanced cameras - which is all I have ever wanted to use on this course - which led me to be more in control of focusing and exposure, which in turn made me feel more in control.
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EBI: However, the new use of the fancy cameras was difficult to get used to - it was a major challenge to figure out how much exposing and focusing and zooming to do - which I feel may be a significant factor on why these images aren't the best. The most important factor however was the lack of risk taking. I picked some materials and cut them up slightly, that is all. In my opinion it was not enough, the images look bland and very similar to one another. I think I will retry this process out of school, with more materials, more risks. It goes without saying that risk taking is the most important part of photography, that being said it is definitely a skill that I need to work on majorly.
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WWW: I much prefer the images in black and white, there feels like there is more detail within the images - they look less blurred to me. The black and white aspect, to me, makes it feel more connected to the original Pictus Interuptus pieces - which in turn makes me feel confident in it being an accurate response.
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EBI: They were more adventurous, with a wide range of different things used to 'interrupt' the landscapes.
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WWW: They make for quite interesting photographs, and definitely make the viewer think quite long and hard about what they are looking at. It is also a more interesting process to use to create interrupted images.
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EBI: I think these will look better in black and white, as these looked quite bland and blurry, whereas in black and white there is a strong contrast created with an illusion of less blur. I also think it would be incredibly interesting to record this activity and create video documentation of the process - as I think it would give better context to the reader about what is going on.
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WWW: I like the images significantly more in black and white - it feels more linked to the Pictus Interruptus original pieces and I love the massive contrast in shades it creates. I feel like it gives the images more depth as well, you can really see the different layers.
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EBI: Again, a video of this process would make this response 10 times better, I think that may be a solid next step.
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WWW: I think this was a solid idea that linked well to the work we have already done for this project (fir example, the out of focus landscapes. I think this was a step in the right direction with trying to be more creative with my work as well. I love the colours and the beautiful views - both of which i can't take credit for but it still helpred create some pleasing images.
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EBI: If i used my own landscape images - that way it would be more personalised. As well as that, if i maybe spliced together different landscapes it would make for more interesting images. Or maybe if i used a mix of my own landscapes of the city with these type of landscapes to demonstrate a sort of contrast between the two.
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Brea Souders works in photography, text, painting and collage, often blending digital phenomena with physical objects. I have been looking at her work with google maps - the vista series- specifically. How does google collect these images for google maps? Well they collect Street View imagery by driving, pedaling, sailing and walking around and capturing imagery with special cameras that simultaneously collect images in multiple directions. The images are later overlapped and stitched together into a single 360-degree image. Saunders is interested in this because there are many mistakes made in the overlapping of these images. They create interesting views of: peoples limbs being detached/ floating, shadows without people, random objects ect. Saunders takes these mistakes, specifically the shadow ones and I believe she photographs them and then recolous them. I feel like google maps has distorted our ideas and how we percieve landscapes, because if it can make mistakes like that with full on glitches of people and objects how do we know that we are seeing isnt a less obvious distored version of the landscape. |
WWW: I managed to find a wide range of different types of glitches around the world, whilst capturing some really interesting views. The images are generally interesting to look at and to try work out what has happened and whats been removed and stretched and changed.
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EBI: I definitely think that I should edit or manipulate these photographs even more than they already have been. I may possibly try splicing these together with other landscapes or mix in an out of focus element. I think printing them out could work well as a further manipulation. Or even recolouring it or editing them on some sort of software. Essentially just take these images and distort them further.
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In this image I can see an image of a tree with parts of it blacked out. This is unusual as people don't usually try to hide parts of the photographs they have taken, they usually try to showcase how brilliant they are at taking photographs, and like to make very conventional landscapes. I get an almost eerie feeling when I look at this image, as it is in black and white which has gothic connotations. As well as that the missing parts, make me feel as if I am lost or almost stuck between a sort of liminal space, where its not fake but at the same time it's not real, like a sort of limbo. And i feel like he has done that - taken out parts of the image - to maybe toy with the idea of what makes a landscape, trying to push that boundary and make people reevaluate what the true definition of a landscape is. If i were going to make a picture like this I feel like I would get a negative of the original tree photo, cut out some black card and place it atop the original photograph. I would then photocopy that, print it and create a photogram out of it. I am unsure what process Geraldo de Barros used but personally that is what I would do.
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I can see shapes that have been placed together to create a sort of bush looking object with what looks to be gardening tools and possibly a person, depending on how you look at it. This is a very unconventional version of a landscape, as in reality there is no actual/real landscape in the piece so once again this isn image that is pushing those boundaries and limits of what a landscape is/can be. I feel like I am back in reception when i look at this image, as we would make things like this all the time. Not to create collaged landscapes, we would just stick random pieces of card onto paper and say it was a some sort of object or animal, that it certainly did not look like. However I feel like the artist/photographer had a different intention and thought process behind creating this than 5 year old me did. I think they were trying to create a memory/ portray a scene in the least obvious way possible - that being said, least obvious does not mean unrecognisable, as it is very easy to interpret what has been created. If I were to create an image like this, I would probably get a white piece of paper, cute and stick pieces of black card to depict an image of a landscape. I would then take that, photocopy and print it out.
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To create this I:
This piece was heavily influenced/inspired by Liz Nielsen's, gardening with you work. I took their idea of using shapes to create a landscape and make my own version of it. However with mine I didn't make it as abstract I feel, and there is much more black card than in theirs. I'm quite satisfied with mine, as I managed to keep that abstract quality, whilst also setting a very recognisable seen. The mix of thin and thick pieces of black card also make for an interesting contrast - however their could be a much greater contrast. |
The process for making this was:
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I think that this photogram is alright, I'll be honest I am not the most pleased. I don’t think I really grasped how the image was going to look inverted and it looks completely different to the original collage in terms of the bold contrast the original had. I don’t like the blurriness of it and I’m heavily debating whether this could be classified as a landscape or not. If i were to think about how it looks to someone who didn't make it, I feel like only the trees and mountains are recognisable, the rest looks too bitty if that makes sense. I feel like I got too wrapped up in trying to make it look as minimal and abstract as the 'Gardening with you piece' that i made it too abstract. I especially hate the 'clouds, if you can even call them that, they look really weird snd just off. I feel like if they (the 'clouds') were solid it would create a better contrast and more pleasing image.
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I think that this photogram is interesting in its own way - whether thats good or bad I am unsure, but I definitely prefer it to the first one I made, as it contains more elements to it rather than being just a plain simple picture, however I am still not pleased with this one. I feel like the experimentation of how I added the developer has not been conveyed in the best way. You can see some of the dots and splashes that i made by flicking the developer on with a paintbrush but that is about it. I feel like I didn't leave the image long enough to develop, as it is very grey, rather than having that bold black, the first one I created has. However I do believe the blurry greyness to it does give a feeling/sense of weather - as if it is foggy and a cold, cloudy day. Although, again I wish the clouds were more solid/bold and recognisable - just to get that little bit more contrast between thin and thick white bits
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The process for making this was:
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WWW: The colours are fantastic, as well as that you can very clearly see that is is a depiction of a seascape, so in that sense it is very successful. The layers of having a foreground, middle-ground and background definitely adds something to the image, as it makes it feel more realistic and 3D even though it is a flat 2D image.
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EBI: I feel like if I added more rocks, or birds or maybe even more colours and textures to the sand, this work would be a million times better. It feels very void, and there are definitely more things I could and should have added.
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WWW: I like these photograms more than the previous ones i created. The overlapping element i added definitely made for a more interesting outcome. As well as that the holes cut into the nets add a nice touch to them. The blur also adds a sort of mystery element, however I can't tell whether thats interesting and good or if thats more of a fault.
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EBI: Although the blurriness adds a mystery element, it also masks the landscape element. Without seeing the landscapes within the nets of the shapes, they are just shapes with 0 relevance. I definitely need to work on my photogram development skills.
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WWW: I managed to assemble the shapes in a way that allowed for the insertion of an led tea light and the removal as well. Majority of the shapes are recognisable and accurate. The colours of the shapes really pop, as well as that the images used on the nets are sharp enough to be recognisable.
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EBI: I had found some other way to assemble them. The glue and tape didn't give it that clean look i was going for, it almost made them look scrappy and primary school project like. However this factor didn't end up affecting the final outcome, as it's hard to spot from afar.
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My Final Response/Favourite Image: |
The theme we were exploring for this specific project was landscapes and how photography affects them. At first i thought: "How could photography possibly affect landscapes?". My peers then started suggesting things such as "paper that photos get printed on are made from cut down trees" and "they don't capture the true view" and i was convinced that photography affects landscapes significantly. I then started doing some research on photographers who use their work to demonstrate the affects we have on landscapes and how we use them to benefit us. I researched artists such as: Anastasia Samoylova, Gary Emrich, and Gerraldo De Barros - who all have strong opinions on how people are affected by photographs how their memories and minds alter. I also researched: Sarah Anne Johnson and Joe Rudko who more inspired the visual aspect of the images rather than the connotations of the piece. This piece allowed me to tap into the "Photographs are not fixed in meaning; context is everything" threshold concept - as this image can look like a bunch of shapes to the average person, but once they learn the context the story comes to life. I'd also say in delving deeply into trying to create a solid meaning behind this piece I also tackled threshold concept number 8 "Photographs have their own visual language and 'grammar' - i believe that the story I am trying to tell is prevalent if you look hard enough. I'll be honest and say that the meaning behind this piece can be confusing to understand, in a sense that it's not obvious what it is meant to mean at first glance however it is not impossible to understand the meaning. Is that a bad thing? The answer is unclear. On one hand the lack of obviousness
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