Constructed Landscapes: Introduction
I would say that I don't have a very strong connection to the natural world, living in an urban location means that you have very limited access to the natural world in everyday life and it is harder to connect with. If I wanted to see a landscape, I would try to leave the area I live in, to find somewhere new so that I could experience and capture the landscape for the first time, however landscapes can be found anywhere. I think that people take photos of nature to capture the beauty of the natural world, as it is not experienced everyday for a lot of people. I think that photographs can greatly influence the way you see things, they can be changed or altered to manipulate how you understand the subject.
When I hear the world 'landscape', I think of the composition that is often used to represent these images, but also I think that a landscape is any photo, or other piece of art, that captures a location, where the photo is being taken just for the purpose of capturing the location, and nothing else.
When I hear the world 'landscape', I think of the composition that is often used to represent these images, but also I think that a landscape is any photo, or other piece of art, that captures a location, where the photo is being taken just for the purpose of capturing the location, and nothing else.
Words I associate with landscape:
|
|
These are the images that show up when you search 'landscape' in google images. They are all stereotypical images of a landscape, and are all appealing to look at.
My ideal landscape would be a photo that captures the beauty of a location, whether its nature or cityscapes, but it is very important that it represents the area. If it was of a natural area you'd have to capture intense features that excite the people viewing, who wouldn't be able to experience it the same way. An ideal city landscape would capture the skyline, or the detail of the buildings, it would show how developed or built-up the location is. If I looked out my window, in the fore-ground you would see terraced housing, which is compact allowing limited green space, however in the background you can see the skyline of Central London and the office buildings in Catford.
Landscape experimentation
Evaluation
This is the first selection of photos I have taken in response to the new topic, I aimed to take images aimed at 'nature' rather than 'buildings'. The first two images are in the portrait format, as I wanted to capture the height of the trees, whilst still being relatively close. The third image is my favorite, it is taken in the landscape format and captures the idea of 'green space' quite well whilst being restricted to the school grounds.
Dafna Talmor
|
Dafna Talmor is an artist with a very unique style, when she creates her work she goes through a series of processes. First, she takes a series of photos on a film camera and develops them, but then she alters them. She does this by cutting elements out and swapping positions of different parts of the image. This creates a unique and interesting photo to look at, that are shown below.
|
These images may seem distorted at first, however once you look closely you can see the landscapes that she has deconstructed, and then rebuilt, normally she uses two different images, aiming to create the 'utopia' she talks about. You you can see the contrast between the photos, creating depth and reinforcing the layering of the images, in addition, most of her work appears to have shadows or empty space, further adding to the 3D affect.
I have a selection of a range of different landscapes with a combination of urban, suburban, and rural locations. The first 4 images are traditional urban skylines, however I don't like these as much as the other photos as they lack colour and appear grey in comparison. Although they do still capture the location and represent the area.
Constructing Slides
In response to Dafna Talmor's work we used 2 or more slides, and coloured film, to form a new deconstructed, and reconstructed image. Using a scalpel you could also create scratches or textures in the image. Personally I prefer the image on the left as the slide on the right needs more edits or elements from another slide as I think that it is too simple and doesn't occur as 'reconstructed'.
Template Landscapes.
For this task we took an existing landscape that we had already taken, printed it out, and cut certain elements out. Then we used the template as a foreground, with another setting behind it to create a new constructed landscaps.
Evaluation
My favorite image is the last photo in the gallery, I feel that whilst it is simplistic, it also combines the two different landscapes well. You can see the template landscape in front, and the background of the school building which compliments well. For example, some of the images with the sky in, appear very neutral and grey as the template is predominantly that colour and I think that it makes the image appear bland. One problem I had with this was getting both parts of the image in focus as the camera usually focuses on the foreground and not the background which means that it sometimes doesn't appear to be a new 'constructed' landscape. Another reason why I like the last image is because the photo appears to be split half and half which makes it appear like a good constructed landscape.
Known and Strange
Last week we went to the Victoria and Albert museum in central London to view the 'known and strange' gallery. There were displays and photos from multiple different artists including Dafna Talmor and Tyler Mitchell who we have already studied before. A selection of the images were landscapes or constructed landscapes that contributed to our understanding of the topic.
|
Photographs from exhibition:
These are a selection of photos that were on display at the gallery, in terms of landscapes my favourite images were the photos on the right by Rinko Kawauchi, whilst he only had three pieces on display, a lot of his landscapes use zoom, light, and distortion that give him a unique style to other artists in the exhibition. Out of these three photos my favourite is the centre image which uses the water and reflections to bring the photo to life, as otherwise the few plants wouldn't create the same effect. Furthermore, whilst I like this photo on its own, all three images compliment each other and show a variety of his work where they still can be appreciated as a set or individually.
|
Rinko Kawauchi |
After working on this project for a longer time my opinion on landscapes, I prefer these types of landscapes over the 'traditional' styles at the start of this page, as they can be just as beautiful, but incorporate much more interesting methods whilst still showcasing a location.
Dionne Lee
Dionne Lee is an american photographer and artist who has interpreted landscape photography in a unique fashion, where she records the live process of her creating new, constructed landscapes. This form of presentation is very interesting as we get to see the thought process she is having and how this affects her decisions with her images, whether she folds, tears, layers, or removes photos to create a new photo. It is also interesting because each change she makes could be its own image before she reaches the final product. You can also see that she repeats this process multiple times, with different sets of images, so none of her pieces are permanent and are only recorded on this video.
Uta Barth
After looking at a range of Barth's out of focus landscapes, I chose the image on the left as my favourite. First of all, despite it being out of focus it still catches your eye really easily, with the strong red colour of the brick buildings standing out in what appears to be an urban landscape. We can also see a person as well as a landscape and the pavement. With out of focus landscapes, you can still make out most of the image, but it requires you to look longer and harder to find what the photographer is trying to show you, or letting you interpret it in a different way to if it was in focus - where it seems a lot more obvious what you're supposed to be looking at.
|
Homework: Out of focus landscapes
Ray K Metzker: Pictus Interruptus
Pictus Interruptus translates from latin to 'the picture is interrupted', Metzker has titled these photos like this because in each of his landscape images he has used an objector other photo to disrupt or deform the landscape he is taking a photo of. His photos are "disrupted by abstract forms that combine, complement, and contrast with recognizable elements of the city or the land." All the photos were taken in black and white on film, and this further adds to the abstractness and intangibility of the photos, as they are even harder to understand at first glance, and Metzker has allowed room for personal interpretation - there isnt always a clear meaning.
Response
These were the two other pictures that I used to distort my landscapes.
This is the set of images I took in response to Metzker's work, I tried to vary whether the foreground or background was in focus as he has done, and in most of my images I have used buildings as the subject because I feel that it compliments the disrupting image more. Furthermore I think that the images with the blurred background are a more effective response to Metzker's photos as they are more abstract, more distorted, and harder to interpret. To refine my work I am going to make the photos black and white, so they closer resemble the images I am responding to.
Pictus Interruptus response 2.
These 5 images are my favourite from the selection, most of the time I prefer the photos that are more abstract where you can identify that the image is a landscape but can’t t easily identify any key features, like the last 3 images in the gallery. I feel that these photos relate more to the original 'pictus interruptus' images, however I still think that the other images where you can see what is happening and what is being obstructed, are still an effective response. To further refine the images I am once again going to change the images to black and white using photoshop.
Photoshop Landscapes:
Now that the photos were in black and white, I put them back into photoshop, and experimented with adding new layers. For these images I added a new threshold layer, then used the fill tool to add a block colour. Once I had done this for two images I merged them together to create the final result.
Constructed Landscapes Independent Work
Brea Souders: Vistas
In the series of photos titled 'vistas' Souders uses google maps to explore the world looking for landscapes, a recurring theme in these images is having a distorted shadow, or mis-edited body part of the photographer. This occurs when the algorithm behind google attempts to stitch images together whilst also removing human features. This creates a very interesting result as the overwhelming and idyllic landscapes are contrasted by the mistake of a computer that may be seen as a distracting elemnent that detracts from the beauty of the image, but may make it more interesting.
Brea Souders: Response
For some of these photos I directly responded to Souders' images by finding locations with the photographers shadow in, however I also found locations where you could see the physical body, or some where there were just general glitches in the programming. My favourite image is the third oe as I feel that without the computer error, the landscape would be quite idyllic and seems like a photo that would be found in a series of landscapes.
Minimalist Landscapes: What Remains
In Barros' image, he has taken a photograph, on film, and before he developed the photo, he cut out parts of the film so that when it was developed, there would be gaps in the final product. In Nielsens image, she has made a paper negative using white and black card, to create a very minimalistic landscape with very little information, but just enough so that her photo is still identifiable as a landscape. This is the process we do in our response. I think that these two images are a good example of the main theme of constructed landscapes, as whilst they are both identifiable as a landscape, both photos require you to think about how the image was created and stimulate a sense of confusion, For my response to 'minimalistic landscapes' I will be doing a similar method to Nielsen by using black and white card to create a negative. I think that by removing certain parts of the landscape or by leaving other parts out, it draws more attention to the features in the photo, and the artist may focus on the parts they find more interesting. Personally, I prefer the image by Liz Nielsen as although Barros' method is interesting in creating his landscape, it feels more messy and less like he has made intentional decisions based on what he can see.
Whilst this is only an experimental response to the work I am not very happy with how my negative turned out. I like how I used narrow strips of card to create my outlines, however upon finishing there was very little black compared to white so there wouldn't be much to develop. To change this I added more blocks of card to create a landscape with more depth and layers, but overall I don't like the final result that much. I would change the image so it is less symmetrical.
To make this image we used the negative we made to form a positive using an enlarger in the dark room. Placing the negative over the light sensitive, photographic paper, meant that the black card would stop certain parts of the paper from being exposed to the light, whereas the white paper would allow light through. After it had been exposed for 10 seconds, it was submerged in the first of 3 chemicals. The image should be placed in developer for 1 minute which gives time for the whole image to develop, making it a solid black colour, rather than a pale grey. After 1 minute it is removed from the developer and placed in stop for a few seconds to stop any further development. Then it should be placed in fix for around 5 minutes to ensure that the image will remain at the same quality. After the 5 minutes it is then rinsed in water to remove any excess chemicals and hung up to dry. After this process I still feel similarly about the image and feel that it is quite simplistic.
To further refine the positive we did a similar process, however during the developing phase, instead of submerging the whole sheet we used a range of tools such as sponges and brushes, to highlight specific parts of the image and create texture instead of block colour. This is an effective form of refining as it allows much more personal control of how the image is developed. For example, to create the affect in my image I used the sponge and applied varied amounts of chemical. I applied the chemicals in layers to create variation in tone which is why we can see some areas that are very dark and some that are much paler. I think that, for my landscape, the sponge was the better choice, as the final effect seems quite biological as it looks like splashes of water, or microscopic cells. I think this works well as my image as a natural landscape, however, with an urban landscape I think this would be less effective. I am much happier with this photo than the previous ones, as it has a much more interesting effect, it feels more chaotic and less bland compared to the others. I also feel that having a texture could imply weather or mood, whereas the images with block colour seem very neutral.
Constructed Landscapes: Personal Response
For my personal response, I have picked these 4 artists to look into as when I was looking at their work I noticed the recurring theme of circles, where they are either cut out or rotated to create distortions within the image.
|
|
Starting my personal response:
For my personal response I know from looking at these artists that I want to incorporate circular elements into my constructed landscapes, however I also want to combine this process with other forms of disruption that I have learnt since starting this project. Specifically after looking at Aliki Braine and Alice Duncan, I knew that at least part of my project would involve using the dark room, and film, to create my images. At this point, I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it, but the first step was to experiment with how the images could turn out.
These 4 photos were my first results from the dark room, whilst there is currently no disruption to the image, it was a valuable experiment as I learnt that I would need to use photos on black and white film, rather than using the colour film that I had found. Using colour film resulted in the photos appearing very grey compared to the contrast that you expect to see with black and white film, to change this I tried using a strong filter as in school I only have access to a black and white darkroom, which was why I used this colour film to investigate how it might impact my results. Using the filter meant that there was a very low exposure, and the photographic paper was already exposed to the light for longer than you usually would, so no clear image was produced compared to without the filter. This means that any photos I produced using colour film would appear similar to these, and for what I wanted to do, I knew that I would need black and white film instead.
Whilst I was still waiting for black and white film, I made a first attempt at making a constructed landscape by making a double exposure, overlapping both the urban and natural landscape from above. Whilst an image is produced, it is very unclear and it is very hard to make out both images, I tried multiple times to create a clearer picture, and extended the exposure time significantly, and later changed the film so that they were lighter images and wouldn't block out as much light. All of these ended up similar to the image on the left and I decided that using colour film would not be an effective use of time, and I would have to use black and white.
|
Hole Punch Experiments
First Constructed Film
Dark Room Test Strips
Second Constructed Film
Refining Film Using Photoshop
Adapted slides projections
Adapted slides disrupted projections
My most successful pictures
Final Evaluation
Whilst exploring the theme of constructed landscapes, I found the concept of challenging the idea of what a landscape is, really interesting, as by looking at a 'traditional landscape', something symbolic of natural beauty and perfectionism, and then deconstructing that image to create an entirely new meaning behind the photo, it helps to put across a new message, especially during the time of a climate crisis. Over time I became much more confident with this theme and began to input my own ideas into my work in response to other artists, as previous to this project the idea of taking a photo apart seemed abnormal or destructive, rather than an opportunity to create something new and equally pleasing to look at. Throughout this topic we have studied many artists as a class but for my personal response to the theme I was most inspired by Dafna Talmor, an artist who specialises in using film that has been taken apart and reconstructed to make a new landscape when the photos is enlarged. This concept immediately stuck out to me as I had already made constructed landscapes where they were distorted before the photo was taken, or after the photo was taken, but by using film it meant that I would be altering the landscape between these two stages - after the photo is taken but before it has been produced. By studying Dafna Talmor's work I have been able to become much more confident with using film and the dark room to produce photos, but it has also challenged my creativity and physical artistic ability. I had to think carefully about all the changes I made, so that once they had been cut out, they could form a new image that could still be interpreted as a landscape. I think one of the key threshold concepts present in my work is threshold concept 2, "photography is the capturing of light; a camera is optional", by using old film and selecting the parts I wanted from a photograph I didn't personally take, it meant that I could create an entirely new landscape without using a camera for most of the project, and I think that if I were to take the film photos myself, I would be too focused on finding a landscape that suited my future needs rather than having to improvise like I did. In my opinion, this contributed positively to my work as I had to be more creative and felt more challenged.
Throughout this project, whilst focusing mainly on using film, I tried to use a range of resources, including using slides with a slide projector, and photoshop to refine my work, however for the most part I used a scalpel and lightbox to create my new constructed landscapes. After I was happy with the film, I went into the dark room to start expanding on my response, using the enlargers to create the new reconstructed images. However every time I worked with a different piece of film I had to make a test strip to work out the ideal exposure time, by giving different parts of the photographic paper different amounts of time under the light. After this, I chose which part of the image had the most balanced result and showed the most detail, and then made a full size image, I also tried other methods of distortion such as double exposures, where I had less luck producing successful results. Despite this, I managed to produce a large number of successful enlarged photos. Whilst the main focus of my response was the photos from the dark room, I further refined my work by scanning the pieces of film and putting them onto photoshop. The first stage was to invert the image to form a positive rather than a negative, I then used the lasso tool to highlight part of the image and added a colour layer on top to further distort and disrupt the film. One of the ways my work has become more sophisticated over time is through practicing this style many times, for example, I became much more confident using the dark room, where each new image looked better than the last, and my work with the scalpel to create the new landscape became much neater, cleaner, and produced better results. The main thing that changed along the way was my desire to take my own photos for this project, whilst I still got to experiment with different types of film cameras, I began to realise that I didn't want to think how I would be editing the photos whilst I was taking them, and working with something new to me meant that I could produce a better response to 'constructed landscapes'. Throughout this topic, i would say that I have had to use all of the habits of mind to create the work I have, however, I think that the most important one for me has been persistence. At times working with film can be difficult and frustrating so sticking with this idea has been more challenging than any other work I have done in photography, especially with having to stick to the same ideas once I'd started, but working around obstacles and having to persevere has made this work much more rewarding for me.
Throughout the project I have aimed to document as many of the images I produced, even if they were not successful as it helps to show the process of how I refined my work and learnt from any mistakes I made. When I use photoshop I show a step by step process presented by a series of screenshots to show which features I used and how this created my final results which helps further show the thought process. One thing I would have done differently is to show the processes for the physical editing I did, such as the reconstruction of the film as I think this was a key stage for understanding the thought process.
Overall, I have created a final exhibition of consisting of 6 of the images that were my favourite from my response, that I thought were the best response to the entire topic of 'constructed landscapes'. I chose my two favourite photos from the work I produced with slides and the slide projector, I also chose the inverted and edited film images, I chose the best result from the darkroom work I did and finally I chose the photo which was the best response to the artists I had selected to look at from the start of the project. Some of my results were very different to how I had imagined when starting my response as I became more confident with the methods I was using, meaning I moved on to more advanced ideas rather than the simple ones that I was planning. In the end I think that these were much more interesting as a response to 'constructed landscapes' as I tried to stretch the boundaries as much as possible by distorting the images multiple times, almost adding a layered effect where there were different stages of landscape alteration all visible within the same image. With all of this combined I believe that I have created a successful response to the theme, that greatly helped me understand the topic and boosted my confidence in terms my ability to develop and refine my work in a successful way. Furthermore, whilst it is clearly a visible constructed landscape, the process of cutting out the photos yourself and then physically sticking them back together makes it seem much more valuable than simply editing the photo on photoshop - which is still an effective way of refining a photo - but I think that it works much better as a method of development, whereas having a physical process to deconstruct and reconstruct your photo really begins to explore ways to make a constructed landscape that means something. If I had more time on this project, I would definitely do more work with the slides and projector, I think that they created unique photos that were both able to contrast and compliment the other photos in my final project. In addition, I also would've made many more new negatives on film, as every time I did a new one they turned out better than the previous one, especially as I became more confident. Finally, one other thing I would do, now that I was able to use the dark room, and digital cameras to create successful photos, would be to put more effort into editing photos using photoshop as I think it can be one of the most effective ways to refine a photo which could impact my work in a positive way as there are hundreds of possibilities. By looking at my work, I hope people can understand how it helped me develop my skills whilst looking at a topic that's so sensitive at this point in time, the climate crisis is an ongoing event of significant importance; portraying landscapes like this rather than the traditional, idyllic nature landscapes or city landscapes that show the rapid urbanisation of the modern world helps to show that there is a problem, and as photography is a method to record an area for what it truly is, it needs to adapt with the world. Sometimes it may give you a false sense of security in thinking that the planet isn't being damaged where instead it should show you the truth to what is happening in the world around you. That is why I think this has been such an important topic to study, it comes with a message and shows us that everyone needs to change to solve a problem shared by the whole world, including photographers who could simply sit back and record world events. In conclusion, I think this project should be seen as a message to greater understand the world and change it for the better.
Throughout this project, whilst focusing mainly on using film, I tried to use a range of resources, including using slides with a slide projector, and photoshop to refine my work, however for the most part I used a scalpel and lightbox to create my new constructed landscapes. After I was happy with the film, I went into the dark room to start expanding on my response, using the enlargers to create the new reconstructed images. However every time I worked with a different piece of film I had to make a test strip to work out the ideal exposure time, by giving different parts of the photographic paper different amounts of time under the light. After this, I chose which part of the image had the most balanced result and showed the most detail, and then made a full size image, I also tried other methods of distortion such as double exposures, where I had less luck producing successful results. Despite this, I managed to produce a large number of successful enlarged photos. Whilst the main focus of my response was the photos from the dark room, I further refined my work by scanning the pieces of film and putting them onto photoshop. The first stage was to invert the image to form a positive rather than a negative, I then used the lasso tool to highlight part of the image and added a colour layer on top to further distort and disrupt the film. One of the ways my work has become more sophisticated over time is through practicing this style many times, for example, I became much more confident using the dark room, where each new image looked better than the last, and my work with the scalpel to create the new landscape became much neater, cleaner, and produced better results. The main thing that changed along the way was my desire to take my own photos for this project, whilst I still got to experiment with different types of film cameras, I began to realise that I didn't want to think how I would be editing the photos whilst I was taking them, and working with something new to me meant that I could produce a better response to 'constructed landscapes'. Throughout this topic, i would say that I have had to use all of the habits of mind to create the work I have, however, I think that the most important one for me has been persistence. At times working with film can be difficult and frustrating so sticking with this idea has been more challenging than any other work I have done in photography, especially with having to stick to the same ideas once I'd started, but working around obstacles and having to persevere has made this work much more rewarding for me.
Throughout the project I have aimed to document as many of the images I produced, even if they were not successful as it helps to show the process of how I refined my work and learnt from any mistakes I made. When I use photoshop I show a step by step process presented by a series of screenshots to show which features I used and how this created my final results which helps further show the thought process. One thing I would have done differently is to show the processes for the physical editing I did, such as the reconstruction of the film as I think this was a key stage for understanding the thought process.
Overall, I have created a final exhibition of consisting of 6 of the images that were my favourite from my response, that I thought were the best response to the entire topic of 'constructed landscapes'. I chose my two favourite photos from the work I produced with slides and the slide projector, I also chose the inverted and edited film images, I chose the best result from the darkroom work I did and finally I chose the photo which was the best response to the artists I had selected to look at from the start of the project. Some of my results were very different to how I had imagined when starting my response as I became more confident with the methods I was using, meaning I moved on to more advanced ideas rather than the simple ones that I was planning. In the end I think that these were much more interesting as a response to 'constructed landscapes' as I tried to stretch the boundaries as much as possible by distorting the images multiple times, almost adding a layered effect where there were different stages of landscape alteration all visible within the same image. With all of this combined I believe that I have created a successful response to the theme, that greatly helped me understand the topic and boosted my confidence in terms my ability to develop and refine my work in a successful way. Furthermore, whilst it is clearly a visible constructed landscape, the process of cutting out the photos yourself and then physically sticking them back together makes it seem much more valuable than simply editing the photo on photoshop - which is still an effective way of refining a photo - but I think that it works much better as a method of development, whereas having a physical process to deconstruct and reconstruct your photo really begins to explore ways to make a constructed landscape that means something. If I had more time on this project, I would definitely do more work with the slides and projector, I think that they created unique photos that were both able to contrast and compliment the other photos in my final project. In addition, I also would've made many more new negatives on film, as every time I did a new one they turned out better than the previous one, especially as I became more confident. Finally, one other thing I would do, now that I was able to use the dark room, and digital cameras to create successful photos, would be to put more effort into editing photos using photoshop as I think it can be one of the most effective ways to refine a photo which could impact my work in a positive way as there are hundreds of possibilities. By looking at my work, I hope people can understand how it helped me develop my skills whilst looking at a topic that's so sensitive at this point in time, the climate crisis is an ongoing event of significant importance; portraying landscapes like this rather than the traditional, idyllic nature landscapes or city landscapes that show the rapid urbanisation of the modern world helps to show that there is a problem, and as photography is a method to record an area for what it truly is, it needs to adapt with the world. Sometimes it may give you a false sense of security in thinking that the planet isn't being damaged where instead it should show you the truth to what is happening in the world around you. That is why I think this has been such an important topic to study, it comes with a message and shows us that everyone needs to change to solve a problem shared by the whole world, including photographers who could simply sit back and record world events. In conclusion, I think this project should be seen as a message to greater understand the world and change it for the better.