Original Concept - influenced by steffi klenz work a scape, with distorting the scale of landscape - Using scale as a primary

factor to portray landscape - Re-creating actual landscapes in a small scene - Unnoticable as fake - Shot in ansel adams style Artistic research - Demand - Hardy - Hurell Test research - railway models - Paper - Already thinking of composition, the look through and into effect More research - Nix - Wrede - Lang - All six artist display the work in different mediums More tests - Earth Re - dev concept - Why real nature - Botany - History - Horticulture - Indigenous - Where orriginaly from - Show home grown in (ish) More research - Botany - History - Horticulture - Indigenous - Where orriginaly from - Diorama Big Tests

- The shoots - Technical aspects Reception from peers - what to change - Too similar scenes - What was liked - Weather Re Shoot - finals - object lighting techniques Printing and finals Conclusion, crit, what learnt/gained Trees used Pine - North America Bamboo - China Blue gum - Mediterranean Notes: i started off with three ideas, high fstop landscape photographs in the style of ansel adams, old country estate scenes as recreations of early landscape photographs photos, and creating small scale landscape scenes. after a seminar with peers i chose the small scale scene. this idea was influenced heavly by the work of steffi klenz. her distortions of scale in the landscape, added to the fact that i had been navigated to try scale distortion in a previous project by an old tutor, something i didnt try to its fullest, made me want to attempt the unknown and create small scale landscapes. these artists were suggested to me during our first peer seminar, i began looking at them and noticed first their use of different materials to express their intentions. Tess Hurrell uses cotton wool to recreate mushroom clouds and other clouds from bomb explosions. she uses a soft harmless material to represent the harmful destructive nature of the real scenes. Thomas `demand uses only paper to create his scenes, working long hours with many assistants to painstakingly create miniature scenes that look almost perfectly real. Anne Hardy uses real, life size materials to create huge mysterious scenes. i took one major point from these artists, that each uses very differing materials and methods to convey thier meanings to the audience. from this point i decided i needed to furhter my understading of this specific field through visual experimentation of my own This first experiment into small scale landscapes used architects models to construct the scene. Fake sheets of grass, fake lichen and fake small trees were used to create the small scale landscape. I took documentary shots to use as information in my project but did not take well thought out and constructed imagery. I felt that the scene did not work, I could tell this by eye and so felt it unnecessary to develop the scene further. My

justification for this was in that the scene did not portray the intended meaning I had wanted. The method used proved to be too visually fake, and something that already contained its own connotations. As the tools used have been seen reproduced in model railway sets and architectural plans so often those contexts haunt the scene. The viewer would unintentionally bring the meanings they had from those already used scenes into my images, which is something I fervently opposed. As the model landscape didn't prove satisfactory I decided to investigate other methods of representation. I took a page out of Thomas Demand's book and tried using paper to create the small landscape scene. I bought brown card, green tissue paper, earth powder and spray mount. After my first expereiments proved to be unsuccesfull in creating the scene i desired i decided to look at more artists work to gain inspiration and insight. Lori nix works with scaled down models of real scenes, intricately and exactly creating every minute detail. thomas wrede takes small models of buildings and places them into real landscapes, photographing them in a way so as to distort the viewers sense of scale, creating a scene that becomes half real and half fiction. martin lang uses sand and clay moulds to create small city scenes, using specific lighting to confuse the viewer as to what they are actually looking at. again i took one major point from these artists, that they each use very differend materials and methods to create thier scenes, portray what they intend in a very original way. with this in mind i decided to try something new with my experiments. i had the idea one morning while doing some gardening, to try using natural materials to create my scene. this first attempt, crude though it is, gave me a huge revelation into how to further my project. the attempt proved to be the exact look i was trying to attain, and opened new doors for contextual influence. using natural material to recreate natural landscapes. with this new idea in my mind i wanted to explore its potentials further, and so set about to create a much larger version of the experiment. i used plastic dust sheeting and a home made wooden barrier to form a space in which i could create my scenes. i then filled this with compost and used blue painted boards as a backdrop. i then gathered various plants from the surrounding areas of the countryside and began arranging them in a manner in which i thought to look realistic of a natural landscape. this proved to be highly successful and spurred on my efforts to further the project in this new direction. I began to look at landscapes to recreate and investigate the plants in which to use for this. i was gathering plant material in an abandoned allotment when i realized how abundant the area was, how diverse the variety of plant life it contained and began to formulate a structure for my scenes. i found it facinating how all these speceis of plants from around the world could be found in such a small single area. using only the material in a 50 metre raduis i would create three vastly differing scenes which show landscapes from around the globe. however it was advised to me that i was closing my progect in too much, creating barriers that need not be there and that i should look furhter into the origins and introductions of these various plant species rather than thier growing quarters once they were established in the country.

as my idea was to create scenes in which these plants would have originated my composition of the scene need not be related to any actual scene, but rather a fictitious creation based on the general assumptions of the countries of origin. Crit: For me this project has been immensely enjoyably and highly successful, I have learnt so much in so short a time. I found it difficult at first to narrow my concept down into one that had a workable goal and specific intended meaning. However after I conducted research into other artists that work in the same field, and experimented with different visual techniques to convey my meanings I found the project pushing itself forward under its own momentum. I set out to explore the use of scale and recreation as tools for representing specific meaning in a landscape scene, I feel my final prints do just that. By creating the scenes in which plant material found in the UK originated, I communicate my message of humanities ability to manipulate the nature around it, to place un-indigenous species into any landscape, just as I have placed these plants into miniature landscapes, small homages to their true identity. I found the organization of this project one in which I could easily manage, being fortunate to own a large garage in which I could set up these small scenes in a comfortable manner, the set up and photographing of the mini landscapes could be conducted at my own pace, allowing time for precision. Were I not to have this space I would have found the project highly unmanageable. I found that my test shoots were a good representation of my intended meaning, but needed a lot more technical skill to develop professional quality photographs. Fortunately the workshop sessions for the Object Unit gave me those skills I required to light and frame my scenes in the manner to which they required. I faced many difficulties throughout the project, a specific concept to start from, lighting and framing the scenes, printing the photographs to the high quality I desired, even to the mounting of the photographs onto boards, however I took each problem with calm consideration, sought advice from peers and tutors, and above all maintained a level head to solve the problem and move on. As always though I felt that time management could have been improved, and will strive to do so in future projects. 1 2 3 4 5 6 What is your understanding of issues related to the unit? What context would you place your work in? What were the reasons behind your photographic choices? For instance, how do you think your visual choices translate to your ideas? How have you managed your studies? What aspect of your shoot productions do you need to reect upon and why? What has been the most signicant challenge on these Units so far? How can you overcome them in the future?

Notes/Speech Slide 1 - Title Page Slide 2 - Started the project with three broad ideas, outlined the key elements of these - Chose the small scale recreated landscapes inuenced by Stef Klenz series A Scape, using ambiguous scale to trick the viewers eye into thinking the scene is larger than it really is - Also a never tried method for me, wanted to explore something new - Wanted to recreate scenes in real life but vastly smaller Slide 3 - Began research on artists who create small scenes - Tess Hurrell, uses a harmless soft material, cotton wool, to display destruction and harm of the utmost atrocity - Thomas Demand, uses paper to display almost perfectly realistic scenes, something so fragile a material to display intricately structured scenes, the paper becomes far more than it really is - Anne Hardy, uses real objects to create large displays, making the large items of real life seem miniature versions of themselves. - The Key factor I took from these is their use of specic materials to convey their meaning. Each differing vasty from the other Slide 4 - Then needed to explore the eld personally, so began experimenting visually - Architects model was the rst material I turned to for representing the small scenes. However it denitely didn't provide me with the look I was after, it was far too fake. - Then tried using paper, building a small scene using tissue paper and card, but this didnt provide any better results. - Both however allowed me to start thinking about the composition of each scene, how to shoot and how to construct. Slide 5 - Went back to researching artists to gain insight and inspiration. - Lori Nix, uses model making materials but on a far more professional and intricate level than I had tried, to construct near perfect replications of scenes in life. - Thomas Wrede, takes model buildings then places them into real landscapes, confusing and disorientating the viewers sense of scale. - Martin Lang, uses sand and clay to build small scale cities, which are then shot with low key lighting to confuse the viewer. - Again each were using very different materials to display their meanings, I needed to nd the material, but also my meaning behind the use of it. Slide 6 - went back to visual experimentation to explore other materials - Tried using nature to display nature, by creating a small scene using earth and plants - Natural materials worked very well, and I began formulating a meaning behind it. Slide 7 - took this new idea and expanded on it

- Created a much larger experiment, plastic sheeting, wooden boards as a barrier, compost, blue painted boards as backdrop and plants found in the local area. - These plants were chosen as they looked like much larger trees on a small scale - This method grew quickly on me and I knew I had found the material I was looking for to create the visuals I was after. Slide 8 - tried to hone the meaning of the project, combining it with the material - While looking for plant material I noted the diversity of plant species in a small area - Discussed using only materials found in this area to create three vastly differing scenes - However was advised against closing my project in by the unit leader - Was advised to look into the background of these diverse plants, their history, introduction to the UK and where they came from originally Slide 9 - Researched plants and their origins - Choosing specic plants to portray each scene Slide 10 - The scenes now didn't need to be copies of real landscapes but rather ctional scenes based on the visual assumptions of the original land where the plants derived. - Research into dioramas proved fruitless, they hindered the visual asthetics of the scene as I now wanted them to look as real as possible. Slide 11 - I chose my plant species, pine from north america, blue gum from the mediteranian and yew from northern europe - I located these in surrounding areas and began collecting the materials needed to produce my scenes. Slide 12 - Set up my test scenes - Camera position proved dicult but not impossible - Lighting was small scenes was new to me and so I attempted my best with the knowledge I had. - Used black and white lm as I felt the scenes would look best displayed without colour, as though they are recreations of the history they came from. Slide 13 - contacts were good, showed promise, but no where near perfect Slide 14 - took these in to a peer review of our projects so far. - There were unanimous visual highlights and aws that the others found in my tests - Weather proved to be a key element in creating the look of a real landscape and so should be encorperated with the other images, not just the snow scene - The scenes should be made to look entirely real, no sign of fakery should be included in the nal images. - The scenes should look completely different to each other, two of the scenes were too similar.

Slide 15 - with that in mind I changed yew to bamboo - Researched the original scenes where the plants came from to form a basis for the composition of each scene. Slide 16 - Using the knowledge and techniques gained from the Object Units lighting workshops I was able to meter and expose my scenes with a much higher professionalism - Used bigger and bolder materials to compose the scenes in a more abstract but natural manner - I tried incorporating weather into the scenes, bright sun and heat of the med, cold light and snow from north america and thick humid forrest of Chinese bamboo Slide 17 - I bracketed for each scene and once the image was composed did not change lighting or camera placement, just fstop and focus, and always tried to have the fstop as high as possible to gain the most detail. Slide 18 - chose contrast over tone - Chose large paper size to engross the viewer into the scene - Chose no border for this case so the scenes are free from distractions, were they to be wall mounted I would have kept the border - Mounted onto boards so they would not crease or scratch as much, and so the viewer can handle the prints easier - Chose this display sequence as I felt the light and dark edges of the scenes should match - Had border issues and mounting issues, but resolved these by being patient and trying again. Slide 19 - I set out to explore the use of scale and recreation as tools for representing specic meaning in a landscape scene, I feel my nal prints do just that. By creating the scenes in which plant material found in the UK originated, I communicate my message of humanities ability to manipulate the nature around it, to place un-indigenous species into any landscape, just as I have placed these plants into miniature landscapes, small homages to their true identity. Slide 20 - I feel the project was a complete success, and took su much insight and knowledge away from it.