Commission: Environment

Challenging the Picturesque

Claire Smith

Introduction
Generally we have a pre-conceived conception of what picturesque is and have done since the 17th century. It entails subject matter that is considered picture perfect and creates the ideal landscape. Seeing photographs by Roger Fenton and Henry Peach Robinson and how they have constructed their images, creating photographs for the purpose of being pleasing to look at also creates an image that doesnt portray reality. Because of these ideas about the picturesque, certain types of landscapes arent acknowledged as being so. People fail to see the beauty amongst the un-picturesque and this is what inspired this project to show people what they arent seeing.

What is Picturesque?
17th century paintings by Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin set the way for the picturesque. A picture perfect image. Subject matter worth painting or photographing. Common traits include lakes, blue skies and manicured land became the ideal landscape.

Because of this template, many images were almost reproductions of each other.

Roger Fenton

Photographs that sought out a timeless arcadia. (unspoiled wilderness) Constructed and set up the images, even the figures were posed to create a sense of the ideal rural life. The images arent about their natural features anymore but the lifestyle.

Henry Peach Robinson

Made composite images from multiple negatives to create a story. He wrote: "Any dodge, trick and conjuration of any kind is open to the photographer's use...It is his imperative duty to avoid the mean, the base and the ugly, and to aim to elevate his subject...and to correct the unpicturesque

Challenging the Picturesque

Theres a pre-conceived conception of what picturesque is. Mechanical photography allowed photographers to construct an image, and in my eyes, it is a snapshot of un-reality. John Muir, an American naturalist, and father of the modern conservation movement once said: None of natures landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild

J. M. W. Turner

Portrayed landscapes and seascapes of England, becoming known as the 'painter of light He captures the mood of an environment through light, colour, tone and composition, creating an atmosphere within the image.

Ori Gerscht

A 2004 series of mysterious, elegant and dream-like images that were actually taken in mundane locations around London such as traffic islands. Subjective photography removes us from the landscape and into another world via a low level and high angle. Overexposures cause loss of detail in the negative, distorting the colours and creating a fantasy like feel.

Medway Salt Marshes

Found on the top layers of mud in sheltered areas, flooded at high tide and contain blocks of grasses and plants that often arent found anywhere else. They provide a habitat for nesting waders and sea birds, worms, shrimp, shellfish and are also a source of food. Dissipate tidal energy, a natural barrier between the land the tide.

Contact Sheets
Taking Ori Gerschts subjective approach I used a high angle and cropped the horizon out of most frames so that we focus on the land. The more severe crops, honing in on the detail of the land were most successful. Ive highlighted areas with wide tonal ranges to create a mood and atmosphere.

Photographic Choices
I chose to use subjective photography and remove the horizon from the landscape and crop the frame so that you are also removed from the salt marsh and focus on the detail. In this image I focused on the curve of the stream, showing the intricate systems that go on in within the saltmarsh. Beauty within form and texture and not subject matter. The mixtures of greens and browns and how they blend with each other reminds me of some of Turners more abstract paintings.

Photographic Choices
Ive used natural lighting, on a cloudy day to keep everything, a true representation of reality. Ive used a high angle so that we are analysing the details that I have focused on and not the surrounding area. Were looking down and into the pool. Ive focused on the reflection, something associated with beauty and how the rocks appear suspended. Slightly overexposed, the still water becomes a pool of empty space, drawing the viewer in.

Photographic Choices
Ive used different depth of fields in each image depending on the detail. If its only part of an image then there is a shallow depth of field and if its about the whole frame, I have used a larger depth of field. Ive used a 180mm lens to be able to hone in on these details. Ori Gerscht overexposed her images to create a hazy appearance. The shallow depth of field has a similar effect, taking you into the environment instead of looking out onto the landscape. This image is all about the seaweed, and how it cascades over the rocks, and glistens under the light. Theres something graceful about its appearance, contradicting what we stereotype seaweed to be.

Final Images

Commission: City
Boundaries

Introduction
Everything has a life span, everything must age and decay, even buildings. But why do we choose to abandon and neglect some structures? Why are they left vacant and ignored? When we construct, politics causes man think he owns the land. He builds a fence or a wall and claims ownership. As urban structures fall into disrepair, nature will eventually reclaim the land. Nature will always be the stronger force and will always win, however deceptive it may be. My initial idea was to capture natures control over neglected urban environments.

Containing and Reclaiming

Abandoned buildings and empty premises are a common site in the UK as a result of the recession and the countrys economic crisis. Its how these buildings and structures are left for years to decay and natures response that I want to photograph. Nature is attentive to that which we neglect and reclaims the land in which we have taken away, contains it.

Nicholas Goodison

Comments on human intrusion on the Scottish Highlands Captures how natural elements such as rain, wind and sunlight eating away at man-made structures, eye-saws. The footprint on the land left by man will soon disappear in a geological timescale. Close up images focus on the details, the textures, the patterns.

J.B Jackson: The Necessity For Ruins

Jackson questions what a ruin is. A reminder of a period in history? "Ruins provide the incentive for restoration, and for a return to origins "There has to be an interim of death or rejection before there can be renewal and reform. The old order has to die before there can be a born-again landscape "History ceases to exist We can re-enact and re-construct environments from history but the truth is, there is no getting back history; It is in the past.

J. K. Putnam

In a city, when a building is demolished, a new one is built. When a tree falls in a rainforest, a new one grows in its place.. When we abandon a building, vines will grow up it and reclaim the land. Man made structures exude emptiness. Theres a cycle of creation and decay. Low angles exaggerate the size of the decaying object so that it appears large in the frame. It emphasises the emptiness.

Andreas Gursky

Interested in how people live within the landscape. Portrays human impacts of capitalism and globalisation, concentrating on areas of commercialism or tourism. High angles emphasize the scale of his images and the human impacts. Very technical approach, images made up of parallel sections, separates the images into layers. Human impacts flatten and bring order to the wilderness.

Contact Sheets
I shot films with a mixture of compositions and techniques, from all my researched artists to see what worked and what didnt.

Photographic Choices
Instead of analysing the nature like in task one, I wanted to bring structure and a sense of order to the landscape. Ive used a similar composition to Andreas Gursky, a constructed image, but I have used a mid to low angle to not emphasize size or scale but to put the viewer in the position to observe the landscape. The angle slightly emphasise the presence of the building within its environment like J K Putnam.

Photographic Choices
Ive used natural light to show both forces equally and as they are in reality. When I photograph in this constructed manner, it gives the viewer an unbiased viewpoint on the issue. Here I like how the fence is sandwiched between vegetation, and also how the trees have formed their own fence-like barrier, preventing development and expansion of the urban environment. Theres a sense of irony in that the fence, usually used to confine land, is being confined.

Photographic Choices
Ive used a 110mm lens so that I was able to take a step back and create this position of observation . The imagery is stronger in this image with the vines climbing the wall. Theres contact between nature and the manmade, as if the vines are holding the wall up. I really like the combinations of natural and manmade patterns and textures and how they interlock. The vines are the only part of the composition not parallel showing their wild nature but also how they break through human boundaries to contain the urban.

Final Images

Urban Evaluation
Overall I think that my visual choices are successful in showing how nature contains the urban. Im happy with what I have so far but there are adjustments that need to be made. One of my three finals doesnt match the other two. The wall and the fence represent boundaries and how nature is growing around them, to show that there is no ownership of the land, it all belongs to nature. The building has more emphasis on how man abandons and neglects buildings, and how nature is containing the decay and nurturing in its place. I need to decide which route to go down to create definite final images. Im going to develop both ideas and see which is stronger. In the future, I would prefer overcast weather conditions to emphasise the abandonment of the building instead of the blue sky that I have.

Unit Evaluation
What Ive learnt from doing these two projects is that getting your ideas across through imagery is a lot harder than I thought. For task one, I have studied Geography; I understand a salt marshs purpose and trying to show people this, was a reason my development took so long and that my research covers a vast area. I would place my work under the umbrella of man versus nature. For task one its about changing the mental attitude towards salt marshes and changing the mind about the un-picturesque. For my urban project its about nature creating boundaries for urban structures, containing and reclaiming the land that has been neglected by humans.

Unit Evaluation
Technical issues such as lens flare is also a problem that I intend to avoid in the future. I am aware of certain aspects to adjust. One task took a bit longer to develop than the other and it shows in my research. In future I will start shooting as soon as possible, because there was a slight delay between research and practice. The biggest challenge has been controlling all the photographic choices so that they all communicate the same thing. I am definitely more aware of these choices when photographing. The weather has been another issue, but that is out of my control. Overcast days created flat images and dull colours and sunny days caused lens flare. However, it has made me aware of how important every aspect of the image is.

Before my final submission I want to reshoot my urban on a cloudy day. Follow both routes and find the one that works best so that my final images are stronger.