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Commission: Environment
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Challenging the Picturesque

Claire Smith

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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.

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Challenging the Picturesque

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

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J. M. W. Turner
Click to edit Master subtitle style Portrayed landscapes and seascapes of England. He experiments seeing

how the placement of humans and animals within the image effects it. He captures the mood of an environment through light, colour, tone and composition, creating an atmosphere within the image.

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Jem Southam / Dan Holdsworth

Click to edit Master subtitle style What I like about these two photographers is how they photograph the

ground. Even the horizon and sky is white, not to draw attention away from it.

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Ori Gerscht
Click edit series Master of subtitle style A to 2004 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

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Medway Salt Marshes

Click to edit Master subtitle style 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.

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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.

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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. 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.

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Photographic Choices

In this image I focus on the curve in the mud, showing the intricate systems that go on in within the saltmarsh. Beauty within form and texture and not subject matter. Pointing the lens down onto the landscape gives us no choice but to focus in the landscape.

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Photographic Choices

An obvious but overlooked feature of a salt marsh is how the mud flats have been carved by the tide. I used a 180mm lens to capture the landscape and enabling me to further crop the image and produce the final. This image is all about how the grass interlocks and the surface of the water glistens in the sun. Theres something peaceful about its appearance

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Unit Evaluation

Time management was an issue with this part of the unit. From where I started with my concept and experimentation the idea developed a lot, which shows in my research. 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. However I still think the images could be stronger in communicating the idea of the picturesque. The weather has been another issue, but one that has been

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Commission: City
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Boundaries

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Introduction

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. My initial idea was to capture natures control over neglected urban environments and how it responds to the decay.

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Nicholas Goodison
Click to edit Master subtitle style 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.

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J.B Jackson: The Necessity For Ruins

Click to edit Master subtitle style 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 bornagain landscape

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Yoshiko Seino
Click to edit Master subtitle style nature has begun to reclaim a landscape from She depicts scenes where

man made efforts to claim and re-shape it. Her choice of spaces and locations focuses not on the decay or architectural and industrial spaces but the neglect by humans that allows transformation back to nature.

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Andreas Gursky
Click to edit Master subtitle style 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

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I shot films with a mixture of compositions and techniques, from all my researched artists to see what worked and what didnt and settling on the structured Gursky style.

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Photographic Choices

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 fence is almost completely obscured and nature is stating on the overpass. The composition includes enough of the fence for it to be recognisable and I also like how you can see the pattern gradually fade as you scan the bush. I like how the nature appears wild and unruly, dominating the

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Photographic Choices

Ive used a standard lens so that I was able to take a step back and create this position of observation . Here it isnt just physical evidence of nature reclaiming but also similar to Goodisons work, natural processes such as wind, snow and rain have weathered the fence and now it appears to be being pulled down. I like how the vegetation, though not overpowering, seems to be wrapping itself around the fence to pull it down in sections. The imagery may not be as strong in this as the other two in

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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. Theres a sense of irony in that the fence, usually used to confine land, is being confined.

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City Evaluation

I think my photographic choices and the compositions have helped to communicate my ideas. Taking a step back and shooting straight on creates a place of observation for the audience which was what I wanted. I didnt want to present a biased point of view. The image of the wooden fence is the weakest of the three because the imagery isnt as obvious however, it fits with the series aesthetically. If I had the time I wouldve liked to shoot a lot more so better time management would be an improvement in future, something that is recurrent throughout all three parts of this unit.

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Commission: Waste
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Negligence

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UK Landfill: The Problem

Click to edit 7.2 Master subtitle style of food is thrown away by households in the UK Around million tonnes

every year. About two thirds of the waste at landfill is biodegradable organic matter from households, businesses and industry; it rots and releases methane, a damaging green house gas. In 2007 it was estimated that we only had five to ten more years of

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My Intentions

Recycling schemes are a part of everyday life but what I have done is collected food waste over a month from one household, food that wouldve gone to landfill and placed it within a familiar home environment to raise awareness of how the impacts from societys actions are closer than they think. Whilst the human presence seems unaware and negligent of the piles of waste around them, the impact on their environment is hugely significant.

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Surrealism and Dada

Click to edit Master subtitle Surrealists avoided allstyle logic and reason, seen as hindrances to creativity

with the aim to trick the eye, shock and make their audience look twice. Dadaists used an early form of Shock Art, humor, visual puns and everyday objects into the public eye. In a world absorbed by war, they made art that wasnt art as a visual protest.

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Rene Magritte
Click to edit Master subtitle Frequently displays a style collection of ordinary objects in an unusual context,

giving new meanings to familiar things. Juxtapositions or combinations of objects, by inversions of scale and so on to create such surreal imagery. "the art of putting colours side by side in such a way that their real aspect

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Samy Charnine
Click to edit Master subtitle style Charnine's work is very similar to that of Dali's and Magritte's. These

influences are evident within her paintings. Most paintings combine objects in juxtaposing environments. The contemporary twist to a pre-existent style was something I noted through her subject matter and composition.

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Becky Beynon
Click to edit Master subtitle style the scenes of domestication, aims to raise Stretched stockings across

questions upon the placement of the female role within contemporary society. The intrigue of seeing stockings stretched across the house environment. The framing creates a sense of the environment and provides context.

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Nelly Ben Hayoun

Click to edit Master subtitle style The Other Volcano is a project that domesticates the most violent of

natural processes, addressing and reinterpreting different natures. In the corner of the environment it can provoke fear or excitement. Human Presence provides a sense of scale, low angle emphasises the volcano.

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Contact Sheets

Low Angle 50mm lens Subtle Human Presence

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Photographic Choices

A low angle with the waste in the foreground emphasises its presence within the environment. With the humans back turned, it is as if the waste is creeping up on him, its also representative of how the majority of society turns a blind eye onto the consequences of their waste disposal.

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Photographic Choices

A 50mm lens helped me to capture a lot of the environment to help give the audience a sense of where the waste is located. Keeping the human small within the frame means that they are the last thing to be noticed which is what I wanted.

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Photographic Choices

I have also used the environments to my advantage and placed the human in another room in each. The frame within a frame emphasises how society distances themselves from their responsibilities to do with waste. The pile of waste is something to shoot through, a barrier that we must get past which is something I like about this particular frame.

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Waste Evaluation

This body of work is a statement about societys attitudes towards the disposal of their food waste. It would fit well alongside other photographers works who also communicate environmental statements. The other niche that it would fit into would be into a magazine for an environmentalist group or geographical topic. In my images I wanted to emphasise the pile of waste and the negligence of the human presence. The photographic choices of the 50mm lens and the low angle both create a sense of the environment and exaggerated the size of the pile. The framing