Landscape and the City

Dan Paul

Introduction
Concept & Ideas -City & Landscape-

The concept and idea behind my Landscape project is about the natural environment and how man and industrialisation is gradually taking over making this beautiful, natural landscape disappear with time. This was too obvious. So, from one of my test shoots came the idea that stuck for me, which was spaces or gaps in wooded areas that have obviously been destroyed to make way for man made structures. For my City, I wanted to fill that space with architecture. But neglected architecture that is often overlooked because its an older building.

Research
-Landscape-

For my research, I looked at various photographers that very heavily influenced me in ways such as the way they photographed and the concept behind the image.

John Davies
-Landscape-

I looked at John Davies purely for his set of photographs of landscapes in the British Isles. He photographed these with a concept to show the picturesque landscape being taken over by industrialisation.

He created these very large scaled landscapes which sow traces of man, he has photographed these in a very picturesque way. Showing the flowing landscape with the horizon clear in the background. Like Davies I wanted to show the interruption of nature but in a less obvious way.

Edward Burtynsky
-Landscape-

I decided to look at Burtynskys work because I liked the way he would photograph. His shots are always very straight, aligned and geometric. I particularly liked his series called manufactured landscapes where he photographed massive landscapes but they were always man-made and manufactured. The image on the left stood out for me because it almost follows the same visual choices with the space between the tires.

Robert Adams
-Landscape-

I looked at Robert Adams series called Turning Back. It was a series of photographs of a rain forest that was being cut down in Oregon. He photographed it as the trees and land was being demolished. He would often change the composition ranging from close-up to vast landscapes either showing up-rooting or the landscape of trees gradually disappearing.

Eugene Atget
-City-

I looked at Atget for my city project from his series of photographs in Paris. The way he photographed the missshaped architecture creates a sense of negligence and abandonment.

Andreas Gursky
-Landscape & City-

I looked at Gursky for both the city and landscape. I was very interested in the way he photographed. His work is very geometric and the lines present in his images are always straight. Work is often divided equally.

The Bechers
-City-

I was very heavily influenced by the Bechers in the way they photographed. Always kept the structure tight in the frame. All lines were always parallel and straight. Created a typology of structures.

Initial Visual Ideas

-Landscape This was my first test shoot after I knew what I wanted but this is when I was exploring the landscape overlooking the industrialisation I created this photo stitched image by taking three images and placing this together. From this I wanted to show the vast scale of the factories. From the one image on the right came my idea about the spaces in the trees.

Contact Sheets
-Landscape After knowing what I wanted I went out and shot at various locations where they were pulling down the trees. I photographed various gaps in the trees and from these contact sheets I chose my final 3 images.

Finals Images
-Landscape-

-16 seconds grade 2-

-16 seconds Grade 3-

-12 seconds Grade 3-

After choosing my final images I went to the darkroom and printed. I have decided to display them in this order as it almost shows a graduation of the amount that is disappearing. When printing and shooting I took into account those of Andreas Gursky and the Bechers and made sure all of my lines were straight and aligned. This was very important to me as I wanted my images to stand out and be easy to read in a visual way I shot all of these images on a very overcast day so that the space between the trees was just space and added to this emptiness. When printing these images I wanted it to be quite contrasty so the blacks really stood out and the space between the trees really contrasted with the blacks

Contact Sheets
-City-

These are the contact sheets that I chose my final images from for my City project. I chose these particular images because for me they were visually stronger then the rest and certain elements such as tone and alignment helped me choose.

Finals Images
-City-

These are my 3 final images for my City project. I chose these 3 particular buildings because they are all neglected buildings that have been overlooked for many years and have often been shadowed by those of newer design. These are all iconic buildings in my hometown of Sheerness and at one time all had significance. But now they stand there, boarded up and forgotten. My favorite image out of the 3 is the middle image. I very much like the straight lines and divide between the ground and sky. I like that the building is slightly darker then the foreground and background because it shows that it Is just lying there, in the shadows forgotten. When printing all of these images I used rulers to measure distance between certain elements so that my images were aligned perfectly

Evaluation
-Landscape & City I am very happy with what I have achieved visually for both projects. However certain things need tweaking as in my City finals, the last print does not match the rest which is a problem for me. The sky is a bright blue colour when really I would want it a slightly overcast blue to match the other two prints. I think both sets of prints accompany my idea well showing the space and the neglection of architecture. This is all represented by certain elements in the images that for me portray these ideas. For example in the city images there are shadows that are being casting over the buildings, this represents the fact that these buildings are being forgotten and pushed into the dark corner. The landscape has the space; between the trees and the overcast sky which helps to show the emptiness that is present. If I was to put these images in a context then I would print them large and the images would go in a specific order, especially for my landscape where it shows gradual change in the size of the space. I decided to shoot these gaps to show the human interference without actually showing human presence. These spaces are there for a reason and are not created by nature.

Evaluation
-Landscape & City For the city, I decided to shoot the obvious. By doing this I have created a small typology of neglected buildings very close to one another. I wanted to show the buildings looking very tall dominating most of the image but then show the neglect within the architecture. I have managed my studies quite well however I think for my city project, I could have gone out and shot more tests and then have a wider variety of shots to chose from. However I am still pleased with the outcome of my prints. I think that when it comes to shooting I would reflect upon the location in which I am shooting. At times it was hard to focus as the locations I was shooting at was often very wet and muddy. This often made me rush the shoot not getting the perfect images that I wanted. My main challenge for these projects were the city. I focused a lot of my time on the landscape and then when it came to it realised I did not have a lot of time left for the city then causing me to rush the shooting process. I also think that my research could be a lot stronger analysing the images in more depth. Over all I am happy with how my images have come out but there a small aspects that have let me down.

Commission Pt.2 -WasteAir Pollution

Introduction
-Waste-

The concept and idea behind my waste project was very different to what you might think of waste. I wanted to look at air pollution as waste and how we go through out our daily lives often becoming completely oblivious to the notion of air pollution. I originally wanted to start out by photographing the smoke it self however on my first shoot it was far to foggy to see any smoke coming from the factory sight I was shooting. This then rolled onto become my theme. The fog became this metaphor for the obscuring of the factories, showing how oblivious to it as we are. But then also showing it as a smog plays with this notion of can we see, cant we see it.

Research
-Waste-

For my research, I looked at various photographers that very heavily influenced me in ways such as the way they photographed and the concept behind the image. I looked at various artists that used this notion of air pollution in the work and also aesthetic purposes such as the fog and smog.

Lu Guang & Gerd Ludwig

-Waste-

For my initial artist research I looked into these two photographers. They both photographer very heavily polluted areas of Russia and China. The often both photographed the industrial side to it, showing human activity within the shots. As looked at these as to start my research as this was my initial idea to photograph the smoke and the industrialisation.

Ori Gersht
-Waste-

I then went onto look at Ori Gershts work Rear Window. I looked at this series because it was quite minimal, often not knowing what your really looking at. I was heavily influenced by this as I wanted to do something similar. This then makes the audience and viewer really interrogate the photos and it makes you look deeper into the photograph.

Liang Yue
-Waste-

Liang Yues work Several Dusks explores the smog of china. Often featuring this one man in the photographs it gives of this post apocalyptic feel. As though this is due to the hazy smog that clouds cities of China. He often photographed in this very straight manner, with lines present within the images. This gives order and structure to the images.

Benoit Aquin
-Waste-

Benoit Aquins work Chinese Dustbowl has a very different feel to that of others I have researched. I looked at this work because of the smog and haziness that is in the photographs. The work has a much more documentary feel to it rather then others I have looked at. He photographed the Chinese dustbowl which was a mixture of smog and sand in the air. This was caused by farmers over harvesting land turning most of the land into desert.

How Whee Young

-Waste-

This is the work of How Whee Young how photographed the smog in Beijing in January of this year. I referenced this work because of the haziness and the smog present within his images. This was the worst smog that china has seen on record and was so bad that the authorities urged people to stay inside.

Hiroshi Sugimoto
-Waste-

Hiroshi Sugimoto was quite an influence on my work. After shooting my photos I was guided to look at him as my work became quite similar to his. With the seascape covered in fog I thought it was very appropriate to reference him. One thing I took from his work was the horizon line. IN all of my images the horizon line follows through all three images as it does in his. Also the tonal quality to some of his images become very minimal often now knowing what your really looking at.

Contact Sheets
-Waste-

These are the contact sheets that I chose my final images from for my Watse project. I chose these particular images because for me they were visually stronger then the rest and certain elements such as tone and alignment helped me choose. I cropped the negs to get the images I wanted. I only shot two rolls of film as I was satisfied with the negs I had from one of the shoots.

Final Images
-Waste-

These are my 3 final images for my Waste project. I chose these 3 particular images as it shows different parts of the factories obscured by the fog. Where the negs were cropped by quite a degree it makes the main subject point of the factories drop out behind the fog which is what I was trying to achieve. My favorite image out of the 3 is the middle image. You can see enough of the factory to understand what is there but then you really have to look to deep to see what is actually there. I think I was successful in portraying my message and concept through out the images, however some changes could have been made such as the horizon line being higher.

Evaluation
-Waste I am very happy with what I have achieved through out this project. My references and research clearly back up my themes and ideas through out the process. The main problem that I would say I had when embarking on this project would be shooting the fog. As I cannot predict when the fog will be there I had to stick with the first lot of images I shot. Even though I was very happy with the images I did shoot, it would have been nicer to have a broader selection of images to choose from. Another issue I had would be the printing. Where the neg was cropped so much the image was enlarged to a great degree. This then made it so I could not see what I was doing on the easel. This made the whole printing process a lot longer often taking me up to 5 hours to produce one print. These were really the main issues that came up during the process. I think if I was to do this project again I would not change the images but come up with a name for the series that gives the audience more to go in terms of the theme and ideas surrounding the images. Although, I think you can still get a good idea of what the images represent with out a name present. I purposely printed so the horizon line of the images matched up and were all of equal size. This was also so that when placed in an exhibition format the horizon line would the become one straight line leading your eye across the images rather then looking at each image at a time. Overall I am very happy with the overall project and I think I have managed my time well wit regards of shooting well in time of the deadline and printing workshops. I found that the session with Andrew Lacon and Steffi was very helpful as it gave us a better idea of how to select and edit our images.