Evaluation

This module was based on landscape photography in Hartlepool. The module was more challenging than the others as I had to learn how to use one of the 5x4 view cameras which I have never used before. I started looking at artists such as Andreas Gursky and Robert Adams. I liked the strong lines and composition in both of their images. When I looked at Frank Gohlke’s work I realized that it looked a lot like the images I had already been shooting, the same with Stephen Shore’s work. I decided to stick with the theme I had which was along the lines of a lot of sky in the image with buildings in the center that had an idea of isolation to them. In some of the other images I had shot there was a look of symmetry to it that I really liked however I felt they didn’t have enough in the actual images to catch the attention of people. Another artist I liked was Edward Burtynsky who shoots his images showing a similar thing I was looking for. Again his images had a look of symmetry to them, but they were also very industrial landscapes which I thought, although my images were of factories, they were of buildings. I feel like both Burtynsky and I were trying to show a similar point, how there is just so many “ugly” things such as buildings and factories in the way of what could be a beautiful (stereotypical) landscape. I also feel as if the emptiness around the main part of the image is an interesting way of drawing the viewer in and making them look at your images closer. I then decided to take my research in a slightly different direction. I watched a film called ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’. This film (as well as being an amazing film) has so many landscape shots it is just a great way to get inspiration, although many of the shots in this film would probably not be possible in Hartlepool, it still gave me ideas of compositon from a cinematographer’s (Stuart Dryburgh was the cinematographer of this film) point of view rather than a photographer’s. This film has a lot of “stereotypical” landscape shots, however usually in those images there are no people, however, as thins is a film and based on people, it did often include at least one person. I didn’t want to include people in my images but seeing this film opened up my eyes to what other “rules” I could change in my photography. This module also challenged me in the darkroom. The machines we used to print were different than ones used previously, we also got told that we could use filters if we wanted to alter the contrast, so naturally I wanted to try them and see what effects they had on my images. I didn’t use filters on all of my images though as some of them seemed to be good enough to print without them, I also used the ‘burning’ technique for two of my skies in this project which is something I had never done before. Overall I enjoyed this module as it was introducing me to a lot of new things that I hadn’t done before and pushed me further in my learning and understanding of photography.

The secret life of Walter Mitty

To me, the landscape shots captured in this film by Stuart Dryburgh are one of the best I've every seen. A lot of critics have compared it to flicking through and National Geographic magazine. 

If some one said 'describe landscape photography to me', I would probably show them something similar to the scenes in this film. 

Even though there is a general "rule" (I use the term extremely loosely) that there shouldn't be people included in landscape photography, I think that is what makes these shots more interesting to the viewers. If the actor wasn't in that shot, quite frankly, it would be quite boring to look at in my opinion. 

I feel as if to make landscape more appealing to viewers (especially if its in black and white which we are shooting) there should be at least one thing in the photograph that stands out, as I said about the last image, it would be quite boring without the person in it. The same goes for this image above. However the first image I put in, if you took the person out, it would still have a main point of focus, which would be the main rock that is just off centre. 

Like in this image, even though it does have people in, if you took them out, there is still the road that adds something to the image. I feel like this is something I want to try and achieve in my work, I want to give people more to look at rather than the usual things that come to mind when you mention landscape photography.