BA Hons Photography (Contemporary Practice): A clear introduction of my project, outlining the concept (idea), behind the landscape unit.

THE BRIEF: TASK 1

During this project I was required to submit a set of images (minimum of three) based upon my personal approach of representing the landscape. Drawing upon the knowledge of my references, I had to formulate my own visual choices that best reflected how i wished to represent the landscape. I could chose if I wanted to focus on political aspects, or investigate the relationship between human intervention upon nature, or there may be ideas of the ‘cultured’ landscape that I could investigate. Whatever area I wished to work on, it was important that I considered the relationship between my visual strategy and how that affects the representation of the landscape.

"Between frontier and the back - garden" / Environment unit

Thomas Struth style and facts

Thomas Struth is a German photographer born in 1954 in Geldern. He trained at the Düsseldorf’s Künstakademie from 1973 until 1980 where he initially studied painting with Peter Kleemann and Gerhard Richter. Thomas Struth than socialized with Bernhard and Hilla Becher's photography, where since in the late 1950s, took on the project of creating a systematic archive of anonymous industrial buildings of Germany. He ranks today among the foremost exponents of contemporary German photographers.

Thomas Struth’s work is characterised by a refusal to indulge in the spectacular. There's nothing unusual in the way the photographs are made. The artist purposely does not focus on anything in the field of vision of the photograph, everything is sharp, nothing blurred. This reinforces and contributes to creating a strong neutral effect.

“Photographs that impress me have no personal signature”. He's not looking for aestheticism. The framing and the composition in his photographs never lead the gaze to any formal or substantive motif. His work is a sensitive and ample vision of reality without any artificial techniques. This doesn’t divert viewers from the real meaning that the photograph is trying to communicate, but instead emphasizes the apparent simplicity of his approach, which is based on a balanced combination of analytic power and visual insight.

Thomas Struth has explored a large variety of subjects over the years which are mainly cityscapes, landscapes, portraits or group portraits, church and museum interiors and flowers. In analysing these different themes, it appears that we can find a common feature linking all these works all together. It is an inquiry into the relationships between men and time. His images are presented as huge, glossy prints, many of them the result of years of planning, thought and consideration, shooting on a plate camera with large format film.

His style is noticed as art photography, in the sense that it presents scenes of deliberately composed cultural heritage sites, museums and technological landscapes, which both require and demand contemplation. His work is anti-photojournalism in some senses, and is diametrically opposed. Some of his pictures take him years to make, a result of long periods of research and reflection. Yet he also presents images that show obstruction (difficult to see) and that touch on issues that, ultimately, the photogrpaher `Sean Smith’s` work also leads to.

The works show the awe that art can inspire on peoples faces, without revealing the object they are looking at, and are evidence to Struth’s continuous interest in places of culture around the globe.

Paradise series /Thomas Struth

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Thomas Struth has explored landscape photography. Seemingly a counterpoint to the images of the streets Indeed, one could argue that the urban landscapes refer to history. When researching his work you can identify the texture of the urban culture, traumatic events such as war, and the economic crisis or prosperity. His landscape images constitute an opposition between human activities and lives which have a start and an end and a timelessness of nature. When viewing Struth's other work, there`s nothing out of the ordinary in the landscapes. The artist presents us with nature ,a source of calm and consolation. He uses colour to render the infinite chromatic range of the vegetation and earth in a soft fused light. Still in comparison to the urban views, I think he was portraying his nature landscapes as a lighter concept as he wanted to relate back to history’s oppression. For instance, in the Paradise series, Struth celebrates the landscape, where he described the forests and jungles of a seemingly Eden-like natural state.

I think when viewing his series of `paradise` he was trying to address something which has a larger scale, a larger value than the specific details or locations shown. The photographs ultimately had to be driven by interests on a more general level. I think in relation to his other works, Thomas has chosen a very spontaneous idea, but once started the images were shown within a larger exhibition context. He realized that one of the abilities was to confine the individual in a meditative space. After researching I learnt there's no political or social context to the images, just his own experience.

`Paradise` consists of twenty five photographs. Intuition is an old world, but many things sprout from inner processes and needs and then take on a form. His approach to the jungle pictures might be said to be new, in that his initial impulses were pictorial and emotional, rather than theoretical.

The photographs were taken in the country's: Australia, Japan and china as well as in California woods, which contain a wealth of delicately. This made it almost impossible especially in large formats, to isolate single forms. The jungle pictures emphasize the wilderness, because of their brightly coloured features and power over land. Thomas Struth believed `Paradise` numbers 9 and 4 could be understood as membranes for medication. They present a kind of empty space, entitled to elicit a moment of stillness and internal dialogue. You have to be able to enjoy this silence in order to communicate with yourself and eventually with others”.

I think Thomas Struth did not want to portray a specific place, or forest. Instead he wanted and tried to communicate what once was the world. He also avoids pictures that would evoke exotic fantasies or look like botanical gardens. He doesn't even see images as depictions of nature. He think its about the experience of time as well as a certain humility in dealing with things.

The images are a detailed presentation of nature, with no human presence. they seem the opposite of his signature cityscapes and evince a kind of lush calmness that borders on the Romantic. Like much of his work, they are oddly disorienting in their clarity and detail. "I wanted to make photographs in which everything was so complex and detailed that you could look at them forever and never see everything," he says.

Between 1995 and 2003 Struth produced a series of photographs featuring groups of people gathered at emblematic locations, whether as tourists or as pilgrims. Again created throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas, colour photographs of 2010 that are up to 4 metres long record the structural intricacy of remote techno-industrial and scientific research spaces, such as physics institutes, pharmaceutical plants, space stations, dockyards, nuclear facilities and other edifices of technological production. He now focus's exclusively on the experience of proximity and nowadays sees the human as a consumer and therefore an instrument of a global economic mechanism.

Thomas Struth, El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, 1999

This photo is an imposing rocky granite mountain located in Yosemite National Park, and has been photographed time and time again by hordes of tourists and masters of photography. Thomas Struth portrayed the rock formation from the road, the place that, as we see in the photograph, is also the place where many visitors stop their car and look at the mountain. Unlike most photographers, Struth chooses not to obliterate the road and the cars. They might not seem to belong to the pristine beauty of nature but they enabled tourists to get a fast and easy access to it. I like how Thomas has considered the lighting, how it must be harsh in the foreground but the sun must be directly overhead, this helps emphasize height of the subject (rocky granite mountain), suggesting power and control over the land.

Picturesque period - group D research task

During our picturesque lecture, my group and I was asked to analyze an image in order to understand the meaning and the photographer’s intention. Through the process of interrogation, the presentation was to help us understand the narrative behind the image that we were set out to research.

The term `landscape`

Landscape is not just the rural countryside or a pictorial representation , but in fact a combination of the two. landscape imagery has long been used in societies to represent ideas of nature and the natural, rural myths and national and ethnic identity.

“People who have given the matter no thought are apt to assume that the appreciation of natural beauty and the painting of a landscape is a normal and enduring part of our spiritual identity.”

(Clark, 1949)

This quotation from Clark’s work, Landscape Into Art (1949) explains the close relationship between art and the concept of landscape, and that, culturally, there is more to landscape than our appreciation of beauty in nature.

After some research about landscape, I learnt the word landscape entered

the English language at the end of the sixteenth-century from either Germany or

the Netherlands, where the term was a classification of territory rather than an

aesthetic concept, which in English became known as landskip. This fact was expressed in painting, where the Dutch naturalist landscape aesthetic was very much about the pastoral use of the land, expressed through real symbols such as farmers and cattle.

The English writer Henry Peacham (1576–1643) shows in his books that rural aesthetic was already established in England in the early seventeenth-century. Not only did his books instruct the English Gentlemen on how to compose a landscape painting, he made it clear that rural life was to be valued as a “…moral collective to the ills of the court and the city ” This provides an early insight into the importance of the experience of the rural landscape in English culture, but also reinforces the class dimension. A significant cultural factor in the development of aesthetic conventions for landscape art was the Grand Tour of Europe that flourished from the mid-seventeenth-century, where wealthy travellers and the European elite appropriated foreign, idealised landscape art.

“The picturesque is a form in which everything is supposed to be in its right place, organised, precisely composed and controlled. A good composition in relation to the pictorial form of the picturesque gives a certain type of satisfaction for the viewer which results in the spectator having an experience of the beautiful.”

In many ways nature is now perceived as a historical object of the past, referring to the fact, of most of earth's surface has been interfered by humans. The term is referred to endangered animals, the environment needs to be protected and under observation In order to be kept in 'captivity‘.

The Finnish photographer Ilkka Halso shares a series of her work titled ‘The Museum of Nature’. The collection magnifies a series of man-made structures and frames that surround nature and display the form as if in a museum, protecting the land like a piece of history. This image has been digitally manipulated to represent how the future may look one day. I was intrigued by this idea and thought of how I could maybe progress with this thought.

Jem Southam

Jem Southam concentrates on the balance between nature and human interference. The photographer focuses on the cycles of decaying and renewing within everyday nature.

The three images I have chosen to focus on are the ‘Upton Pyne’ series. This type of work documents the changes on the pond that are recorded over a 7 year period. The pond was known for an unnatural appearance and was left from an old manganese mine. The setting became a dumping ground for the local community and therefore wanted to restyle the land and create a more serfisticated nature piece of land.

During the seven years, Jem Southam photographed the several areas of land that people were forced to clean-up, and create a place where general public could visit, but unfortunately there was no success in this rule.

The image below, shows plenty of signs of human intrusion. The Bench and bridge focussed in the middle of the image suggest that this piece of land is a local area of significance, simplifying where people would spend their outdoor pleasure.

When admiring closely, he upside down boat suggests that the pond has life. The sky is dreary, creating an overcast shadow less setting. This image is shot from a persons perspective emphasising the angle in which the person would see if they stood or walked this route. The bridge offers the viewer a window to look deeper into the image. The image is sharp creating detail, and the importance of humans destroying nature. The photo was shot in colour and reflects a monochrome effect , symbolising similar tones throughout, portraying the impression greyish day.

This image has a dissimilar feel as there shows more indication of human presence. The house in the background, resembles a subtle yet clean and sustainable approach. I think when focusing on the pond this the area looks more groomed and well kept, maybe suggesting the people living in the houses looking after the maintenance.

This image has similar tones of colour as the first image, it resembles abandoned, but this time portraying only a small section of the pond. However when observing you still feel a slight intrusion, because of how the image has been framed. The tress and bark suggest an untidy approach creating the illusion of whoever was in control has possibly quit. The fallen trees suggest a harsh autumn/winter, and has been hard to keep in control.

The camera is positioned is slightly positioned above creating the illusion of the viewer trying to push their way through, emphasising the overgrown pond. The rubbish and buildings are no longer seen, emphasising no human presence, nature has taken over. All three images show different impressions, even though they show the same geographical site.

John Martin

Martin is a 19th century artist whose work is preliminarily based on the ruin and corruption of our world, emphasizing the addition of biblical relevance. Images from his series, specialising the Apocalypse contradict denote any thoughts associated with the terrors of an event which refer to an expressionist picture. He portrays this through use of vibrant colours and out of the ordinary settings and compositions of the objects within the images. The photographer manages to accomplish the opposite effect.

Many of his paintings would be labelled as sci-fi as there the atmosphere contains a space age and innovative approach. I think the audience undertake this logic as a harder meaning, but this might have been intended by the artist whilst creating these series of work.

I find the photographers Arnatt and Martin’s work connects and compares in many ways. Firstly both their use of colour chose bright and light-hearted colours, causing a opposition between the subjects and the meaning behind them. The similarities involve the textures and compositions in which both photographers wish to include in their work.

You notice the cascading and irregular edges of the plastic bags in Arnatts photos replicate the angular and slanting rocks in Martin’s paintings. Both artists choose to focus on the topic of ‘world issues’ and how human kind is the key leader behind these important issues.

Compared to the other images the camera position is low. The shed focused at the side of the image makes the audience feel unease as it feels like intrusion, suggesting the land has been claimed.

Another artist whose artistry deals with environmental and economical ruin is Gordon Cheung. His work capitalises the inspiration form Martin's paintings. This is explored through the use of mixed media and graphical style. He creates images denoting a clear minded approach, however the vibrant colours and textures create a similar challenge between subjects and story. His images share a religious connection in comparison to Martins work of art. The style depicts certain people’s impressions, implying a contemporary god. For example, in modern day life this could imply the nuclear power.

When focusing on my themes for my project I came across the book 'No Ordinary Land, which encounters in `a changing environment‘. The book explores the way people cooperate with the landscapes in which they live in. I Thought this related well towards my themes and therefore studied and researched the natural world, and how it is shaped and re-shaped by human behaviour.

A book titled `water` gave me inspiration towards my environment project as the book focused upon the work of Hans Silvester who looks at waters 'vital role in the life of our planet'.

Most of the images from this series are close up reflections of large water sources, the patterns and colours transpire from them. His series of photos involve man's uses and destruction of water, natural water sources where water is untouched.

This book gave me ideas of taking photos of reflections whilst capitalising on humans control of nature. This could include hidden subjects such as buildings, trees, scrap yards or oil locations.

Extreme nature and the discovery of the American West

During the 19th century, the ideology of Manifest Destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. The Manifest Destiny was an American belief, that the states were destined to expand across the continent.

In 1848-1855, the gold rush was discovered in California. People then began flocking to the states by late 1848.

The scale of the land and its extreme nature became harder to control than gentle quaintness of the picturesque tradition. The American west offered possibilities to create symbolic landscape imagery, but also to document those explorations. Many photographers sent government expeditions to the Weston territories, photographing scenery of Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and new Mexico. This showed many photographers surveyed the land and the needed to bring a massive area of land under political and cultural control.

During 1867, photographs specialized in unspoiled nature and extreme landscapes. Photos were seen as sublime in scale, presence and bereft, but explained evidence of settlement. This was known as the starting point of the begging process to gain control over nature.

During the romanticism era the style was known as an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated at the end of the 18th century in Europe, but gained strength in reaction to the growing impact of the industrial revolution. Photos were noticed as a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature and heroic individuals / artists whose pioneering examples would elevate society. The romanticism style emphasized intuition, imagination and feeling, the movement reached America by the early 19th century and was aligned with the notion of the sublime. The term sublime referred to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation.

The concept of the sublime as an aesthetic quality of nature was first brought into prominence during the 18th century. Edmund Burke's concept of the sublime was developed in `A Philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful (1756). He discussed the imagination and how the thought was moved to awe and instilled with a degree of horror. The sublime inspired horror, but also created pleasure, emphasizing emotional quality of fear and attraction.

An artist that was inspired by the romantic movement was an English landscape painter called Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). He regarded the romantic era as a preference to impressionism. His work was characterised by a chromatic palette and broadly applied washes of paint and notion of scale and destruction. During his work of art, natural catastrophes and phenomena fascinated him, and therefore emphasized emotion as trepidation, horror, terror and awe the viewers experience by confronting the sublimity of untamed nature.

When viewing William Henry Jacksons work in 1883, you notice his involvement in government expeditions and also his establishment of National parks. I love viewing Jacksons work as the photographer presents the American west an untouched, nearly empty, massive and unregulated. He establishes not only the landscape dealing with astonishment but also connoting pain and danger, similar o the thought process of Joseph Mallord William Turner.

During 1867 Carleton Walkins produced a photo named `best General view, Yosemite Valley`. Since the publish of this photo Landscape had become a place where the viewer had a symbolic state of mind connecting with the ideal presence of god. People believed, Isolation delivered inner light and true insights into nature.

Ansel Adams was a member of the f64 group and was known for his strikingly detailed photographs of the American west. The photos were seen as “ Pictorial testimony of inspiration and redemptive power”. Adams was the photographer that developed the zone System. This was a way of determine exposure and adjustment of contrast for final prints. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photos and the work of those to whom he taught the system to.

Since this creation the f64 group where introduced, and an artistic movement was produced. Photographers gathered passing their work on technical and stylistic perfection. The style was characterised by sharp focus, and was carefully framed producing precise exposed images of natural forms and found objects.

In (1886-1958) Edward Weston created images that mastered the idea of Transcendentalism. The grand scale of nature gave attention to detail. The images celebrated the small objects in the natural scene and the elements of nature portrayed a mystical presence as part of a larger transcendental unity of being. The extreme American desert transformed into something spiritual and mysterious, using primary elements of sand and light into fixing this moment of time and space. During this era the play of light, creation of patterned texture intrigued viewers and created contrast an d interest and a metaphysical presence. Edward Weston made elements of the natural distinct and transformed scenery, highlighting ever-presence concern and a sense of unity and form. His images show great use of detail and emphasizes equal significance almost creating abstract imagery. This style was known as a loss of reality, but as an extraction, a concentration and an abstract of common elements verging towards form.

American west research & related pics

Ansel Adams

I enjoyed researching the photographer Ansel Adams, as I found his work strikingly detailed. He was part of the f64 artistic movement, and images were based on technical and stylistic perfection. Any photos that were not perfectly focussed or perfectly printed were considered “impure”.

His images are mostly photographed of the American west, which are seen as “pictorial testimony…of inspiration and redemptive power.” Throughout his photography Adams has developed the zone system, he has learnt how to determine exposure and adjust contrast from his final prints.

His style is known as characterized, portraying extremely sharp focussed images, carefully framed and precisely exposed, emphasizing natural forms and found objects.

When skating in Oberstoarf I took some digital photos on my coolpix S220, and thought the photos resembled and compared well towards Ansel Adams work. I love how the resulting clarity an depth characterized the images.

Robert Adams is an American photographer who has focused on the changing landscape of the American West. His work first came to prominence in the mid-1970s through the book The New West (1974).

Concerned with human destruction of the landscape of the American West, Robert Adams has for many decades used his camera to mournfully document what he sees as the fallen state of a former Eden.

When presenting his project he said "The operating principle that seems to work best is to go to the landscape that frightens you the most and take pictures until you're not scared anymore.“

The Los Angeles basin, perhaps one of the most terrifying landscapes to anyone concerned about environmental degradation, was Adams's focus for several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In the piece titled “On Signal Hill”. The black and white photograph documents the evolving landscape of the American West and the impact of human destruction. The visual stability of the form creates a sense of tension exemplifying the documentation of human’s intervention and the uneasy coexistence with the landscape. The two forlorn, scraggly trees overlook a smog-choked landscape of urban sprawl. Perched on the hillside, the neglected trees are poignant reminders of what was once naturally beautiful but now is spoiled.

When competing in Brasov and Oberstoarf, I took some digital images that I thought resembled his style of work. I was intrigued and interested about this topic of human destruction, and wanted to explore further maybe using this theme as one of my assessment choices.

Carleton E. Watkins was a noted 19th century California photographer. Carleton Emmons Watkins was born in Oneonta, upstate New York. He went to Sa Francisco during the gold rush, arriving in 1851. His interest in photography started as an aide in a San Francisco portrait studio, and started taking photographs of his own in 1861.

The photographer became interested in landscape photography and soon began making photographs of California mining scenes and of Yosemite Valley. He experimented with several new photographic techniques, and eventually favoured his "Mammoth Camera," which used large glass plate negatives, and a stereographic camera.

His landscapes became a place where the viewer can find a symbolic state of mind connecting with the ideal presence of God. When viewing his work you notice he sed a lot of isolation, as this was used a lot when photographing nature. The term delivers inner light and a true insight.

Artists research –William Henry Jackson

William Henry Jackson was an American painter, publisher and photographer. Jackson headed west in the late 1860s and found his life's calling by documenting life on the frontier. Jackson was in a position to capture the first photographs of legendary landmarks of the West . He was known for involvement in government expeditions, and in 1871 was partly responsible for the United States Congress photographing the Yellowstone as the first National Park.

Throughout his images, Jackson presents the American west as untouched, nearly empty, massive and unregulated. I wanted to convey this message when photographing the grand canyon in Las Vegas. I enjoyed taking the digital images as I felt the photos portrayed a landscape not only dealing with astonishment, but also connoting pain and danger. Similar to Jackson's work

William Henry Jackson worked with 8x10" plate-size camera, and one even larger, as large as 18x22".

MY OWN PICS - COMPARISON : HENRY JACKSON

CAMERA : COOLPRIX S220

TAKEN IN LAS VEGAS / GRAND CANYON ON PLANE.

THESE PICS WER TAKEN IN BUDAPEST ON A SKATING EVENT, AND THOUGHT COMPARED WELL TOWARDS THE ARTIST BURTYNSKY - TRANSPORTATION

Research own pictures

Deforestation idea

The photographer Jan Staller has produced several projects that have inspired me. Most of her work focuses on the impact of man and the mess it leaves behind. Her images are seen as close –up, as she wants to create an abstract approach, this entitles the public to focus on the colour and texture of her subjects. I wanted to try and create a similar approach emphasizing colour and texture, throughout my test shots of deforestation.

I also gained much inspiration from Robert Glenn Ketchum's work. I was fascinated on how he cropped his images to block out the backgrounds of his subjects. This reduced the sense of scale and made the public focus on textures and vibrant colours. His depiction of the natural landscape is relatively stunning, and works with the 'great outdoors‘.

humans have changed the environment. Lat week I began taking some test digital photos of deforestation. This evidence of woodland and trees highlighted the sensitive subject of our human power and control and need for material.

Edward Burtynsky

When researching themes for my environment project, the Canadian photogprher Edward Burtynsky inspired me. When researching i loved the importance of the global issue “oil”.

When researching his work, I love how the photographer presents his visual fascination with the world’s addiction to oil, and how this concept can create a massive globalisation issue.

From its extraction, consumption and afterlife, Burtynsky has documented the way we live with oil and its impact on our culture and environment. He captures the effects of oil in human lives, depicting landscapes altered by its extraction from the earth, and by the cities and suburban sprawl generated around its use. He also addresses the impact and confront of the `end of oil` rising cost. I like this idea, and would like to explore further into this importance throughout my project.

Burtynsky has travelled to many places around the world, but my favourite photos are the series of the deep water horizon oil spill. He travelled to the Gulf of Mexico to photograph these images and has emphasized the issue of its polluted fallout. The images maintain his signature, merging beauty with the ugliness of our inhuman addiction.

As I was so fascinated by his photography work and his importance of oil, I rented out his book called BURTYNSKY OIL. The book captures a decade of photographic work that explores the subject of oil. Edward Burtynsky has travelled internationally to chronicle the production, distribution, and use of the most critical fuel of our time, and resembles this history through his photographic work. I enjoyed reading and observing his work in this book, and was interested how he focussed on landscapes altered by its extraction from the earth.

My other idea was how recycling affects our landscape. Referring back to Burtynsky, his large-scale photographs of ‘manufactured landscapes’ – quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines, dams describe the importance and control over landscape and nature. His images of rubbish are recorded as “stunning” or “beautiful,” and raises all kinds of questions about ethics and aesthetics without trying to easily answer them.

The photos allow us to contemplate on our deep impact on the planet, and witness both the epicentres of industrial attempt and the dumping grounds of its waste. I would like to maybe think more about this topic and produce some test strips exploring this theme.

In relation to Burtynsky, Keith Arnatt`s series of work is pleasing at first because of the altering colour combinations and textures layered among a transparent backdrop. The light falls softly, almost glowing, onto the objects, with the plastic and discarded items behind.

Arnatt has chosen to photograph his subjects close-up, in order to zoom in on the objects. This makes the subject harder to depict the scale and identity of the items. A shallow depth of field has been applied to some of his images, and this softens the edges and hides any harshness in the photo, enhancing this soft and calming result that is translated to the viewer.

It's hard to find a darker reason behind the images, as they are presented in such a unusual way, though lighting and composition, tries to convey a positive response to the subject `rubbish`. This could indicate that the artist’s story, tries to convey, the saying, ‘Never judge a book by its cover’. Insinuating, we are too quick to categorize things into what is stereotypically denoted today as good or bad, ugly or attractive.

Pictures from a rubbish tip

environment theme/ deforestaion Tuturial

After my environment tutorial I began exploring more specific photographs related with my chosen theme of deforestation and thought by researching these photographers would help decide what route I was taking my theme upon.

I began researching the work of Edgar Martins. I chose to focus on his work, because of his epic landscapes that he photographs. His work is very formal and very minimal something that I admire. I feel he relates to my work very well since I have been focusing on the land. Much of his work is small apertures and long exposures, a method that I would like to try.

When exploring his work I mainly focused on `the diminishing present`. This urbanism is portrayed as a movement of isolation. The work calls attention reflecting on flow and the use of space. The setting appears as spatial and temporal dislocation. He operates within a landscape of uncertainly, within a culture, transition and opposition. Spaces are primed with a sense of purpose, yet they are seen as magical, fragmented and dispersed. When observing the delicate weight of these landscapes, human perception seems to enter a different register. It's as if everything expresses possibility, as if space and time are about to simmer and disperse.

`The diminishing present` is a journey of recognition. The city and space are changing. Because of this, one needs to find a new critical language that supports it, and a new system of knowledge from which to get our vocabulary of life.

In this work there is a permanent ambivalence between poetic-failure and the promise of success. The photographer reflects upon modern city's in repeated development, and the spectacular changes in human perception and representational practices that it induces. Ina study that goes beyond pure formal investigation, desperate elements catalyse and reunite new experiences of the contemporary city.

Darren Almonds

Darren almonds work focuses on the subject matter of a recurring theme of time, memory, human labour and exploitation in various geographical parts of the world.

Almond is a traveller, and since the beginning of his career in the mid 1990`s he has experimented with films, video-instillations and photography in remote regions. He has also has made kinetic sculptures, the best known of which are made with digital clock mechanisms.

In his solo exhibition at Parasol, he shows two films shot separately in china and Indonesia. The show shows a series of photographs taken in Norilsk and Monchegorsk, Siberia.

In this full moon series, Almond photographs landscapes at night using moonlight and an extremely long exposure. Due to exposure times, running water becomes fog, whilst fog also connotes over exposure.

The photograph, Night and fog is based upon one of the biggest nickel mines in the world. There's more acid rain in his town. The trees suffer something similar to frostbite. You get these forests of dead, burnt trees in a landscape that’s never dry so its incongruous.

Almonds enormous series of black and white photographs show blackened trees on the Siberian tundra outside of Norilsk. The town was the site of the worlds largest nickel mine. After spewing out sulphur, unchecked trees in the area have effectively been chemically burnt, and now resemble sad sticks of charcoal poked in the snow.

When looking at this image you notice forests of dead, burnt trees on a landscape that’s never dry. Almond spent months at a time in the town, contemplating the human and environmental loss and enduing temperatures of minus 45F. At times, he says the liquid in his eyes froze.

Through out almonds work he refers back to the issue of the horrific information we are given about the destruction of the planet. The political and social issues are there in his work because they are current. His work shows an emotional landscape that surrounds viewers when observing.

Effects/Deforestation

Effects of Deforestation

I think deforestation is good in some aspects but also bad. The impact can have its effect on the environment but also is a good quality for the economy.

Humans have always and probably always will depended on forests to a lesser or greater degree. Trees provide food, shelter from the elements and predators not just to humans but the vast majority of life on land. Unfortunately the forests resources and appeal is its downfall.

Deforestation is probably o ne of the greatest challenges we face. We need the forests to maintain the atmosphere alongside the burning of fossil fuels our destruction of the forests is a major contributory factor to the rising levels of carbon dioxide and global warming, the effects of which we are only now beginning to feel.

The effect that Deforestation has on the Environment

Rainforests are the richest and most diverse areas on the planet and are home to the vast majority of the worlds species, many yet to be seen or classified by science. Any one can wander into a rainforest and will quickly discover a new species.

This took many millions of years to evolve and can be destroyed with the swipe of a powerful saw. There is no possibility of getting back the estimated 50,000 species that go extinct every year a figure that is increasing. The chance to explore this forest world is disappearing fast and won't come again once it's gone, a chance future generations won't thank us for denying them.
Not only are countless species being lost but also the chance to increase or knowledge of the world, chemicals and medicines unknown to science are out waiting to be discovered. The preservation of the rainforest also means the chance to explore these opportunities and make new discoveries and advance human knowledge.

The effect that Deforestation has on Society

The native people, whose home and way of life is turned upside down by the arrival of the lumber lorries, will feel much of the effects of deforestation. They survive by living in harmony with the forest and it's inhabitants but are often forced to leave or change their way of living in order to survive. This displacement of people and the consequent loss of that culture makes the human race a little poorer. Those that live on the edges of the forest are also affected, as they can no longer gather resources for themselves.
These people are unused to living in towns and cities a totally alien culture and are unlikely to have the money, skills or education to make a decent living having learned to live off the land.
Nature cannot be completely replaced by our own efforts even after all our recent advances in technology. Nature serves us in far better ways than the best designed structures and industry, yet we treat it with nothing but contempt, unless we stop the consequences, deforestation will be terrible.

Large-scale deforestation for agricultural and industrial purposes transforms rich and diverse habitat in barren arid land. The resources are quickly repeated and another massive are of forest has to be destroyed to provide yet more. The damage to the land and soil has been done and little can grow on these areas once they have been finished with. Deforestation needs to be stopped before we end up with a planet that is little more than an arid wasteland incapable of supporting life.

Inspiration photographers

When researching themes for my environment project, the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky inspired me. When researching i loved the importance of the global issue “oil”. When researching his work, I love how the photographer presents his visual fascination with the world’s addiction to oil, and how this concept can create a massive globalisation issue. After research and location searching, unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to find a suitable location and therefore began researching other themes and photographers.

Through out Darren almonds work he refers back to the issue of the horrific information we are given about the destruction of the planet. The political and social issues are there in his work because they are current, and show an emotional landscape that surrounds viewers when observing. His work focuses on the subject matter of a recurring theme of time, memory, human labour and exploitation in various geographical parts of the world.

Robert Adams was the other photographer. I find it fascinating how he impacts the forest clear-cutting landscape.

Research - newspapers/deforestation

What route to go down?

After researching, and thinking I decided to focus on how deforestation is becoming more frequent. I wanted to highlight this with a shoot of trees having been cut down. In today's society deforestation Is becoming increasingly more apparent, and therefore should be addressed as we will end up killing natural environment.

For my shoot I used a 90mm standard lens, a ilford 400 film and a mamiya RZ 6x7.

Why I chose certain techniques for my shoot?

The colour, direction, quantity, and quality of the light i used determined how my subject appeared. In the studio, with artificial light sources, i can precisely control these four effects; however, most of the pictures I took for the environment project were taken in daylight. I did struggle taking the shoots as the availability of cameras was limited, and only gave 4hour period before dark to shoot. Whilst I chose a higher iso (400) I felt I was still limited through light.

I chose to use different angles and widths of camera view as I could experiment with depth, shadow and contrast. I also could emphasise certain areas that I felt should be noticed and identified.

test prints/deforestation

ASSESSMENT

When shooting my own choice of 3 images, it enabled me the freedom to express my own viewpoint about the landscape around me. All three shots centred around the concept of looking at the relationship between humans and the environment, and what effect this question had on the landscape environment. In each photo I tried to represent my chosen theme (deforestation) and what effect it could have. My inspiration for this series of work was by the photographer Thomas Struth and how he reflects upon this chosen topic. When viewing the images you notice the composition is similar as I tried to create a sense of confinement through the use of trees and structures. I wanted to symbolise the control that man has on landscape. I think in each image there is a sign of human invention on landscape highlighting a political manner of greed for resource.

When looking back I do think I could have shown my images in a more noticeable aspect, maybe travelling to a different location and finding valuable research about deforestation. When reshooting I would like to experiment with using different angles and heights, as this could vary my shots, and play around with the concept of confinement and the straining relationship between man and land.

more research / deforestation

David Kimelman

This was an image I found while sprawling around on tumblr, and the photo was produced by the photographer David Kimelman.

I think this photo is not just about one battle in one corner of the Amazon. This is about drawing a line in the sand for indigenous people and rainforests everywhere. It’s about rejecting a bankrupt development model and about ensuring that indigenous peoples’ choices for their lands and their future are honoured and respected.”

David Kimelman is a graduate of Pratt Institute, is a Brooklyn based photographer. His solo show, Natural Order, a series of photographs that reveal the tenuous and often contradictory relationships people have with the natural world, was exhibited in Philadelphia in 2009. The show was reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the City Paper. A selection of images from his portrait series, Reality Wanted, about ordinary people who aspire to achieve celebrity on reality TV, were exhibited at The International Centre of Photography in New York City in 2011.
This is what our world has come to!

re-shoot environment/deforestation

When thinking about locations to re-shoot for my environment landscape project, I researched further into areas that showed the relationship between humans and the environment, highlighting deforestation. After travelling to different locations, I decided I wanted to shoot in the area Boxley. Whilst out on location, I came across a fencing company named Boxley Timber and Fencing Supplies. This area offered me the perfect location to shoot. Before shooting, I researched into the company and found out that they deliver all types of fencing, panels, gates, decking and garden products to the public and trade within a 30 mile radius. The company use chestnut wood to make all their supplies, which involve cutting down trees and re-using for other materials. This I think symbolises the control that man has on landscape. And think each of my images are a sign of human invention on landscape highlighting a political manner of greed for resource.

When shooting I used an Ilford 400 black and white and a 160 colour film. This enabled me to process both negatives, and conclude final images which I felt were best suited. I used a 90 standard lens and used a bronika Camera.