Assignment 6 (Final) - Portfolio of Scene in 4 Seasons

Assignment

Shoot the same scene throughout the year to show the effect of the seasons on the landscape, including changes in colour and light.

Location

Oak tree in Bushy Park, outside Kingston on Thames. 

Reason for selecting the scene
Picking a tree is perhaps an obvious choice to illustrate the change of the seasons. The cycle of leaf growth, maturity, fall and absence is one of the seasonal changes that we in Britain notice most as well as the change in the quality of light around us. Yet it is in common things, that we often take for granted, that we see a rich story of change. So, why not choose a tree? 


Winter

The grey light made to look even more drab by the brightness
of the snow. The solid oak tree revealing the intricate web of
branches like bones. The excitement of the child with
her grandmother discovering the magic of snow.



Spring

The vibrant light of a clear blue sky and the emerging
green of the land.
The tree in  this photograph comprise 2 shots taken 2 weeks
apart in April, with the foliage of the later shot blended into the
earlier one to create an impression of the bristling energy
of spring growth. The frozen movement of the parents with the child's
push chair seeks to add to the contrast between movement and stillness.



Summer

The hazy sunshine of summer, the dark green
leaves of August and the spiky dry grass.
Crowds pass by after a day of leisure. heading home.

Autumn

The dull light of autumn. Brown and yellow leaves
scattered. Oak revealing its branches. Again the image is a
blend of 2 shots of the tree during the season to hint at leaf fall
as well as the motion blur of wind moving the branches.

Assignment 5 (Final) - In the style of Robert Adams

Introduction

I reviewed the choice of images used in my tutor assignment and decided to replace one of them (New Buildings - 3rd image), in response to feedback that Robert Adams favoured the wide angle approach whereas on occasions I had used a telephoto lens - too directed.  

Also, I removed dust marks and any other blemishes that I could find. (I hadn't realised how dirty the sensor had become on my Nikon, so I sent that for cleaning as well).

I also edited the text supporting the assignment after further reflection.


Images

SALISBURY PLAIN

 

Like most people, when I photograph land with which I have a connection, it is a richer experience than when nit. The act of raising the camera to my eye also lets me see detail that you have not noticed before.

My connection to Salisbury Plain goes back 35 years, mainly as a place through which I have driven on the way to see relatives and less often stopped to walk its paths.  What has struck me over the years is how human intrusion on Salisbury Plain has also marked the land.

Robert Adams' The New West - Landscapes along the Colorado Front Range' is an outstanding expression of how man's activities encroach upon land, some of it rapacious, much of it thoughtless. So, following Adams style was a strong choice to communicate this phenomenon on Salisbury Plain.

Nevertheless, as Adams said, this is the only land we have so we must also see in it as much beauty as we can. 

ARMY

 

The maps of the area show numerous camps and ranges supporting the army's activities.  Seen  from the civilian side its presence is mostly a series of warning signs  that mark its territory off . Mostly tidy symbols not in keeping with the scale of the stated threat.



Signs near Bulford Camp

Tank crossing on the road to Collingbourne Ducis

Unexploded ordnance near Rushall

PYLONS AND MASTS

 

The area bristles with electricity pylons, telephone lines, mobile phone masts and military communication towers. Scars, yes, but also oddly beautiful at times.

Pylons near Larkhill

Communication towers, telephone lines and
lamp posts on the road to Bulford

Mobile phone masts in a field near Upavon

THE ROAD

 

The A303, the one of the main highways running between the South East and South West, runs through the heart of the Plain, an artery of commercial, commuting and tourist traffic. This creates demand for roadside services. Here no expediency is spared. 

Solstice Park Services with mock Neanderthal man
in front of the Holiday Inn

 

The Road on a quiet morning in May

 

Waste ground left by developer at Solstice Park

NEW BUILDINGS

 

Land gets consumed for new development, the factory and the house, with the help of the bulldozer and the crane. What will this space look like in 50 or 100 years' time? Not promising.

New homes outside Amesbury coming soon

Pile driver lays foundations for new building



Warehouse under construction at Solstice Park



Assignment 3 (Final) - Canal Trash

Introduction

The assignment started as a survey of the Wey Navigation and Basingstoke Canals, using a bicycle along the towpath. My approach was to identify different themes that described my experience of the canals - locks and weirs, boats, engineering, recreation, homes, reflections (in the water), nature (encroaching) and trash. My essay as submitted to the tutor used 1 image from each of these themes. He felt that it did not work as well as showing 8 images on one of the themes. Taking his advice, I picked 'Trash'. It reveals how little valued these relics of the Industrial Revolution are today.

Images

Railway bridge, Byfleet

An artist or a hooligan at work here?
This noise means something to somebody but
not much to most of us.

Wall of bridge, Frimley Green

Dick was here

Metal drums, Woking

A bright idea - an improvised raft - becomes
a thoughtless one

Supermarket pallet, Woking

Supermarket pallet holds lilies instead of,
say, loaves of bread. Why?

Plastic bag, Woking

Every little helps, except when fly-tipped
into the canal

Coke can, West Byfleet

'I throw my rubbish into the canal because
I can'

Bridge over M25, New Haw

Does the graffiti improve or ruin the look of the bridge?

Bridge, Woking

Never, it seems

Assignment 2 (Final) - Kilcherg Kirche

Changes to original

I shot this assignment when I lived in Switzerland. Since I have moved back to the UK, it would be difficult to shoot additional images to strengthen the essay. Nevertheless, I have found an image from the original shoot that responds to my tutor's comment: include an image of the church with evidence of agriculture surrounding it (#1).

Images

 

My ‘One Acre’ is the Swiss Reform church at Kilchberg, 
a small lakeside suburb of Zurich, a window into
the values of its residents.

 

The church building, like much of Swiss architecture, is bland, reflecting
a preference for substance over style, function over form.

 

Time matters in Switzerland. The church clock
tower is commonplace, as are the chimes every
quarter of an hour, day and night. The Swiss prize
being on time for commitments and their watch
industry is a world leader. 

The needs of the collective are more important than those of the individual.
Most headstones are a uniform rectangular shape and inscribed
in a standard way - name of deceased, year of birth and death. Just so for 
Thomas Mann, the German novelist, the cemetery's most famous resident. 

Orderliness is cherished in Swiss life. So, in death as in life.
Most of the graves in the cemetery are laid out in a rectangular
formation, like a soldier on the parade ground

 

 

Nevertheless, despite the Swiss reluctance to stand out from the crowd,
some headstones are exceptions to this rule. This one is dedicated to a military
commander. The military plays a significant part in male society in Switzerland, even though the country is known for its neutrality in conflict.

Another exception to the rule of uniformity is this headstone
honouring the life of a 13 year old child, Walter Strauss who died in 1923.
The inscription 'his life of an edelweiss' suggests that he died in  a mountain accident.
Although Walter died 90 years ago, the gravestone has been maintained
immaculately. The Swiss sense of hygiene.

 

 

The church employs a team of
gardeners paid by public taxes. So, 40 years later this grave is bursting
with flowers, as if the funeral was only yesterday
 

Other than the gardeners maintaining the cemetery,
it is rare to see people, these two in conversation
being an exception

Tulips are allowed to stand tall, even if poppies
are not.

Water flows through Switzerland from its mountains to
numerous lakes and rivers. Its engineers pride themselves
on controlling these flows. So, no garden of rest
would be without its calming pool. 

Into Gods hands we commend our souls...

 

 

 

 



Assignment 1 (Final) - Seasons

 

Requirement

12 images that explore how the landscape changes across the seasons and how you react to these changes.





Winter

Bushy Park, December
People congregating around the oak tree hints at a pagan ritual,
whilst the lifting fog under the rising sun conveys the cold and greyness of winter.

Bushy Park, January
Breath-taking cold and breath-taking blues and violets of a winter
dawn sky reflected on the surface of the water.
The curve of the bank carries the eye around the horizon
 

Bushy Park, February
Frosted reeds emerge from the mist. Winter land
so de-saturated of colour the image could
be black and white

Spring

Charlton, Wiltshire
Rapeseed oil flowers of spring brighten the
landscape such that even the pylons looks almost
beautiful 

Apple Blossom
The fleeting life of the apple blossom, from bud
to flower to decay within 10 days, then gone for
another year. This image is a blend of 2 photographs of
the same branch 2 days apart in late April

Bluebells in Micheldever Woods in May
Floor of wood carpeted with bluebells, like many
of the striking colours of spring, they last only for a
short time. 

Summer

Wheatfield, Blackdown Hills, Somerset
Spiky field of wheat, the full leaf on the row of trees
and the hazy light on the horizon

 

Beach at Lyme Regis in August
Open sky over my little space on this crowded beach.
Enough sky to keep this as a landscape, especially
due to the pattern of the clouds taking the eye away from
the holiday makers.

 

Dunkeswell Airfield, Devon after a summer rainstorm
Retreating shower cloud and glistening tarmac
 

Autumn

Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey
Wind and light flowing through the tree almost like
a rich red liquid pouring through the branches.
Inspired by Eliot Porter
Shot by panning the camera to blur the scene detail sufficiently
to bring out the spectacular reds of the leaves
without losing the sense altogether that we are looking at a tree.

Pumpkins for sale.
The vegetables of autumn, with their associations with Halloween and warm
soup as the days grow colder.
The pumpkins reminded me of speaking to
an audience which stares back at me, something which I hope holds
the eye slightly longer on the image.
 

Reflection in the surface of Basingstoke Canal
The water throws up impressions of the colours and
light of early autumn, when some leaves have turned
yellow, others still remain green



Assignment 5: in the style of an influential photographer

Requirement

Produce 12 photographs of the photographer you have researched.

 

Choice of photographer - Robert Adams
My chosen photographer is Robert Adams, specifically his seminal The New West - Landscapes along the Colorado Front Range. See own notes.

This choice suits both the subject and my needs to develop as a photographer


Choice of subject - Salisbury Plain
I have travelled across Salisbury Plain countless times to visit relatives, in all seasons and weathers. More recently, I have been struck by the increasing signs of human intervention that marks its wide open spaces. And this puts me in mind of Robert Adams' study 'The New West - Landscapes along the Colorado Front Range'. Clearly, the Salisbury Plain of today is in many ways unlike the Colorado Foothills in the 1970s. Even so, the similarity between the two places that I have been noticing lies in what Adams' describes as: 'no expediency is forbidden'. His approach is the New West seems to me an effective way to communicate this human action, ugly for sure but it is still our landscape and we have to see in it what beauty we can.



Own development
My tutor, Jesse Alexander has described some of my work as worthy of the tourist brochure or the picture calendar. (Was this praise? Not as he intended!). Brochure-ware is a strand of landscape photography that borrows from Ansel Adams, whose style Geoffrey Badger labels 'operatic', loud if you will. So, why not expand my horizon by experimenting with a contrasting approach, Robert Adams who Badger calls a 'quiet' photographer?

 

What is borrowed from Adams' New West
In undertaking this essay, I have borrowed the following from Adams' work:

• Subject - open land where owners have left expedient, ugly traces of its use for their specific commercial (or military) interests
• Message - we need to see the landscape as a whole, natural and man made, not isolated 'beauty spots'. It belongs to us so we had better make the most of it as well as recognise that all land 'has over it a grace, an absolutely persistent beauty'
• Composition - Key features are (a) to place man made artefacts in the frame so as to catch the eye as the same as not to obscure the land where they are situated, (b) rarely uses foreground interest to lead eye into image and give a sense of depth, (c) images mostly have a limited range of tones
• Use of light - 'The subject reflects the speculators' greed but at certain times of day are transformed to a cold, dry brilliance'
• Camera equipment/ format - images are framed square
• Use of colour and/or black and white - Adams' work is entirely monochrome

Tutor Feedback
You pushed yourself outside your comfort zone to produce some 'quieter' images, which satisfy the brief and does justice to the subject. This assignment reflects some of the technical aspects of Robert Adams' work and his interests in terms of subject matter.

However, consider the following:

• Text that is too prominent can overpower an image: there is a balance to be struck
• Adams used wide angled lenses but some of your images are made with telephoto ones (also, this can make them too didactic, give them more space so that the viewer has something more interesting to work with). Avonmouth - an example from Jesse Alexander's own work. ...more
• Some of the images have dust makes in the sky - you should clean up.

Finally, clean up additional learning posts by condensing into a few themes and labelling the section Learning Log rather than Pages.

Text and images

Army 

 

Look at a map of Salisbury Plain and it is dominated by areas segregated for the Army and its training. See from the civilian side the Army's presence in the landscape is a series of warning signs, marking out its territory.

Signage near Bulford Camp

Road to Collingbourne Ducis

Warning to public near the A 345

 

Pylons and Masts

Salisbury Plain bristles with electricity pylons, telephone lines, mobile phone masts and military communication towers. Ugly, yes. Yet can we see beauty in them?

 

Pylons near Larkhill Camp

 

Communications towers, telephone poles
and lamp posts on the way to Bulford Camp

 

Mobile communications installation in a field
outside Upavon

The Road West
 

The A303, the main link between London and the South West of England runs over the Plain, most famously past Stonehenge. It is almost never silent and especially choked with tourist traffic in the summer. Why  can't they build more lanes? wonders the impatient motorist. They probably will in time. The traffic also creates demand for roadside services. Here no expediency is spared.

Solstice Park Services with mock Neanderthal Man
in front of the Holiday Inn

A303 near Stonehenge

Waste ground left by developer at Solstice Park

 

New buildings

Land gets swallowed up by new development, with the help of the bull dozer and crane and the promise of a brighter future. Profits for the speculator, maybe losses: who knows? Will these buildings still stand in 50 years' time and what traces of their existence will we see?
 

New homes outside Amesbury coming soon

 

Pile driver lays foundation for a new building 

Warehouse under construction at Solstice Park