Brief
Produce a series of images that responds to the idea of ‘transitions’ within the landscape.
Introduction
Between the second half of 2019 and the first of 2020 the world has gone through a huge transition in itself. Because of that transition I have had to adapt this assignment according to that change.
In August of last year I decided to observe the urban landscape from a high rise building. I had good access and it provided multiple views which would hopefully shed some light on how urban landscapes transition. I visited this location around fourteens times in total which was almost every week. Because of commitments the time I could be there was usually between 11am to 2pm. I realised that having a fixed time would mean there would be less variation in the suns position but given it winter was approaching I felt that seasonal weather would have a larger influence.
Reflective Commentary (300 words)
Doing these studies has highlighted two important factors about landscape photography. The first is how every moment is an opportunity to capture a unique landscape and as the photographer its down to me to decide the moment which suits my requirements. The other is how taking shots over longer periods can reveal changes in society, culture and geography.
A good example of how long term studies can be beneficial is the work of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe who have put together in The Third View an astonishing collection of comparative shots which span nearly 130 years. While my work has some merit in that it can reveal the speed of development and construction of a city, theirs reveals a bigger picture and demonstrates the drastic changes which are occurring to our environment.
Jem Southam is another photographer who has proven the longer we record the more we can learn. In an interview with Brad Feuerhelm on the AmericaSuburbsx.com website he said the following:
These stories go back and back, some are specific to a family, some specific to a culture and some are part of our human heritage. A single picture, if one allows it, can provoke an extraordinary wealth of thoughts and associations, put two together and then place them in sequence of others’
Jem Southam. 2019
Once we are in Southam’s mindset, these images can tell us stories of our culture and heritage they become much more than flashy time lapses we see so often online. One example that was a halt in construction around the first week of October. For two weeks the construction didn’t move. The reason was that workers had stopped for the national holiday. Another observation made in reference to the later alternate set was the differing heights of the buildings and how much they varied. This can reveal the age of the buildings as general rule of thumb. Quite simple when you know but it makes you realise how much more you can learn from landscape.
Location 1 – A combination of 14 images
Images
Combination image (3 images)
Location 2 – A combination of 13 images
Images
Combination image (3 images)
Alternate transitions
Out of necessity I have adapted into attempting a few alternate transitions. These were taken once I refocused on this assignment. This currently consists of three days work in which I did day time shots from the same window roughly every hour. I will continue to build on this part of the assignment but doing a short term transitional exercise has taught me several things which didn’t come to my attention in the longer term project. Subtle changes such as shifting shadows and changes in sharpness of light based on the position of the sun probably being the biggest thing I noticed. Time of year of course is also vital and doing this exercise in spring time when the weather is in state of flux compared to the first two locations proves that when deciding how you want your landscape to appear will be driven by everything from time of year, to month or even hour of the day as they all affect the scene as this proves.
Images （ A selection of the 41 created – See contact sheet)
Technical information
All images were taken with my Canon 750D cropped sensor. I ensured each shot was taken at 18mm as well as making sure I had good focal length but setting the camera to around F11 to 13 depending on the light. Due to the location I didn’t always have my tripod with me but I marked a position in the window to ensure consistency. The final images for the videos below have been aligned and cropped to give a more fluid transition. This also involved creation of a youtube channel to host the videos and keep tract. I consistently used the Av mode so that I could keep the F stop fixed but this also enabled me to observe how the light would affect the shutter speed. This small detailed improved my knowledge on how the camera see’s the world and how it adjusts to different conditions. In the last set of images I did more shots at dusk and without a tripod and still using the Av setting I was exposed to how my camera would at times over compensate for a lack of light and as a result the final image was not representing reality. This practice was vital to furthering my experience in how the camera see the world, replicating it and ultimately then deciding how I want it to look.
Bibliography
Klett. M and Wolfe B. The Third View. [online] At http://www.thirdview.org/3v/home/index.html Accessed 19 April 2020.
Southam. J Interview: The Pastoral Moth. 2019. By Brad Feuerhelm. [online interview] At https://americansuburbx.com/2019/03/jem-southam-interview-the-pastoral-moth.html Accessed 18 April 2020.
Research links ( click to view )
Core Posts
Contact sheets – Sites 1 & 2 Contact sheets – Sites 3
Site 3 daily reflection posts
Day 1 post Day 2 post Day 3 post
Technical practice
Technical research – Auto Blend / Auto Align
Location update – 6 – Two added and youtube video set up
Photography 2 - Landscape, Place and Environment 