Essay On Project

An investigation into the effects of nature by the medium of photography:

Introduction:

Nature is a vital factor in our society, arguably 'everything is nature', focusing on raw and natural nature, and how this can be ruined by a single building, or man-made object is the aim of my project. In my shoots I want to portray how vulnerable, and precious nature is; simple images may allow me to show how visually pleasing nature can be, or through images of huge sky scrapers, which can also be aesthetically pleasing, but with no nature to be seen due to their dominance. 
The topic of nature is extremely prevalent in today's society due to global warming, and how the earth is becoming increasingly in danger of this, therefore I believe this topic is key to speak about, and show in my images. Despite there being numerous nature programmes, which show how beautiful nature is, there is not too many news articles focusing on nature, and how we need to protect it. Most programmes on TV are reality shows, or soaps which do not cover pressing matters like global warming, or the value of nature. Children should be taught from a young age in schools how to value nature, whilst being taught the severity and very realistic aspect of global warming, and the effects us as humans can have on the earth- children get taught to value, and care for others so why should they not be taught about how to value to earth they live on?
By shooting both images of nature, and man-made objects (e.g. buildings) I am hoping to show the contrast between the two, and how we have control over how much nature preserved. How different nature is in different countries will also be explored in my shoots, this will show that nature is everywhere, and all buildings look the same whilst nature can vary so vastly. 

Brief history:

I'm studying the use of documentary photography, Jacob Riis was responsible for being one of the first American's for using flash, and he was also one of the initial pioneers of documentary photography. Riis used his camera to capture the poor living conditions on the New York streets in order to expose this to the middle and upper classes. Camera lenses in the 1880's were slow, and did not have flash, therefore they were initially no use to Riis (who at the time was a writer about poverty in New York) as the conditions he wrote about were dark, and dingy, no use for a non-flash camera; however, when Riis realised the potential in flash photography to aid his work, he began to photograph the slums. Riis did a lot of his photography work at night, meaning he could capture the darkest times on the New York streets, due to his use of flash. Riis violently promoted the spread of wealth to the poor through improved social programmes, despite this due to the many prejudices at the time it was hard for him to be heard. Below are a selection of Riis' images. 

This image shows three boys sitting in what appears to be an alley. The boy's faces are not clearly seen, however due to the fact they have their heads down it's evident they may be ashamed, or embarrassed of their current living situation. The young boys in this image have no shoes, showing the extremity of their poverty. The dark tones in this image correspond with the message, and aim of this photograph about poverty. 

This image is again of three young boys, sitting at the bottom of steps. The boys in the image have shoes on, which may suggest they are slightly less poor than the boys in the image above who have no shoes, these two images show different sides of poverty. Moreover, the boys are placed directly in the middle of the image to catch your intention, and draw your focus onto this sensitive topic. Riis may have photographed young children to trigger more empathy in his upper class target audience. 

Technological- Flash photography was used in both of the above images photographed by Riis, the flash powder used was initially a concoction of magnesium, and potassium chlorate with antimony sulphide all contained in cartridges which would fire when used. Riis developed this way of 'flash photography' by using magnesium powder and a frying pan, he would remove his lens cap, whilst simultaneously igniting the flash powered, before placing the lens cap back on; this method of flash photography occasionally created blur.   

Henri Cartier Bresson was a French documentary photographer, who pioneered street photography, using a 35mm film. Bresson's use of the 'decisive moment' changed photography and the way people see images, as this is considered the spontaneity of the image, and how it represents itself; Bresson said "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in a instant ." When young Henri photographed images using a Box Brownie, which is where he found his love of photography- Bresson later investigated his passion further with a 3x4 inch view camera. In 1952 Henri's book named 'The Decisive Moment' was published, whereby the images below were held. 

This image demonstrates Bresson's decisive moment well, as if he'd of photographed the image a few seconds later, or earlier the image would have been completely different; the birds may have all been on the floor, or have all gone, therefore this is a decisive moment. The depth in the image is evident due to the stairs winding upwards out of the shot. The lady is in the centre of the photograph, where the viewers eyes travel instantly.

This image is a decisive moment, as the man on the bike was only there in that moment had the image been taken any other time there would not have been the same outcome. Blur is evident due to the man riding past quickly on his bike, this is the only section of the image which is blurred, the rest is in focus. The angle this image is photographed is interesting as Bresson is looking downwards onto the streets, the winding stairs are captured also which take your eyes on a journey down into the depths of the photograph. 

Technological- Bresson shot his later images using a 50mm lens (which makes images appear similar to as they would tot he naked human eye) on his Lecia 35mm rangefinder camera. Bresson did not use camera equipment, he found it draining, he merely used his eye and his camera in order to capture his shots, Bresson liked natural images with no distortion or effects.

Photographer's Research:

Nadege Meriau

Meriau is a French photographer who lives, and works in London, Nadege uses organic objects to create her abstract and ambiguous photographs, she lets nature have control in her images whilst she manipulates the image she wishes to show. Nadege's images are often dark and mysterious, almost sci-fi like; her clever ideas convert edible food into hellish scenes which capture the human eye. Nadege's quirky personality allow her to convey this trait into her photographs, she uses the technique of macro photography, combined with enhanced colours and textures in order to create her overall images. Nadege has also been involved in a variety of advertisement campaigns including: Lurpack, Innocent smoothies and Ribena.

This photograph taken by Nadege demonstrates how she creates hellish environments, as this is extremely dark and narrow, indicated to the viewer that it may be a cave, as there's a little tunnel of light in the distance, which suggests this is the way out. The deep red colours used in this image trigger thoughts of blood in the viewers mind, as it appears as though it's almost dripping down the sides of the cave, this reinforces the idea of the cave being 'hellish'. A vignette is used to darken the outer edges of the image, Meriau may have done this in order to direct the viewers eye down to the end of the tunnel, showing there's a way out. This object I believe is a watermelon, which is usually associated with summer, and sun, this directly contrasts the overall look of the image as it appears cold, dark and dull in this cave-like structure. The lighter areas of the image make it appear as though there's light coming in from outside somehow, whether this may be a slight whole in the cave, to another exit to the right that the viewer cannot see. A reflection is seen in what appears to be water, although this is a reflective table top; this creates the idea that this cave is on the ocean. 

This image is lighter in colour than the image above, it appears as though this is a photograph of ice/snow in a cold region of the world (possibly Antarctica.) The pours, and dents in this image make it seem as though the snow is melting, Nadege may specifically framed her shot this way in order to highlight the effects of global warming in today's society. Towards the bottom of the image it appears as though the snow has melted, which again highlights the very important issue of global warming. The issue of global warming links to my topic of nature, as it displays how we need to protect nature, as without it we wouldn't survive. The lighter and darker tones in this image suggest that there is some sun around in this photograph as it's shining on parts of this image; however, the majority of the image is in the dark, implying that the majority of nature is in danger. I believe that Nadege has actually photographed ice cream in this image, as ice cream has a similar consistency to snow, which would allow her to make this image more realistic as a whole. Contrastingly, this image could possibly be of a coconut, as there's black areas of this image, which may be the outside skin of the fruit, by using this natural object it would have allowed Nadege to control her photograph slightly better, as coconut will stay stationary, and won't melt lie ice cream. 

Ansel Adams:

"I hope that my work will encourage self expression in others and stimulate the search for beauty and creative excitement in the great world around us" is a quote taken directly from Ansel Adams, the quote itself demonstrates how Ansel believed that we should all admire the nature, and the world around us more, and not be caught up in city-life, or technology- this belief is shown directly in his photographs. Adams was always at one with the American landscape, and he is considered monumental by many environmentalists, due to his advocation of the preservation of landscapes and nature. Due to Adam's troubled childhood he would take long walks, surrounded by nature which eventually led him to his love of nature, and therefore his passion to photograph it. In 1927 Adam's took his first pivotal photograph. 

The lines in this image appear in the shape of tiger stripes, the lighter and darker tones contrast each other, combining with the dark shadow left by the sandy hill. The curved line of the top of the sand hill takes your eyes on a journey through the image. Moreover, the angle at which Adam's photographed this photograph intrigues the viewer, as it's from the side slightly, he may have framed this photograph this way in order to capture both sides of the hill. The dark, and light tones in this image may signify the dark (bad), and light (good) sides of nature; good being the beauty and tranquility it holds, whereas the bad would be the fact that no one appreciates its beauty, and that landscapes are becoming ruined daily (deforestation...) In addition, Adams may have deliberately hid the sun from the viewer, to suggest that there's no hope for nature in our current world/society, as the sun is our source of life, and light, whereas in this image there's no source of light/life for nature. This image influences me to explore black and white landscape photography in my project, in order to display to the viewer how breathtaking nature is. 

The clouds in this photograph taken by Adam's appear to be smokey, due to the various tones of grey, white and black combining to create form within this photograph. The dark peaks of the mountain break the skyline of cloud. In this image the clouds appear dominant over everything else of the image, as they take up half of the frame; they appear to be violent and have a purpose, as they aren't round, fluffy clouds, they're edgy and textured. The foreground of the image is filled with a lake, this lake is smooth and appears to be calm, this implies that the lake may feel safe under the God-like clouds. This image is framed perfectly straight, symbolising organisation and almost perfection suggesting that organic objects are absolute. Various tones and contrasts are displayed in this photograph, which Adam's would have enhanced using the dodge and burn tool in photoshop, he did this in order to unnaturally highlight the tones, and various textures in order to make this image more eye-catching to the viewer. 

Relevance of photographers to my project:

Both Nadege Meriau and Ansel Adam's have already influenced some of my shoots (shoot 4/shoot 6), and will be influencing my future shoots also. I'm also going to compare one of my images to Steiglitz's images as I will be exploring this photographer further in the future also. 

This image was taken from my shoot number four, whereby my studio shoot was based on Nadege Meriau. I believe this image is similar to many of Meriau's images as it's abstract and the viewer cannot see what this photograph is of. A narrow depth of field is demonstrated within this image as the foreground is in focus, with the background blurred. I photographed this image using a macro camera, which allowed me to get extremely close to the organic object, allowing the abstract element of the image to occur. I converted my image into black and white in order to create more ambiguity as to what the object was; I thought that having colouring in the image would hint to the viewer what the fruit was, which I didn't want. 

Ansel Adams was the inspiration behind this image, due to his photographs of American landscapes/environments. In the above image I ensure that I framed this who that the two trees either side were placed evenly from the edge of the image; moreover, the path runs through the centre of the image acting like a leading line, whilst splitting the image into two. The trees in the foreground have no leaves on them, whereas the trees in the background appear full of leaves; this contrast is shown deliberately in order to demonstrate how the change of season is commencing (autumn.) 

The future:

Due to the ever-growing population of the world there will be an increased strain on natural resources/nature, as there will be a higher demand for such objects; I believe this will cause more photographers to focus on this issue, and explore the issue in their photography. The focus of 'nature' photography will move more towards the championing of its preservation, due to the increased pollution effects/worries on our world (for example the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef.) I believe that by focusing on the pollution of nature, and its struggle this may encourage more people to think about their actions, and the effects they have on pollution (e.g. co2 emissions from cars.)

Conclusion: 

Overall, Nadege Meriau and Ansel Adams are the main influences on my work when progressing forward as I will be focusing on macro-photography and landscape photography. Nadege creates surreal environments using organic objects, which is what I will try to recreate in my work. Adam's captures the beauty of landscapes, as he is an environmentalist, I will photograph British landscapes in order to also capture their beauty.

The technological development of colour being introduced allows images to become more detailed, and interesting to the viewer; although Adam's images are black and white as he wants to highlight the contrast to the viewer, Nadege's use of colour adds to the effect of her images.

I am going to improve on the detailed meaning behind my images, in order for me to make my shoots more creative and interesting, with deeper meanings. Moreover, I am going to attempt to increase my knowledge of the lights used in the studio, and how I can manipulate these within my images, to enhance the overall look of my photographs. In addition, I'm going to experiment with the dodge and burn tool in photoshop, to enhance the contrast between the black and white colouring in my landscape images. 

References:

Kestenholz, D (2014), Don't just shoot 50mm because Henri Carter-Bresson did so, accessed 3.11.16 [http://www.the.me/dont-just-shoot-50mm-because-henri-cartier-bresson-did-so/]

Wikipedia (last edited 13 October 2016), Henri Carter-Bresson, accessed 3.11.16 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson]

Wikipedia (last edited 6 November 2016), Jacob Riis, accessed 3.11.16 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Riis]

Carlisle, J (2015), Nadege Meriau, accessed 8.11.16 [http://www.jessicacarlisle.com/nadege-meriau/]

Metcalfe Lancaster, Nadege's workshop at launch of new Switch wing, Tatemodern, accessed 8.11.16 [http://metcalfelancaster.com/photographer/nadege-meriau/]

The Ansel Adam's Gallery, About Ansel Adams, accessed 1.12.16 [http://anseladams.com]