I found this to be a very challenging assignment but I felt I also learnt a lot; especially concerning creative landscapes. This was inspired mostly by Georges Rousse, with his whole oeuvre, as well as Richard T. Walker, with his ‘us through this‘ (2013) series of photographs. While my ‘destination shots’ (Photographs 8, 9 and 10 – Assignment 2 – Landscape) were certainly not as precise as Rousse’s and Walker’s, I thought they were precise enough for the illusion of ‘looking through’ the body as a kind of ‘window of the soul’ to be quite apparent. If I were to improve this project this might be one of the key areas I looked towards, so that the precision of the extraneous lines matched up better as described in my Photographs 8, 9 and 10 post.

These 3 shots: Photographs 8, 9 and 10, in my opinion were quite topical in that they also addressed the phenomena of the ‘selfie’ shot, although in what I thought was quite a unique way, mainly because of the illusion.

In a lot of the other shots for this assignment, I decided to employ long exposures to convey movement and I thought this was most successful where I captured people moving in multitude. This, I decided was due to these shots managing to connate the idea of a journey of many people; not just one, which I felt was an added feature of Photographs 5, 6 and 7 particularly.

I discovered I often went to my 10 stop neutral density filter for long exposures during the daytime, as it allowed me to create long exposures, which weren’t too long or short. I could ‘fine tune’ the shutter speeds of each long exposure by adjusting aperture and/or ISO accordingly so I had a degree of control over how blurred I wanted the people or trails to appear.

I noticed with this project the compositions were quite ‘forced’ upon me, where there was usually only one or two vantage points, which “would give the best view”’ – (Watkins, (1858) In. Encyclopedia Britannica, (2013) for the kind of angle I was after. In future projects I would perhaps begin projects with more choice compositionally at my disposal, although I was quite satisfied with my eventual viewpoints.

My photographs for Assignment 2 – ‘A Journey’ were mostly pictorial in nature, because of the moving elements present, which ranged from people to car trails to trains. One in particular: Photograph 1, was very pictorial and so was a large departure from the picturesque techniques I had largely used in Assignment 1.

Altogether, the project had a lot of variety in my opinion and importantly, a sense of progression could be observed, by me at least, of a journey that reached a conclusion with the ‘destination’ photographs at the end. If I were to improve the project further, I would address the issues in precision in the ‘destination’ photographs (8,9 and 10).

References:

Rousse, G. (2003). Rüsselsheim 2003. [Photograph] Available at: http://www.georgesrousse.com/en/archives/article/georges-rousse-in-ruesselsheim/ [Accessed 24 Jun. 2015].

Walker, R. (2013). us through this. [Photograph] Available at: http://www.richardtwalker.net/us-through-this [Accessed 24 Jun. 2015].

Watkins, C. (1858) In. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2013). Carleton E. Watkins | American photographer. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carleton-E-Watkins [Accessed 24 Jun. 2015].

Photographs 8, 9 and 10 were where I aimed to show that the destination had been reached but in a fairly unique way. Here, I managed to utilise the creative landscape ideas I had been thinking about in: My Most Lucid Thoughts on Creative Landscape Photography Collated..

Where with all the prior shots in this assignment I had endeavoured to show movement, the concept used in these three photographs, I felt was one of stillness and perhaps clarity. My reasoning behind this was that while starting the journey through to travelling the main bulk of it via train and some on foot; here the destination had been reached. In contrast to these prior shots, I wanted to suggest that when the typical journeyer to Brighton had reached their destination, they tended to relax and enjoy the beach and to a certain degree the satisfaction reaching their destination could potentially bring.

Photograph 8 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

In short, my idea behind the three photographs (8, 9 and 10) was to combine the (almost inevitable, nowadays!) tourist ‘selfie’ photograph , with something a bit more profound in the form of a ‘window to the soul’ concept. I tried to create an illusion that the viewer was looking at the tourist/person who had reached their destination and seeing through them to whatever was directly behind them. I carefully chose what was behind me (the tourist/person who had reached their destination) to portray my understanding of what was a part of my image of Brighton. The reason I chose myself as the tourist/person who had reached their destination was so the viewer was offered an insight into what mattered to me concerning Brighton. Also but more obscurely, the use of a wireless remote to trigger the camera to take the image in two of the three shots, conveyed that these were indeed contrived ‘selfie’ shots.

Photograph 9 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

After making the ‘destination’ photographs for Brighton, I realised that this idea had been very difficult for me to carry out. I reckoned I had been quite successful with realising the concept but there was still lots of room for improvement. Because there were so many variables in play while attempting to make the idea in my head become material; my overall feeling, when looking back, was one of quiet satisfaction. The reason it was only quiet satisfaction, rather than just satisfaction, was the room for improvement that was obvious to me. If possible, I would like to go back and pay close attention to detail so that the illusion of looking through the person became more stark. While this illusion had worked in my opinion (and better than I had hoped for), I felt I could better communicate the illusion and its (powerful) semantics to the viewer, through achieving technical soundness. One area technically that stood out to me was the way the extraneous lines implied by perspective and spatial placement of the t-shirt in the scene, which I had purposefully made sure were there compositionally, did not match up as accurately as I intended. This was in contrast to my main influences for these photographs: Georges Rousse’s single perspective installations, where by ‘carefully constructing the scene and then positioning the camera so that the illusion is complete’ he is ‘crafting another dimension into the picture plane’ (Cotton, 2009) and Richard T. Walker’s ‘us through this’ (2013) series, where the extraneous lines matched up very accurately. The reason I placed so much importance on this technical accuracy was in part because I felt I had implemented the picture-in-picture and single perspective idea slightly different to Rousse and Walker and so wanted to show how my work was similar but different, which I felt would be more apparent if the illusion was obvious.

• How close I was to the camera
• How big the image was printed on the t-shirt
• How far away I was from the landscape features (this also affected perspective)
• The focal length of the lens

Photograph 10 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

All of these variables meant caprturing an accurate shot was more challenging than it might have first appeared. I also had to have an accomplice to help me line up the ‘destination’ shots with and I found their help essential. However, I was adamant that I should be the one taking the shots for a reason. I thought it made more semantic sense. The ‘see-through’ window-to-my-soul concept was my idea and I wanted to communicate that directly with the viewer. This was symbolised by the remote shutter in my hand visible, showing my acknowledgment of the selfie type image, prevalent at the moment, which a typical tourist might take on a journey to Brighton beach but of course in a manner that was different because of the ‘see-through’ window. One photographer I was influenced by to actually include the remote shutter in the frame was Russell Squires in his series A Lone Tour (2014). Here, he used a cable release rather than a remote shutter but in my opinion the effect was the same: to make the viewer aware that this was a contrived ’selfie’ shot and maybe also that you, the photographer, were also aware of the viewer.

Camera settings for Photographs 8, 9 and 10 were:

Photograph 8: f/8, 1/125s, ISO 100, focal length 16mm. A tripod and wireless remote were used.

Photograph 9: f/8, 1/640s, ISO 320, focal length 15mm. A tripod and wireless remote were used.

Photograph 10: f/8, 1/125s, ISO 100, focal length 11mm. A tripod and wireless remote were used.

References:

Rousse, G. (2000). Mairet. [Photograph] In. Cotton, C. (2009). The Photograph as Contemporary Art. 2nd ed. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Squires, R. (2014). A Lone Tour. [Photograph] Available at: http://russellsquires.co.uk/a-lone-tour/ [Accessed 24 Jun. 2015].

Walker, R. (2013). us through this. [Photograph] Available at: http://www.richardtwalker.net/us-through-this [Accessed 24 Jun. 2015].

This photograph bared many similarities to Photograph 6, in my opinion but was still different enough to warrant inclusion. It showed a real sense of progression from Photograph 6, I felt, in that now the Brighton sea, beach and sea front were clearly visible.

The similarities included the shot being taken from higher ground; looking down on proceedings. Also, the multitude of people moving along the seafront in mass portrayed with the use of a long exposure, as well as the sea being visible in the frame, although much closer this time.

I observed there were three main ‘layers’ to this image; from the intense depiction of movement in the foreground of the people walking along the seafront because of the long exposure of 15 seconds, followed by the less obvious movement of people on the beach and sitting down on benches in the middle ground. There was still movement visible in this second layer but the viewer had to look for it. Finally, Brighton pier and the sea remained relatively impassive in the distance. Altogether, for me this kept the viewer’s eye within the frame because of the layers and it also went some way in explaining the various aspects of Brighton beach.

Photograph 7 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 7 were:

f/11, 15 seconds, ISO 50, focal length 35mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. A tripod and cable release were used.

The journey down from Brighton station to the sea was one I was very familiar with and so I was aware of the mass of people who always make this journey too. The multitude of people is quite numerous, especially during the summer and so I wanted to get across the amount of people walking down; while retaining a sense of place – the sea was obvious at the top of the frame.

Compositionally getting the shot was quite hard. My thinking on finding the ‘best’ composition for this particular shot was the following: there is usually one or two best views/angles of composition for any given subject or group of subjects. This then is followed by ‘subordinate’ views as the composition becomes less appealing. Practically, in my eyes, there exists usually at least one ‘desirable’ view within any given area and it is the landscape photographer’s job to find these views and exploit them to their full potential, or in the words of Carleton Watkins: “would give the best view”’ – (Watkins, (1858) In. Encyclopedia Britannica, (2013).

I was also aware this road was downhill from Brighton station to the sea so I used this to my advantage, by making sure the sea was visible in the distance and finding a vantage point where a lot of the people were apparent moving down the road. I thought the people moving were more apparent because I’d learnt if shooting from a high perspective looking down, it can show patterns of movement better than from level ground or low down.

Photograph 6 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 6 were:

f/8, 6 seconds, ISO 200, focal length 85mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. A tripod and cable release were used.

References:

Watkins, C. (1858) In. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2013). Carleton E. Watkins | American photographer. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carleton-E-Watkins [Accessed 24 Jun. 2015].

Photograph 5 was a representation of the ‘other side’ of the main bulk of the travelling; at the destination train station: Brighton. I was ‘allowed’ to express my creativity much more vividly I felt with this shot, in comparison to Photograph 3, partly because of the grandeur of Brighton train station and also because I managed to use a tripod on this occasion. Using a tripod enabled me to once more to produce a long exposure with minimal camera shake and so convey movement in the form of two trains at the station pulling in or moving away. The figures in the bottom-middle of the frame were like ghosts too; as a direct consequence of the long exposure and this also suggested movement out of the train station was taking place. This movement out of the station was a mass movement and something I felt was typical of the trip from out of the station to the beach.

The grandeur of Brighton station made it possible for me to choose my composition much more freely. I decided to include a lot of the impressive, in my opinion, arches and columns that made up the roof of the station and because of the way the whole roof curved, it allowed me to use the roof as a kind of lead-in line. This lead-in line led the viewer’s eye from where I was positioned near the ghostly figures and moving trains towards the station exit.

To get the two moving trains as well as the figures in the middle-foreground, I had to combine three exposures, two of the exposures for each of the moving trains (with exposures of 8 seconds and 20 seconds) and the final one for the figures in the foreground (8 seconds). I tried to keep the overall luminosity for each of these exposures as consistent as possible so it was easier for me to merge them afterwards. I felt Photograph 5 worked well in this regard; there was a lot of movement going on in the foreground, while the columns and arches of the station remained impassive.

Photograph 5 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 5 were:

Exposure 1 (1st moving train on the right): f/8, 8 seconds, ISO 500, focal length 11mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. A tripod and cable release were used.

Exposure 2 (moving figures in the foreground): f/8, 8 seconds, ISO 500, focal length 11mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. A tripod and cable release were used.

Exposure 3 (moving train on the left): f/8, 20 seconds, ISO 200, focal length 11mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. A tripod and cable release were used.

Here, I tried to convey the sense of movement again, in what I deemed an important period of the journey. This ‘train-moving’ shot, was aimed to be a symbol of where the main bulk of the travelling was done.

For me, this shot would have been quite clichéd a portrayal of journey within a photograph, had I shot the photograph how I originally intended – a shot out of the window of the fast-moving train, with the train window acting as a framing tool. However, I devised a way to incorporate another compositional element in the image, which made this kind of photograph less standard as well as offering the viewer further insight into the type of destination of the journey. This compositional element was in the form of a map, which just so happened to map the final destination of the journey. I laid the map out full-spread on one of the train tables so that it covered the table and made sure it filled a sufficient part of the frame to make it immediately noticeable to the viewer. The sea is of course a big feature of Brighton and I made sure it showed up quite visibly from the map to the camera.

This was one of the most challenging shots for me technically because of the train bumping laterally slightly over the rails, whilst on course and also a relatively confined space to work in. These factors meant a tripod wasn’t feasible to me and because I wanted a slow shutter speed to convey the sense of movement again, I had to rely on a steady hand and some luck to find a time when the train wasn’t bumping quite so much. In part, I felt this shot was successful technically. There was definitely a sense of high speed motion, due to the scenery outside the window passing by from the slow shutter, which had been my main aim. However, there was quite a lot of camera shake at higher magnification levels and so the map (which I felt was a strong component of the image) wasn’t quite as sharp as I would have liked. The image held up reasonably well at screen size in my opinion though.

Photograph 4 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 4 were:

f/10, 0.4 seconds, ISO 400, focal length 11mm and a 5 stop neutral density filter, handheld.

If Photograph 2 offered more context for the viewer to establish an understanding of the crux of the journey, I felt Photograph 3 clearly indicated exactly what the journey was about. Most specifically, the destination and point of the journey was obvious on the train departure sign.

Aesthetically, this shot was not pictorial. There were no painterly effects or moving components within the image induced from a slow shutter speed. Instead, I had endeavoured to convey movement from the figures in the frame; although admittedly this was secondary to my primary purpose of including the departure sign with the destination of the train the figures were boarding or about to board. While I realised this lack of pictorialism and actual movement veered away form a slight theme that had begun to play – one of movement in the journey, I thought that this was a necessary step to take in order to make my primary purpose of the image apparent.

Ideally, I would use a tripod and waited until the train was about to move away and with the help of another long exposure, capture the train while it pulled away. There would potentially still be figures present in the frame where they had been boarding because it would be a fairly long exposure, although these figures would be ghostly in appearance as they moved around in the long exposure.

Compositionally, in my opinion there were some strong elements visible in the frame. Most obvious was the relationship the train departure sign possessed with the rest of the image. It stood out compared to the rest of the image but not overly so in my eyes. This was in part due to a compositional method, where the sign was placed on the extreme right (although with a gap visible between the right edge of the sign and the frame) and other verticals in the form of the vertical columns on the left of the frame balanced out each other. Also the colours of the sign were somewhat replicated by the rest of the image. Most notably, the yellow of the figures on the sign was replicated on the train front and the blue around the train departure sign was replicated by the (barely visible) station sign on the extreme left and to a lesser extent the vertical and horizontal  columns around the station.

Photograph 3 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 3 were:

f/8, 1/100s, ISO 100, focal length 20mm, handheld.

Where the prior photograph for this journey had been set in a place only just obvious (mainly because of the technique used), to people who were very familiar with that particular road, here I tried to offer more context. This was while maintaining a sense of movement and so keeping a sense of progression in the journey. I utilised the long exposure option again but this time kept the camera as stationary as possible. The effect of keeping the camera steady instead off moving was profound in terms of meaning gathered for the potential viewer.

The long exposure of 8 seconds allowed traffic; in particular a bus in the foreground, to pass by and create a trail but simultaneously, a sense of place became apparent. Therefore, the viewer could begin to assert more information about where this journey had started from or was going to. The long exposure of 8 seconds was also long enough to show movement in some of the tree leaves, which I thought was unfortunate. However, I didn’t feel it detracted from the main purpose of the shot, which was to indicate travel down a busy road.

Photograph 2 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 2 were:

f/8, 8 seconds, ISO 200, focal length 85mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. A tripod and cable release were used.

Because I wanted to show how my journey to Brighton developed, from my perspective, I felt it would be effective to start the journey how many typical journeys for me (and many others) start off: from a suburban area, which meant something to the person embarking on the journey but not much to an ambivalent viewer.

To best convey this sense of suburbia, I decided to employ a pictorial rendering to the scene I knew myself very well. This made the scene typical of many other suburban areas but perhaps more interestingly, turned the road I knew well, kind of into something that was more foreign to me; more than had I not employed the pictorial technique.

The pictorial technique employed was a long exposure but not while the camera was stationary. Instead, I walked, while the long exposure took place. This gave the eventual photograph a ‘dreamy’ as well as ‘painterly’ feel in my opinion. However, more important, I felt, was the the effect of movement and lack of focus and thereby, the lack of familiarity to the eventual viewer this exposure gave.

Instead, the overall composition of the photograph, with strong converging lines, led the viewer’s eye towards where the lines converged; namely the end of the road. This use of perspective was a strong component of what I was trying to communicate in the image: the viewer was to feel like they were on the journey with the traveller and would potentially be curious to see what lay ahead at the end of the road.

I liked the fact that some elements of the photograph were discernible; it wasn’t all a blur. For instance the houses on the right caught the light and so the reds of the brickwork as well as the whites of the windows made them distinguishable. This meant the viewer had some reference point from their reality; just nothing specific to go by. Other examples of this were the cars (both in shadow on the left and in sunshine on the right) and of course the road itself and the sky.

Since the focal point (the end of the road) was quite singular, I placed it in line with the rule of thirds, so the viewer’s eye (with the help of the converging lines) gravitated towards this focal point. I felt the road being half in shadow lent to leading the eye up to the focal point as well.

Photograph 1 – Assignment 2 – Landscape

Camera settings for Photograph 1 were:

f/9, 6 seconds, ISO 80, focal length 16mm and a 10 stop neutral density filter. No tripod was used.

The main journey, which sprung to mind when reading the brief for Assignment 2 – Landscape – ‘A Journey’, was a trip I had made quite a few times before and was familiar with. This was my journey down to the seaside town of Brighton. Because it was quite a long journey, I felt there was enough potential to create a set of photos representing my journey to Brighton and I decided quite soon that this was the journey I wanted to photograph. It was quite practical for me to do so, which I felt was important, in case I had to conduct the journey multiple times or reshoot any photographs and I had a few ideas regarding certain stages of the journey. The most salient of these ideas, I’ve covered in my previous post: My Most Lucid Thoughts on Creative Landscape Photography Collated.. I would probably also utilise the long exposure technique to help create perceived movement within the photographs. This use of the long exposure technique would be  used to symbolise the lack of power on such a journey, where greater forces are at play or just that the actual journey is usually a blur of activity.

I also came to realise this journey, would be quite a busy one, with many people on certain stages of the journey, probably crossing a similar path to mine. For example the walk from Brighton train station down to the sea was a common one I had planned for, as well as a sense of general movement along the entirety of the journey, until the destination had been reached.

My target audience for this project would quite simply be the many people who make similar journeys to Brighton every summer in particular. This was because I felt they would hopefully be able to relate to most of the photographs and in sequence too; as Brighton became more and more pronounced within the frame of the project.