Final Images & Evaluation

Time to display my final images ...... the results of 16 weeks hard work and good fun!  I started out not knowing how to use my camera properly, always stuck on auto.  I've always had a passion for photography and have owned a camera from being a teenager.  I took the plunge and bought an entry level dslr about a year ago in the form of a Sony A290, it takes great quality images but I didn't know what I was doing with it.  I've learned so much during this course and my camera is now always set to manual.  I get a real sense of satisfaction knowing how to set the aperture and shutter speed correctly without having to rely on auto.

I've always been drawn to landscape photography and so chose this as my 'subject' carrying out research into different landscape photographers has been very interesting, if i'm totally honest I wasn't really aware of any of them, apart from Ansel Adams.  The photographer that has most inspired me is Fay Godwin, I've said in a previous most that I like her story and everything she stood for.  Many of her images had a bleakness to them and I feel that my images also have a similar feel.  I'm drawn to images that you can get lost in, or feel like you can just walk to and be there, part of the landscape ......

My initial theme was 'water' and I had grand plans to photograph at all times of the day in many different scenarios, waterfalls at sunset, the sea at dawn etc. however, I often found myself disappointed with results of any photo shoot featuring water and with time at a premium I hadn't fully considered how this was going to happen!  My shoots were always planned carefully, locations researched, equipment well prepared, but you can't plan for the weather and I often found that as I was heading out with my camera the sun would disappear only to give way to a dull sky with little or no cloud to make it interesting .... just grey.  I did consider changing my theme to 'dull' but quickly dismissed this!

While reviewing some images I had taken on a trip to North Yorkshire I felt very strongly that they should form part of my final 6, the colours were so vibrant and striking and I was really drawn to them and also the sense of isolation really appeals to me so my new theme is 'in the middle of nowhere'

My final images are as follows:

I'm very pleased with my final selection.  When I compare my early shoots with the final images the difference is huge, not only have I learned how to use my camera but I think my 'eye' has also developed as the course has progressed. 

This course has confirmed my passion for landscape photography and I'm looking forward to developing my skills further. 

It's been hard work at times and a struggle to fit in amongst everything else that working full-time and general life throws at you but it's also been great fun, i've had the pleasure of getting to know some great people and benefited from some inspirational teaching! 

What's not to like?



Manipulated Images - Fantasy Landscapes

We were tasked to create 4 fantasy landscapes to complete the maniuplated images section of the course.  Having never used photoshop previously I found this quite a challenge, I am pleased with my final images but it took a while to get there.  I have worked through several themes and cast each one aside as I failed to produce anything even remotely satisfying!  I started off with an idea based on open doors or door-ways which would show a different landscape as you looked through the door compared to the one on 'this side' of the door.  This was really early in the course and I got frustrated with my lack of expertise with Photoshop and decided I couldn't do it so moved on ..... Another idea was to use high street scenes and replace the street with a river, woodland etc. so for example it would appear that the shops were sitting right on the edge of the river and the river would become the 'high street', I persevered with this one for a while as I really liked the idea but couldn't quite make the river look like it belonged, it was too obvious and so it was time for something else! 

Right from the beginning I have loved the effect of multiplying layers and changing the opacity to give the best effect, one of my early posts shows two examples of this and so I decided to go with this and see what I could come up with, two of my final images are below:

This is the result of combining the top two images, I did this by creating a duplicate layer of each image, then dragging one image on top of the other, multiplying the layers and adjusting the opacity to give the best effect.  I love this, you really have to look twice and i'm not sure you'd even know that was a river
if you hadn't seen the original images.

As with the first image, this is the result of combining the top two images, I did this by creating a duplicate layer of each image, then dragging one image on top of the other, multiplying the layers and adjusting the opacity to give the best effect.  This is my favourite, out of all 4 manipulated images I think this works the best, I really love the shadow of the trees against the buildings and the carpet of leaves on the road

Although I love the effect of multiplying layers I wanted to show a different technique with the next two.

Using the woodland scene from the first two images, I created a duplicate layer of each image and using the magnetic lasso I copied the right hand side of the building and pavement and pasted it into onto the woodland scene, i then used free transform to adjust the size, when that was done I copied it and used the free transform again to 'flip' the image by dragging the cursor to the centre and through to the other side.  Once happy with the positionng, I used the blur tool to soften the edges. 
I'm very pleased with the result, it's kind of surreal ..... yet not. :-)

 

                             

 

Using the woodland scene from the first two images, I created a duplicate layer of each image and using the magnetic lasso I copied the left hand side of the fence and pasted it into onto the woodland scene, using the same technques as with the previous image, I then used free transform to adjust the size, when that was done I copied it and used the free transform again to 'flip' the image by dragging the cursor to the centre and through to the other side.  Once happy with the positionng, I used the blur tool to soften the edges. 
It's not my favourite image out of the four but I think it works well



As you can see, my 'theme' is the woodland scene that I have used as a basis for each image.  I have really enjoyed this section of the course and could happily spend many hours experimenting with photoshop and creating any number of manipulated images.  Although I know that i've only scratched the surface with photoshop I feel like I have learned an awful lot and look forward to learning more.

Joe Cornish

Joe Cornish,  born in Exeter, 1958.  He studied art at Reading University, where he first became interested in photography.  He graduated in 1980 and worked as an assistant for four years in London and Washington DC.

In 1986 his early travel and landscape photography was accepted into Charlie Waite's photolibrary, Landscape Only.   From 1986 to 1995 Joe was responsible for either all or the majority of the photography in more than thirty travel books; these years were the proving ground for the landscape work that was to follow.

In 1991 he went to Alaska with Raleigh International as expedition photographer. Alaska inspired Joe's commitment to wild places and wilderness. He undertook his first job for the National Trust in 1990 and he continues to work freelance for them. Joe believes photography plays a vital role as an advocate for environmental protection.

Joe has contributed to and published many books over his long career and The Joe Cornish North Allerton gallery holds a permanent exhibition of Joe's work, as well as his print archive.

In 2006 Amateur Photographer honoured him with their annual Power of Photography award, and in 2008 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.



A photograph from the 'Water and Stone: Essence of Yorkshire' series



Bamburgh Castle at nightfall

I find the following quote from Joe's website very inspiring:

"To my way of thinking, photography and landscape matter much more than I do. I want my work to value, honour and connect with landscape; I do not want it to draw attention to me personally. But therein lies a contradiction, for without the aesthetic signature of an individual vision, photographs are rarely compelling. I remain convinced that themes from nature are never exhausted. Continuing to develop a language of light and form that illuminates the subject without drawing too much attention to me, the photographer, remains at the heart of my mission"

The Different Ways To Present My Work

So, after accepting that a worldwide billboard campaign is probably not that realistic, I need to consider the other options that are available and decide which one will best suit my images and my budget!  But, before making my work availble to the masses, it's likely that I will need to carry out some editing ....

Things to consider when editing your images:

Cropping:

Cropping can be used to change the size/shape of an image, i.e. crop to a square.  It can also be used to remove dead/wasted space and to focus on the 'subject'.

Colour/Tone

As examples; consider if the image would work better in black and white or sepia, or alter the levels to give the image a 'warm' effect or the opposite and 'cool' down the tones.

Lighten/Darken

Alter the image by lightening or darkening as appropriate.  If the image is too bright then darken it slightly or if it's too dark, maybe if you didn't get the light quite right then lighten it up a little.

Sharpen

Sharpen up an image to create more definition if appropriate.

There are numerous options available to us for fine tuning an image, some software is free, like Picassa for example, others are more costly like Photoshop.  Even the free sofware like Picassa enables you to crop, sharpen, convert to black and white, alter the colour levels, apply a soft focus etc. etc.

Once you are happy with your edited images the following presentation options are among the many available to you:

Portfolio

If I chose this method then I would include more images, 6 isn’t enough for a portfolio, Maybe 15 – 20 images with the strongest image at the back as that’s the one that will be remembered.  You can purchase portfolio cases in various sizes, the most common being A3, A2 and A1.

Boxed Prints

Not a fan of this idea, the images are not displayed, more ‘stored’ and would have to be removed from the box and then displayed,

Book

There are numerous websites that allow you to create a photo-book.  I’ve made several myself using www.kodakgallery.co.uk and in my opinion they are a great replacement for a traditional photo album.  Most specify a minimum number of pages i.e 20, which gives you 40 actual pages to fill so number of images would have to be vastly increased.  They are available in a variety of sizes and approximate cost is as follows: 

7" x 5", min 14 pages, soft cover - £7.99

9.5" x 8", min 20 pages, soft cover - £15.99

10.25" x 9", min 20 pages, hard cover - £19.99

14" X 12", min 20 pages, hard cover - 39.99 

Framed Prints

A great way to display photographs, numerous options available regarding frames, borders and sizes, so easy to find something to show off your image perfectly.

Gallery

Rent some gallery space - how exciting!  This, I imagine would be the choice of most people, given the opportunity, the perfect showcase for your work, cost prohibitive though.  A fabulous platform with lots of options regarding size and display.

Postcards

A very cool idea and I like it but don’t think it would suit my images due to the obvious size issue.

Prints

A straight-forward print!  Numerous sizes and paper types available from a regular 5" x 7" (or even smaller if required) to A0 and everything inbetween.  As a an example, again using Kodak Gallery the following prices apply:

Prints size	Price each
5 x 7"	£0.19
6 x 8"	£0.39
8 x 10"	£1.19
8 x 12"	£1.29

Poster size	Price each
12 x 18"	£2.99
16 x 24"	£9.99
20 x 30"	£14.99

Website

Creating a website to display your work is a great way to make your images available to the world!  There are many diy 'create your own website' packages, some are even free.  It would also be possible to add a 'shopping basket' to people could purchase your work. 

Blog

Similar to a website, but more of an 'informal' method, almost like an online diary but like a website makes your work available to the world!  Anyone can set up a blog providing they have access to the internet, creating a blog is usually free of charge.

Giles Norman

Giles Norman born in 1961, to Belgian and English parents,  lives in Kinsale, County Cork  where he has been since 1976.  

A chance request to photograph a school project  provided him with his first opportunity to use a camera, this sparked an interest and he received his first camera for his 18th birthday. By 1981 he had begun creating his first portfolios.

He quickly developing his own style of black and white photography and also began to successfully sell his photographs to craft shops around Ireland. As demand increased he rented darkroom space in kinsale, where a small window to the street meant a steady stream of visitors. The obvious popularity convinced him to open his first black and white photography gallery.

The gallery became successful and gained Giles recognition as one of Ireland’s leading black and white photographers.  He returned many times to the West of Ireland photographing the Aran islands, Clare and Galway.

He expanded his subject matter visiting Paris,  Venice and Florence.  He moved to larger premises in 1992, these premises are now home to the complete black and white portfolios of Giles Norman.

Although Giles spends much of his time in Kinsale he also finds time to add to his portfolios, more recently launched collections include Beara, New York and Dingle.

Giles had always wanted to visit Yosemite National Park and follow in the footsteps of Ansel Adams.  This dream came true in 2004 and gave him the opportunity to created his first American portfolio.  See below two examples taken from this collection:

Over the last number of years giles Normans work has concentrated on what he calls ‘pure landscape’, finding wild and remote places and photographing only what nature has laid down - keeping man-made intrusions to a minimum.  He used a Nikon F80 and a Hasselblad X-pan until 2006 and now uses a D300

How Best to Present My Work ......

There are several ways in which I could present my final images.  However, as the images I have chosen for my final 6 are all far-reaching landscapes I feel they are better suited to something on a larger scale to get a feeling for what & where they are and to show them at their best.

If every option were available to me, with no restriction on budget or location; I would love to have them displayed on billboards in city centres or industrial areas.  However, that’s not a realistic scenario at this stage (or probably ever) but this is what it might look like if it were!

Obviously I love this!  The bigger the better .......  However, for a full on billboard campaign lasting two weeks I will need approx £500k!  Or for a static billboard on a trailer about £995 per month, plus printing costs!  I shall discuss the more realistic presentation options in my next post.

John Goto

John Goto born 1949, Stockport, England.  John studied fine art at St Martin's School of Art, London in the late 1960's where he developed an interest in european cinema and literature which in turn led him to the medium of photography.

In the 1980's he starting combining painting and drawing with photography which laid the groundwork for his later works with digital manipulation.  John Goto is recognized internationally as a leading practitioner in the field of photo-digital art. Since 1992 he has used digital technology to reflect on European history and contemporary social and political events.

His series entitled 'New World Circus' depicts bizarre circus scenes as a representation of the current (then) situation in Iraq and the 'New World Order' that Blair and Bush foolishly hoped would prevail in Iraq and beyond. The acts themselves are based on real circus routines and Goto himself plays the brash, red coated and moustached ringmaster and accompanying him are family, friends and neighbours, playing the parts of circus characters.   

New World Circus Series: Statue Entrée, 2006

Another series entitled 'Floodscapes' came about through a partnership between the Environment Agency’s ‘Floodscape’ project, the University of Derby and John Goto.  This project aims to explore the use of art as a means of imaginatively engaging the public with the aesthetics of landscape and the issues and options involved in managing floods.



Floodscapes series: Polyphemus on the Thames Barrier, 2006

John Goto's work is not for me, although I can appreciate his talent and think the message behind is work is a powerful one, particularly the New World Circus series, it's not something I personally enjoy.

 

John Goto is currently Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Derby .... he's just down the road!