photographer research

Photographer Research

this image is powerful due to the
symmetry and the tree directly in the middle,
which is blocking
out the sun

this image is effective as it shows
the suns rays casting down on the
landscape and the natural light enhances
the physical aspects of the image

1. Julien Grondin

I chose this French landscape photographer as an influence due to the pure beauty that he captures within his images, despite my inability to capture images in the same astonishing landscapes that he does, i aspire capture his style of 

this image has influenced my work as
it is simplistic yet effective due to the pure
 line of symmetry
created by the reflection

this image is similar to the above
in terms of viewpoint yet instead of
it being taken in a country landscape
it shows the contrast
in the urban landscape

photographing sunsets. Grodins work is a massive influence on my project as his images show the beauty of the sky while including both urban and country aspects. The four images i have shown
 to display Grondin's work shows the contrast and versatility between his work 
and how they can create powerful images in different landscapes. To summarise, i chose Grodin as one of my influences due to his versatility within his work and the positions that he takes his images in.

this image is powerful because of the
boldness of all the colours within
it which enhances the cloud
formations within the image and
also enhances the contrast
between the sky, clouds and land.
in my opinion this image has impact due
the the amount of detail it has.

i chose this image due to the fact that
it is in black and white which is a
medium that shore doesnt use as
much i feel the clouds in the sky
add more to the image as
essentially the subject is the
person yet the aspect of the
sky adds more detail within the
 image

2.Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore is an American photographer known for his images of banal scenes and objects in the United States, and for his wide use of colour in art photography. i chose Shore as an influence as i have previously studied his work and he has inspired some of my previous projects, his use of colour and vibrancy within his work was something that i wanted to display within my piece. Shores work show the beauty of places that people normally don't take a second look at. To summarise, i chose Shore due to his use of vibrant colours within his work and his was of photographing the contrast between the sky and the almost simplistic landscapes.

the ochre colours of dusty ridges
 are set beautifully
against the blue sky in this image, as Shore 
captures
 a fleeting moment from
 the side of the
 motorway, a place usually
literally passed by. 

shore's images are effective as they seem
to be taken in simple landscapes yet
they show the beauty of the countryside
in the US.

i felt this image was effective as
it is grainy and shows lots of depth
and tone and a bold contrast
 between light and dark

i felt that this image was powerful
because of the contrast between the
white cloud and the dark foreground 

3. Edward Steichen

Steichen was a Luxembourgian American photographer during the 20th century, his photography consists of black and white, or negative images, due to the camera he used during his career, the fact that his images are black and white are one of the main reasons why he is one of my influences, the use of the different tones of black and white add so many different depths to his images.

Steichen's images show so many levels of tone and depth while only consisting of a small range of colours. His work is one of my influences as it shows that you don't need a blue sky to have an effective image of 'the sky'. his work is also almost an opposite medium to Shore, which is why i wanted to include their work, as i can take both of their work as an inspiration by showing the contrast between coloured images and black and white images. To summarise i chose Steichen as an influence due to his lack of colour in his images, as despite the lack of colour his images have an abundance of tones and depth.

i like this image as the different
shades add to the layers
of the image and shows
far into the distance of the image
and has many different focus
point within it

this image is my personal
favourite due to the almost
'fluffiness' of the clouds
and the use of shadows within
the image

i chose this image as it has a lot of
yellow tone which when up
against a blue sky, compliment
each other and add depth to the
image as well as creating vibrancy
throughout

these two images are powerful
as despite the sky being
full with clouds there is still
a level of depth to the two images
and a strong contrast between the
buildings and the cloudy sky.

4. Brian Eno 

Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, RDI is an English musician, record producer, and visual artist best known for his pioneering work in ambient music and contributions to rock, pop, electronic, and generative music, yet i have chose him as an influence due to the set of images he created within  Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan in which Brian Eno produced a time-lapse sequence of New York filmed in a vertical format, with buildings silhouetted against a drifting atmosphere sky. His images use a wide range of both depth and yellow tones. i chose Eno as an influence due to the yellow tones that he used within the images and how the blue sky and yellow tones compliment each other.

this image is effective due to how dark
it is and the almost green tones within
the image add so many levels of
depth within it as well as the slightly
orange undertones

i felt this image was powerful due to
the graininess of the image and the
slight blur to it, the almost navy/ blue
black tones add to the variance of
depth to the image aswell 

5. Masahisa Fukas

 In the photo book Solitude of Ravens, Masahisa Fukase produced  

     evocative images of birds in flight against dramatic skies. In  1975, on a journey from Tokyo to Hokkaido, his hometown, Masahisa Fukase began to photograph the ravens he saw from the train window. Alighting at stations along the way, he captured the birds in motion or perched on poles, telegraph wires, chimneys and fences. He photographed them in flocks landing on trees or darkening the already slate grey sky and in grainy close-up, their silhouettes suggesting something solitary and elemental.

6. Stefan Lenz



Lenz is a little known photographer, blogger and author, who specialises in photographing cities, landscapes and glass ball photography, which involves takeing an image through a glass ball, resulting in an distorted view of the image, typically upside down. Lenz is german born and launched his photography career in 2017, and mixed his love of travel with his love of photography and created wonderful images like the ones i have displayed.

work record 9 ~ shoot 9

The Sky ~ Shoot 9

Plans for shoot: 

my plans for this shoot was to do a riverside shoot along side trees and wildlife, to do this I decided to walk along the river stort between Harlow town and Harlow mill, I aimed to experiment with the reflections of the trees and sky in the water as well as taking images through the trees that were along the river.

Research influence:

my shoot is influenced by many artists as i aim to mix all their styles of photography into mine, this included Stephen Shore,Edward Steichen Brian Eno, and Masahisa Fukase, while incorporating the riverside and the reflections of the sky.

Contact sheet(s)

Image bank (containing 5 images)

My Best images (target 4 - 6),

images that require improvement

with the following images, i struggled with the focus and wasn't able to achieve the outcome that I'd hoped.

i felt that the following images were darker than i wanted them to be and therefore required improvement.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for this shoot was to do a riverside shoot along side trees and wildlife, to do this I decided to walk along the river stort between Harlow town and Harlow mill, I aimed to experiment with the reflections of the trees and sky in the water as well as taking images through the trees that were along the river.

 My idea for recording the sky was to take images similar to my research influences  cloud series, and to focus on creating my own interpretations of their work. I was inspired by the work of all my researched artists by their methods of taking photos, and by what they  captured within their work but with my own individuality.

      With reference to my best images, I feel that although I could not create photographs exactly like my artists  photos, I did create a set that was inspired by a mix of their work.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and 

camera settings for each best image:

all images taken on a NIKON D3300 over the period of 1 day.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).

My idea for this shoot was to do a riverside shoot along side trees and wildlife, to do this I decided to walk along the river stort between Harlow town and Harlow mill, I aimed to experiment with the reflections of the trees and sky in the water as well as taking images through the trees that were along the river.

 My edits developed over time in term of my technique of editing as i started to experiment more with my images, my research of my artists helped with this progression, as within their sets of images, no two are the same, so i followed this ideology within my own work by experimenting more with colour, i also experimented more with the reflections on the water and the camera angles, by using gaps between trees to frame my images and using plants and other wildlife to fill the blank spaces within my images.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

i feel that i have produced a moderately strong set of images, that reflect my progression throughout my shoots as well as a variation between my images and the processes that i use to edit and refine them.

Progression: you must refer to what you will do next to improve on either the shoot you have done or how you will develop your project in the next shoot.  

To progess as i head into my examination, i aim to take more experiemental images, using glass orbs to give a distorted view of by creating stretch panoramic images by digitally stiching them together