Cityscapes

Cityscape's like seascapes are sometimes classed as a subject of there own an some do not believe that they fall under the heading landscape as they are man made and not natural features on the horizon. I however do think they do class as landscape so i will be including them in my project. There have been many photos taken of city's as they cover such a vast expanse and are not exactly out of the way.

Many photographers have done cityscape's some of the more notable are Andreas Feininger and atget. Andreas Feininger did many photo's of New York as it was being built and this has lead to some really impressive shots from half built skyscrapers and streets while at the same time the vibrant nightlife is also captured. He took his photo's in black and white by necessity but i think that this led to some fantastic photo's being taken that wouldn't be the same if they had been in colour.

For instance this photo would not of had the same effect if it had been in colour as because it is in black and white the picture is highlighted and the photo it self is shown in such away that makes it look really alive.

I think that his other photo's of the nightlife are equally as good especially the one's i have selected and put below.

I like the effect the black and white makes this photo look alive and i think this works really well in an urban environment however i don't think i am going to use this in my own photo's because the areas i am going to take photo's of are quite colourful unlike the city's of the 1950's and i think it would be better to include these in my photo's.

This photo again is really good i think it is in particular the contrast between black and white / light and dark i like about this picture it really highlights how alive the city is despite the varst concrete world looming all around. This is an effect that is hard to do and can only be acheived in a city that is teaming with life like New York.

Here are a some more of his photo's that I like.

I really like the photo on the right because the lights of the traffic seem to just flow through the city like water in between the buildings. The long exposure in this photo has worked really well.

In the photo on the left here i really like the photo here on the left. The line of the bridge really draws the eye through this photo and the people there really add a sense of scale to this photo which really shows the momentous size and engenering feat that this bridge is.

I have really liked all these photo's but i think as they were done in the 1950's they lack some of the qualities that can make a cityscape look great just because of how early these were done and how much photography ang the city's them selves have progressed. To this end i am going to look at the work of Sze Tsung Leong.

This photo really like the way the built up city surrounds the building site because it seems odd that they'd stat building on both sides before the space in the middle is filled in. It is most likely that there put another apartment building in but i think that space would be perfect for a large park.

I like the way the varying levels of the city seem to go up in steps it really draws the eye up to the back but in contrast to so many other photo's it almost seems the light is coming up from the street which draws the eye back down overall this gives an odd but interesting effect.

This photo is odd because of how empty it is even though there are some very large and impressive buildings with a huge highway in between which immediately draw the eye toward the vast sprawl of the city that dominates the horizon.

This is an odd photo building in the centre i really impressive seems like it should be in a much more urbanized area but in a way it is there is still all the roads and large buildings you'd expect from a city but they are all surrounded by swaves of trees on all sides

Seascapes

I've trawled through the google images results pages and have selected some of my favorites

This is the first one i found. I selected this one because i like the way that the island stands out on the horizon and the light from the sunset highlights it. This was taken by a unknown photographer but i really like the way they caught the light in this picture and the way the rule of thirds has been applied in a horizontal form instead of the typical vertical form. This image is also particularly effective as the eye is drawn along the water line to the silhouette of the island and then to the light shining over the horizon.


Its not unlike the work of Mike Mcfarlane, who also manges to catch the light in this manner in many of his pictures and uses it to draw the eye to the details in the picture along with lines of the tide and other natural features. I think there are some fantastic examples of this in his 2008 portfolio, most of which were taken in the Scotland.




This photo is a really good example of his work though it hasn't transferred to my blog well and has lost most of its quality and can barely be described as a seascape. I think the lines of the sand bank and beach really draw the eye through the image to the skyline i really like how the light emerges from the corner of the making the cloud glow and gives the sky a iridescent shade that i think completes the image.



These are more classic style seascape that his really effective because in the first photo the dark colors of the sea and the light yellow gold of the cliff meet and the glow has been well captured in this photo and is a quality that i would like to replicate in my photos.




In the second photo I also like the photo for the clash between land and sea and how the shear cliff stands against the oncoming sea this contrast in color and texture really shows and the land sea divide in its most dramatic, short of a storm, form.




The following photos are some of mine and are all linked to a larger version on flickr. This photo i think is similar in many ways to the second above photo by Mike Mcfarlane as it has similar lines that draw the eye along the beach to the horizon and the hill. Also i think the lighting really good and the person wandering along the beach gives the picture a great sense of scale. The law of thirds is also in effect here but not in its typical form, it normal divides photos vertically but in this case it divides horizontally the beach being the lowest section the hill and slightly darker region of the sky being the middle area and the sky is the top.



I like the way in this picture in this picture that the line leads you along the beach and up to the hill line which is highlighted by the blue sky above and the darker blue of the sea either side of it. Also in this image i like the way the washed up seaweed give it an interesting foreground. The way the layers of the beach and then the sea draw the eye out to the left towards the peninsular.



In this image I like the way the bay makes the the land stand out and the blue green of the sea makes a great contrast against the lighter sandy color of the land and the mix of colors from the village /divides Also i like the way the land in foreground gives the image depth and highlights the scale of the landscape and becomes point of intrest and gives the impression that it could almost be mirrored on this side.



This photo I took from almost the same place as the one above but for this second photo I zoomed in and focused juson the perninsular that in my opinon is a really interesting focus point for the photo. In this photo the land in particular stands out and the layers on the cliff make it really interesting to look at.



Overall i think seascapes can make really interesting photo but only for the reasons that any other landscape is interesting and the sea itself does not make the photo more interesting so i will not be using them as a singular or focus on the more then anything else for the ret of this investigation.

Landscape Styles

There are many styles of landscape photography that have been used in many different ways to create some really interesting photo's.

Of these many styles I am going to select a few and focus on these. The styles and select my favorite examples an try to analyse them. I will focus on will be:

• Seascapes
• Cityscapes
• Representational
• Impressionistic
• Abstract

Seascapes

Seascapes are viewed by some to be seperate from landscapes completely not being of land an all. However I do class it as a form of landscape photography so i will be looking at it because it offers a whole different focus that i find interesting.

Cityscapes

These are also not always classed under landscape and are some times classed as a style of there own like seascapes but they offer many great images that carry all the features of a normal landscape photograph but with the added senery of the man made world that dominates so many views. If you don't use it to your advantage it can ruin a photo but if used properly it can be a great tool to show contrast and scale.

Representational

This style results in pictures that show scenery at its most natural and realistic, with no visual manipulation or artifice. It is a straightforward style - what you see is what you get. Successful images in the representational style are not simple snapshots. Although the photographer adds no props or other components to a scene and does not try to “bend” reality, great attention is paid to composition and detail. Light, timing and the weather are critical elements.

IMPRESSIONISTIC

The impressionistic landscape photographer employs photographic techniques that result in images that have vague or elusive qualities. They are less tangible and more unreal, while still retaining their values that make them landscape pictures. The viewer is given the impression of a landscape rather than the clear reality of one.

ABSTRACT

This style - Abstract - could also probably be referred to as the graphic style, since the components of scenery are treated by the photographer as graphic elements, arranged for their compositional values. Natural elements may be rendered as unrecognizable or almost so. Shape and form take priority. Elements may be positioned for comparison or contrast, isolated by extreme close-up, reduced to silhouettes by severe underexposure, and so on. Design is more important than recognizable representation.

This Year

My names James Stephens. I'm 17 and this is my blog for my A2 photography work.

Ok so this year we have to choose are project and do pictures in loads of different styles relating to it. I've chosen to do landscapes because i think that some really impressive shots can be taken in almost any area.

Some of the artist/styles i will be using are:
Charlie Waite, because he has taken some really impressive almost surreal pictures all over the world.

Mike Mcfarlane becaues he has taken some great photos in areas that normally may have been overlooked but using high apeture shots he has created some fantastic photos.

Joe Cornish because he can and does some really dramatic work that has a great atmosphere about it that many photographers lack.

Ansel Adams because his photos of the Yosemite Valley have been inspiring photographers for years and will carry on for many years to come.