Commission Unit Formative Assessment

Task 1 The Landscape Task 2 The City

The landscape
Initial idea
Nature can be compared with a person. Sometimes people who have been in our lives and have left, leave a mark in our hearts. There are lots of natural processes which are doing the same to our environment. They leave marks on landscape which I want to present in this project.
Marks on the landscape
dry river/lake areas sinkholes landslides flooded fields burnt fields forest after storm

Research: climate changes

Climate change and rising sea levels are likely to have a severe impact on the UK coast by 2080. The frequency of intense storm events is expected to increase and, along with the rise in sea level, to lead to more coastal flooding. One of these five main vulnerable coastal areas is the Thames Estuary which I interested in. London is sinking at an estimated 12 inches (30cm) every 100 years.

Idea developing
Instead of trying to capture the natural marks on the environment now I want to concentrate on the idea that humans emotions, moods and feelings can be reflected on the landscape. In nowadays hectic world are lots of challenges and difficulties by which people are aggravated. I will try to find symbolic object in the landscape which can reflect the nowadays humans life.

Jem Southam

Characteristically this artist returns to the same place again and again in order to capture the changes over seasons and even years. I have found this coming back idea really interesting and probably useful for my own pictures.

Dan Holdsworth
I was impressed by authors' idea about the pools in the landscape which become like cutouts in the Earth. He overexposed the pools and the sky in order to seek no reflections on pools. I found out how indirectly my idea can be presented.

Jitka Hazlova
Her pictures are one of the best example of human's senses reflections on the landscape. It reflects the photographer's senses and experiences caused by historical circumstances.

Research: Ori Gersht "The forest"

That is the powerful and haunting film which was shot deep in the forests around Kosov in Ukraine which was witness to atrocities against to the local Jewish population among which was artist's family during the Second World War. The camera's gaze looks through the sundapped forest and the trees start mysteriously fall down. After that the silence of the forest returns and the viewer can not be sure if he was a witness to the things that just happened. This film is related with my own project idea because it reflects the personal life experience and his feelings.

Possible object the tree

I want to capture one tree as a symbol of nowadays human who should manage to face all the life difficulties. Possible way - to photograph it during different time and weather conditions which can present different life features: happiness and success, sadness, failure or sadness.

Research: meaning of the tree

Trees in mythology offer us a living reminder of past events. Pagans used the trees in order to make representations of gods that they worshiped. The old tree as symbol of elder people. Trees are natures gladiators, who despite great imbalance in odds, fight to keep a foothold in the most extreme conditions.

The tree has three parts in terms of symbolism roots, trunk and branches
The roots which provides all the needed necessary nutrition also can be interpreted as a symbolic connection between person and his surroundings, people and places by which he can be affected. The branches - as a symbol of person's needs to get knowledge, experience and historical heritage from life going. The trunk is the strongest part of the tree which can be understood as person's inner strength which is needed by person in order to overcome all life difficulties.

Research: different painters representation of the tree

 The tree was composed in the middle of the composition as the main and only object in the picture. It was left in focus while background was left out of focus in order to concentrate viewers sight to the main object. The photographs were taken during different times and weather conditions due to symbolise the different features of human life. All pictures were made from the same camera position in order to have the same compositions.

Final prints
Happiness the sunny midday Sadness the foggy afternoon Failure the early cloudy morning Disaster the windy evening Metaphorical idea: four different lifes features but in all of it subject stands straight, he can not just run away because it is his life experience.

The city. Initial idea

We usually see the city full of hectic activity. Nowadays people think that they don't have time just to sit, relax and enjoy their surroundings. I want to create some cityscapes which should present the other beautiful face of the city. In my city project I want to transform the view of causal cityscape.

Hectic society
Today people have less time even to prepare normal food as well as they haven't time just to sit next to the dinner table. People are exhausted by life in a rush they are looking for beautiful places out of the cityscape. People forget to find a minute and look to the beautiful places around them. I want to stop the hectic city life and show its beauty.

Possible ways to create an abstract city view:

The city view through the wet window Reflections on buildings Reflections on the water sources Lights movements in the city life

For my shootings I suppose I should use the night time when all the lights are on and I can capture it.

Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet

In these particular paintings I like the black background which helps to accentuate the colorful lines. In my view it is relevant for me to photograph my city during the dark time when all the lights will be accentuated.

Naoya Hatakeyama
In my view both technical choices: to capture city life through the wet window and on the rivers reflection, create abstract forms of casual buildings, signs and lights and present the cityscape which is not seen by hectic people.

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Color is overflowed by another color, all the recognizable forms are changed and transformed. I learnt how painter managed to hide the subject in the color and tones pattern.

Contact sheets
During my time in London I tested three different ways to capture the cityscape. Nevertheless, as I have mentioned I wanted to stop the hectic city life due to this fact I chose to use the pictures in which I captured the lights movements.

Final prints
I used long exposure in order to capture the lights movements. The wide aperture was used because I wanted to capture the details by which cityscape can be recognized. The camera was posed in the angle by which people usually see the city in order to prove that they dont see beautiful casual view of it.

Critical analyse
Both my environment projects are based on hectic society problems. In my view I have quite clear understanding about it because it is experienced by me too. With my projects I tried to present the idea how nowadays hectic society can effect personalities and their habits. In my view my visual choices represent my ideas quite well, nevertheless I think it can be improved.

 I suppose, I managed to fulfilled my project requirements, however in my view I could do that better. I need to reflect my visual choices in order to improve my ideas representation in the final images. The most challenge part of the unit was looking for relevant references. Due to this fact in my view I have not enough references which can based my ideas. For my Summative Assessment I want to improve my references.