Assignment 5 - Photography and the Environment

Assignment 5 - Photography and the Environment

"When you go out there you don't get away from it all, you get back to it all. You come home to what's important. You come home to yourself." - Peter Dombrovskis

Photography has the ability to initiate change in many situations. It brings visual imagery to the public of situations that are otherwise not seen by the public. This is a very useful tool as imagery is so powerful. In the case Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis there photographs initiated a great change that resulted in saving the Franklin River.

This is just one example in which environmental activism has caused significant change but there are still many issues at hand all over the world and there are many photographers passionately working to rectify the wrong doing on our environment. This assignment has got me thinking more on another assignment we are doing this year which is the UN Photography competition dealing with deforestation and the heroes working to save it. The imagery captured particularly by the above mentioned photographers has given me some inspiration to tackle this assignment from a new perspective.

And now back to the task at hand!! Tim Bonyhady in his article ‘When a Picture Packs a Punch’ describes how he believes some photographs are actually having a negative effect. He talks about the images captured by bush walkers and how they do not have the powerful imagery that has been captured by photographers such as Dombrovskis who is a master in landscape photography. The general public gets bombarded by imagery every day from the news to the posters on the sidewalk. To really make a difference images need to have strong context, composition and to initiate change they must be truly powerful photographs with passion for the issue mixed in them.

Bonyhady speaks strongly of the campaign to safeguard the Styx in which the imagery is not strong nor taken by photographers with the skills to really capture the enormity of the project. Bonyhandy states that “the campaign has forgotten the lessons of the Franklin: that it takes the best photographers to produce images that galvanise the public.”

He raises an excellent point in this. That it does take images that can capture the scenery in a way that depicts a viewpoint in order to portray a clear message to the public. I consider myself to be a very active person and have spent a lot of time with my family bushwalking and camping and would hate to see the damage that can be done to the environment in these areas.

People like to see photographs that are aesthetically pleasing so often when they are not, we do not take as much notice of them unless they are powerful and captivating in another way. When there is a part of nature that needs saving that is not pretty then the photographer needs to be smart and capture an angle that is strong in portraying the viewpoint needed to initiate that reaction.

I have decided to include some images from my favourite exhibition that I have been to in Sydney for the last four years since we went on a school excursion in year 11 to see it. It is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Each year I am astonished by the beautiful imagery that is on display many of which how influential context behind the image. There is even a specific award given called the Gerald Durell Award for Endangered Wildlife.

Gerald Durell is a conservationist and TV presenter and someone who has helped in prevention of loss of endangered species.




The Look of a Jaguar
Tom Schandy
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2454&category=45&group=3

I find this to be such a captivating photograph with the Jaguar having such an intense yet calm gaze. To capture a photograph like this would take so much time, patience, knowledge and passion.




The Lone Fir
Thomas Haney
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2459&category=52&group=3

This image was taken by Thomas Haney while he was documenting the logging of old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. A single Fir tree stands alone amidst the devastation left in the cleared land. Such a powerful image is particularly present in the gloomy and misty atmosphere with the tyre tracks giving an unforgiving attitude to the environment. The reflection in the puddle just adds the demonstrate what used to be and Haney has captured this scene beautifully.

It is photographs like these that have the ability to cause change to such important issues. Campaigns need to include powerful and influential imagery if they wish to have the desired effect on the targeted viewers.

Assignment 4 - Narrative & Photography

Assignment 4 - Narrative & Photography – Tamara Weatherburn

Choose two photographers that you find interesting from the examples she cites. Find some images (2-3) from these photographers that are different to the ones shown by Cotton. Then, write a couple of paragraphs comparing & contrasting your two chosen photographers in terms of their strategies and approach to narrative/storytelling. Include the images in your blog post with the appropriate links and references to the images.

After reading through Chapter 2 of 'The Photograph as Contemporary Art" by Charlotte Cotton and searching through the many amazing photographers she mentioned I still can't seem to stray from Gregory Crewdson. Not only are his images just visually so powerful but I really enjoyed watching his thought process and hearing how he creates his photographs in the Gregory Crewdson documentary. Charlotte Cotton refers to influences in paintings and this element of developing images from life to create a fantasy.

Photographs are such a powerful medium and as the saying goes 'a photograph tells a thousand words' but the photographs Crewdson captures seem to tell a million yet at the same time often leave you extremely curious. Crewdson is fascinated by what's beneath the surface and in many of his images it almost appears as if there is something missing from the scene. Sometimes his subjects are gazing at something out of reach, of their is an absurd moment captured that you wonder how it came to be and what could of happened just before the scene was captured.

Crewdson seems a bit of a perfectionist and this is something that has really paid of in his photographs. Every detail is thought out carefully and critically. All of the decisions he makes such as camera angle, time of day, lights down to the small details especially notable in his inside photographs. Another aspect he captures excellently is emotions and expressions he often uses actors which allows him to have subjects that can portray the particular mood of the shoot but as seen in the documentary he also gives perfect directions to his subjects. He helps to explain and create the required mood for them to visually display and in turn gets the most appropriate and powerful gaze and emotions from the subject.

Crewdson’s images are not only aesthetically beautiful but he creates images that have a lot of depth. His images tell a story of something that has just passed, or is about to. His highly elaborate set ups are developed with a large team all working together to allow Crewdson’s visions to come to life. The complexity of his vision is what brings this team together. These set ups are often so extravagant that they can take days to set up.

The story behind the photograph often has a deep undercurrent of psychological themes and aspects of wonder and danger. He has an interest in the dark side and the uncanniness of a particular moment. His beautiful use of cinematic lighting helps to develop this sense and he often uses light to display the narrative.

This is a photograph that displays Crewdson’s fascination of what exists beneath the surface. There are themes of anxiety and a lonely experience of some event that has just passed that is commonly present in his work. This photograph allows the viewer to almost venture into another world and for every answer the viewer may gain from this scene another question seems to arise. His photographs have a cinematic feel to them which feel as though a movie is playing right before you.



Gregory Crewdson Image 1
http://www.skateboard.com.au/forum/forumgallery.cfm?thread=51943&forum=20



Gregory Crewdson 2
http://www.paranaiv.no/inspiration/2008/12/gregory-crewdson



Gregory Crewdson 3
http://www.paranaiv.no/inspiration/2008/12/gregory-crewdson



Gregory Crewdson 4
http://www.paranaiv.no/inspiration/2008/12/gregory-crewdson

I think I could probably spend hours looking through his photographs and talking about his work but I believe it is time to move onto another photographer whom also has strong use of story and narrative in their work but displays it in a very different way to Crewdson.

Wendy McMurdo is another photographer who has grabbed my attention. Her photographs are very unique with strong use of lighting in unusual circumstances. She photographs mostly children and looks at themes revolving around early exploration of self. She has a strong interest in the relationship and differences between film and the digital age.

Wendy McMurdo doesn’t create scenes that are as elaborate as Crewdson’s but they are full of symbolism and creativity with an original perspective on children and the way they view themselves and the world. I find that there is often a sort of sadness or longing present in her photographs. There is an element of the unknown and how children will have to one day be apart of the adult world.

She has developed many series of photographs that all work together and with the use of digital manipulation she has created interesting photographs that evoke questions and emotions. With the use of digital manipulation as well as reflections she explores themes of a double or a different self.

This photograph has been a standout image for me. She has captured an image that displays a highly intense emotion within the child showing a longing for something maybe a bit deeper than just the lack of an instrument. This image is from a series called ‘Young Musicians’ in which McMurdo photographed children playing there instruments. She has removed the violin, using digital manipulation. This is a main aspect that changes this image from just a view of a child playing an instrument to a photograph with a different depth, meaning and strangeness. The use of shadow and light assist to create a dark scene different to which the way children are often displayed in the light.




Wendy McMurdo Image 1
http://www.wendymcmurdo.com/



Wendy McMurdo Image 2
http://www.wendymcmurdo.com/




Wendy McMurdo Image 3
http://todayfavorite.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html