Reflections

My initial concept was to create a series of fantastical, beautiful images with a gritty street twist. As a photographer I have always been interested in other artists who use their camera to paint their inner vision and the post-production techniques needed to effectively execute this style of photography. I had previously explored this growing genre of conceptual fine art photography in a similar style as shown below. However my principle motivation for this project was to move away from the inevitable mysterious isolated location and stereotypical maiden to produce my own take with the introduction of an urban backdrop.

My intention was to use the streets of Brighton as the foundation to a heavily processed final image incorporating my theme of superstition, myth, magic and legend.

 

 

Following my second shoot in Queens Park it became clear to me as I analysed and evaluated photographs taken so far, that I preferred the images to be undisturbed and decided to break away from such a heavily manipulated approach. I decided that a fisheye lens was my ideal choice, as it gave me freedom and flexibility to distort my image or not at the point of capture, with the added advantage of minimum fuss and equipment whilst out shooting. The decision to change direction and move forward with untouched landscape photographs made a natural divergence away from myth and legend and a wider exploration into superstitions connected to landscapes, the countryside and country living. My research into superstition and folklore took me to The Novium Museum talk “Superstition in West Sussex”. I investigated the background and circumstances of the Cottingley fairies, which has long been a source of personal interest, which reaffirmed my revised intention to incorporate realistic fantasy in to my landscape photographs.

Superstition and folklore covers such a wide spectrum that it was necessary to choose a device to forge a link and continuity between images. Magpies feature in many superstitions, are well known to the majority of people as well as being striking and attractive birds. I experimented with mirroring the image producing the following photograph, which holds strong references to the uterine Fig Tree discussed in my dissertation.

 

 

 

When assessing and critiquing this pair of images I concluded that whilst the motif was successful with the landscape it was significantly less so with the seascape as the magpies were simply too incongruous. Peer feedback regarding the colours, curves and tranquil atmosphere shared between the images encouraged me to pursue capturing and producing those qualities in future photographs.

Continued research endorsed my view that superstition linked with location was the key to developing a more aesthetically sound collection. Local history in Sussex is rich with superstition and folklore linked to notable landmarks such as Devil’s Dyke and the Devil’s Humps, which was a strong initial source of inspiration for the project.Furthermore the impetus to make Sussex the overall location for a landscape project came from the fact that this has been my home for three years during my photographic journey. I wanted to celebrate the final stages of this by producing a collection of photographs that captured the essence of this part of the country.

The project was developing and taking me on a natural progression from using post production techniques to inject a connection with superstition into the photograph to exploring and developing the connection with superstition through location. I sought a more authentic painterly appearance through an exploration of camera techniques and decisions with minimal post-production tweaking only. To achieve optimum exposure in my photographs I use the bracketing technique, taking many exposures of the same shot. These can then be layered together using post-production software for a seamless exposure. In my work I prefer to use the underexposed shots as they record all of the detail available and with minimal tweaking they can produce dramatic shadows. Sunrise and sunset enhance the potential of these shadows as well as offering a golden quality of light that infuses the image with spectacular warm, glowing natural colours. This authentic range and tone is specific to these times of day, known as the golden hour, and cannot be achieved with the use of a simple filter. Photographs taken at this time hold an atmospheric aura that eludes those taken at other times throughout the day and give the image an inherent magical quality.

I researched current landscape photographers and was particularly drawn to and inspired by UK photographer Adam Burton. He uses the camera’s abilities, together with favouring dawn/dusk time slots, to take advantage of the natural light at its very best to capture authentic and natural photographs free from digital manipulation.

Following the path of researching location rooted in superstition brought me to an awareness of nature and our connections to our planet. Wide, open locations such as Devil’s Dyke, Ditchling Beacon and Beachy Head where man-made structures are sparse are ideal for emphasising and communicating our link with the earth. Reproduction, the circle of life and Mother Nature all bring forward circular connotations and as such form an intrinsic part of my project. The rounded, curved photographs produced by the fisheye lens enhance and highlight the earth’s curvature, connecting and reminding the viewer that we to are a part of the earth. We all know that our planet is a sphere, but perhaps are not constantly conscious of this fact as it is in towns and cities

Notes

• I wanted to combine fantasy with reality – our reality in todays world
• Superstition brought me to the locations that gave me the realisation that we are part of a planet
• In the olden days it was believed the world was flat
• It was once believed that the world was flat and superstition and folklore strongly influenced the way in which people lived day to day.
• Superstition has brought me to where I am in this project.
• Local history in Sussex is rich with superstition and folklore linked to notable landmarks such as Devil’s Dyke and the Devil’s Humps, which was a strong initial source of inspiration for the project.
• The impetus to make Sussex the overall location for a landscape project came from the fact that this has been my home for three years during my photographic journey and I wanted to celebrate the final stages of this by producing a collection of photographs that captured the essence of this part of the country
• progression from using post production techniques to inject a connection with superstition into the photograph to exploring and developing the connection with superstition through location.
• exploration of camera techniques and decisions with minimal post-production tweaking only
• Adam Burton
• Alex Koloskov
• Triptych – Francis Bacon
• Wes Anderson
• time of day – sunlight
• what works what doesnt work with the curvature accent from the fisheye lens – the canyon vs sea horizon. Foreground and background what makes it work/doesn’t work
• It was once believed that the world was flat and superstition and folklore strongly influenced the way in which people lived day to day.
• Superstition has brought me to where I am in this project.
• Adam Burton
• Alex Koloskov
• Triptych – Francis Bacon
• Wes Anderson
• time of day – sunlight
• what works what doesnt work with the curvature accent from the fisheye lens – the canyon vs sea horizon. Foreground and background what makes it work/doesn’t work
• Using the camera as opposed to Photoshop to distort the images
• This is in order to reveal natural truths
• This circles back to my title and statement Real Fantasy, Imagined Reality.
• “I’ve always been intrigued and excited by how photography skills and techniques can influence the truth of a photograph”
• My photographs are taking away the truth of what the naked eye sees and adding what it can’t
• It’s softening the dichotomy between truth and fantasy.

Jacques Lacan: The Three Orders

When you see a rainbow, you’re seeing something completely subjective. You see it at a certain distance as if stitched on to the landscape. It isn’t there. It is a subjective phenomenon. But nonetheless, thanks to a camera, you record it entirely objectively. So, what is it?
Lacan, Jacques and John Forrester (Translator). Seminar I. 1953-54.

Jacques Marie Emile Lacan was a French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has been referred to as the most controversial psychoanalyst since Freud. He influenced many leading French intellectuals through his yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981 and his ideas had significant impact on critical, literal and film theory, french philosophy, clinical psychoanalysis, feminist theory and sociology.

The three orders discussed by Lacan are the imaginary, the symbolic and the real. The imaginary is the field of images, imagination and deception. The symbolic is a linguistic dimension and the unconscious. Lacan argues that the real is not synonymous with reality, that it is opposed to the imaginary and also exterior to the symbolic. In Seminar XI he defines the real as  ‘ “the impossible” because it is impossible to imagine, impossible to integrate into the Symbolic, and impossible to attain. It is this resistance to symbolization that lends the Real its traumatic quality. Finally, the Real is the object of anxiety, insofar as it lacks any possible mediation and is “the essential object which is not an object any longer, but this something faced with which all words cease and all categories fail, the object of anxiety par excellence.” ‘

Lacan, J., The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book II: The Ego in Freud’s Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis 1954–1955 (W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), ISBN 978-0-393-30709-2

Triptych – Francis Bacon

A triptych is a set of three associated artistic, literary, or musical works intended to be appreciated together. Francis Bacon is known for his works presented in a triptych. His work from the 1940’s in this style with smaller pieces and graduated over time to large examples in the early 1960’s, perhaps his most acclaimed is the Black Triptychs painted after the death of his lover George Dyer in 1971. Bacon’s interest in photography, particularly the sequential work of Eadweard Muybridge, was a source of inspiration for his fascination with the triptych as a way to show multiple perspectives of the subject. He also drew inspiration from Michelangelo’s The Three Labours of Hercules.

 

This format is ideal for the project to provide a sense of progression, continuity and time. The three images echo the numerous examples of three that exist: birth, life, death; past, present, future. The series of three focuses attention to nature and the connections to it.