Courtney Doyle BA Hons Photography Blog Level 5: The Art of Landscape

The Image as Space: The Art of Landscape

Photographs appear and are considered on a number of levels. The physical level of a photograph means that it is an object, which is usually in print form, rather than just on a computer screen. The print holds an image that the photographer has taken, which is argued to be an insight into the place and objects of where the photograph was taken, like a window. The physical level is where we devise what is in the image and what it appears to mean. This level also means the plain flatness of the print, contributed from the flatness of the camera. Colour photographs and prints also as another level of descriptive information to the image because it is how we as people see things and they have an effect on what we believe, such as when the photograph was taken could appear to look like something totally different. Photographs can be kept as a record and saved for years to come, be bought and produced as a visual work of art, showing how the audience ties different approaches to how an individual see's the context. Another level of images is the Depictive level. This level means what is in the images analytical context. The photographer decide's where we look and what to select when taking an image, what equipment is used and what settings to produce what the image will end up like. Our senses can not be used on a photograph because it is a deception of space, the only attributes which can define a photograph is the flatness, timing, focus and framing. These characteristics define how the image looks. Framing separates what you want in the images, making it different because you decide what is in it as the edges show what in, rather than what is not. There is two types of framing, that are passive and active. Passive framing means that there is not a lot going on and focus's on fewer objects rather than a lot. Active is when there is a lot of things have been including and more is happening and objects have been clearly cut out. Our attention span of different objects also effects how we see images and how their meaning appear's, depending on what we find most interesting and what stick's out, which makes photography good at provoking feeling's.

Landscape photography has an intelligent effect on people because it is not questioned on what is real in the image. One of the most famous landscape photographers and it still well know today, Ansel Adams ones said "Not everybody trusts painting's but people believe photographs". This shows how easy it is to have an effect on people's emotions and how photographs can be so significant not only in landscape photography, but in all genre's. But landscape photography presents how beautiful the natural world is, such as in Ansel Adam's work in the Yosemite National park. There are many other landscape photographers in the world that also present the power of nature, such as John Blackmore who tend's to spend a lot of time in the area's he takes photographs and is more about the idea's that come with that place. William Christenberry works with landscapes that surrounded him in his childhood, making it appear to be about memories. Photography with the same concept as Christenberry's help us learn about cultures and where the images are taken. William Eggleston also can be seen as using this idea in his work, because it put's across feelings that are quite sentimental and what seem like familiar places.

Overall the use of Landscape photography can be an escape from reality for its audience because f its beauty and power. We as individuals are drawn to this type of photography because of feelings it can trigger inside of us and how we can deeply analyse images of places that make us want to know more about or even visit.