Evaluation
I have enjoyed shooting my photographs for the Major Study project over the last several months, even though I have had periods when I have felt my work isn't progressing quickly enough, but I believe that now, looking back to my initial research and recce stages, I believe that I have improved massively with this star photography technique since I started out in March.
As for my final photographs, I am happy with how they have come out, particularly after some work with Photoshop, the images really do stand out and give an accurate idea of what i saw when I went out in the evenings, which each time I went out, was something completely different, even though the same stars were always above me, the sky always looked different than it did the previous time I went out. As a result shooting the images was made incredibly hard as it was difficult to understand what settings were required in the camera to get the best photograph.
Most of the photoshoots went according to plan but as I wrote about in the blog entries, some didn't. Variables arose such as the intrusion of other people with torches, the appearance of Quad bikes and also the lens steaming issue I had back along. All these problems had to be overcome to make sure I produced some excellent images for the final submission, although it was difficult to go on after you realise that around 30 minutes of photographs have been ruined by a single quad bike going through your composition, quite irritating indeed!
But even with all the issues I had, considering the unreliable time frame I had to produce these images (waiting for clear evenings to shoot the photographs), I have produced some amazing images which show the full expanse of the sky above us, which many people just don't pay any attention to.
As for a contextual background and reason why I have shot the photographs, I would like to say that it has been a type of photography that i have waited a long time to do. As i already have an interest in astronomy and the night sky, I thought it would be appropriate for me to go out there and try to get a photograph which captures the mystery that is our night sky. I say 'mystery' because we pretty much know nothing, in reality, about what is up there and many people aren;t even aware of some of the name of the different constellations which are above us, so my reasoning for shooting my photographs by way of star trails rather than jsut the stars themselves, is to present the mystery of space and continue that idea the space is mysterious and largely unexplored by humans on earth.
As I described early on in my blog, my family have had an interest in Astronomy which has probably led me to have the interest I have today, so I want to present my work to my family and also as a new type of fine art photography which can be displayed in a gallery format for many people to see.
While I have worked on this project, I have looked at several different artists which have helped give contextual reasoning to my photographs, such as the work by Van Gogh, as I discussed in the blog entry, he uses a similar composition technique to me, even in a totally different artistic creation of a painting. So it is true that artworks can link, even when they are created by different means.
Bibliography
This section contains all of the links and books which I used throughout my project for research and illustration purposes:
Web sources
Chrystel Lebas
www.chrystellebas.com
Various Photographers
www.danheller.com
Illustrational Images
http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/stars/polaris.html
www.wikimedia.com
http://graemesdesigns.com/lsdartmoor.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon
http://www.artquotes.net/masters/salvador-dali/the-persistence-of-memory.jpg
Arnoud Quanjer
www.wildlifephotography.nl
Mapping
Microsoft Live Search
Multimap
Google Maps
Linda Connor
www.afterimagegallery.com
Books
Surrealism: Vilo Publishing 2001
The Photo Book: Phaidon 1997
The complete guide to Night and Low Light Photography: D&C 1999
The complete guide to Night and Low Light Digital Photography: Micheal Freeman - Ilex 2008
Lighting the Landscape: Berkhauser 2004
Saturday 6 June 2009
Friday 5 June 2009
My final Chosen Images
These are the final images I have chosen for my project which will be displayed in the Summer Show later in the year.
The plan I initially have is to display my image of Hound Tor at about an A2 size, while the other images will be at about A3 to supplement the main image.
I chose this particular arrangement as I want the image of Hound Tor to be the most prominent, as it depicts the amazing star trails in all their glory and it is important to have at least one image at a reletively large size which will give a good impression of how amazing this photographic technique is.
Job done!
Images shot by Matt Thorne 2009
The plan I initially have is to display my image of Hound Tor at about an A2 size, while the other images will be at about A3 to supplement the main image.
I chose this particular arrangement as I want the image of Hound Tor to be the most prominent, as it depicts the amazing star trails in all their glory and it is important to have at least one image at a reletively large size which will give a good impression of how amazing this photographic technique is.
Job done!
Images shot by Matt Thorne 2009
Wednesday 3 June 2009
Contextualising my Project
I have decided to write this entry which describes a little about why I chose to study stars and the night sky for my Major Study Project.
Freedom
Whenever I see stars above, I feel a certain degree of freedom from the life in which I live, I can look up and ignore any happenings on Earth, any problems, any issues or any deadlines or anything which is happening in my life can all be ignored for a moment while I look into the sky to see the most amazing natural spectacle, which many people ignore day to day, throughout their lives.
I find myself to be a photographer who likes to have a cartain plan on what I want to produce and also be fully aware of the type of photograph I should come away with, although I am not afraid to photograph any changing subjects as I also have an interest in journalism photography, I just find it more relaxing and rewarding to take photographs which require lots of subtle techniqal skill, but result in a very mysterious and detailed image at the end.
When I am out shooting these photographs, I experience a type of freedom from daily life which is only matched by a holiday away from my hometown, so I do feel very relaxed and do enjoy to shoot these photographs, so that everyone can see the amazing sky which is visible when many people have gone to sleep.
Meaning
My photographs have a deep meaning attached to them which presents how we live in our world today. We still appreciate landmarks, important sculptures and natural monuments across the UK, but often if you live nearby, the importance of the site is lost, so with my photography, I want to bring back the importance of various monuments and structures byt presenting them in a much more mysterious way, by using the night sky and blanket of darkness to bring mystery to the locations.
Anyway each of my photographs has it's own meaning which should leap from the picture itself, but as a set of images I have tried to intertwine a strong presence of how the objects I have photographed, all have a connection with the sky above by essentially pointing up at it; the rock formations, the building and the pylon all point towards the large expanse of the sky and stars above, essentially bringing the expanse into perspective with our real world object. As each star is as big as our sun, but when put alongside a stone structure or man made object, they all look so small and insignificant, so the composition also plays with the appearance of perspective and scale.
Similarities
My work relates closely to that of Christel Lebas, who I looked at a little earlier in my project. Her work is very much about being at one with her environment and features different parts of Europe in a surreal lighting setup, normally at night. She uses long shutter speeds to produce light trails as I have done in my work.
From Lebas' work I can see that she has an eye for a surreal image and has the ability to shoot a mysterious photograph with little in terms of foreground interest, but still the photograph captures enough of the 'mystery' which is in the situation at the time. This is how I have presented my images, with a fixed but small amount of foreground interest, but the viewer is led almost directly into the vortex that is the star trails above the foreground, which intially grabs the viewer's attention.
Freedom
Whenever I see stars above, I feel a certain degree of freedom from the life in which I live, I can look up and ignore any happenings on Earth, any problems, any issues or any deadlines or anything which is happening in my life can all be ignored for a moment while I look into the sky to see the most amazing natural spectacle, which many people ignore day to day, throughout their lives.
I find myself to be a photographer who likes to have a cartain plan on what I want to produce and also be fully aware of the type of photograph I should come away with, although I am not afraid to photograph any changing subjects as I also have an interest in journalism photography, I just find it more relaxing and rewarding to take photographs which require lots of subtle techniqal skill, but result in a very mysterious and detailed image at the end.
When I am out shooting these photographs, I experience a type of freedom from daily life which is only matched by a holiday away from my hometown, so I do feel very relaxed and do enjoy to shoot these photographs, so that everyone can see the amazing sky which is visible when many people have gone to sleep.
Meaning
My photographs have a deep meaning attached to them which presents how we live in our world today. We still appreciate landmarks, important sculptures and natural monuments across the UK, but often if you live nearby, the importance of the site is lost, so with my photography, I want to bring back the importance of various monuments and structures byt presenting them in a much more mysterious way, by using the night sky and blanket of darkness to bring mystery to the locations.
Anyway each of my photographs has it's own meaning which should leap from the picture itself, but as a set of images I have tried to intertwine a strong presence of how the objects I have photographed, all have a connection with the sky above by essentially pointing up at it; the rock formations, the building and the pylon all point towards the large expanse of the sky and stars above, essentially bringing the expanse into perspective with our real world object. As each star is as big as our sun, but when put alongside a stone structure or man made object, they all look so small and insignificant, so the composition also plays with the appearance of perspective and scale.
Similarities
My work relates closely to that of Christel Lebas, who I looked at a little earlier in my project. Her work is very much about being at one with her environment and features different parts of Europe in a surreal lighting setup, normally at night. She uses long shutter speeds to produce light trails as I have done in my work.
From Lebas' work I can see that she has an eye for a surreal image and has the ability to shoot a mysterious photograph with little in terms of foreground interest, but still the photograph captures enough of the 'mystery' which is in the situation at the time. This is how I have presented my images, with a fixed but small amount of foreground interest, but the viewer is led almost directly into the vortex that is the star trails above the foreground, which intially grabs the viewer's attention.
Monday 1 June 2009
Scarring Our Landscape - Pylons 29th May 2009
To add to my project, I have also decided to study how man has impacted on the environment by building objects which serve a purpose all across the landscape. Buildings such as Wheal Betsy, which I looked at a while back in my studies have previously served a purpose for the company which had the mine built, but it has now fallen into dis repair and has become a relic of Devon's mining past.
As for the pylon, this object serves a very important purpose for people in the modern world, it effortlessly transfers thousands of volts of electricity instantly across the country providing everyone with power for their televisins, irons, kettles and ovens, allowing daily chores to be carried out quickly and easily.
These pylons stand tall over our natural landscape here in devon and act as a manmade skeleton which scars the beautiful landscapes all around the area, although some may argue that their use is more important than their effects, with which I agree.
The inclusion of pylons into this project may not initially seem relevant to the rest of the project but when you look at what I have studied so far, the pylon is the obvious next step for me to study. As I have moved through from many ancient stone formations on Dartmoor, I have now made my way through newer constructions such as the mine shaft and now, the pylon at Bovey Tracey which completes my journey.
Anyway My first expedition took me to just outside Bovey Tracey on the Hennock Road where the large pylons run through the Teign Valley, I found an opening where I could see a decent viewpoint for Polaris.
Photo Factfile
Shutter Speed: 5 minutes
Aperture: f4.0
ISO: 1600
As always, I shot a sample photograph on the normal settings above to see what the conditions were like and understand what sort of settings I needed for the longer string of photographs, which would then be used for the image stacking technique.
I need to reshoot this photo and get another sample:
Photo Factfile
Shutter: 4 Minutes
Aperture: f5.0
ISO: 1600
The second photo is a better exposure so I went ahead with 3 minute exposures set at f 5.0 and an ISO setting of 100.
After shooting around 20 photographs I finished the trip and headed home.
Here is the result of a commbination of 7 good quality images which I chose from the batch:
Here is the image after I changed the exposure slightly to bring out more details:
Why Leave the light pollution?
I have left it this way as I want to show how human intervention has changed the appearance of our natural landscapes, whereas in the other images I wanted to reduce the effects of light pollution to create a more natural environment, this image contrasts the others in a bigger way. By keeping the light pollution in the background, it also provides a backlight for the pylon which makes it appear more 3d in the image rather than being lost into the dark sky above.
As for the pylon, this object serves a very important purpose for people in the modern world, it effortlessly transfers thousands of volts of electricity instantly across the country providing everyone with power for their televisins, irons, kettles and ovens, allowing daily chores to be carried out quickly and easily.
These pylons stand tall over our natural landscape here in devon and act as a manmade skeleton which scars the beautiful landscapes all around the area, although some may argue that their use is more important than their effects, with which I agree.
The inclusion of pylons into this project may not initially seem relevant to the rest of the project but when you look at what I have studied so far, the pylon is the obvious next step for me to study. As I have moved through from many ancient stone formations on Dartmoor, I have now made my way through newer constructions such as the mine shaft and now, the pylon at Bovey Tracey which completes my journey.
Anyway My first expedition took me to just outside Bovey Tracey on the Hennock Road where the large pylons run through the Teign Valley, I found an opening where I could see a decent viewpoint for Polaris.
Photo FactfileShutter Speed: 5 minutes
Aperture: f4.0
ISO: 1600
As always, I shot a sample photograph on the normal settings above to see what the conditions were like and understand what sort of settings I needed for the longer string of photographs, which would then be used for the image stacking technique.
I need to reshoot this photo and get another sample:
Photo FactfileShutter: 4 Minutes
Aperture: f5.0
ISO: 1600
The second photo is a better exposure so I went ahead with 3 minute exposures set at f 5.0 and an ISO setting of 100.
After shooting around 20 photographs I finished the trip and headed home.
Here is the result of a commbination of 7 good quality images which I chose from the batch:
Here is the image after I changed the exposure slightly to bring out more details:
Why Leave the light pollution?
I have left it this way as I want to show how human intervention has changed the appearance of our natural landscapes, whereas in the other images I wanted to reduce the effects of light pollution to create a more natural environment, this image contrasts the others in a bigger way. By keeping the light pollution in the background, it also provides a backlight for the pylon which makes it appear more 3d in the image rather than being lost into the dark sky above.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
