The paragraph below in bold is a few sentences taken from my dissertation. I am looking back and joining to my studio practice in areas where there are strong links.
English Critic, John Berger in ‘Ways of Seeing’ talks about how we see something before we speak or describe it. How every image embodies a way of seeing, it is a way of recreating or reproducing a sight. Strong relation can be made to how Fulton selects a point of the landscape, Berger talks about how we look at a photograph and consciously know that we are looking at a selected image within the surroundings. “Every time we look at a photograph, we are aware however slightly, of the photographer selecting that sight from an infinity of other possible sights”. (Berger, J, 1972, p.10)
This was a snip of my dissertation which I have found very interesting whilst walking and taking my photographs. I take the photographs from the attraction that I feel. As soon as I see something that interests me I stop and capture that particular moment. Working from the photograph then is recalling the memory and the feelings that I felt at a specific time.
In relation to John Berger’s statement regarding that the viewer is slightly aware of the other sights around that could have been depicted I have also started to think about this.
•Why do I take a picture facing a certain way?
•Why from a particular angle with the camera?
•Why do I zoom in on some parts of the landscape, and step back to capture more in others?
•Does the viewer view the images the same when they were not looking through the lens?
The lighting in my previous park images was dull and gloomy due to the weather. Recently I have taken another walk in the same area on a brighter day and captured some more images which are brighter and make the landscape comer across differently. This is because the light highlights certain areas and makes parts stand out which before all seemed to merge together in a gloomy glare. The shadows and reflections that the sun creates are also giving a much more exciting appearance.
The pictures on the right are some of the pictures that I took on the brighter day. The walk was repeated and I wanted to see some of the parts of the landscape I was attracted to with the different light. I wanted to see if I was attracted to different areas when the weather was nicer.
Did the weather have an alternate effect on my physical relationship with the landscape?
Berger, J. (1972) Ways of seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation; Penguin Books.
