"Some initial questions" answers
1. "What is your relationship to the natural world?" I've always loved the natural world, like plants and animals. I used to be really fascinated with marine biology and coral, and I like checking in on plants my neighbours are growing to see how much progress has been made as they grow. As well as beautiful, nature can be freaky and confusing - it can be basically anything, and that's what I find so cool about it.
2. "Where would you go to see a landscape?" I'd probably go somewhere beautiful and busy, like a forest or a balcony overlooking London. London especially, because you're likely to capture things in the air as well, like cranes and planes and skyscrapers.
3. "Why do people take pictures of nature?" Probably because nature is always changing and made up of billions and billions of tiny moments you can sometimes only catch in one moment. Like otters holding hands so they don't float apart on the water, or penguins gifting each other pebbles.
4. "Can photographs help us to change the way we see things?" Definitely, especially if it's your first impression of something. You can warp photography's angles, lighting, and colours to make things appear entirely different than how they really are, and people naturally judge things from their appearance, even if it's subconscious.
2. "Where would you go to see a landscape?" I'd probably go somewhere beautiful and busy, like a forest or a balcony overlooking London. London especially, because you're likely to capture things in the air as well, like cranes and planes and skyscrapers.
3. "Why do people take pictures of nature?" Probably because nature is always changing and made up of billions and billions of tiny moments you can sometimes only catch in one moment. Like otters holding hands so they don't float apart on the water, or penguins gifting each other pebbles.
4. "Can photographs help us to change the way we see things?" Definitely, especially if it's your first impression of something. You can warp photography's angles, lighting, and colours to make things appear entirely different than how they really are, and people naturally judge things from their appearance, even if it's subconscious.
"The Idea of Landscape" answers for "The Valley of the Shadow of Death"
1. "What has the artist/photographer chosen to include in the composition. What might be excluded?" The artist has arranged their camera so the ground is about halfway through the landscape. There aren't any distracting or eye-catching factors like peoples, plants or buildings.
2. "What relationship might the artist/photographer have to the landscape depicted?" The photographer may have a distant relationship with the land and wanted to capture the lonely, barren feeling,
3. "What is the vantage point (high, low, straight on etc.) from which we are looking at the landscape?" The camera is about eye-level and horizontal.
4. "How distant or close are we to the landscape?" The photographer seems to be actually standing in the landscape, quite close-up but not too much, giving the feeling of being inside the picture.
5. "What ideas, feelings or moods are communicated by the choices the artist/photographer has made about the way the landscape is represented?" It conveys an empty, lonely, almost unsettling feeling, especially conveyed with the muted colours.
2. "What relationship might the artist/photographer have to the landscape depicted?" The photographer may have a distant relationship with the land and wanted to capture the lonely, barren feeling,
3. "What is the vantage point (high, low, straight on etc.) from which we are looking at the landscape?" The camera is about eye-level and horizontal.
4. "How distant or close are we to the landscape?" The photographer seems to be actually standing in the landscape, quite close-up but not too much, giving the feeling of being inside the picture.
5. "What ideas, feelings or moods are communicated by the choices the artist/photographer has made about the way the landscape is represented?" It conveys an empty, lonely, almost unsettling feeling, especially conveyed with the muted colours.
Left: "The Valley of the Shadow of Death"
Right: Untitled (cowboy), 1989
My landscape photographs
Constructed Landscapes
Left: The Great Wave, 1857
Right: From the Constructed Landscapes 2 series
My answers for both "The Great Wave" and "From the Constructed Landscapes 2"
1. "Both could be described as landscape pictures. What kinds of landscapes do they describe?" Landscapes of the sea and sky.
2. "What similarities do you notice about these two pictures?" The horizontal close-up viewpoint and the sky.
3. "What differences do you notice?" "The Great Wave" is taken in a more traditional style without colour, and "From The Constructed Landscapes" has a sort of "burnt around the edges" effect.
4. "What words/phrases best describe each of these landscapes?" Sea, horizontal, traditional, collages.
5. "In which of these landscapes would you prefer to live?" "The Great Wave" because it seems calmer and more down to earth.
2. "What similarities do you notice about these two pictures?" The horizontal close-up viewpoint and the sky.
3. "What differences do you notice?" "The Great Wave" is taken in a more traditional style without colour, and "From The Constructed Landscapes" has a sort of "burnt around the edges" effect.
4. "What words/phrases best describe each of these landscapes?" Sea, horizontal, traditional, collages.
5. "In which of these landscapes would you prefer to live?" "The Great Wave" because it seems calmer and more down to earth.
Minimal Landscapes, what remains:
Left: from the series Sabras, by Geraldo de Barros
Right: Gardening with you 2020, by Liz Nielsen
My answers for "from the series Sabras"
1. "Describe what you can see and what might be missing from both of these landscape photographs." It is a cut-out tree against a black background. It's missing any detailed back/foreground.
2. "Describe what you find surprising and/or unusual about each other them." I find the cut-out unusual as there's usually not a huge space missing from photographs.
3. "Explain how you feel when you look at each of these pictures?" The dark grayscale and the large black space, along with the literal cut-out pieces, makes me feel loss, or emptiness, like I'm missing something that should be there.
4. "Explain how you would attempt to make pictures like these." I could photograph something, edit it into black and white and raise the contrast with photoshop, then print it out, cut out the most attention-grabbing feature and put it against some black cardboard.
5. "Suggest why you think each artist has removed parts of the landscapes." To create a certain feeling, to break the norms and warp their original photograph into a new perspective and theme.
6. "Explain which of the photos you prefer and why." I prefer the left because it has more going on and makes me feel more, and I always like artwork that makes me feel something.
2. "Describe what you find surprising and/or unusual about each other them." I find the cut-out unusual as there's usually not a huge space missing from photographs.
3. "Explain how you feel when you look at each of these pictures?" The dark grayscale and the large black space, along with the literal cut-out pieces, makes me feel loss, or emptiness, like I'm missing something that should be there.
4. "Explain how you would attempt to make pictures like these." I could photograph something, edit it into black and white and raise the contrast with photoshop, then print it out, cut out the most attention-grabbing feature and put it against some black cardboard.
5. "Suggest why you think each artist has removed parts of the landscapes." To create a certain feeling, to break the norms and warp their original photograph into a new perspective and theme.
6. "Explain which of the photos you prefer and why." I prefer the left because it has more going on and makes me feel more, and I always like artwork that makes me feel something.
My answers for "Gardening with you, 2020"
1. "Describe what you can see and what might be missing from both of these landscape photographs." The outlines of what seems to be a tree or bush against a white background. It's missing the rest of the details.
2. "Describe what you find surprising and/or unusual about each of them." I find it strange that it has no detail of any real sort.
3. "Explain how you feel when you look at each of these pictures?" Cool, clean, empty. Like everything is gone from my head.
4. "Explain how you would attempt to make pictures like these." I could photograph something, and then use adobe illustrator to trace the most recognisable details and put them against a white background.
5. "Suggest why you think each artist has removed parts of the landscapes." To create a certain feeling, to break the norms and warp their original photograph into a new perspective and theme.
6. "Explain which of the photos you prefer and why." I prefer the left because it has more going on and makes me feel more, and I always like artwork that makes me feel something.
2. "Describe what you find surprising and/or unusual about each of them." I find it strange that it has no detail of any real sort.
3. "Explain how you feel when you look at each of these pictures?" Cool, clean, empty. Like everything is gone from my head.
4. "Explain how you would attempt to make pictures like these." I could photograph something, and then use adobe illustrator to trace the most recognisable details and put them against a white background.
5. "Suggest why you think each artist has removed parts of the landscapes." To create a certain feeling, to break the norms and warp their original photograph into a new perspective and theme.
6. "Explain which of the photos you prefer and why." I prefer the left because it has more going on and makes me feel more, and I always like artwork that makes me feel something.
My collages
Here are my collages - the left, I created by cutting out parts of images and putting them together, then cutting my complete image into strips and putting every other strip upside-down.
For the right, I drew one of my photographs