ASSIGNMENT 6: TRANSITIONS

Brief

'Produce a series of images that responds to the idea of 'transitions' within the landscape."

Initial Thoughts

Initially on reading this brief, I thought of the seasonal changes that the natural landscape undergoes and the dramatic effects that these seasons create. As we have seen with the preconception of a landscape, I have a preconceived idea of the seasons on the landscape. Spring says new beginnings, buds on trees, introducing colour into the landscape. Summer sees luscious greenery, warm sunshine and blooming fauna. Autumn shows through beautiful reds, oranges and browns in the landscape with low sunshine. While winter brings grey skies and white colouring in ice and snow. I thought that these changes in the landscape would produce a dramatic change through the months. I had seen a photograph on a social media site that I was partially influenced by, which I have since tried to locate unsuccessfully. The image was a panoramic landscape image split vertically into 365 sections. The photographer had taken the same photo, the same positioning, view, focal length, etc, every day for a year. The photographer then used a section from each photograph, in sequence and collected them together to create the exact scene, from the 365 images, showing the daily transitions over the 12 months and creating a very dramatic image.

While trying to find this image, I also came across an article by Christopher Jobson at thisiscollossal.com about another photographer, Fong Qi Wey, who has created a series of images called 'Time is a dimension'. Wey apparently uses the same technique to create this series of images. Jobson explains Wey's technique as " shooting landscapes from a stationary position over a 2-4 hour period and then digitally slicing the images to create a layered collage. He shoots at sunset or sunrise to obtain a wide variation in light and then carefully cuts each image to reveal incremental timeframes".

Inspired by these images and this technique, I wanted to create something similar for my final image of this assignment.

Location

I wasn't sure first off where to shoot this project. I needed somewhere with easy access, so not too far away and also nowhere that had any access restrictions. It was important to show somewhere that would show differences between the photographs and not something that would look exactly the same in each image with no transitional differences at all. My initial thoughts were of natural landscapes, where the natural elements would show through under seasonal changes, or more of an urban landscape where more man made changes would occur. As much of my work through this course has been more rural as opposed to urban, I chose the natural landscape option.
The exact location had to be somewhere that I could create the exact image but that still included more natural, yet general picturesque, landscape and my thoughts always brought me back to the site of Ogmore Castle. Not actually to include the castle itself but it's location provides beautiful scenery as well as the added bonus of the river Ogmore being included. Having a high tidal range, the results can be quite dramatic in photographing the river itself and here we have a very rural setting that is open to the elements. I therefore chose this as my setting.

Undertaking the project

When I started off on my first shoot to undertake this project, I really wasn't sure what this project would produce. My first idea was to photograph once a week, as I thought that every day would be impossible for me. I found a good spot to get a good scene and located and easy place to position my tripod, so that I could find the same spot at every visit. To go once a week would mean going on my day off at 10am, a suitable time for me to be able to get there. However, these ideas started changing as time went on. The first few weeks went by as planned, with the shoots at the same time on the same day. But then there would be times that I couldn't make the same day of the week and ended up going on the weekend or other times I would be later going and not at the 10am I had been doing. I started to rethink after I looked back though my images and saw no huge difference over the space of a few weeks.
The stepping stones that cross the river would be a focal point to show the tidal range as they are completely submerged at high tide. But in the first few images, there didn't seem to be much difference in that either. The only notable difference was the weather. I then decided to take monthly photos where possible, and to alter the times of the day that I went. So as I had started to go for 10am for the start of the project, I could then visit an hour later every time so that not only would the image have a yearly transition, it would also have a daily transition as well, from morning to evening. From then on I continued shooting with the new idea in mind for the remainder of the course length.
Technically, I kept the focal length at 18mm and used my tripod to keep the framing the same, but there was an occasion where I took the wrong lens and had to shoot at 24mm and then my tripod broke. From then on I had to hold the camera and attempt to frame the shot the same. I managed, not only to keep to the monthly shooting but also managed to go at a later time each day to attempt to produce a more dramatic image.

Creating the final image

This task proved a lot more difficult than I originally imagined. The different focal length for the one image, mixed in with the slight differences in framing after the tripod broke, meant that the images didn't fit as neatly together as one would've hoped. I spent a lot of time altering and correcting the images in photoshop elements and layering the images to make sure they all aligned correctly. I then used a gradient filter on each separate layer to be able to blend each section of layer into the next so that there wasn't a harsh line through it like there had been in Wey's images. I wanted to blend them together. After the layers were aligned and flattened, there were only slight bits that needed retouching. The trees were slightly out of alignment so the odd bit of cloning worked well to level them. Also, the metal fencing around the castle in the foreground of the image was at a slight angle in two of the sections, so again I used the clone stamp to fill in the gaps. Finally, I just had to brighten the image and reduce the shadows slightly.

Final Image

Ogmore Transitions AlCallow Aug 2013-Aug 2014

Evaluation


In regards to the image, I am very happy with how it came out.  This assignment was challenging. I had such a specific vision of how the image would turn out that I think it made me disappointed when it didn't live upto my expectations, however, I am really pleased with my final image.  I managed to show a good portion of each section for the viewer to get a good view at each part. I was worried that by doing a more frequent shoot it would mean the amount of sections would increase and the size of the sections would be too small. With the fact that I had to correct some of the images to fit them together, I had to crop the actual frame size down to make more of a panoramic view but I do think it looks more effective this way and it emphasises the sections more.
With regards to the transitions, I am slightly disappointed. This was the first year for a few that we didn't have snow and I was armed and ready to grab my camera and head down to the location when it did. But no luck in that sense. There was hardly any frost either and so the overall transitional content didn't have as much of a dramatic difference as I would've liked. Even the beautiful autumn colours didn't show through as mush as I would've liked. I did actually manage to get some tidal changes though with the stepping stones becoming clearer through the image but overall, I am quite disappointed that the transitional changes weren't as different through the seasons as expected.
I have enjoyed this assignment and although it's along process, it can produce great final images. As a first attempt, I am happy that the image had fulfilled the brief of showing the changes over a period of time. The fact that the image wasn't as dramatic as it possible could've been wasn't only due to the weather and seasons but may also have been a wrongly chosen location by myself.

Transitions has been evident through all aspects of this course in some way. In relation to my previous assignments, it shows through in Assignments 2 and also 5. In assignment 2, the transition comes through the journey itself and the transition of travelling from one space to another. The outcome of the images would differ in undertaking a journey but another means of transport or even to another destination. In assignment 5, the transition is time, much like this assignment. But on a longer scale. The images will differ and show through the architecture. The longer the time period, the more wear on those monuments. The difference was evident slightly in the work of Gilpin and in my own image, especially at Neath Abbey. In Gipin's image, the double chimney stack were still mostly in tact but now, in my own image, the outsides of the stacks are visible, but the rest has fallen away. 
Transitional pieces like this are interesting and it is definitely a process that I would like to attempt again in the future. Maybe next time, I will have more dramatic seasons to work with to make the image I originally envisioned. 


This image can be viewed via my Dropbox folder here

References:

JOBSON, CHRISTOPHER. (2014) The passage of time captured in layered landscape collages by Fong Qi Wey [online] available at: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/08/time-is-a-dimension/ [accessed 4th November 2014]

WEY, FONG QI. (2014) Time is a dimension [online] available at: http://fqwimages.com/time-dimension/ [accessed 4th November 2014]