Architecture Asssignment

Downtown SF

Neiman Marcus SF

All Souls Church

All Souls Church

All Souls Church

Landscape Photographer Biographies

Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984)

Born in San Francisco, California, Ansel Adams is best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park, characterized by clarity and depth. Adams primarily used large-format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images. His photographic career started when his father gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie box camera. In 1919 he joined the Sierra Club and spent the first of four summers in Yosemite Valley, as "keeper" of the club's LeConte Memorial Lodge. He then met Albert M. Bender, a San Francisco insurance magnate and patron of arts and artists, who kicked off his career. Bender set in motion the preparation and publication of Adams' first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras. Adams's star rose rapidly in the early 1930s and spent a considerable amount of time in New York during the 1930s and 1940s. Some of his famous work include Moon and Half Dome and Tetons and the Snake River. Adams also was an activist for the cause of wilderness and the environment. Over the years he attended many meetings and wrote thousands of letters in support of his conservation philosophy to newspaper editors, Sierra Club and Wilderness Society colleagues, government bureaucrats, and politicians. His photographs, though, are what made the most impact for the cause of conservation. In September 1983, Adams was confined to his bed for four weeks after leg surgery to remove a cancer and later died on April 22, 1984, in Monterey, California at the age of 82 from a heart attack. He left behind his wife, two children, (Michael, born August 1933, and Anne, born 1935) and five grandchildren.

Moon and Half Dome

The Tetons and the Snake River

This picture caught me eye instantly because of the great use of value. The black and white in this shot is very effective because there is a long range from the truest of whites to the darkest black. The sky demonstrates great texture because of the value by the light coming in. The framing also adds to the power of the shot because the sky takes up about 1/3 of the photograph which is just a right amount and the position of the camera is elevated showing both the ground and sky. The emphasis is on the mountain which is centered on the photograph and has the stream leading up to it, bring the eye to it. The image also has great depth of field which most of the image in focus.
Carr Clifton
Carr Clifton was born in the northern Sierra Nevada near Taylorville, California. He began photographing in 1977 because of his neighbor and mentor Philip Hyde. Later, he went to Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, Colorado and received a degree in Commercial Photography. He has spent thirty years exploring the endangered, wild landscapes with his camera and is widely known for beautiful landscapes of remote regions most people don't ever get to see in person. He goes to the most remote and least populated places in the world and captures it for the rest of us. He is not only a photographer but also an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

I absolutely loved this photo which was unusually because I tend to go more for black and white photography but Carr Clifton knows just how to use color to showcase the beauty of his landscapes. Color in this photograph is part of what makes this image so powerful. The different colors in the sky and their reflection on the water look almost unnatural and stunning. The photograph was taken just at the right time of day with just the right amount of light shining through. Shape also plays a role in the photograph as the glaciers are clearly sculpted and defined as are the mountains in the distance which cut across the sky. The glaciers also show a great deal of unity as they are all scattered along the water.

Chapter 9: Landscapes

• the subject: place-located in real world with ecological devastation and human artifacts, or portraying an idealized version of what we want nature to be -pure and magnificent
• can include people and their stories but most focus on the natural world without people
• tends to be more formal than other genres

Landmarks in Landscape Photography

• Carleton E. Watkins
• wanted to capture the grandeur of the American West
• photographed in Yosemite Valley
• Ansel Adams
• also inspired by Yosemite Valley
• tried to capture the experience of being in the wildness

Timothy O'Sullivan (U.S., 1840-1882)

• learned from Mattew Brady
• photographed the Civil War
• photographs straightforward documents of extraordinary landscapes
• principle photographer for Gardner's book, Photographic Sketchbook of the War
• died of tuberculosis at 42

Photographing the Landscape

Thinking Artistically

• composition one of the most important aspects
• explore all the variations when taking shots
• value especially important in black and white
• good composition is to achieve a balance unity and variety

Composition, Balance, and the Rule of Thirds

• composition= where to place objects within the frame or space of image
• balance=how the objects relate to each other in size, value, color, and location
• 3 kinds of balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial

Camera Settings

• maximum depth of field
• stop down a lens as far as it will go: f/16, f/32
• small f-stops = longer shutter speed

Light

• just after sunrise and just before sunset
• easier to deal with direct lighting for distant subjects that for closer ones
• closer views= overcast days that reduce the highlights and shadows

Film

• use 100 ISO film with 35mm cameras to capture all the detail
• fall foliage and spring flowers well suited for color landscapes

Lenses

• use wide-angle lenses that capture more of the scene
• concentrating on details or areas in the distance= use telephoto lens
• macro lenses-useful for getting close-up images; good for creating abstract images

Filters

• yellow filter-bring out clouds
• deep black skies with stark white clouds-red filter
• ultimate black skies and maximum contrast- pair with red and polarizer filter

The Grand Landscape

• is the "big view" for pictures of the great outdoors
• always include a large expanse of the scene
• wide-angle lenses will give wider view that is needed
• horizon in photograph should be placed either 1/3 from the top or bottom of image
• sky always figures prominently
• make clouds stand out- use polarizing, yellow, orange, or red filter

Landscape Details and Cloe-ups

• direct sun in wooded areas like park or garden create difficult lighting conditions
• shoot in cloudy or overcast conditions that even out the light, eliminating harsh shadows
• lighter values- opening up f-stop or slowing down the shutter speed for a longer exposure
• mostly darker values-close down the f-stop or choose a faster shutter speed for shorter exposure

Abstracted Elements in the Landscape

• images composed of lines, shapes, values and textures
• get really close to subject and photograph only small part of it
• telephoto lens for distant subjects or macro lens for closer subjects
• using macro lens on small subjects=need as much depth of field as possible

Notes (p.179-197) Architecture and Urban Lanscapes

• photographs are indirect portraits
• can be formal or informal

LOOKING BACK

• ear;y film were slow
• buildings are stationary so photographs had a lot of detail, varied tones and value
• Charles Negre- 1840s, used photography to create studies for his paintings; intended to use photographs as "sketches" for his paintings

PHOTOGRAPHING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Thinking Artistically

• structure's setting is an important consideration when composing an architectural image
• building's visual relationship to things around it can also reveal a great deal about its "personality"
• patter-usually part of the image; help to enrich and strengthen photo

Camera Settings

• have as much image sharpness as possible
• smaller f-stop gives a greater depth of field; f/11-f/22
• slower film for most detail

Value and Texture:

• low-key- mostly darker values

• high-key mostly lighter values

Film

• architectural photographs can be divided into two types, commercial and artistic
• commercial- for magazines and brochures and most always shot in color
• artistic- black and white

Lighting

• if shot with regular film with incandescent bulbs= orange, correct by using deep blue 80A filter
• for fluorescent lighting, use FL-D filter

Lenses

• wide-angle lenses are very useful
• wider the lens, the more distortion you get

Camera Support

• slow, fine-grained film and lots of depth of field
• use tripod
• monopods, single-legged camera supports for walking around, but not for interior photographs

Filters

• using yellow or orange filters will separate the clouds form the sky and the clouds stand out; will also bring out the texture in the stone and concrete

• polarizer can darken a blue sky ti increase the separation between clouds and sky and will reduce or eliminate reflections in shinny, nonmetallic surfaces, like glass windows and doors

THE BIG VIEW

• shooting with wide-angle lens is convenient, but does have drawbacks
• perspective distortion- the closer you are to building, the more distortion you'll get
• get as far as possible and use the least wide-angle lens possible
• shooting straight from the front will make building look flat and 2D

Detail Shot

• features the individual architectural elements of a building's interior or exterior
• telephoto lens, is that you can stand at street level and zero in on an intriguing element

Interior Views

• need wide-angle lenses to photograph entire rooms for the big view
• interiors look better when nearly everything in the picture is in focus, requires great depth of field
• closer to the subject= m,ore depth of field so higher f-stop

Berenice Abbot (U.S. 1898-1991)

• 1918 at 20 moved to Paris to become sculptor
• worked as a photographer's assistant to Man Ray
• 1925 worked on her own as portrait photographer
• work characterized by exquisite lighting, interesting poses and precise, formal compositions
• became friends with Eugene Atget
• Changing New York 1939- comprehensive portrait of the city

American Photography Notes

• Daily News- oldest daily newspaper
• Daily News sold because of its photographs
• Evening Graphics-most extreme tabloid
• photographs staged and then pasted faces
• 1920s, photography for ads more realistic than drawings
• photography makes objects advertised more desirable
• photography added new dimension to fame
• people could connect more to the famous
• sport stars became superstars because of photography
• Babe Ruth made 50 thousand in baseball and millions in advertisements
• photography made Hollywood celebrities' identity