OCA

Beginning this course we are asked to draw/sketch our response to a landscape. It doesn’t have to a real landscape just our response to the word Landscape. This is my response.

Looking at my drawing I see certain things, some of the things have been learnt during my early life. My landscape could be from a chocolate box, pictorial and cliched.

Here is a list of what I see when looking at my sketch.

1. Represents where I live (vaguely).

2. Follows rule of thirds.

3. Diagonal lines move your eye around the scene.

4. River gives depth taking the eye into the picture.

5. Building shows the landscape was used.

6. People give scale and show the land was worked.

The most interesting thing to me is I have drawn where I live. Did I choose the landscape or did it choose me?

The picture is drawn in the accepted norm of Landscape format which has the longest edge at the top. How would landscape look in square frames, how could portrait format be used in landscape?

The terrain shown is a river in a rural valley. Large areas of green and blue. People were added to highlight that the land is being utilised.

The picture is divided into zones by the lines of the land and the river. I have used the rule of thirds automatically. Already I see some rules embedded within my psychi. How can I break these rules to get better pictures?

The mood of the picture is calm, tranquil and is non threatening. Flood the river and the scene changes completely. It is the british countryside we all think of when we see car adverts I wonder if it exists?

Over the years I have looked at paintings, drawings, photographs in galleries, magazines, books and on people’s walls. For several years I subscribed to the magazine “Outdoor photography”. In fact it was an advert in this magazine that started my adventure with OCA.

Throughout my life I have always loved big places, wilderness. This shows in my sketch. This keenness to show the landscape has led me to this course. Now I am here I want to develop new ways to see and think about the landscape to help me depict it in very different and more dynamic ways.

Whilst this Excercise felt frivolous it has been extremely useful to start me thinking, looking and questioning the things I have learned over the years.

The first question comes straight from this exercise……..Why did I sketch what I did?

I look forward to this course I have been fortunate enough to travel to Antarctica and have seen some astounding things whilst there. Looking through the course workbook I see many new things where I know I will learn new things and develop new skills.

I have always loved and been inspired by the work in Antarctica of Herbert Pontin and Frank Hurley. Pontin went on Scotts expedition and took many photographs working in Landscape, Scientific and even early advertising photography. Frank Hurley did much the same but was with Shackleton when Endurance sank and recorded the disaster and the rescue.

Hurley had taken over a thousand exposures on glass plates during the Shackleton voyage. I cant imagine his disappointment when he had to sit with Shackleton and break 900 plates sat on the ice. They are still out there somewhere.

I have been inspired by the work of Ansel Adams and Sebastiao Selgado, Both present detailed work with stunning clarity. I have tried to do the same I look forward to trying again with new skills gained in the coming months.

So I thought I would show 12 of my landscapes from the South to show where I start from. I must say they have been captured over the last five years and all before I started the landscape 2 course. I hope you enjoy seeing them.