Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation 

      In my project, I aimed to document the changes from autumn to winter by photographing the evolving landscape. To do this I wanted to photograph in different weathers to demonstrate the shifting of time, this resulted in the pictures becoming bleaker as the shoots went on. This was also reflected in the colour of the images, the first few shoots displayed bright autumnal tones whereas the last few have been mostly grey, dark colours. I believe this showed what I wanted to document in a visual way. Overall I think shoot 1, shoot 5 and shoot 8 were the best ones I done as they show the vital points of change. They range from a full, green forest to a dull, grey and rainy day to lastly snow at the height of winter. These are all very different and range in terms of colour and saturation from lush greens to grey and the bleak white of snow.

      In terms of my portfolio I tried to make it tell a story from the autumn to the winter. All the while showing the degradation of nature, the dying of plants and the draining of colour from the landscapes. I believe that this signifies the stages of life we go through, from vibrant youth to growing old later on in life.  Therefore when selecting the images for my portfolio I wanted to choose ones that told the story, similar aspects of the landscape such as trees recurrent throughout to show how they change. Important moments that show the coming of winter such as muddy puddles signifying rain, the snow signifying the extremely cold temperature of winter. All of which fit together to show the documentation of the transition into winter.

      My project works cohesively as it tells a story, it doesn’t just show landscapes. I tried to incorporate objects that link to what I was demonstrating in order to add substance to my work and break up the landscape photos. From start to finish you can see how my project has progressed, my idea developed throughout but sticks to the original theme.

      There are two main photographers that my work has been influenced by, one being Ansel Adams and the other being James Ravilious. Ansel Adams is one of the most famous landscape photographers, influencing many people to take up the style. His work is effortlessly composed with every part of the image in focus. He worked in black and white therefore concentrated a lot on his tonal range with a system called the ‘Zone System’. This is something I have been concentrating on throughout my work, ensuring that I have a good exposure so that there are shadows and highlights perfectly balanced. This has helped massively in Photoshop as it gives me a lot more scope to change around. 

Secondly, there was James Ravilious who photographed landscape but also included people within the photos. I discovered his work around halfway though my project therefore the second half incorporates a few people into the landscape as I thought this told more of a story than just the landscape itself. The people in the photos were all very natural, there was no posing or setting up a shot they were all taken in the decisive moment, this is the style I followed in my work.

      Overall throughout this project my technique and style has evolved. To enhance the quality of my photographs I started to shoot in raw using NEF files, this allowed me to use different tools before opening my image in the main part of Photoshop. This has really made a difference as it has allowed me to gain a better exposure than I would do with a normal file. Secondly, I now use a tripod to take my images; this has then allowed me to explore the right settings more. For example to get optimum sharpness and depth of field I have been using an ISO 100/200 in most cases, an aperture of F22 and the shutter speed that matches accordingly. These settings have meant that my shutter speed has been multiple seconds; therefore the tripod has come in useful for eliminating the chance of blur.

If I had more time available to me I would like to explore some physical experiments to demonstrate the change of autumn to winter. I think this would be very interesting, as it would incorporate quite a lot of emphasis on colour and texture.