Assignment 1: Combined Image: Hidden Sherwood
I live in the heart of the Ancient Sherwood Forest, once a Royal Hunting Forest. An area well known for its tourist spots and the history of Robin Hood. Or the beginning of the fictional character of Robin Hood, developed by Sir Walter Scott and Washington Irving in the 1800’s which brought the tourists flooding in on foot, by horse and later by car. A National cycle trail runs through the heart of the area, crossed by several bridleways, making it easy to explore by bike too. I visited the local Tourist Information Office for some brochures of Sherwood Forest and places of interest. I wanted glossy pictures similar to a “Welcome to the Lake District” publication which I could cut up and intersect with other photographs in the style of Gerhard Richter or Joe Hamilton (using photographs instead of paint to experiment with the idea of restricted view.) Another idea I considered was Anastasia Samoylova’s landscapes containing different views of the forest; however, on reflection a series on Sherwood Forest is quite limiting for this. The local tourist office offered me a few leaflets which contained very small inserts and were covered in text (a restricted view already). They explained they would be permanently closed at the end of the month. Sherwood Forest’s is closed already, Nottingham doesn’t really feature Sherwood Forest and Newark offered me a glossy brochure which looked promising but contained adverts. My next idea was to collect postcards of the area. I managed 6 of the same place! I experimented with taking some postcard style images to join in a similar style to Bill Vazan’s Carnet de Voyages, until I realised that this probably went a bit off topic!
Sherwood Forest sat in the middle of several coal mines which left scars in the landscape and modern sculptures link art to the industrial past. This provides a link between parts 1 and 2.
Part 1: References
Stephen Gill uses items found at the location such as dirt which he places inside his camera or picks up discarded cans of liquid, the contents of which he adds to the dark room process so that the end result is a photograph with the essence of the place. I particularly liked his flowers but the landscape was bare at the time of starting this assignment. I looked elsewhere for inspiration and came across David Hockney, Thomas Kellner and John Stezaker. David Hockney uses different planes to show multiple viewpoints, a wide space and depict time and motion within the same image, using the same principles as cubism. The Tate explains that “Each [of Hockney’s] individual polaroid is taken separately and experienced simultaneously […] exemplifies Hockney’s interest in depicting a 3-dimensional world through 2-dimensional art forms.” (Tate, 2017) I particularly liked the portrait of his mother in which he photographed her movement so the image becomes the perspective of the photographer rather than the viewer’s perspective. Thomas Kellner plans his images of tourist spots and architecture and takes several shots, deconstructing the image and recompiling it as if on a contact sheet, encouraging the viewer to reconstruct it.
Part 1: Methods
Using a group of 5 trees which almost met in the middle when looking up to the top, I photographed with a 50mm lens looking up the trunk to give the viewer an unfamiliar perspective. On joining the trees together, the white bit in the middle is where it didn’t quite meet. Should this bother me? At the beginning of my OCA journey it would have done. Some of Hockney’s work shows white gaps.
Another Hockney inspired photo montage was the wheel outside Thoresby Colliery. I decided to use this one instead of a commemorative one because of its colour and lack of signage. For this I used 3 viewpoints and a 50mm lens. I was surprised at how neatly it fitted together. I was expecting the spokes to be misaligned showing more movement. This lacks depth which is one of the principles of cubism, but experimenting with my position and camera angle would give an image in the style of Thomas Kellner.
This hand sculpture is known to locals in Clipstone and is on the site of the old colliery. Commissioned by Sustrans, local myth suggests it is to celebrate the mining heritage, although nothing is documented. This uses 4 different viewpoints taken with a 50mm lens joined by cutting the image to create a 3d effect.
The 3-foot-high miner sculpture celebrates Nottinghamshire’s mining heritage. He reminded me of The Oil Patch Warrior in Rufford Country Park. Having taken images of the oil patch warrior earlier in this assignment, I experimented with juxtaposing him onto the photograph of the miner. I enlarged some images in Photoshop and pieced them together before having the images printed. John Stezaker cuts his images diagonally. To keep the tools depicting the trades of the men, I trimmed vertically. Stezaker juxtaposes another image or landscape ontop of the original image so that the images become seen.
The Oil Patch Worker (Jay O’Meila, 1991) commemorates secret World War 2 Oil Wells drilled by Americans as part of the war effort. I was drawn to the curves of the hat and textures of the face. By photographing from different viewpoints and enlarging the image with the hat, I could make the other sides of the face fit underneath the hat brim. Again, I experimented with the enlargement process in photoshop before having the work printed.
I cut, trimmed and glued the montages onto a backing sheet before cutting around the image and photographing on a white mount board. Not satisfied with the white balance, I cut and pasted them onto a digital sheet of A4 paper in Photoshop. My preferred method would be to work in Photoshop to make a montage. I didn’t get the same results working with actual images; there was no blending unless I cut another piece of the discarded image away. Mistakes were final unless they could be glued back but then it is seen. I cut some images and interlocked them before deciding which pieces could definitely be trimmed. Having read Jerry Uelsmann’s process of making photo montages and using this as a guide I consider it a very creative process which enhanced my way of seeing.
Part 2: Motivations
One possible idea for my self-directed project in Landscape was inspired by Patricia Townsend's series on "Scylla", and using her idea of transitional spaces to explore fantasy and illusion, I began to look at placing Vikings within the landscape and using the context that the past is watching you (memories) exploring Sherwood Forest looking for traces of humanity. (Hampshire, 2016) This work was only an idea and did not make up the assignment. I have further developed this work to concentrate on the physical attributes of the surface of the trees and rocks and furthered my understanding of gaze, so this became a new piece of work.
The Ancient trees of Sherwood have a personality of their own which differs depending on lighting, weather and time of day. And memories are reawakened by different shapes which are visible in the trees. Or is this my delusion? Perhaps this is the emotional relationship with the land which Townsend refers to?
Part 2: References
“The emotional relationship with the land can affect us and the stories we construct by projecting our beliefs, expectations and desires onto our surroundings” (Townsend n.d). Townsend uses the “photographic montage to embed the human figure into the landscape, using elements of the landscape to allude to the workings of the mind.” (Wells and Standing, 2005:31). Townsend explains that the concept of surface could be seen as a two-dimensional membrane which separates conscious from unconscious, represented by the physical surface of the photograph (Wells and Standing, 2005:41). Scylla (Greek Mythology) was a sea nymph or six-headed sea monster and Charybdis (sea monster) lived opposite her on a strait off Sicily, causing a danger for ships as they had to pass close to one side or the other (This is where the saying “between a rock and a hard place” originates.) Townsend shows Scylla as a woman transformed into stone and Charybdis as a whirlpool. In the past, Greek Myths were re-enacted to demonstrate psychological conflicts and emotions, and transformation between the land and the body creates tension. Nietzche recognised that the later Greeks built their cultural identity through art and literature to progress their society and transform their old values to become a great society through stories of metamorphosis (transformation). To link this back to Sherwood Forest, I looked at Alfred Noyes poem “The song of Sherwood” could work with the photographs.
Part 2: Methods
In the winter months, trees show their texture without foliage distracting the form. I wandered from tree to tree in old Sherwood Forest, looking carefully at the texture imagining shapes. All these trees are alive and monitored closely by rangers (additional research on Sherwood Forest can be found on the research page.). These trees stood sentinel and bore witness to over 300 years of history and cultural changes within the forest, affecting the lives of ordinary folk. I photographed ordinary folk to blend into the tree images in an attempt to create surreal photographs that people could explore. Outlaws are associated with Sherwood Forest and Friar Tuck “appeared” to a group of walkers recently which made the national papers.
Using Photoshop, I used layers, transparency and gradients to blend the people into the forest. Monochrome enabled the textures of the tree trunks and branches to show, whilst allowing the bodies to blend in with the image. I experimented with colour and felt the effect did not work as well.
Sherwood Forest is accessible to most people and care has been taken to prevent vehicles and motorbikes from using tracks meant for walkers and cyclists. Sabotage of trails is common in the summer ensuring people are on their guard. The trees offer protection from the cold and the wind so I have illustrated this rock with a face with an enigmatic gaze, not really looking at the viewer so the viewer may be aware of it but able to carry on walking through.
This tree naturally has praying hands in the trunk
Major Oak propped up by people as well as poles
Evaluation
At the beginning of the assignment I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I couldn’t make it work and so came up with another idea which I worked with. I find the images a bit disjointed. It perhaps doesn’t quite fit the brief but it allowed me to experiment with finding, enlarging and cutting images. I found the process was out of my comfort zone. As I worked through the course reading material, I explored Stezaker’s Third Person Archive in which Stezaker explores liminal space; the viewer becoming the third person. I had actually taken two photographs recently which relate to this idea. If I was to redo part 1, I would use the tourist book and my tourist images and juxtapose these small people into the images like Stezaker’s third person archive.
I felt more comfortable with part 2. The image I couldn’t quite make work was the last image of the major oak.
References
Hampshire, N (2016) http://nicolahampshirelandscape.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Preparation%3A%20Assignment%205 last accessed 27/3/17
Slade School of Fine Art (n.d.) Patricia Townsend: The creative process - an investigation through practice. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/research/mphil-phd/patricia-townend last accessed 27/3/17
Tate Britain (2017) David Hockney: 80 years in 8 works. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/david-hockney/80-years last accessed 28/3/17
Wells, L and Standing, S. (2005) Surface – Land / Water and the Visual Arts. University of Plymouth Press. Cheltenham. Orchard Press.
Bibliography
Focal Press, Taylor and Francis Group online (2011) Exploring Colour Photography. Thomas Kellner. Available at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/textbooks/9780240813356/thomas_kellner.html last accessed 28/3/17
Gaunt, A. (2012) Sherwood Forest Archaeology Project: The Major Oak: Icons of Sherwood Forest. Available at: http://sherwoodforesthistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-major-oak.html last accessed 4/3/17
Hakim, M. (1995) Ciel Variable: Bill Vazan: Carnet de voyages. Available at: http://cielvariable.ca/bill-vazan-mona-hakim-carnet-de-voyages/# last accessed 4/3/17
Marples, P. (n.d.) Trees of Sherwood Forest and area: Revealed in old postcards. Available at: http://www.ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page/trees_of_sherwood_forest last accessed 4/3/17
Nolan, S. (2013) “Friar Trunk: Walkers discover “monk shaped figure “in 1000-year-old Sherwood Forest believed to be connected with Robin Hood.” In: The Daily Mail [online]. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2263476/Friar-Trunk-Walkers-discover-monk-shaped-figure-1-000-year-old-oak-tree-Sherwood-Forest-believed-connected-Robin-Hood.html last accessed 28/3/17
Saatchi Gallery (2017) John Stezaker. Available at: http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/john_stezaker.htm last accessed 28/3/17
Smith, R. (2016) The Materiality of images. Doncaster [Cast, 21 May 2016]. http://nicolahampshirelandscape.blogspot.co.uk/p/exhibitions.html last accessed 4/3/17
Tate (n.d.) Tate: Cubism. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/cubism last accessed 4/3/17
The Sherwood Forest Trust. (n.d.) Amazing named trees. Available at: http://sherwoodforest.org.uk/nature/amazing-named-trees/ last accessed 4/3/17
The Many faces of Robin Hood. (n.d.) Myths and legends of Sherwood Forest. Available at: http://www.robinhood.ltd.uk/on-location/144-myths-and-legends-of-sherwood-forest last accessed 4/3/14
Wells, L. (1994) Viewfindings: Women photographers: “Landscape” and Environment. Devon. Available Light.
Wilkinson, D. (2006) Nietzche and the Greeks. Bloomsbury.
University of Rochester (n.d.) The Robin Hood Project: A Robbins Literary Digital Project: Alfred Noyes – A Song of Sherwood. Available at: http://d.lib.rochester.edu/robin-hood/text/noyes-song-of-sherwood last accessed 31/3/17
Verve Gallery Contemporary Photography (2017) Thomas Kellner. Available at: http://www.vervegallery.com/?p=artist_biography&a=KE&photographer=Thomas%20Kellner last accessed 28/3/17
5election (2010) 5election: David Hockney’s joiners. Available at: http://www.5election.com/2010/09/05/david-hockneys-joiners/ last accessed 4/3/17
Tutor Feedback
"A very well researched and contextualised submission, with clear evidence of experimentation and progress throughout."
Feedback on assignment
"You have gone above and beyond the expected amount of work for this submission, producing extensive workings for both your written work, your exercises and the assignment itself.
You weave the suggested references into your work and to your texts in a clear and informative way and - in the case of exercise 1.2 - have produced scholarship of a very good standard.
In your practical work (the assignment itself) you have experimented with several approaches, which have, as you note, taken you beyond your comfort zone. This evidence of experimentation is really key. You are working with techniques that are new to you and - as you yourself note - this means that some experiments will work and others will not. You have in fact identified successfully yourself which images come together and make best sense and which don't.
For example, as you note, your composite image of Wollaton Hall works best from this series, mainly because the way that the building stands apart from what's going on around it (i.e. it's context) and the direct, frontal angle of view means that all of our focus is on the blurred and fractured edges of the building against the skyline. For the same reasons, whilst I do think the idea of producing one oscillating image made from multiple Peter Pan statue views, this idea needs perhaps to be free of people milling around it, to allow the viewer to focus only on what's going on with the statue.
As a rule, the simplest approach to solving an image is often the best (especially in regards to digital imaging, where it is always possible to keep adding more data into the mix). Of course, this is easier said than done, and breakthroughs in terms of image making usually only come after many weeks/months of experimentation. If we look at your series images combining rather spectral bodies overlaid onto the trees, for me the most successful image from this series is also the simplest. In the image of the large boulder with part of a face 'projected' onto its surface, we are presented with a surreal image that also plays with scale (with the face being blown up to gigantic proportions).
(These remind me a little of Tony Oursler's talking heads from The Influence Machine which includes interviews with characters which are often projected onto trees of buildings as part of a multi sensory installation. http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/InfluenceMachine Look too at British Artist Helen Chadwick’s early experimentation with layering http://www.mercerunion.org/exhibitions/west-gallery-helen-chadwick-viral-landscapeseast-gallery-martin-pearce/ and more recently, Anglo Chinese artist Gordon Cheung’s experimentations with layerings: https://www.alancristea.com/artist-Gordon-Cheung)
NB. You mention finding your final series of images a little disjointed. As you continue to develop your ideas (including this one specifically) you will find that this feeling disappears as you become more confident in working in this way."
Coursework
Research
Learning Log
Suggested reading/viewing
Pointers for the next assignment / assessment
"Keep working through your many interesting ideas."
Student feedback
Similarly, the observation about the face on the rock in Assignment 1 working the best gave me a different way of seeing the image. I had not imagined “projecting” an image onto a structure. I have become familiar with the physical image and the course work challenges that idea. I must remember to think outside the box.
My tutor's comments were helpful with “keep it simple”. I agree this is probably the most effective way of learning. I think it is all about the balance of achieving something which looks like art and knowing that it takes time, patience and experimentation to become experienced in a subject area.
For example, as you note, your composite image of Wollaton Hall works best from this series, mainly because the way that the building stands apart from what's going on around it (i.e. it's context) and the direct, frontal angle of view means that all of our focus is on the blurred and fractured edges of the building against the skyline. For the same reasons, whilst I do think the idea of producing one oscillating image made from multiple Peter Pan statue views, this idea needs perhaps to be free of people milling around it, to allow the viewer to focus only on what's going on with the statue.
Research for Assignment 1
Anastasia Samoylova
Samoylova uses printed appropriated images found on the internet of sublime landscapes. Single images are folded and connected with mirrors and corrugated shelving to form a 3d picture. She then photographs the tableau as she builds up the picture. Her images become a transformation and representation of nature rather than actual images of nature.
Link: http://anastasiasamoylova.com/landscapesublime
Thomas Kellner
Kellner takes buildings such as the Eiffel Tower with which we are familiar and deconstructs, then reconstructs them having planned which perspectives he will need to photograph. He may shoot one or more roll of film and reconstruct them to look like a contact sheet showing one structure. Inspired by cubism, the press release of his Black and White exhibition explains "Timeless images of a newly formulated language based on cubism emerge [...] The relationship between the object and the form is at the centre of the consideration."(Arnold, B 2016)
Arnold, B. (2016) Pressarea: Thomas Kellner Black and White. Available at: http://www.thomaskellner.com/info/info/pressarea/pressreleases/black-and-white-by-thomas-kellner/ last accessed /4/17
Link: http://www.thomaskellner.com/info/info/pressarea/pressreleases/black-and-white-by-thomas-kellner/
Jerry Uelsmann
Uelsmann uses traditional methods of enlarging and layering negatives in the darkroom. He uses his intuition to decide what to include. His aim is for viewers to react to the image rather than break it down and study how it was made. He believes that technique should support the image.
Link: http://nashvillearts.com/2014/01/jerry-uelsman-maggie-taylor-photography/
David Hockney
David Hockney uses different planes to show multiple viewpoints, a wide space and depict time and motion within the same image, using the same principles as cubism. The Tate explains that “Each [of Hockney’s] individual polaroid is taken separately and experienced simultaneously […] exemplifies Hockney’s interest in depicting a 3-dimensional world through 2-dimensional art forms.” (Tate, 2017) I particularly liked the portrait of his mother in which he photographed her movement so the image becomes the perspective of the photographer rather than the viewer’s perspective.
Link: http://www.hockneypictures.com/photos/photos_collages.php
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Watkins, C. (2014) Trees, woods and forests. London: Reaktion books (pp140-174)
The oaks of Sherwood were traditionally used for naval timber supplies, had picturesque qualities, druidic connections, associated with Robin Hood, has aristocratic power and is a habitat for rare insects. Tourism was started by Walter Scott with Ivanhoe and Washington Irving. In the 18th century the crown took less of an interest in royal hunting. Victorians began to visit ancient trees because they were considered picturesque. They were linked to literary writings and legends. Corruption in the forest led to ancient oaks being destroyed.
In the 1780's, Major Rooke, a local historian (Major Oak named after him) looked at the forest in a scholarly way, linking protection of the trees to druids and classical literature. Together with his contemporaries he looked at ways of protecting the trees. Working with Whigs and gentry, they used John Evelyn's Sylva A discourse of Forest Trees and the Propagation of Timber, first published in the 17th century as a method to restore the forest to its former glory.
William Hewitt published an essay on "Sherwood Forest" in "The Rural life of England (1836) which described the forest as a sublime place.
"A thousand years, ten thousand tempests, lightenings, winds of wintry violence, have all flung their utmost force on these trees and there they stand, trunk after trunk, scathed, hollowed and knarled, stretching out their bare arms or their bare, foliage and win, a life in death its like a fragmented world, worn out and forsaken."
Christopher Thomson painted picturesque views in 1847
Sale of crown lands meant loss of fuel and fodder. Activities such as bracken burning for ash, feeding pigs on acorns, collecting firewood, killing young birds had to stop meaning people had to endure a life not supplemented by the forest.
Tourist book first published 1850
Walter Scott and Washington Irving's books put Sherwood on the Tourist map, elaboration stories of Robin Hood and Maid Marion. Naming the trees helped build up legends. Rare species of plants and and birds were found.
Late 1800's walking tours around Sherwood Forest became popular. Landscape was being preserved by landowners managing large oak trees and silver birch.
1909 Scotts and Corsican Pine planted which were fast growing. Railways were being built and landscape changed. Forestry commission established 1919.
In the 2nd World War one major land owner was prepared to sacrifice the picturesque for the war effort. Tanks driven through area.
1960's initiatives set up for planting. Visitor Centre built. Management of trees following storms took place.
Over the last 60 years the over planting has been managed and landscape is gradually returning to the appearance of the area in the 18th and 19th century.
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Conduit, B. (2012) Historical Walks in Sherwood Forest: In the footsteps of Robin Hood. Lancaster. Palatine Books.
This walking guide book to Sherwood Forest contains a mix of monochrome and colour images. Apart from the image on the front cover, the images are not credited to anyone making me wonder if the writer took these himself. Only 3 of the images contain people and they are so small the viewer cannot make out the identity of them. Questions sprang to mind regarding cost of use of an image archive, copyright issues, printing and subsequent copies. Also I was intrigued as to what time of day they were taken and why there was no-one around? Did the photographer wait for people to walk out of the shot before pressing the shutter or was there genuinely a lack of tourists? This follows some of the rules of guidebook images - places to see to tick off the list, "wilderness" images, and pleasant "postcard" views. Would the readership change if the images contained real people or tiny, unrecognisable people? How much notice do the readers take of the images?
This was an image I took at Rufford when looking for picturesque images. View through the Abbey window. I was watching the people and they were spaced evenly as if I had positioned them.My eye is drawn past the tree to the people.
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Ottewell, D. (1994) Sherwood Forest in old photographs. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing
I was intrigued to see how capturing images of Sherwood Forest had changed and what the book was like as an archive. The section on Sherwood Forest has a collection of photographs, most not dated, a painting and a couple of line drawings. The internet actually provides a better, more up to date source of material, but how accurate is it? E.g. the first image (p9) was taken in about 1906 but there is no information in the book.
Palmer, J. (2009) Major Oak Mosaic Available at: http://www.eyemead.com/majormos.htm last accessed 4/4/17
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Harrington, B (2016) Walking, landscape and visual culture: how walkers engage with and conceive f the landscapes in which they walk. [PhD Thesis] Northumbria University. [online] Available at: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/29627/1/harrington.barbara_phd.pdf last accessed 4/4/17
This was an interesting research project set up to look at how walkers respond to the images they see of the area they are walking in. The thesis provides a detailed account of the guidebooks a walker is likely to come across. From Wainwrights hand drawn pictures to photo's in guide books, most of the images featured a lack of people and civilization unless it was a sight that could be ticked off, the emphasis being on the wilderness. They were asked to record their own images which varied but were different from those seen in guidebooks.
As I had not found any usable Tourist Information leaflets I was left with lots of questions regarding visual culture tourist areas and how it is perceived. This thesis provided some links, in particular reminding me of some of the work covered in the landscape course. Revisiting the walking guide book on Sherwood Forest, I began to formulate ideas on using some of the images and inserting people into the liminal space as John Stezaker had done with The Third Person Archive.
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Stereoscopic photograph of the Major Oak 1860
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| Major Oak, 1860 |
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Images used in part 1 assignment 1
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| Golden Hand, (n.d.) Sustrans, Clipstone, |
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| Oil Patch Worker, Jay O’Meila, 1991, Rufford, Notts |
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| Tribute to the British Miner, Nikola Oskotziamanis 2003 Mansfield |
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