I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion every where.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
For my final project I wanted to explore textures in nature. I used HDR photography to accentuate the natural contrast in the environment. As my project progressed, I decided that just magnifying the patterns and textures in nature was not enough. I wanted to make a more environmental statement through these photos. To do this, I decided to put parts of nature in a container and put it back in it’s environment. The jar juxtaposed to the natural space shows human’s control over nature, and the influence humans have on nature.
This is my contact sheet for my first shoot. I couldn’t get a tripod they were all out so I had to try to keep a straight hand. I went to the botanical gardens and the water front to get different natural textures. I tried to stay away from flowers because they were too cliche. I really enjoyed the different soils however not many worked because my hand wasn’t steady.
Artist Precedent: Ross Brown
Ross Brown has been my favorite HDR photographers I have researched. He is a New Zealand Native and I liked his work with animals. He also has done some advertising with the All Blacks Team which I thought was really clever because it had the team look almost god-like. I looked into his work with nature and how he used water in his images to help me with my project.
Artist Precedent: Kevin Crafts
Kevin Crafts has done a lot of work with abandoned houses and arid landscapes. I liked his arid landscapes because of the colors of the bedrock. I would like to use this type of rock for my concept when I put rocks in the glass jar. I just dont know where to go to see this without going out of Wellington about 5 hours.
Artist Precedent: Matt Sullivan
Matt Sullivan does HDR photography of landscapes. I liked how he didnt over stylize his images and kept to photorealism. He has a wide range of colors and they are quite vibrant which I really like. I think I want to stay with photorealism for my project as well.
After trying to shot HDR photos with portraits I found it too hard to get a clean shot because people are always moving so I had to refocusing my idea somewhere else. I want to take pictures with HDR of natural mediums. I would put them in glass jars in their natural habitat and focus on the substances in the jars. I would like to explore the textures created in nature and how light effects them. I will put rocks, water, a plant, and sand into the jars.
Artist Precedent: David Nightingale
In his work, this photographer explores HDR in a lot of his work. I love the effects it has on landscape it makes them look dream like. He also worked with models which is similar to the idea I am developing.
After doing some research I decided I want to do something with HDR photography. I just havent decided what, I was thinking maybe portraits of male artist I am friends with to show the world in their eyes but we will see.
These are my final images for my series. My project was constantly evolving. It started just from the idea that I wanted some object to convey time to this commentary on culture.
