Statement of Intent

My concept is to create a display of photographs of landscapes that make an immediate and significant impact on the viewer.  The viewer’s response would be one of awe in the face of Nature’s wonders.  The images should speak directly to the viewer, without the need for explanation or interpretation.  The inspiration for this concept was the gallery exhibition at Bradford Museum. This exhibition was called ‘Lives of the Great Photographers’ and the particular way this exhibition was set out in a large open room with lots of small images and a write up on a digital screen available on button press. Also in the centre of the room there was a seating area and a TV playing a photo documentary about the photographers featured in the exhibition. I think this set the images up in a non distracting way as you had to walk up close to see them leaving people further away from you loosing distractions in the process. Not having distracting text surrounding the images helped make viewing them more enjoyable.

To achieve this level of impact my photographs would need to be shown in a gallery setting.  When a viewer visits a gallery he or she has chosen to come and see photographs; they are in a state of mind where they are already receptive to having an experience.  In contrast, when reading a magazine the viewer is usually more focused on the text and the information it contains.  The purpose of the photographs is to add interest to the text, rather than vice versa.    Over  time, magazine photographs can make an impact on the viewer, as they remain in their possession and can be re-visited when the viewer is in different frames of mind.  The viewer can also, if they choose, linger over the photographs and study them in detail.  However, these are not the circumstances that enable photographic images to create an immediate and powerful impact.   An example of landscape photographs which have such a “slow burn” impact is in the article by Howard M Beck in Lancashire Magazine.  This article was published in the February 2012 edition and was about the Leeds Liverpool Canal, with accompanying landscape photographs by Howard M Beck. Howard is a photo journalist who travels around Lancashire photographing and presenting areas in the magazine to produce an interest and make people want to go there. On the first page of the article there is minimal text but to make the reader/ viewer interested have filled a full page with one of the stronger images of the set. This makes the viewer feel that sense of awe and feel they should view more of the images and read the text but also visit the location.

When photographs are displayed on a website they can have an immediate impact, especially when the website opens with a full screen display of an image, such as on the website of landscape photographer Charlie Waite (www.charliewaite.com).  However, the photographer has no control over the environment in which the viewer is seeing the images.  There may be many distractions in the  environment, including visual distractions directly surrounding the screen.  Also, on a website the photographer has no control over the viewer’s journey.  The viewer may flick quickly through the images or view then in random order, which can diminish the impact.

The concept for the siting of these landscape photographs is therefore designed to give the photographer as much control as possible over the direction and nature of the viewer’s journey towards and encounter with the images.  The viewer will pass along a dimly lit corridor with spotlighting on the images, which will draw the viewer in to the images.  I want to create a mood when people enter the room and a sense of anticipation of what they are about to see in the lead up to the room. In that dark corridor there will be a small set of images leading the viewer in to the main set of Icelandic image which will be printed all in panoramic form and some of the strongest images on Aluminium. The intensity of the viewing experience will be heightened by the use of music, awakening the sense of hearing as well as that of seeing.  The music will also guide the viewer’s journey by providing a pace through the exhibition.

The images will be reproduced using various techniques. Firstly for the film based media I want to produce a large scale image taken using large or medium format film. I will then set up one of the bigger enlargers in the darkroom to expose onto several sheets of large darkroom paper or using liquid light emulsion paint a strip of wallpaper or something similar to create a panoramic image. I am also looking in to creating Tin Types so my film images can be presented onto aluminium and become a matching set in an exhibition space alongside me digital series. My digital images will be presented in panoramic form only and will be a consistent size throughout. They will be printed on a large scale to bring that sense of awe the wild and remote locations featured. Also I want people to walk along a single image giving them opportunity to feel like they are there. To back this feeling up more I will recorded sounds at the location of the images for example the images of the massive waterfalls in Iceland will have a subtle background track so people will get that sense of being stood in front of the actual water fall.­ These techniques are chosen to highlight the iciness and remoteness of the location.  The photographs will be taken using a wide angle lens and then cropped down.  This will convey the sense of space and remoteness.

There will be no written commentary accompanying the photographs.  The concept is for the photographs to speak unmediated directly to the viewer.  A sheet with factual details (locations, equipment used etc ) will be available to viewers at the end of the route through the exhibition.