Researching - Josh Sommers. ( Manipulated Images)

Josh Sommers is a professional Photo Illustrator, Photographer, Graphic Designer and Software Developer. His home town is Petaluma CA. His work is used by clients for branding editorial and advertising campaigns. He was born in Santa Rosa CA in December 1978. Both parents are very artistic so he was always surrounded by creativity.

He used to get in trouble at school for being artistic, he tended to see things differently that others. For instance told to create a picture of an animal in a collage effect he made a picture of a parrot with the tail feathers cascading from the bottom edge off the paper.

When he was in junior high, he got his first computer which was a Macintosh LC2. The woodwork teacher was building the schools first computer lab and he was asked to help. This is when Sommers got interested in creating artwork using a computer. He got the teacher to buy a super paint for the Mac which was a bit like an early version of Photoshop. Later they got the Photoshop 2.0 and that was when he began his relationshop with photoshop. After school he followed a career in software engineering after going to DeVry University in CA. His aim at that time was to become a video games designer. After graduating he worked for a while as a teacher at Expressions Centre for New Media. He also taught advanced Web Design and Javascript. Eventually he got a job at a company called Interbill and he still works there as the creative director and lead software developer.

In July in 2005 Sommers got married and went to Maui on his honeymoon. Before he went he bought a digital camera, a Fuji S6027. He took thousands of photos, mostly sunsets. He decided to create a multi-shot Panorama and found software to stitch it together called Panorama Factory.

Around Novemeber 2006 he bought a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Not long after He joined Flikr and started posting my work. He found a lot of inspiration on Flickr and realised that he could use his natural creativity using his photos along with his expertise with Photoshop. Since acquiring this camera he used techniques such as equirectangular Panorama, Sterographic projections and the droste effect.

Desperation - Josh Sommers

He showcases his work on Flickr and then clients will get in touch with him to use his work as a brand or a magazine or an advert. This photgraph has a very dramatic, almost thunderous grey sky in the background and a sunlit beach in the foreground. Striding across this is a combination of a sea washed piece of driftwood nad arising from this the upper torso of a man. The pattern of wood continues up into the skin of the man. He holds another piece of wood in his hand and the whole look has a sense of determination. This is a man with a mission. The piece is called Desperation and it conveys this emotion really well. I like this photo because it combines my fascination with trees with my love of myths and legends.

Ground Face - Josh Sommers

This picture was taken on a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. It is a portrait of the photographer and layered with a forest floor containing leaves, roots and mosses. The background around the face is very dark which makes the main subject stand out more. It was taken on Novemeber 26th, 2006.

Some of his work reminds me of the British myth, The Green Man, which is a god of nature. Again the reason that I like his work is that some of the photos touch upon the things that I am interested in which is nature, myth and emotion. 

Venturing out to Wales one day...

I was still in two minds about what I wanted to do for my final six photographs. I had two ideas; one being sticking to the Woodland/Forests/Trees, the other being the juxtopositions between American Landscape and the British Landscape. So I decided to go out and take pictures that could fit into both of the categories and make my mind up later. My destination for the day - Wales. Where else could I get better Landscapes?

The night before I went through my checklist to make sure I would be fully organised.

Checklist:

• A fully charged camera, with spare battery ( Just in case I got a bit too snap happy ).
• My Tripod. ( A must! ).
• A spare memory card.
• The right clothing ( As we were going quite high up I presumed it may possibly be windy and cold ).
• Gloves! ( I find if I don't wear these I get too cold too quickly and I end up taking quick photographs and give up quickly ).
• My photography Guide for my Camera.
• A full tank of Petrol.
• My Sat Nav!

Monday Morning came and I set off very early. I had an idea of the destinations I wanted to visit, as I lived in Wales for three years and knew where the nicest shots could be taken. I was fairly impressed by the weather; we were driving as the sun came up through the trees and over the hills. It was bitterly cold but everywhere looked crisp and warm, with a blue sky littered with small fluffy clouds. As we were driving on a main road to actually get into Wales we were unable to stop randomly and take photos, but I must admit I saw some amazing shots that would have looked spectacular. This is my regret of the day. We decided to travel to Betws y coed first and stop off if I saw anywhere worth capturing.

Shutter Speed: 1/60  F/8  ISO: 100 WB: Shade

I didn't mess around with the cropping of this photo as I quite like the composition and the difference in the type of treese. If I did crop I may cut off the fencing/road off the bottom but then I feel the tree in the foreground would look peculiar.

Shutter Speed: 1/60  F/5.6  ISO: 100  WB: Direct Sunlight.

Here, instead of cropping the image a little, I took the picture from a lower angle looking up. Which meant changing the White Balance to 'Direct Sunlight' as more of the bright sky was on show. I intensified the colours a little using the editing effects on my camera. I only mainly intensified the blue as I felt the photographs I was taking didn't do much justice to how bright the sky actually was around the time I was taking this photo.

Shutter Speed: 1/60  F/5.6  ISO:100  WB: Direct Sunlight.

I loved how dense this forest was and the sun was shining directly onto the trees which made a warm glow appear. I didn't have to edit this photo in any way as I think the colours and sharpness makes this photo stand out without any retouching effects. I like how simple yet effective this looks.

I then drove around Llanberis Pass, Lake Crafnant in Trefriw, Llandudno and The Great Orme and then finally ended up in the Portmeirion area. The wind started to play up throughout the day increasing quite drastically. I did use my Tripod all day but even when using this, some of the shots seemed to come out with camera shake due to the wind being so intense. Especially at Lake Crafnant and The Great Orme. I have no shots of The Great Orme; I could hardly keep my feet on the ground let alone my Tripod and Camera.

Shutter Speed: 1/15  F/20 ISO: 200 WB: Shade.

I have tweaked the Colours on this photo by using a warm effect. The Sky stood out more in reality and I wanted to show this through the camera. With the long distance shots, It's very hard to get all the detail (the further back the hills go, the more it seems to vanish.) So by darkening the picture a little in the foreground it makes the outline of the hills sharper. I took this photo as the sun was beginning to die down for the day.

Shutter Speed: 1/15  F/20  ISO: 200 WB: Shade.

I don't particularly like this photo but I wanted to put it on my blog to show how windy it was. I was using my Tripod on some fairly muddy ground at Lake Crafnant. The mud made it hard for me to position my tripod so the ground was level hence why this picture is not very level. Also the wind was hectic. As you can see it is fairly blurry around the edges of the branches.

Shutter Speed: 1/200  F/20 ISO: 200  WB: Incandescent.

I do think the fencing ruins this photo but the actual sunset was amazing. If I was going to edit this photo I would use Photoshop to erase the fencing. Unfortunately I only have Photoshop Elements which does not have this tool. This spot was also very busy and I was not the only one taking pictures, which meant positioning was awkward.

Shutter Speed: 1/100  F/20  ISO: 200 WB: Direct Sunlight.

This photo was taken once we were down from The Great Orme back onto level land. The sunset was at its peak and I thought it looked breathtaking so I tried to capture the best shot I could get whilst being blown over by the wind. I haven't used any editing effects on this photo as I think it works by itself. I think this image would look great on a postcard.

Overall my trip was succesful. The only downfall was the wind as it made it tricky to take photos even whilst using my Tripod. I also felt a little rushed due to it being quite cold. Even though I was wrapped up, it was too cold to sit around for ages perfecting the photo angles, aperture, shutter speed etc. I did persevere as much as I could though. 

Researching - Olivier Grunewald.

Olivier Grunewald was born in Paris in the late 1950's. He started his photographic life by photographing birds when he was fourteen. After studying he started freelancing doing Sports and Mountaineering photography using a Medium Format camera. Later he switched to a Large Format camera and began to focus on nature and developed a long term project on Volcanoes. He travelled all over the world and collaberated with his wife Bernadette Gilbertaz, a Geographer and Journalist. He also produced Documentaries on Wild Earth For Science And Nature Magazine.


Olivier Grunewald takes pictures of nature from across the world, from the Desert Plains to the wastes of Iceland, Jungles, Forests and Sea. He captures the extremes, the heat, the cold, the colours and the emotions the places evoke. He takes sweeping Landscapes and also close-ups of insects and plants. He enjoys the fluctuations of light and textures.

He loved dramatic effect which can be seen in his sunsets. He is fascinated by light and the play of light on the surrounding scenery. His sunsets are highly dramatic, his photos of the Northern Lights fantastical and otherwordly. Grunewald is a photographer that has to emote with his work. His photos excite me and I would like to try to capture some of this excitement in my photography work.

Saguaros carnegia gigantea on a sunset sky organ pipe n.p, Arizona - Olivier Grunewald

This picture shows a multicoloured sky of burnt oranges, pinks, purples and dark blues and in the foreground are the dramatic images of huge cacti all in silhouette. It is part of the Oxford Scientific Collection. This photograph caught my eye because it is similar to photos that I took in the Arizona Desert. I too took pictures of Cacti Silhouetted against a harsh lit sunset background. I think this looks incredible effective with the contrast of the dark foreground against the intense colours of the background.

Epupa Falls, North Namibia - Olivier Grunewald

This photograph has barren hills in the background under a blue sky and the middle and foreground comprises of a tiered waterfall surrounded by desert flora. The picture has a top boarder and right boarder of hot colours and sun, whilst the rest has cold colours and shadows. It looks like late evening. Again the reason that I am drawn to this picture is that it is dramatic and awe inspiring. I love the juxtoposition of the light and the shade, the hot and the cold colours.

Researching - Paul Citroen. ( Manipulated Images )

Paul Citroen was born in 1896. He was a German born artist, art educator and co-founder of Art Academy in Amsterdam. He grew up in a middle class family in Berlin and started drawing whilst young. He then started experimenting with photography with Erwin Blumenfeld.

In 1919, he studied at te Bauhaus, taking lessons from the likes of Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Johannens Itten. These people had a big influence upon him. In 1923 he started his major work 'Metropolis'. This work influenced Fritz Lang to make his classic film 'Metropolis'. Citroen realised that by putting photos of buildings altogether it would look like a city.

He started up the Nieuwe Kunstschool (it means new art school), with Charles Roelofsz but it closed down in 1937. He soon became a Scholar at the Royal Academy of Art in Hague. Portraits were his main theme.

Photographically he had a loose natural style often ignoring many of the tenets of photography and doing his own thing. For instance he would use his camera out of focus.

Paul Citroen died in 1983 in Wassenaar.

Metropolis - Paul Citroen 1923

This picture is a montage of similar pictures pasted together and giving the effect of a large Metropolis hence the title of the piece. The one that I have chosen is in shades of Greys and Ochre. It is a very busy picture and one that would stand to be looked at for a while. It is full of the life found in a city with plenty of bustle and noise. Although this picture has not been digitally manipulated it has been changed in that it is almost a collage of pictures so that the individual pictures are real but together they make up a manipulated image. Citroen was more of a painter than a photgrapher and it is his artistic eye that makes this picture come alive. The reason that I like this picture is that although it was made in 1923 it is still valid as a city today. It looks strong and Modern. I would be interested to use this method using trees.





Researching - Erik Johansson. (Manipulated Images)

Only twenty five, Erik Johansson, a computer engineering student from Sweden produces heavily manipulated photographs inspired by surreal artists such as 'MC Escher'. He has taken a masters in interactive design and has already been offered work from design magazines after he published his work on his website. 

He relies heavily on Photoshop and is not ashamed of this. He enjoys the fact that it is "somehow different from other kinds of art." In his own words he has taken photographs all his life and his work can be very humerous or quite serious and political. His photographs, although surreal are very realistic. This is what creates the shock value. The way that he works is first to have an idea which he then realises.

Photography for him is a means to an end. The real work is created on the computer. It can take him between a week and a month to finalize a piece of his work. Sometimes he will use himself in the photos but prefers to sue family and friends. Photography is often thought of as denoting realism but Eriks work takes realism and subverts it into the fantastic.

Hang Havet Pa Vaggen - Erik Johansson

This is a photo of a lady positioning a picture of a harbour full of boats on a wall. In so doing it appears that she has altered the balance and that the water is draining out of the picture onto the floor. These images were located on his blog and quickly gained a following. They are very evocative of the style of the surrealist painters such as 'Salvador Dali' and others. His body of work reminds me a little bit of the unreality of dreams and/or nightmares. This particular one is amusing and invites the viewer to share the joke.

Utan Granser - Erik Johansson

This photo shows a man ascending a spiral staircase set at the end of a road within a bland landscape and in sepia. It brings many different thoughts to a viewers mind such as 'Is this a modern Jack and the Bean stalk?' or maybe 'The staircase to heaven.' The staircase is so incongruous that it opens up a whole world of possibilites.

Go your own Road - Erik Johansson

In this picture a young man is walking towards the viewer and seemingly dragging the road behind him. The idea is extremely bizarre but also comical. He almost looks like a bride trailing her train behind her. On a deeper level it could refer to the road you take in life and that you make your own way in life.

The reason I like Erik Johanssons work is that they are startling and imaginative. They are a little like the Rorschach Inkblot test in that you look at the picture and devise your own story line. I like the fact that some are purely comical whilst others are thought provoking. Some of the other pictures on his website remind me of the film Inception which is about a dreamworld. 

Researching - Peter Lik.

Peter Lik is possibly one of the best Landscape photographers of today. He has won many awards and is known throughout the world. He is an Australian whose Czech parents migrated to Melbourne when he was born. His parents bought him a Kodak Brownie camera when he was eight which started off his enduring passion.

Lik tought himself and decided to move to the Unoted States in 1984. He met another photographer in Alaska called Allen Prier and he introduced him to the Medium Format Panoramic camera. His advice to Lik was " Go big or go home."

Lik went back to Australia and photographed the huge vistas of the Great South Land. He opened his own fine art publishing company and his first gallery in his now home town of Cairns (Australia).

In the new millenium he returned to America and set himself a task of photographing landscapes of all fifty states. Pictures of this challenge can be found in his book 'Spirit of America'. He has been awarded Master Photographer by both Australia and America and has fellowships from the British Institute of Professional Photographers and The Royal Photographic Society.

He now runs his company LIK USA from Las Vagas. He has thirteen galleries of his own and a TV series 'From the Edge with Peter Lik', which has made him a famous name in the United Kingdom. Now very wealthy, he sold his photograph 'One', of the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire for one million dollars. His photographs break records in sales and his works include 'Ancient Spirit', 'Sacred Sunrise', 'Angel's Heart', 'Tree of Life' and his famous 'Ghost'.

Tree of Life - Peter Lik

He has the ability to photograph landscape and make you feel that you are seeing something for the first time. A lot of his work mis documentary in that he has his won weekly show. This photograph is one made when he was photographing the fifty states. This particular state being Oregan. This photograph is mainly of a tree that is shown centrally positioned with a small mound of Greenery in the foreground. What draws the eye is the vivid burst of orange red of the leaves. His picture makes the viewer feel as though he is veiwing the scene at first hand and not via the medium of photography. His colours are so vivid and contrasting that it is almost psychedelic. The reason I like this image is because I like the secrecy of woods and I am particularly interested in extremes of colour.

Painted Skies - Peter Lik

This photograph is another one of his panoramic views that encompasses a fairly barren landscape made dramatic by the gloriously coloured skies above. The sky reflects the shadowy hues of purples and pinks below. The horizon sits halfway up the photo with the eye being led to the distance hills in the middle third. The sky and the land are linked by a tree in the left hand third. The landscape is flat but still conveys the distance of the hills in the background.  

Once again it is the colours that draw me to this particular photographer. Colours are very important to me, especially vivid colours, contrasting colours and moody colours, all of which are seen in his photos. I am also drawn to photos that have a particular mood. This might be a glorious feeling of exultation or the lonliness of a deserted landscape. I intend to try to convey this excitement in my final photos.

Researching - Helen Sear. (Manipulated Images)

Helen Sears Photography has progressed from a fine art background of performance, film and installation work made in the 1980s. Her work combines vision, touch and the nature of experience, particulary being interested in landscape in relation to humans and animals. She uses drawing, lens based media and didgital technologies. She has had work displayed in many galleries as well as solo exhibitions. She is at the moment Reader in Photography and Fine Art Practice as well as a member European Centre for Photographic Research at the University of Wales Newport. She is based in Raglan, Wales.

Some of her work was influenced William Henry Fox Talbot, who placed black lace onto sensitised paper and exposed it to the sun. The lace then appeared white on a dark background. He called this technique 'Photogenic Drawing'. She uses some of Fox Talbots technique within the body of work known as 'Inside the View'.

In her solo show 'Inside the View' 2005, she mixes together formal landscape and portraiture and then alters the surface of each image using digital erasure so that the picture appears to have a delicate lace work and this is hand drawn in the computer. These works are very etherial and romantic and touch the viewers psyche. The photos seem to have an almost spiritual overtone.

Sears more simpler work, where she restrains herself from too much didgital enhancement tend to be more meaningful as when she has used too many layers and references the point of the pictures tend to be lost.

She won the Creative Wales Award which will help her to develop he photgraphy practice. She will be developing ideas concerning landscape which changes dramatically through land management and will also be doing a portrait of a field and its change over a period of a year.

Sears is absorbed with culture, methology, nature and technology.

Taken from the Series 'Inside the View' 2004 - 2008

This picture involves two screens, the computer screen in which she draws the lace and the photographic layer. The effect is almost that the person in the photo is ourselves viewing the landscape. It is aesthetically pleasing while also having a certain sublime attribute. The women that we see are not wholy in the space but are almost a ghost of ourselves.

Taken from the series 'Beyond the View' 2009 - 2010

Whereas 'Inside the View' were 34x34cm, 'Beyond the View' is 110x110cm and this allows the viewer to see the image behind appear inside the erased line of the top image. Because of this change of scale there are also two different viewing distances. The landscapes are more detailed and the underlying image more obvious as it is pulled through to the surface of the image.

Helen Sears is very innovative which makes her very important in this field. She doesn't use filters or patina but tends to use software like an archeological site whereby layers can be pulled through one another to alter a conventional perspective. In both of the bodies of work I've discussed the composition is similar having the background and the foreground with the womans head sandwiched between both of these. These works are viewed within galleries. The reason that I like this work is because I would like to use a similar technique in my manipulated images task. This style invites the reader to ellaborate the picture with their own ideas and fantasies.