Assignment One – Artist Research –

Following on from my research into artists depicting fear I asked on the OCA Photography Level One Facebook page whether they knew of any photographers concerned with trees. Within two hours I had been provided with such a list of photographers, I am immensely grateful to them! Updating this list as I work.

Sally Mann

Photo by Sally Mann – There is a haunting stillness about Virginian born renowned photographer Sally Mann’s photos. The trees appear personified yet unsettling, the split across the bark like a sewn up mouth, it has tinges of the horror movie industry yet something more sinister, the out of focus background, the shadows in the background and the strong vignette all signify something uncanny.

Photo by Sally Mann – Light and dark fight each other, in the image below the tree seems to sinisterly welcome you into its realm holding back dark branches. Yet the more you look it felt like I had been hiding under a dark blanket and suddenly it lifted it up and peered in. Each image leads you in further as though you are watching something in the distance but that something is watching you as well. I would like to add this dark effect to one of my images, creating such shapes.

Jikta Hanzlová’

Photo by Jikta Hanzlova –  I like the use of negative space in Jikta Hanzlová’s series ‘FOREST‘ where the trees and foliage just clip the edges of the frame allowing shapes to be formed in the negative space. Glancing up at the tree canopy I can see this effect strongly, the different leaf patterns and arboreal features create unique ink blots wherever the eye focuses.

Thomas Struth

Photo by Thomas Struth – Struth’s images are a wild tangle of a beautiful, yet quickly disappearing, world entitled ‘Paradise’ The photos emulate the real forest or rainforest, trees and vines arching together in an infinite claustrophobic loop, as powerful as it is impenetrable. Almost like the trees are linking together to hold man back. Sentries ready to fight, The jungle is alive in these photos and they allow no one past the surface.

Photo by Chloe Halstead (myself) Inspired by Thomas Struth my image of the trees reflected in the pond show the dense world in the water, I included just a little gravel to increase the effect of the water. Do you see the hand in the reflections?