PROPOSAL 1 Working title: Panorama in nature What do I want to do?  The overall outline of my initial concept is to document various natural landscapes from around the UK in order represent to the audience the sense of scale and visual beauty of natural environments.  I was first inspired to create this series of work whilst discussing some of the family holidays I’d spent around the Pennines and the Lake District and remembering the sense of scale and wonder I’d experience when exploring them. This is why I chose to develop this series using a panoramic format for the majority of my images, to encourage a wider perspective, giving others an insight into my own experiences.

PROPOSAL 1 My approach:  My current approach to this body of work is to arrange various shoots around areas of the Pennines and the Lake District in an attempt to capture several different formats of natural landscape; woodlands, lakes, rivers, mountains, valleys etc…  From my initial research into natural landscape photographers, I discovered several influential images.  I started by searching National Geographic’s photography archive, because the website regularly updates recent photographic works from both amateur and professional landscape photographers.

PROPOSAL 1 Church of Rodel, Outer Hebrides by Jim Richardson Peak District, England by Steve Roche I chose these two images specifically due to their ability to apply rich colours and lighting effects, as well as their similarities to some of my intended images for this brief. Through this, I gained a sense of the some of the possible visual aesthetics I could apply when approaching landscape photography around the UK.

How will I achieve this?  I intended to achieve this through various considerations: Equipment:  Canon 350D with 18-55mm lens  mm Sigma tele-macro lens  Tripod Additionally, I intend to prepare for the possibility low lighting and/or weather conditions through appropriate clothing and storage for equipment, as well as acknowledging the necessity for reshoots.

PROPOSAL 1 Audience:  At this stage, I have a fairly broad audience in mind, I feel with further photographic experimentation and research development I will be able to narrow this further.  However, my intended format follows the conventions of a gallery/fine art approach. Therefore, my audience is more focused upon for people interested in natural landscape photography.

PROPOSAL 1: INITIAL IMAGES

These are a selection of my strongest images from my initial shoots. Within them, I’ve tried to highlight the application of colour, tonal variation and soft, ‘painted’ lighting effects.

Book 1  When I began to consider this idea further, the first inspiration that came to mind in terms of book formatting was Andy Goldsworthy.  This wasn’t due to the subject matter of his books, more the way which many of his front covers are presented.  It follows very modern and minimalist layout and text, with the majority of the focus upon the image itself. Book 2 I am also influenced by Karen Frenkel. Her book ‘the coast to coast walk’ which is inspired by the walks of Alfred Wainwright,documents some of England’s best natural scenery.

PROPOSAL 2 Working title: Faded Industry What do I want to do?  This concept is based around developing a series of urban landscapes and/or portraits which signify some of the residual reminders of the UK’s industrial history.  I originally considered this idea when returning to my home town of Burnley during the Easter break.  Whilst travelling around the local area, I considered that I was surrounded by former mills, factories and Victorian architecture, some of which had become derelict or faded with age. I decided that this could be used to form a body of work to represent the decline of industry.

PROPOSAL 2 My approach:  My current approach to this concept is to arrange shoots around various locations with industrial heritage such as Manchester and Burnley.  From my initial research, I have gained an idea of the certain visual approaches I could apply to this series; a relevant photographer I discovered online was Paul Raphaelson.  These two images are from his series titled wilderness, I found this to be influential because it showed the sense deterioration and decline of his surroundings.  From this, I considered the possibility of expanding my overall theme to involve urban decay.

PROPOSAL 2 How will I achieve this? With same considerations as previously mentioned in proposal 1 Audience: Again, I have a fairly broad audience in mind at this point but my overall intention follows a gallery/fine art presentation, perhaps for an urban photography exhibition.

These are a selection of some of the more relevant images. Throughout this series, I tried to capture the style of Victorian industry and sometimes represent its decline. I have also considered seeing how they might work in a black & white format.

Books:  A photographer whose book I’ve considered to be influential is Sean Scully.  His book the colour of time attempts to demonstrate a scale of time and age within urban architecture.  He does this by capturing images of fading walls, cracked surfaces, rough edges, and the deep shadows created by them.