Back to Basics - Experiments in Texture
Two things happened this week that got me thinking about the nature of the photographs I take and the resulting finished images. The first was researching an assortment of photographers for the piece about (en)Visionography (under the 'Observations' link above), the second was emptying a box of books still unpacked from moving house last year and discovering my copy of 'Ireland - On the edge of Europe', the beautiful, compelling and absorbing collection of images of the West of Ireland by Agnes Pataux.
The obvious link is that both are collections of black and white images, but the the other link is that both rely heavily on the form that they shoot, but more precisely they deal with texture. Denis Duke's sculptural dandelion seed head and Gosporadou's muscular, mechanical rendering of the urban environment being prime examples of the former group. Pataux lived in Ireland for a while in the 90s and recorded scenes of rock, cliffs, stacks of turf and the lined and cragged faces of the locals that texturally recalled the terrain which they inhabited. Looking around the bookshelves in this office the most thumbed books are photographers that worked either solely or predominantly in black and white; Atget, Cartier Bresson, Brassai, even Martin Parr's rendering of Hebden Bridge. Indeed, one of the most impressive exhibitions I have visited in recent years was the Roger Ballen retrospective in Manchester, particularly his later video work with South African musicians 'Die Antwoord' shot entirely in b&w.
Of course I enjoy work in colour too, one of my favourite book purchases this year is Jurgen Netzger's 'Nocturne', his haunting journey through the night time of small town France, though that relies heavily on texture and lighting to makes it impact.
The obvious link is that both are collections of black and white images, but the the other link is that both rely heavily on the form that they shoot, but more precisely they deal with texture. Denis Duke's sculptural dandelion seed head and Gosporadou's muscular, mechanical rendering of the urban environment being prime examples of the former group. Pataux lived in Ireland for a while in the 90s and recorded scenes of rock, cliffs, stacks of turf and the lined and cragged faces of the locals that texturally recalled the terrain which they inhabited. Looking around the bookshelves in this office the most thumbed books are photographers that worked either solely or predominantly in black and white; Atget, Cartier Bresson, Brassai, even Martin Parr's rendering of Hebden Bridge. Indeed, one of the most impressive exhibitions I have visited in recent years was the Roger Ballen retrospective in Manchester, particularly his later video work with South African musicians 'Die Antwoord' shot entirely in b&w.
Of course I enjoy work in colour too, one of my favourite book purchases this year is Jurgen Netzger's 'Nocturne', his haunting journey through the night time of small town France, though that relies heavily on texture and lighting to makes it impact.
Despite admiring so much work in black and white I haven't actually worked in it in any meaningful way in several years, I enjoy working in colour, it suits the kind of work I do, both commercially and personally and in digital it's easier than ever it was in 35mm. When I shot more film it was almost always in b&W for purely economic reasons, developing was cheaper and I could easily do it myself.
The Challenge I decided that I needed experiment with b&w, though in digital. I also wanted to explore texture, feeling that if the colour is removed from an image it needs something else to make it work, it needs impact, interest and 'feel', that mysterious component, the 'visual umami'. Two places that I have photographed on numerous occasions came to mind, both are places that rely on colour for their 'normal' attraction, indeed one is a tourist attraction solely for the rich colours of its landscape. 1. Parys Mountain Mined for copper since the Bronze Age, Parys mountain (left) on Anglesey attracts thousands of visitors each your to wander its colourful 'Martian' surface, a rich mix of reds, golds, purples and blues and greens of its weathered minerals. 2. Bangor University Botanical Garden, Treborth The greenhouses here are crammed with a wealth of colourful and exotic plants and the head of dept is always happy to let photographers visit, the vividly coloured orchids are particularly stunning. |
The challenge would be quite simple, would photographs in b&w that relied on texture have a visual impact equal to, less than or even greater than the traditional views of the two sites that rely on colour? I decided to photograph both sites in colour, preferring to make the conversions to b&w myself using channel mixer in Photoshop. I dislike giving too much control to camera software, preferring to let the computing power of the mac handle the job with control over output being mine.
1. Parys Mountain, Amlwch, Anglesey
Stripped of colour, familiar sights on the mountain become new terrain to explore, broken gorse lies on what appears to be a soft carpet rather than spiky gorse needles and heather. Laminated iron flakes away to reveal more of its inner self, the jagged eroded frontiers being more obvious without the streaks of vivid blue/green oxidised copper that normally draw the eye to the interfaces. A stray footprint in a shallow muddy puddle takes on the form of Neil Armstrong wandering the lunar surface on a flickering 1960s TV set.
I know Parys Mountain extremely well, I can see it from my kitchen, I have walked its surface thousands of times, I've even trained as a tour guide for the place, yet the rendering into b&w has given a radically different way to approach the site, I had never noticed quite how important the textures of the site are to our enjoyment of the colours. This experiment has been, if you forgive the pun, an eye opener and will be continued.
I know Parys Mountain extremely well, I can see it from my kitchen, I have walked its surface thousands of times, I've even trained as a tour guide for the place, yet the rendering into b&w has given a radically different way to approach the site, I had never noticed quite how important the textures of the site are to our enjoyment of the colours. This experiment has been, if you forgive the pun, an eye opener and will be continued.
2. Treborth Botaninical Research Centre, Bangor
Nature relies so heavily on colour that we are seemingly often blinded to the complexity of structure, the grace and form of the lily draws the eye from the silk texture of the water jewelled leaves, skeletal leaf structure mocks anything man-made in its complexity and the savagery of the cactus defence mechanism becomes hardened and more sinister in its intent. Even beautiful intricate purple orchids become re-invented as mute observers, appearing as hovering cctv cameras watching their watchers.
I was struck at how changed the feel of the subjects here became, friendly beauty seemingly transformed into frequently sinister form. It's curious how so much of our perception of beauty in plants is informed by their colour, a point posited by Karl Blossfeldt in his 1929 work 'Urformen der Kunst' in which he produced stunning close up images of plants, their wrought iron like forms reflected his belief that plants should be appreciated for their artistic and architectural structures.
I was struck at how changed the feel of the subjects here became, friendly beauty seemingly transformed into frequently sinister form. It's curious how so much of our perception of beauty in plants is informed by their colour, a point posited by Karl Blossfeldt in his 1929 work 'Urformen der Kunst' in which he produced stunning close up images of plants, their wrought iron like forms reflected his belief that plants should be appreciated for their artistic and architectural structures.
Conclusions
This was a fascinating exercise and one that I intend to follow up in more detail and more locations, it has profoundly altered the way in which I approach photographing some sites, I will be looking specific shots to process aside from the more 'normal' shots, certainly I will making frequent visits to Parys mountain to rephotograph certain locations in different weather conditions. I also intend to have some large prints made of some of these images, possibly with a view to local exhibition.
This was a fascinating exercise and one that I intend to follow up in more detail and more locations, it has profoundly altered the way in which I approach photographing some sites, I will be looking specific shots to process aside from the more 'normal' shots, certainly I will making frequent visits to Parys mountain to rephotograph certain locations in different weather conditions. I also intend to have some large prints made of some of these images, possibly with a view to local exhibition.