The project I completed was focused on constructing landscapes , when I initially started the project I was a bit skeptical as to how creative my responses would be as I was finding it difficult to create ideas , but now having completed the project , my perspective has completely changed . Constructed Landscapes has changed my whole view on landscapes and the also the idea of what makes a landscape a landscape . Once I started completing artist research I understood the depth and variety within the theme , Artists like Awoskia Van Der Molen have a complete different interpretation of landscapes than artists like Luke Saxon and once I grasped the room this topic provided me with to grow I began to find it easier to respond .
During constructed landscapes I experimented with a variety of techniques that I had never used before , for example Acetate printing , Acetone transfers and creating negative images in a dark room . Im really proud of how far I've come in this project and I'm really pleased with my final project , I really enjoyed working in the dark room as it was such a rewarding process . From the first step off enlarging your image to watching the negative develop every time I had a successful test or image it re-assured me in my own progress and helped me develop a greater appreciation for artists all over the world . Over time I began to get better and better at developing images first time , I always used a smaller piece of photography paper at first as a test image so that I knew I had set the enlarged to the right setting and my final image would not come out too dark or too light . I defiantly had to be persistent and patient during this process as nothing ever worked the first time but , after I took a step back and thought threw what I was doing wrong I was able to improve my process and therefore create successfully .
I also encountered some unexpected challenges for example , attempting to photograph my work to upload onto my website but finding due to the lighting there was a glare on the image . For m this could be a bit frustrating as what I expected to be the simplest step still had to be thought through . As I have progressed from year 9 to 11 in photography I have defiantly learnt that no successful image is made or created without thought . As I developed my own artistic techniques I realised how difficult it is to maintain such a high standard of work and that if I wanted to do so I would have to invest more time than I thought into my projects , however hopefully this has now paid off .
I chose to Present my final project as an instillation of 6 images that I had created . To make these image I first experimented with layering Coloured images with black Acetates of the corresponding image or a contrasting image . Once I had begun to find my feet I created some outcomes that I was really proud of and my next step was to now work in the darkroom . I chose to work in the darkroom as I had always been interested in the process of creating film images and thought it could be an interesting experiment for my project to try , but also because I felt with my acetate images it was the logical next step . Once I got into the darkroom I started y creating negatives of single images , but once I had a few successful outcomes I wanted to see if layering the acetates would have the same effect on the film paper as it did when I had used this processes in a previous outcome . I was so happy with the way these images turned out , the black and white created such. strong sense of atmosphere that hope evokes a sense serenity or calm within the viewer as this is what I feel when viewing the image . That being said I chose to not involve colour in the final product as I felt the the monochromatic colour scheme allowed the mood to be open for interpretation .When I first started this project I wasn't really intending to create anything and it was bit off an accident that I started to create these works , now I'm so happy that this is what its led me too .
I feel that I have successfully explored the theme of constructed landscapes as I've been able to create responses that not only showcased pre-constructed sites but also developed the images to create landscapes within each other . if I had more time I think I would have wanted to work on a larger scale with larger images or I would have liked to photograph my negatives in the site of the landscapes they are made up off .
Overall im immensely proud of the progress that I've made and I'm happy with my response to contracted landscapes .