Exercise 1.1 Preconceptions

In this first exercise, we are asked to produce a very rough landscape. The aim of the exercise is not to prove how good an artist one is (fortunately in my case) but to examine one's preconceptions about the genre. I deliberately presented what first came into my head.

Here is the sketch (a larger version viewable here):

 Great art it is not, but shows some interesting preconceptions:

•  It is 'landscape' style, i.e. longer on the horizontal plane than vertical. Why do we use this shape for landscapes? I am actually not sure but it is traditional. My guess is that this shape incorporates more of interest per unit of available space at the expense of detailed foreground (in this case likely to only a close up of bracken or grass) and sky;
• The picture very much reflects my archetypal landscape image. I like variety (evidenced by mixed woodland, rolling hills, incorporating water); seeing how the human factor harmonises (or not) with the landscape. Here the sheep and house might be inferred to be both integrated and harmonious with the natural landscape;
• The weather is good - this reflects a positive and optimistic view; few landscapes look their best in inclement weather;
• The sketch chimes with my own experiences of landscape. Broadly, it is the sort of landscape I like walking in. Variety is key for me, a key reason why I love walking in Britain: there is always a different view, a different perspective round the next bend, over the next hill, at the top of the next peak. Britain is unique in combining accessible paths with excellent maps, a geology that is remarkably variable over a short distance, significant human impact, and a variable and uncertain weather that both shapes the landscape and, importantly, our view of it.

This last point can be extended by considering my walking adventures in last couple of years. I decided to tackle some of Britain's 19 or so National Trails, accompanied mostly by my brother in law. Four have been completed. I have written blogs with images on: South West Coast Path, Ridgeway, Cotswold Way, and Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Indeed, walking these trails has acted as a spur for studying this course. I have an interest in understanding what it is about landscapes that attracts the eye. Why is South West Coast Path one of Lonely Planet's great trails? How is it that routes for the last hundred years or so seek low land and valleys, yet the Ridgeway was a cross-country drover's route? Can a Trail that is never far from roads have its own attractions? Just what is it that makes the combination of crashing waves, cliffs and fields so attractive a landscape?

I want to explore some of these subliminal concepts as part of my studies on this course, and whether they were/are also drivers for other landscape photographers and artists. Were/are the aims of landscape photographers and artists essentially the same, just manifested using different techniques and genres? Do we just like to record beautiful scenery, or is there more to it?

I present a very positive, indeed idyllic and some would say sylized, view of the landscape. This is how I view it as someone who wants to experiences the best: the scenery; the variety; the interplay of natural and human space, and, to cap it, ideally in sunny weather with blue skies and wispy clouds. This harks back to the 19th century tradition of Fenton and others "at a time when the landscape....was viewed through a highly developed and popular picturesque aesthetic"  and the photographer was a "privilieged tourist" (Clarke, 1997, pp55-6). But there is another side to the countryside: the neglect, the erosion, the struggle many have to make a living in the environment. Studying this course will redress the imbalance, presenting the landscape as something other the picturesque to the city dweller.

I believe studying  Understanding Visual Culture (UVC) as my final Level 1 module will stand me in good stead in this modeul. There is a lot of reading and analysis to do, very much as per UVC course.

Clarke (1997), The Photograph, Oxford University Press. Oxford