Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a British Sculptor, Photographer and Environmentalist who was born on 26th July 1956 in Cheshire.  He grew up in Yorkshire, studied Fine Art at Bradford and later moved to Scotland which was probably due to his work with the natural environment.

Goldsworthy's photography involves the use of natural common objects like rocks, stones, leaves, brightly coloured flowers, twigs, petals and pinecones.  He arranges these objects into various shapes and forms.  He rarely plans his work he prefers to use whatever natural objects are available to him at the time.  These objects can even involve the use of dead birds which he will pluck the feathers and create an image of inspiration.  He also uses natural objects and tools to sculpt his work like sharp stones which are used to cut various materials used for his sculptures.

Goldsworthy photographs his work in stages as he believes that  each sculpture or piece of art Grows, Stays and Decays.  He photographs his work at all of these stages to capture when the objects are at their height of brilliance.  Much of Goldworthys work has been achieved in England and Scotland, but he has also worked around the world including The North Pole, Japan and The Australian Outback.





Knotweed Stalks was created in 1988 one morning in really calm conditions on Derwent Water in Cumbria.  This image was created by pushing knotweed stalks into the bottom of the water to create a half circle effect.  These stalks have then reflected on the water to create a round image which show the composition aspect of reflection.  I think this image shows a nice form in the stalks which reflect in the water and I like the tonal values which contrast against the foggy background.  This image shows many aspects of compostion and the knotweed stalks show the aspect of line texture and patten.  I like this image as the reflection in the water shows the circle as a whole.




Rowen Leaves around a Hole was created on October 25th 1987 on a sunny day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  This image is beautifully done by using different stages of colour as the leaves change colour during the autumn months.  This image is based around colour and the vibrant reds and yellows have a really nice effect making the tonal range move from the centre of the image to the outer edge of the frame.  I really like the patten aspect of this image showing the changing in colours moving to the outer frame of the image.





Dandilion Flowers was created by using dandelion flowers.  For this image Goldsworthy had to wait for a sunny day and then wait until midday when the dandelions had dried out and fully opened.  The bracken was rising out of the bluebells and he used thorns to pin the dandelion heads to the bracken thus creating this lovely line of yellow through the bluebells.  This image shows the composition aspect of lines, texture and colour.



 Heron Feathers was created using the feathers of a dead Heron bird.  This piece of art is three and a half feet in length and took three days to create in a calm climate.  The nights were cold and there was a frost in the morning, but as the days warmed the smell of the dead Heron become so pungent that Goldsworthy had to hold his breath while plucking the feathers.  Goldsworthy used a sharp stone to cut the feathers and stripped them down one side to create a crisp sharp edge of white.  This image uses the Rule of Thirds. Patterns and Texture aspects of composition.



Photo Shop Task

In this task we were asked to take an image and then process the image through different adjustments to alter the colours of the image.  The adjustments are Hue/Saturation, Desaturate, Channel Mixer, Black and White, half Black and White and half Colour and Black and White with part of the image in colour.  The image used was an image taken during the composition task to show focus and colour.




In this image I have used the Hue/Saturation Adjustment.  I increased the Hue and Saturation to add more colour to the original image and then slightly reduced the lightness to give a sharper image.



In this image I have used the Desaturate Adjustment which has taken all the colour from the image



In this image I have used the Channel Mixer Adjustment with allows you to play with the colours to create different and more interesting looks to your image.





In this Image I have used the Black and White Adjustment.  This desaturates the image and then allows you to change the intensity of the black and white.





In this Image I have used the Marquee Tool to select half of the image and then used the adjustment to make half the image Black and White. 




In this Image I have used Desaturate to remove the colour from the picture and then paintbrushed the red back into the flower.  This is my favourite image from the photoshop task. 


Evaluation

I feel that the task went well I have enjoyed learning about photoshop and the different tool to alter colour and contrast.  This is my image which was shot on auto as part of the composition tasks so the shutter speed and aperture are whatever the camera choose to shoot at. The copyright of the image has no legal technicalities as the image chosen to manipulate belongs to me. Image was shot with my Nikon D90 and lens 18-105.

Composition Week 3

In this task we were asked to shoot a minimum of ten images showing the different aspects of composition i.e Lines, Texture, Colour, Rule of Thirds etc.  Of the ten images we had to pick three or four to put on our blogs and write about.  These images were all shot on Auto as this was a compostion task and not a camara control task.



This image illustrates the composition aspect of Lines.  The image also represents focus and the Rule of Thirds.  I really like this image as I feel the focus works really well with fading out the background.  I have focused on the second post which has resulted in bluring the first post.  This image could be improved without the car or the phonebox in the background, or if the phonebox could be changed to an old fashioned red phone box.  I shot this from a low angle to get into line with the posts.




 
This image of a cobweb illustates the compostion aspect of Pattern and Focus.  You could also say it demonstrates the rule of thirds making the subject centred and also lines which quite clearly go from the centre of the image to the edge.  This image was from my second attempt as in the first attempt after uploading the image I discovered I had the edge of a patio table in the background so had to take the image from a different angle which shows the blured background at a distance.






This image illustrates the composition aspect of Angle, Rule of Thirds. Colour and Lines.  I have tried to get a low angled image by getting as low to the ground as possible and trying to demonstrate the Rule of Thirds. I feel if I had got lower the image could have represented the Rule of Thirds better.  This also shows texture, the rough element of the gravel and the soft element of the grass beyond the fruit.




This image illustrates the compostion aspect of a frame within a frame, the window frame and the door frame.  I should have moved closer to the frame of the window to see what kind of image could have been achieved.  This image also represents the Rule of Thirds with the wheelbarrow being placed at a third of the picture.

Evaluation


In this task I have learned to pay more attention to detail when shooting a picture as after I uploaded the spider web picture I discovered it was shot at the wrong angle.  I have also learned to look for different photo opportunities within the subject taken, like moving in closer on the window on the frame within a frame image.  I cannot retake these images as I was away for the weekend in stratford.  For these images I used my Nikon D90 with the kit lens 18-105 F3.5 - 5.6.  I think that this lens was sufficiant enough for taking these shots no close up images for which to use a macro lens and no long distance images for which a more sufficiant zoom would have been needed.