Assignment 5: Personal Project: Being a Tree in Dubai

Feedback is in and it's all good. My reflection is posted right (as a jpg). The original submission can be found after the break.

DPP is done.

Review: Reynaud, Francoise. The tree in photographs. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010. Print.

This slim volume is the product of a 2011 exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.  In Focus: The Tree was jointly curated by Anne Lyden, associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the Getty Museum, and Françoise Reynaud, curator of the photographic department of the Musée Carnavalet.  Book authorship is credited to the latter as she produced the essay with which it opens. Unfortunately this is rather less a reflection on trees as it is a collection of descriptions that would have been more helpfully placed in some proximity to the images.  As designed and edited, the reader is left to flip back and forth between the essay and the plates.

According to Reynauld, the selection process was based on “the power of the image, the beauty of the compositions, the interest of the represented scene, and the quality of the original print.”  [p7]  In an article at the Getty Center’s online magazine, she writes:

DPP Assignment 5: First edit and first print

After shooting at least a couple hundred images of trees, plants, and bushes in the Jumeirah, Satwa, and Zabeel neighborhoods, I selected approximately 30 images to post-process in Ps.  This was my first effort to do this entirely in Ps.  The workflow went something like this:

Review: Parker, Edward. Photographing trees. Richmond, Surrey, England: Kew Pub., 2012. Print.

This is a beautiful book as much about the love of trees as it is about how to photograph them.  The author is a well-regarded photographer whose images have been published in many well known publications such as National Geographic. He has also written a book on ancient trees, and contributed photos to a survey of some of the most important plants in human culture.  Here he looks back on three decades of nature photography, offering a collection of some of his best images as well as tips on how you, too, can produce beautiful tree photographs.

This is not, however, a book for photography professionals, but more an every-man’s guide to making good photos and appreciating the beauty of trees.  Parker says that used correctly, the compact point-and-shoot can produce similar quality images to equipment costing thousands of dollars.

Examples of DPP Assignment Five

As the only stipulation for the assignment is to produce 10-12 images on a theme of choice, the variety of subjects is to be expected, but what is surprising are the variety of approaches.  Here we have a student who decided to limit his shooting to one location on one day.  His presentation is as bare bones as his approach.  At the other extreme, we have this student who spent fours months revisiting the same location, this student who has created a narrative with descriptions and poetry, and this student who seems to have curated her assignment from a 12-month collection of images.

Here are a few more at which I had a look:

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Perspectives on Trees

Myoung Ho Lee, from a gallery at NYTimes

Following on from my last post reviewing tips and techniques for photographing trees, I have found a few articles reviewing photographic projects focused on trees, two of them specifically in New York City.

Photographing Trees: A Review of Advice Found on the Internet

Having begun my project of photographing trees in my Dubai neighborhood, I was interested in advice from fellow photographers.  A search of the internet returned a number of articles offering much the same tips and hints, outlined below. Their implied approach seems to be creating beautiful images.  Not one of them considers the possible work of botanists or landscape documentarians.  The emphasis is on using trees to create aesthetic products, rather than learning about nature or the environment.  Only one of the photographers included here mentions learning something about botany, but is quick to remind readers beautiful photos can be made without it.  

Assignment 5: Planning

I've been in touch with the tutor with several possible themes and he's given his approval to all, leaving the decision to me.  He did note, however, a preference for color to monochrome.

I live on Dubai's main thoroughfare, a 10-lane highway, and had thought to do a series on the billboards that take up huge amounts of space and flash commercial messages to the thousands of drivers flying past.  The idea was to Photoshop in oppositional readings in the form of graffiti.  I still like the idea, and while shooting the images will be fairly straightforward, the manipulation will take more time than I've got if I wish to finish this course before July.  I'm also afraid of having to force certain images in order to meet a deadline, instead of waiting for just the right bit of text to run with an image.

I've therefore decided to follow on with a series of tree portraits.  Some of the stronger images from Assignment Three were of trees and this has inspired me to carry on.  I would dearly love to drive around the country and shoot all kinds of trees, but because of time I'm going to focus on my neighborhood and the adjoining areas, places I can get to - and get back to - easily.  So far I"ve shot a couple of strong images, so I'm already on my way.

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I can't figure it out

That's what the man said as he was getting in his car. What are you photographing?

The tree, I said.

Is it so interesting?

That's what I'm hoping to find out.

And he drove away.

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