DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Light and the Australian landscape
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 15 of 15, (reverse)
AuthorThread
 01/25/2003 11:38:41 AM · #1
This was my entry for the Landscape challenge, "Windswept Tree":



A fair number of people, including DougPaz in his very helpful CC comment, suggested that the colours in my photo were a bit subdued, especially in the sky. This actually strikes me as a culturally biased interpretation of landscape photography, because there is something very special and unique about the Australian landscape - its light.

When Europeans first settled here, artists struggled to depict our landscape in a satisfying way. It was too weird and alien. It wasn't until the late 1800s, with the Heidelberg School of Australian landscape painters, that artists really began to embrace its difference. The key was light. Our landscape is saturated with it, blinding you with its intensity, washing out details, and weakening all its colours. Not that there is often much colour there, since drought is a semi-permanent feature of our "wide brown land". The region I photographed here is, in fact, in the midst of a savage drought right now, leaving all its hills straw coloured and barren.

Here is a painting from the Heidelberg School by Arthur Streeton - "Whelan on the Log":



You will notice the colour of the sky is very similar to my photo. I have been brought up with these paintings, within this landscape, so when I did the processing on my photo I didn't think at all about making the sky a vivid, ultramarine blue. That simply isn't the reality of the land of my birth.

Interestingly, during the challenge this photo, by PTMAN, jumped out at me as being obviously Australian, from a location not dissimilar to the area I was photographing that week:



After the challenge I found out I was right! He's from Victoria, south of where my photo was taken. His state is just as dry as the state I was in at the time, and his photo got some very similar comments to mine.

I just thought I'd post this in the interests of education :).
 01/25/2003 12:57:06 PM · #2
Lisae, thanks for the insight. I guess I still haven't decided from your post whether you will continue the Australian style of subdued colors or try to "pump them up" a bit for the challenges to appeal more to the voters. I might try one if I were you and submit it too see the difference. You can always keep your shots for yourself with the more subdued colors. Thanks again.
 01/25/2003 01:10:03 PM · #3
I don't know... the landscape where I live is very different to the eastern side, where I took that photo. I grew up over east, so I loved getting back out into the countryside and taking photos... I got all nostalgic :P. Over here, around Perth, there are rainforests down south and some almost desert landscapes up north, so they're really not the same as that classic, dry, scrub country in the east.

I'm not much of a landscape photographer, really, but I would like to do more of it. I will definitely keep the sky issue in mind next time I submit one! After all, both the landscape photos I've submitted are currently in my top 4 photos :).
 01/26/2003 06:43:12 AM · #4
I have to agree with Lisae that Australian light conditions are unique. Even on an overcast winters day the UV glare can wash the colour out of a shot, this can be a real challenge. A UV skylight filter is a must and a polarizer is a great help in summer. My drought shot's sky is white due to smoke from the almost three weeks of bushfires that have been burning here in Victoria. I try to keep my shots looking Australian so that they might stand out from the crowd in the challenges. Sometimes this works to my advantage other times not. At the end of the day I know I've captured what I've seen, if people like it great, or if not so be it.

Peter
 01/26/2003 11:34:56 AM · #5
Originally posted by PTMAN:
My drought shot's sky is white due to smoke from the almost three weeks of bushfires that have been burning here in Victoria.


It's been a bad season, that's for sure :(. Later on the day I took my photo, a dust storm blew in over the whole area. I haven't seen that much dust in the air for YEARS!
 01/26/2003 01:02:08 PM · #6
A very interesting discussion, do you photograph what you see and then share that with the audience, or do you manipulate the image away from the true reality in order to win their favour?

Photography is not a perfect art form, and technically, an image can never be a “perfect” representation of the subject anyway. But should the photographer pursue an accurate representation or pursue a deliberate manipulation in order to win accolades?

I find merit in both ideas, but personally I lean towards the truth. I have been to Australia and have similar images that reflect the softer wash of light being described. Not all of Australia is saturated with light in the same way. It seemed to change with the location. While sailing up the Gold Coast, the light was radically different compared to what I was use to from home. Weather plays a major role for sure, but it was more than just weather. I had assumed previously that it was a lack of pollution.

Let me share a story to make the point clear for those who may be sceptical. While visiting Australia during the last visit of Halley’s Comet more than a decade ago, I needed the help of a pharmacist for a remedy to aid my severe sunburn.

I found a small drug store in a coastal town and went in to seek relief. As soon as the Pharmacist laid his eyes on me, he asked outright if I was a "Yank?" When I enquired why he had jumped to that conclusion, he said that he knew immediately that I was not a local since I was so burned. And, he observed this all before I had even spoken a word and revealed my obvious Canadian accent to him. He told me that anyone who came to him for help with a serious sunburn was almost always a foreigner who did not take the extra precautions necessary because the sun was so much stronger in Australia. So, to me, I agree that the sun is very powerful down-under when compared to North America, and perhaps Europe too.
 01/26/2003 01:16:07 PM · #7
Originally posted by Morgan:
A very interesting discussion, do you photograph what you see and then share that with the audience, or do you manipulate the image away from the true reality in order to win their favour?

Photography is not a perfect art form, and technically, an image can never be a “perfect” representation of the subject anyway. But should the photographer pursue an accurate representation or pursue a deliberate manipulation in order to win accolades?

Ansel Adams (for one) preached the latter strategy. I use both techniques.
Besides a lower amount of pollution, other factors at work could be that the Sun is actually closer (at perihelion) during the Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice that for the Northern's. You might also get more UV through that hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic.
However, I have seen that kind of light elsewhere. I think one thing which leads to better photos is to be aware when lighting conditions for a given area are unusual for that place; to literally show familiar subjects in a different light.
 01/26/2003 01:19:28 PM · #8
Originally posted by Morgan:
He told me that anyone who came to him for help with a serious sunburn was almost always a foreigner who did not take the extra precautions necessary because the sun was so much stronger in Australia. So, to me, I agree that the sun is very powerful down-under when compared to North America, and perhaps Europe too.


Hehehe, I have an almost opposite story! When I was in Florida last year, staying with some friends of mine, and joined by Manic, among others, a group of us decided to go on an air boat ride in the Everglades. Before setting off, my boyfriend and I asked our hosts if they had some sunscreen and hats we could borrow. They looked a bit puzzled, but said "sure". They then watched in amusement as we, and our friends from the UK, proceeded to smother ourselves in sunscreen. This was just weird to us! We don't even contemplate spending more than 20 minutes outside without protection.
 01/26/2003 01:24:46 PM · #9
By the way, since the Arthur Streeton image I posted doesn't seem to be working right now, here are a few more little images:

"The Purple Noon's Transparent Might":



"Near Heidelberg":



"Evening with Bathers":

01/26/2003 04:28:51 PM · #10
I had a trip to Australia yesterday....via IMax. Interesting place.
The film was poorly focused though. May be it was the lighting.
 01/26/2003 11:27:31 PM · #11
Originally posted by David Ey:
I had a trip to Australia yesterday....via IMax. Interesting place.
The film was poorly focused though. May be it was the lighting.


Yes, my photo was poorly focussed. Oh no! It didn't win! I must be so sad! And any discussion of anything at all pertaining to landscape photography based around my photograph must be some kind of indirect way of saying I was robbed, when I got my 4th highest score so far on this site.

*rolls her eyes*.
 01/26/2003 11:36:52 PM · #12
Originally posted by lisae:
Originally posted by David Ey:
I had a trip to Australia yesterday....via IMax. Interesting place.
The film was poorly focused though. May be it was the lighting.


Yes, my photo was poorly focussed. Oh no! It didn't win! I must be so sad! And any discussion of anything at all pertaining to landscape photography based around my photograph must be some kind of indirect way of saying I was robbed, when I got my 4th highest score so far on this site.

*rolls her eyes*.


Did you roll out of the wrong side of bed today? hehehe
 01/26/2003 11:39:33 PM · #13
Originally posted by Annida:

Did you roll out of the wrong side of bed today? hehehe


I didn't roll, I was pushed! :P
 02/01/2003 02:06:42 PM · #14
Originally posted by lisae:
Originally posted by David Ey:
I had a trip to Australia yesterday....via IMax. Interesting place.
The film was poorly focused though. May be it was the lighting.


Yes, my photo was poorly focussed. Oh no! It didn't win! I must be so sad! And any discussion of anything at all pertaining to landscape photography based around my photograph must be some kind of indirect way of saying I was robbed, when I got my 4th highest score so far on this site.
**.


Sorry lisae, I meant the IMax film. I actually liked your photo a lot.

Message edited by author 2003-02-01 14:10:02.
 02/02/2003 12:37:04 AM · #15
Originally posted by David Ey:

Sorry lisae, I meant the IMax film. I actually liked your photo a lot.


Haha... either I overreacted or you just want it to seem like I overreacted and really did make a snide remark about my poor focus. Either way it's amusing :).

Message edited by author 2003-02-02 00:37:36.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 07/23/2025 05:06:10 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 07/23/2025 05:06:10 PM EDT.