Viewing Southam’s images, they seem so familiar, just like the work I did for my assignment three. (Which is of course is why my tutor recommended it). Southam is also from the West-Country (like me). He is a widely renowned landscape photographer who documents the changes within the landscape particularly in relation to time. (Jem Southam | Biography & Art Works | Huxley-Parlour Gallery, n.d.)
A phrase that caught my eye was about the cultural mythologies of natural formations and landscape. (Council, n.d.) I’m conscious that we see so much in the landscape in relation to this. We feel this connection with nature, perhaps forces greater than ourselves that come from the often romantic mythologies we are brought up with.
The visual aesthetic of the above images create a sense of romanticism, perhaps even an ‘other-worldliness’ in their vastness and the blue tones. I’m presuming a larger aperture has been used, that although captures a lot of detail, doesn’t have the digital sharpness that we see in some landscape images which also creates this effect.
References
Huxley-Parlour Gallery. n.d. Jem Southam | Biography & Art Works | Huxley-Parlour Gallery. [online] Available at: <https://huxleyparlour.com/artists/jem-southam/> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
Magazine.landscapestories.net. 2013. Jem Southam, The Red River | Landscape Stories. [online] Available at: <http://magazine.landscapestories.net/en/archive/2013/river/projects/jem-southam-the-red-river> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
Council, B., n.d. Jem Southam | Artists | Collection | British Council ā Visual Arts. [online] Visualarts.britishcouncil.org. Available at: <http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection/artists/southam-jem-1950> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
Landscape, Place and Environment 