This set of photographs is to show how the same view changes as seasonal variations occur.
For this work it took me a while to settle on my chosen view but I was pleased with my selection as it combined many visual indicators for the seasons, including deciduous trees, mountain tops and a crop field. My original notes on selection of the view and subsequent candidate images can be found at:
http://astbury.blogspot.com/2009/06/landscape-project-15.html
I opted to take the images approx monthly so that I would have some contingency in choice. This proved prudent in that a quarterly visit would have missed some of the transitions with the crop field which changed state much more rapidly. I opted to stop before completing the year as a final selection of images had become straightforward, the spring image is in fact taken during late spring / early summer, the other images nicely fitting with the 'correct' months for their seasons.
I was able to go to the same spot for each shot as it was located on a footpath and I was able to return to the same recognisable part of a fence. However I did find some variation in the shots on position of the horizon and left/right panning. Some post processing cropping was applied to minimise these differences but the images are not exact replicas in their view.
Some consideration was then given to how best to present these images. I started looking at Doug Aitken as I had seen some interesting groupings from his “New Opposition” series as appears in Art Photography Now.
Doug is more of a video artist and I didn't hit upon anything I wanted to use so I moved on, next looking back at the work of Elina Brotherus and images such as
Le Nez de Monsieur Cheval from The Photograph as Contemporary Art
I liked the idea of using text with images to help learn a language, such a basic idea that starts with us as children learning from picture cards. Rather than include the text in the image (Elina used Post-It type notes), I didn't want intrude on the images as such so opted for a simple border for the text and using the border colour to reinforce a seasonal colour association. The final images were constructed using Photoshop, text added using the Segoe typeface, akin to handwriting but a sans-serif and easy to read.
For me the 'foreign' languages are the various Scots dialects and Gaelic so I wanted to incorporate the names of the seasons:
- an t-earrach – Spring
- an samhradh – Summer
- am foghar – Autumn
- an geamhradh - Winter
The English season names are not shown as hopefully this is the obvious element of the images, especially when viewed as a set.