Location Photographer Research

My chosen outlet for location photography is to focus on artists that manipulate within already present surroundings in order to present and portray their own ideas, the vigour in which these artists pursue is subject for great admiration due to their images strength in complexity, ideas, techniques and processes:

Andy Goldsworthy

A sculptor, photographer and environmentalist, Goldsworthy's site - specific works are a wonder for all to see, mostly so delicate, but at the same time so vast, so carefully considered and often apparently carelessly placed, open and unprotected from the harshness of nature. Goldsworthy works with objects found and natural to the environment in order to create beautiful, awe - inspiring sculptures and images. Goldsworthy's sculptures are massively varied, completely dependant on that of the location that they are placed, in this Goldsworthy also faces the decision in which his hard work is a permanent fixture or a delicate masterpiece, waiting to be savaged by nature. The beauty and imminent, eventualities of Goldsworthy's sculptures 10 folds the viewers emotions, a harsh realisation that life is so short and delicate but very much beautiful.

David Levinthal

Levinthal works with toy miniatures, creating historic and fictional scenes, composed in small scale, but ignorant to the large, surrounding world. Levinthal creates his own locations in which he portrays his scene connecting the model to its surroundings. Levinthal's works, progress and develop constantly throughout his career, working with tiny action figures to dolls, depicting military scenes to explicit scenes of a sexual nature.  Levinthal, very skillfully conjures scenes of any style nature in  which, although it is blatent that the subjects are dolls and made of plastic, the viewer is still enthralled and compelled to stare and investigate the image further, discovering a new depth to the image. As Levinthal's work is on such a close and small scale, meaning the struggles and almost impossible factor of maintaining focus in the right areas and a strong overall clarity.

Ger Van Elk

A location photographer of unsurpassed talents, Elk, uses intriquate techniques in which he manipulates simplistic surroundings in order to persue the idealisms hes looking to present in his image. In most of Elks works, it is not always soley the location or setting of the image, it is about the adaptation, the way that Elk transforms a setting in order to intrigue, fascinate and confuse the viewers. Elks images all derive from an original and almost basic setting but with careful observations, manipulations and with great technicallities and wit Elk's image are transformed in to complex images to admire and confuse. 

In this image by Elk is of a road with a passing car, the crack in the road has fish head portruding from it. The concepts of the image are very complex and can confuse the viewer as to the purpose of this image. To me, the concept of this image is the representation of what it is we are doing and have done to this world, this environment that we inhabit and share with thousands upon thousands of other species in which we have 'set up' base in and taken over due our sheer force over the rest of nature. This representation portrays to me how we've taken over so much of this world, tearing down trees and forests for houses and buildings, inhabitting baron land akready inhabited by numerous other animals but conquering it for our own gain to the filling in of rivers, seas and lakes for excess land. The road cracking is a portrayal in which the lake below or animals below are 'breaking free' reclaiming their environment in which we have claimed as our own, while the passing car is a representation in the destruction we leave behind, without a care in the world and not looking back at our mistakes and what we've done. I have chosen to research Elks works as i feel my work strongly relates to many of his own in which the image revolves around the foreground, while the back ground pulls the story together, shaping fully the scene that Elk has set. All of Elks images follow this style of trends and it is this famed and notable techniqe that has made Elk's works so valued and prestigious.