Martin Vlach

Martin Vlach is a photographer from Czech Republic who creates surreal atmospheric landscapes that are surrounded with a sense of mystery. Most, if not all, of Vlach's work is shot in haze, fog or a misty environment. This gives his work the mysterious, ethereal feel and giving a dream like quality to the images. Vlach utilises the fog as tool to mask the background of his scene giving his work mimimalistic characteristics and deepening the sense of obscurity for the viewer.

To me his work depicts isolation, whether this is shown through a desolate landscape or a solitary figure in the mists, nearly all of his work gives off this message. But there are a few of his works that give an ambiguity to their meaning, for me some of the work is so radically different that its hard to see connections, making the series difficult to understand. I think some of the images could be banded into a different collection, perhaps they are and its just because they are being viewed online that everything is seen together.

Some of Vlach's work is clearly made of a composite of several images which would suggest being digitally made, but the gritty, grainy texture implies film was used. However they were made, I really like the aesthetic he has created in all of his work, the high contrast black and white works really well with his subjects and fine art style. I think the style suits the surreal dreamlike look, it gives a darker feel to the images, heightening the sense that they are other worldly and with some of the images it gives quite a sinister atmosphere about them.

I chose this photographer to help inform my project because its a similar aesthetic to that of which I want to use for my own work. I think it works really well with a surreal theme, I want a style thats not crisp and clear for this project because that just wouldn't fit. I'm looking for something thats imperfect, something dark and distorted, something that could be related to surrealism and the unconscious. 

http://martinvlach.tumblr.com/

Martin Vlach

Martin Vlach

Martin Vlach

Martin Vlach

Martin Vlach

General Ideas

For this project I was initially struggling for ideas of what I wanted to do. However, while creating the moodboard a couple of ideas came to me that I thought would be quite interesting to pursue for the project. Brief explanations of these ideas can be seen below.

Idea 1

I was thinking of alternative printing methods for a landscape project when I recalled a exhibition I visited many years ago. It featured a set of photographs that, when viewed using special glasses, could be seen in 3D. I can't remember where I saw the exhibition or the photographer that created it, but I do remember the work. It was a simple set of images on a gallery wall, each having its own pair of viewing glasses, that could be seen in 3D. The images were each depicting a different bridge. The images themselves were fairly straight forward, but because of the way they were being viewed, in 3D, they stood out from the rest and were quite rememberable.

This got me thinking about my own project. Last year I had my landscape images printing and mounted on the wall like any other photograph, all well and good, but perhaps not that rememberable. So when thinking about ways of displaying this years work, this idea came to me, as something more unusual is more likely to get attention. And so I started to look into 3D imaging and ways of displaying it.

Stereoscopy

Stereoscopy, or 3D imaging, is a technique for displaying 2D images and making them appear 3D. This is done by enhancing the depth in a image. A typical stereogram are two offset images individually viewed by the left and right eye, the brain then combines these images giving the appearance of only one image which is 3 dimensional.

There are several ways of doing this, one of the most common and original ways being a more mechanical method of using a stereoscope to physically separate the images for each eye, but there are other methods independent of such devices, such as free viewing.

There are many different ways of creating 3D imaging, using a single camera and moving it around, using two cameras to simultaneously take several images from different perspectives, to dedicated cameras that have built in 3D capabilities. Each will be looked into in more detail if I was to continue with this idea.

Promenade, Brooklyn BridgeFrom the Robert Dennis Collection, New York Public Library

The above image is an example of a early stereogram, it demonstrates the idea behind them. Two similar photographs depicting the same scene but from slightly different perspectives. The images would then be viewed together through individual eyes as mentioned above. 

Tending wounded Union soldiers at Savage's Station, Virginia, during Peninsular campaign

This next image demonstrates a stereogram using a single image. To create the 3D effect with a single image the colour layers of the photograph have been offset to give the appearance of several photographs. This technique requires a special pair of glasses to view the images in 3D.

This is just one of my current ideas for this project, further research will be done into this field if I was to continue with the 3D imaging notion, for now I'm keeping things vague and generally explaining each concept while I decide which to pursue. 

Idea 2

Another idea that came to me was that of moving images and gif files. I was looking at the work of Julien Douvier, and how he had embraced the moving image. A lot of his work, whether it be advertising, fashion or general photography, a lot of the work is animated. While its not conventional photography, it still carries with it a lot of its characteristics. This got me thinking and thought it would be quite a interesting twist and would work quite well for my project. I think it would fit in quite well with landscape work, and would even work with my previous project, which was based on the modern landscape, the moving image would fit as a modern way of displaying the work. Of course the work would have to be displayed electronically, but with how photography is at the moment, that wouldn't be much of a draw back. 

Some of Doivier's work can be seen by following this link. 

Idea 3

The third idea I had was a project similar to my negotiated project in some respects, being that it would be based on landscape and resulting in fine art prints at the end. However while looking through a lot of landscape work, and while creating the moodboard, I found that I was more drawn to the surreal looking landscapes. I found the photographs that made you look twice to be of the most interesting. I found the work of Martin Vlach to be particularly interesting. Theres something about the unusual that draws attention, and his work definitely stood out from others.

While looking at Vlach's work I came up with this third idea. Landscapes that featured something that was out of place, something that perhaps you might not notice on a glance, but catches your eye so you have to look again and study the image to check what you are seeing, to make sure it was actually there. Landscapes which perhaps feature some anomaly, the final work would be a set of prints maybe telling some narrative, or maybe no relation at all except the unusualness.

Martin Vlach

I will be looking into each idea in more detail to pick a direction for this project. The surreal landscapes and 3D imaging are the favourites at the moment, more details to come. 

 

Mood Board

As my ideas for this project are currently quite general, I have created a mood board to try and inspire some notion of what I want to do and where I would like to take it. A list of photographers included in the mood board can be seen below. 

Lucas Zimmermann

Martin Vlach

Mike Hollingshead

Darren Moore

Sophie Gamand

Andy Lee

Cory Richards

Jerome Berbigier

Richard Silver

Julian Douvier

Visarute Angkatavanich

Leila Jefferys

George Christakis

As demonstrated in the moodboard I have a general idea of the aesthetic of the work I want to produce. I like the look of the fineart landscape utilising the long exposure and high contrast scenes, I just don't have a concept for my work as of yet.

However I did find the moodboard research to be quite inspirational and has given me a few ideas to work with.

Looking through the moodboard images I found the more surreal pictures to be more appealing. The work by Martin Vlach particularly interested me. His work depicts landscapes but with unusual occurrences within them, for example a image showing the canopy of a forest and then in the background you can see a man just falling through the sky. I found the works that asked questions and made made me look twice to double check what I was seeing to be most engaging. This could be one possibility for my project; surreal landscapes that tell a narrative.

Another artist that caught my eye was Julien Douvier with his moving images. His work utilised GIFS and moving images, the images weren't exactly photographs, but could be perceived to be so. His work was of landscapes but showing animation, for example a image of a house in a field but using GIF files it showed the smoke blowing from the chimney. Of course this work could never be printed, it would have to be displayed electronically.

The final idea I came up with for this project didn't come from the moodboard research. While reminiscing about previous work I had seen, I recalled a exhibition I went to a few years back, I can't remember where at or what it was called however and can't remember the photographer, but I can remember the work. It was a series of prints, quite small, that could be seen while wearing 3D glasses. The work was architecturally based as each image was a photograph of a different bridge, and then viewing the work through the glasses they could be seen in 3D. I thought this idea could be quite interesting to pursue for this project, so I will be doing more research on stereoscopic photography. 

Introduction

To start with an introduction is in order.

My name is Jaimie Golby and I study photography at the university of Hertfordshire. I am currently in my third and final year, which brings me to this blog and what it’s all about.

This blog will be a journal of sorts. A running documentary of my final major project. It will be a flowing archive of where I store and post everything related to the project from research, ideas and concepts, to test shoots, edits and eventually final images.

Last year I made a different blog for another similar project at university called negotiated projects. Follow this link to see that work.

Like the previous project, this one will also be landscape based. As of yet I only have very general ideas of which direction I want the project to go in, but over the next few weeks I hope to have developed a much more precise idea, but for now all I can tell you is that I will be continuing with working in different locations shooting landscapes.

More about me and my work...

Since I first started studying photography, a few years ago now, I have always had a love of shooting landscape, seascape and wildlife. I’ve always preferred to be out trekking across country looking for that perfect location and moment rather than being stuck in a studio. There’s something about being outdoors in the moment that really appeals to me, the sense of adventure and exploration that comes with getting the shot.

A lot of my inspiration comes from photographers such as Ansel Adams, Julian Calverley and David Lloyd to name but a few. These photographers and much more will be mentioned again later in the blog in much more avid detail I am sure.

For now I’ll keep it short as there’s not much more to say in the introduction until further research and development has been done.

Jaimie.