Author: jenniemeadows

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1 Posts

AGM62 1 to 1 Tutorial Feedback and Actions 21 October 2020

The focus of this one-to-one tutorial was to discuss with Åsa my initial concept and potential process. This was part of the concept-process-form paradigm that Åsa presented and the class talked about during the last group tutorial on 7 October 2020.

After two weeks of thinking about a potential concept and carrying out various research and taking images, it was a relief to be able to vocalise my thoughts, discuss my results so far then work out a focal point for this project.

The tutorial had to be via Microsoft Teams, but as most of my work so far had been via digital means I was able to present it to Åsa online. To start, I went through the blog posts that I had written. I was hoping this would give my tutor the opportunity to understand my line of thinking (which can be challenging sometimes, for both myself and others!).

What did prove very useful was showing the map of Bushy Park to Åsa. I don’t think that both my tutor and classmates actually realised the size of the park when I’ve talked about it previously. At 1,099 acres, it is also the second largest one in London after Richmond Park. Also that it is a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has a rich history and heritage.

Feedback & Thoughts

I have to admit that I can’t recall exactly every details of our conversation, but these are the most pertinent points that struck a note with me.

When I went through the Bushy Park images from 5, 9 and 16 October 2020, Åsa remarked that were different from my previous project’s images (AGM61 Moments of Eternity). The photos I had taken during the two research sessions were just ‘straight’ shots with no real specific intention and to be led by my instincts. This tends to be my method of working at the start of a project. One of my major influences is Minor White and I subscribe to his ‘hunter/gatherer’ approach to get the creative juices flowing. I also wanted to take a different approach to the previous work.

Åsa also highlighted the differing point-of-view on how I took the images:

  • Objective: the tree as an object in the landscape, but in a portrait style
  • Subjective: close ups of details, looking up at the branches

The main image that Åsa picked up on was that one of the hawthorns that I had converted to Black & White:

For Åsa, there was a very subtle approach to this image that was traditionally composed with the Black & White conversion bringing out textures and details. It also slowed down the reading of the image.

When I mentioned about the Ancient Tree Inventory and potentially mapping the hawthorn trees, Åsa brought up the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher and their objective images of water towers.

Water Towers 1972-2009 Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher 1931-2007, 1934-2015 Purchased with funds provided by Tate International Council, the Photography Acquisitions Committee, Tate Members and Tate Patrons 2015 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P81238

On reflection, this is in contrast to Minor White’s subjective focus on details.

Åsa also picked up on the hole within the image. This is a particular feature of the hawthorns in Bushy Park and one that I personally find fascinating.

In relation to the concept of tree portraits, we both discussed how a tree doesn’t have a ‘front’ or ‘back’. This is something that came out of my AGM61 project, which resulted me in taking photos of trees on a 360 degree trajectory, with a shot at each 90 degree point.

Åsa also brought my attention to a Finnish photographer, Riitta Päiväläinen.

There is a very eerie aspect to her work involving trees and clothing props. I get a similar reaction when I look at the image of the hawthorn above.

Actions

The outcome of this tutorial and the result of me processing the feedback is as follows at this stage:

  • Focus on hawthorns in Bushy Park
  • Image shoots:
    • Objective shots of each tree (360)
    • Subjective shots of each tree (close ups)
    • Black & White conversion process – refine
    • What works – what doesn’t
  • Mapping the trees
  • Historical research
  • Photographer research
    • Bernd & Hilla Becher
    • Minor White
    • Riitta Päiväläinen

References

Atgetphotography.com. 2020. Minor White / Biography & Images – Atget Photography.Com / Videos Books & Quotes. [online] Available at: <https://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Minor-White.html&gt; [Accessed 26 October 2020].

Riittapaivalainen.com. 2020. Riitta Päiväläinen. [online] Available at: <https://riittapaivalainen.com/htdocs/&gt; [Accessed 26 October 2020].

Tate. 2020. ‘Water Towers’, Bernd Becher And Hilla Becher, 1972–2009 | Tate. [online] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bernd-becher-and-hilla-becher-water-towers-p81238&gt; [Accessed 26 October 2020].

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1

AGM62 Ancient Tree Inventory 20 October 2020

Set up by the Ancient Tree Forum, the Woodland Trust and the Tree Register, the Ancient Tree Inventory is a mapped record of more than 160,000 ancient or old trees within the UK.

The aim of this inventory is to help protect and care for these extraordinary beings that link us mere mortals with our history, culture and ecology.

According to Woodland Trust’s website, the inventory has three categories of trees:

  1. Ancient
  2. Veteran
  3. Notable

I have copied the following information from Woodland Trust’s website as my guide for reference.

Ancient trees

An ancient tree is in the third and final stage of its life. How old an ancient tree is depends on the species. Some species can live longer than others with yews, oaks and sweet chestnuts topping the age charts at over 1000 years.

What is an ancient tree?

How old an ancient tree is depends on the species. Some species can live longer than others with yews, oaks and sweet chestnuts topping the age charts at over 1000 years. Other species, including birch and willow, live shorter lives.

A tree is defined as ancient if it is

  • In the third or final stage of its life (this stage can go on for decades or centuries)
  • Old relative to others of the same species
  • Interesting biologically, aesthetically or culturally because of its great age

What do ancient trees look like?

Ancient trees don’t always look the same, depending on the species and where it grows. But in general, there are several ancient characteristics and the more a tree has the older it’s likely to be.

Key Features:

  • Crown that is reduced in size and height
  • Large girth in comparison to other trees of the same species
  • Hollow trunk which may have one or more openings to the outside
  • Stag-headed appearance (look for dead, bare, antler-like branches in the crown)
  • Fruit bodies of heart-rot fungi growing on the trunk
  • Cavities on trunk and branches, running sap or pools of water forming in hollows
  • Rougher or more creviced bark
  • An ‘old’ look with lots of character
  • Aerial roots growing down into the decaying trunk

Veteran trees

A veteran tree will have some of the features found on an ancient tree, but won’t have the great age. Although they’re not as old as ancient trees, they’re still incredibly important.

What is a veteran tree?

Ancient trees are veteran trees, but not all veteran trees are old enough to be ancient.

Veteran trees are survivors that have developed some of the features found on ancient trees. However, veteran trees are usually only in their second or mature stage of life.

There may be signs of decay, fungal fruiting bodies or dead wood, these features may start to appear in the mature stage and also in traditional pollards.

Although veteran trees aren’t as old or complex as ancient trees, they still provide holes, cavities and crevices which are especially important for wildlife.

Notable trees

Notable trees are usually mature trees which may stand out in the local environment because they are large in comparison with other trees around them.

They don’t have any obvious veteran characteristics, but may be taller than ancients and fatter than some veterans.

In parts of the UK, where trees are less common, a tree may be relatively small and young but notable because it is significant in its local environment.

Notable trees are usually worthy of recognition and can be potential, next generation veteran trees.

Lost trees

These are trees which have already been recorded, but are later discovered to have been cut down, blown over, collapsed, or otherwise removed, leaving no more than a low stump.

A new tree record can’t be added as a lost tree, although it can be recorded as a remnant e.g. stump. The Ancient Tree Inventory will use this information to assess the rate of recent loss of our ancient trees.

A tree originally recorded as a standing dead ancient tree remains this until it’s cut down or is removed; it can then be updated to a lost tree.

If known, the loss will need to be reported then included with the entry.

Also on this website is a very useful guide to the characteristics of each main species of tree: https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/how-to-record/species-guides/.

These set of guides includes the hawthorn: https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/how-to-record/species-guides/hawthorn/. I will be looking at that in more detail in a following post.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the current inventory of trees in Bushy Park.

I can tell just by looking at this map there are several trees fulfilling the three categories that have not been registered. Very interesting.

References

Woodland Trust. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/; [Accessed 20 October 2020].

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1

AGM62 The Humble Hawthorn 20 October 2020

‘The hawthorn, like a grumpy old teacher, reminds us that a prickly personality may hide unexpected virtues.’

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 178)

‘It is easy to neglect the humble hawthorn, to pass it by unnoticed, until it explodes with creamy blossom in May. Historically, it is one of our most important species: for shelter and defence, for wayside sustenance and as a marker for boundaries and travellers.’

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 176)

One type of tree that has always fascinated me is the hawthorn. As I wrote in my blog post on 6 October, I liken them to ‘wizend wise women.’ As for their relevance to Bushy Park, I was unaware until I re-read details of the park on the Friends of Bushy and Home Parks’ website.

‘The name “Bushy Park” was first recorded in 1604 and was probably a reference to the many hawthorn bushes. These were planted to protect the young oak trees which were being grown as timber for ships in the navy.’

This was an ‘aha!’ moment. Especially in light of what I had read in The Wisdom of Trees by Max Adams. I had come across this delightful tome while visiting the Hayward Gallery shop after experiencing the Among the Trees exhibition. In this book, Adams tells various tales of trees, including that of the hawthorn. So I can read and understand the information given within this tale, I’ve broken down the paragraphs and sentences in order to sift out gems of inspiration.

The Hawthorn

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogna) is a much-neglected small tree, which we are used to seeing in hedges that it’s easy to ignore. Our ancestors had a higher opinion of it: the hawthorn is the most frequently mentioned tree in ancient charters and boundary surveys, and it is a common element in place-names.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 174-5)

The flowers and leaves, when picked fresh, are known as “bread and cheese” and have long been a wayfarer’s springtime snack.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175)

Hawthorn’s creamy white blossoms emerge any time from late April onwards, an in autumn the unmistakable rich red berries are an equally classic seasonal marker.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175)

Hawthorn is the tree equivalent of rugged highland sheep or cattle breeds: it is very tough and can withstand the sort of weather that has most of us running for shelter and a warm fire.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175)

The wood is hard to work, and because hawthorn, like yew, grows in multiple trunks, it is rarely used for anything other than firewood.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175)

It is hard to say when humans first realised that they could cultivate hawthorn as a defensive barrier; but in the period of the Parliamentary enclosure of land, some two-hundred-thousand of ‘quickset’ hedges were planted across Britain.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175)

Hawthorn remains a popular and biologically important hedge species.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175)

One should at this point say something about the art of laying hedges, which is still practised in Britain and Ireland. The principle in this highly skilled off-shoot of the woodsman’s art is to thicken and strengthen a hedge, prolonging its life and ensuring any gaps through which livestock might (and they will) escape are closed. The trick is to half-coppice the shoot of the hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, beach or hornbeam – they are the most common hedging species. A downwards cut into the side of the stem weakens it so that it can be bent at an angle in line with the direction of the hedge but above the horizontal. There needs to be enough heartwood, sapwood and bark left for the stem to survive and send up new shoots the next year. Every couple of yards a vertical stake, cut and trimmed into the ground within the hedge, and more spare shoots, brashed from the main one, woven between the cut stems and the stakes, creating a hybrid between living hedge and fence.

More information on hedgelaying: http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 175-7)

Hawthorn’s blossom known as May flowers (hence ‘May-day’ and ‘Maypoles’, neither of them named after the month), used to induce a superstitious fear about it being brought into one’s home. It was thought to presage a death in the household. Why? A fishy chemical called ‘triethylamine’, released as the blossom fades, is the smell of dead body (and, incidentally, of human sperm).

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 177-8)

The flowers also contain a small amount of digitalin, the chemical present in foxgloves, which in high doses is extremely poisonous but which is used as a therapeutic cardiac treatment.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 178)

During autumn cows browse on the tree’s small bright red berries and their astringent properties are regarded as a traditional therapy for mastitis.

(Adams, M. 2018 pp. 178)

References

Adams, M. (2018). The Wisdom of Trees. London: Head of Zeus Ltd.

Friends of Bushy and Home Park. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://ews-fbhp-dev.expertwebservices.co.uk/history-of-bushy-park/; [Accessed 19 October 2020].

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1 Posts

AGM62 Why Bushy Park 20 October 2020

Why London? Why Bushy Park?

This park has been a very strong influence in both my life and my photography and is very close to my heart. Every time I visit this place I realise and/or observe something new.

Bushy Park is one of London’s eight Royal Parks covering an area of 1,099 acres and is a Site of Scientific Interest.

What I realised recently is how the park is a mix of straight lines and chaos, formal and informal, cultivated and wild. When looking at the map, it appears to be a ‘blob’ of green on the outskirts of London.

While researching the history of the park, I looked at the Friends of Bushy Park website for further details. I have copied the following information for my reference in regard to this project and made notes of observations and areas for further research.

Bushy Park

Bushy Park extends over about 1,100 acres (445 hectares) of grassland to the north of Hampton Court Palace. The park measures 1.5km (nearly a mile) from north to south and 3km from east to west. There are ponds, streams and woodland gardens as well as sports pitches and a children’s playground.

Bushy Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the rare invertebrates that live here in their habitats. This traditional deer park, with its bracken, rough grassland and plantations, is complemented by formal avenues of lime and chestnut trees.

The park has many notable features including the Diana Fountain, the Water Gardens, the large ponds, the Longford River and the Woodland Gardens.

Hunting Grounds:

Cardinal Wolsey began by enclosing farm land adjacent to the house when he took over Hampton Court and, when Henry VIII acquired the palace in 1529, the old oak fences were replaced by a high brick wall, traces of which can still be seen today.

The park was originally several distinct areas known as Hare Warren, Middle Park and Bushy Park, until the present boundaries were completed in 1620. The name “Bushy Park” was first recorded in 1604 and was probably a reference to the many hawthorn bushes. These were planted to protect the young oak trees which were being grown as timber for ships in the navy.*

In Tudor times the parks were important as hunting grounds – Henry VIII stocked them with deer and there were rabbits in abundance. After the royal palace at Richmond was destroyed by fire Hampton Court became increasingly important as a royal residence and the land now known as Bushy Park was the adjacent hunting ground. Henry, and later his daughter Elizabeth, both enjoyed riding and hunting here.

*This explains the presence of the hawthorn bushes – there are further details in Max Adam’s The Wisdom of Trees (pp. 174), which tells the ‘tree tale’ of this much-neglected small tree.

Adding Water

Further additions were made to the park in the seventeenth century. In 1622, during the reign of James I, an avenue of lime trees was planted which was to become the basis for the Chestnut Avenue.

The next monarch, Charles I, ordered a canal to be constructed to bring water to the palace gardens from the River Colne. Now known as the Longford River, this twelve-mile waterway flows through Bushy Park feeding the ponds and streams here before continuing its course to the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.

Even Oliver Cromwell, who took up residence in the palace during the Commonwealth period, enjoyed hunting in Bushy Park and arranged for the water supply to be extended to Heron and Leg of Mutton ponds to improve the fishing.

  • The waterways of Bushy Park are a tale of themselves. I met an engineer in Woodland Gardens who was trying to work out where all of these were. Apparently, Old Bert who had recorded these waterways had died and all of his paper records had been burnt.

A Grand Entrance

When Hampton Court was redesigned and extended in the reign of William and Mary, Christopher Wren planned that the lime avenue in Bushy Park should become the focus for a new grand entrance to the palace. A road was built through the park to the Lion Gate at Hampton Court and more limes and an avenue of horse chestnut trees planted.

Although Wren’s scheme for an imposing classical frontage to the palace never materialised, the unique avenue with its fountain was planted. The Diana fountain was first created for Somerset House and then moved to Hampton Court gardens before coming to Bushy.

A Park for the People

At the end of the eighteenth century the Duke of Clarence, later to become William IV, moved into Bushy House with his mistress, the celebrated actress Dora Jordan, where they brought up their family of ten illegitimate children. As Park Ranger, William used Bushy Park to boost his income and was responsible for felling many of the trees, including the Tudor oaks, and enclosing half the park for farmland.

When he became King William IV, he gave orders that there should be ‘free admission of the public… to the Park’. His wife Queen Adelaide continued to act as Park Ranger and to reside in Bushy House even after his death.

In Victorian times, when the rapidly growing population caused over-crowding in the city, the Royal Parks became important as London’s ‘lungs’ – green and peaceful places where people could stroll and picnic. Bushy became a popular place for outings on summer Sundays. Drinking water fountains were erected and coach loads of Londoners arrived for Sunday School picnics and works outings.

Chestnut Sunday

The horse chestnut trees in Chestnut Avenue bloom in the late spring. Every year, on the second Sunday in May, a celebration is held in the park known as Chestnut Sunday.

This tradition dates to Victorian times when thousands of people would flock to the park to see the ‘candles’ of chestnut blossom. Horse-drawn carriages would be driven along the avenue, bringing royalty and fashionable society to admire the trees and to be seen.

When the penny-farthing bicycle was invented, riders would meet to ride round Bushy Park – and in 1877 an American journal reported “the largest meeting of bicycle riders ever assembled” when some two thousand cyclists met at Hampton Court. With the introduction of the safety bicycle in 1885, an affordable means of transport meant that many more people could enjoy riding in Bushy Park.

World Wars

During the Great War, Canadian troops were stationed in Bushy Park and George V gave permission for Upper Lodge at Hampton Hill to become the King’s Canadian Hospital. Some areas of parkland were once again farmed, and allotments were set up at Hampton, Hampton Hill, and Teddington to help local people to grow their own food.

In the Second World War, Bushy Park was the headquarters of the US Eighth Army Air Force. It was called Camp Griffiss, after the first American USAAF officer to be killed in Europe. In 1944 General Eisenhower moved the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) to Bushy Park where Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, was planned.

Today the locations of the huts which formed Camp Griffiss have been recorded with plaques laid in the ground, together with a memorial plaque for USAAF personnel who served here. A flagpole and another plaque are placed at the location of Eisenhower’s office.

There are other aspects of WWII that I’ve already discovered, specifically in relation to the Water Gardens in Bushy Park. This was covered in my first NCFE Level 1 project:

jenniemeadows.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/manmadenatural/

Recent Times

In 1992 a totem pole was created by Norman Tait, a First Nation traditional carver, and presented to the park. It marks the connection between Canada and Bushy Park during World War I when a Canadian military hospital was established here. At the base of the pole is a carved Killerwhale, monarch of the sea, and at the top is an Eagle, monarch of the air.

ParkRun first began Bushy Park, in 2004. It has subsequently spread to many other parks and has become a global phenomenon.

The 2012 London Olympics cycle road race passed through Bushy Park.

Bushy Park was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its rare invertebrate life and habitats in 2016.

References

Friends of Bushy and Home Park. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://ews-fbhp-dev.expertwebservices.co.uk/history-of-bushy-park/; [Accessed 19 October 2020].

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1

AGM62 Aubrey Beardsley and Ukiyo-e 20 October 2020

E.426-1972 Salome, Plate V- The Peacock Skirt from a portfolio of 17 plates; by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98); published by John Lane; English; 1907. Line-block print.

On 9 September 2020, I visited the Aubrey Beardsley exhibition held at Tate Britain from 4 March to 20 September 2020. Growing up in the 1970s, there was no escaping these influential prints. My mother had a poster of The Peacock Skirt on the wall at home and I always loved looking at the intricate patterns within the image.

E.426-1972 Salome, Plate V- The Peacock Skirt from a portfolio of 17 plates; by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98); published by John Lane; English; 1907. Line-block print.

Admittedly, before visiting this exhibition, I hadn’t given much thought to Beardsley’s prints and how they were influenced. When looking at the exhibition guide on the Tate website, I came across this information:

‘Japanese woodblock prints (Ukiyo-e) were also an important influence. Beardsley adopted their graphic conventions. His new style included areas of flat pattern contrasted with precisely drawn figures against abstracted or empty backgrounds. Like several artist at this time, he also favoured the distinctive, tall and narrow format of traditional Japanese kakemono scrolls.’

‘In a letter to a friend, Beardsley bragged, ‘I struck for myself an entirely new method of drawing and composition, something suggestive of Japan … The subjects were quite mad and a little indecent.’’

(Aubrey Beardsley – Exhibition Guide | Tate, 2020)

According to the exhibition guide, in the image La Femme Incomprise – Ink on Paper (1892), Beardsley:

‘Borrowed from different Japanese art forms in
this drawing. The woman’s hairstyle, kimono and large and
ferocious cat all seem to derive from Japanese prints. By
contrast, the panels of flat ornament, in which leaves, stems
and lilies stand against a dark background, seem more
closely related to those on Japanese lacquerware. To achieve
this effect, Beardsley worked ‘in reserve’, a technique which
involved leaving the white paper untouched. He titled this ‘The
Misunderstood Woman’ but the wider meaning here is unclear.’

It was that phrase ‘leaving the white paper untouched’ that sparked the same thoughts about the spaces in between. They are just as important as the lines within Beardsley’s prints. This aspect is also reflected in Myoung Ho Lee’s and Tacita Dean’s photographs of trees.

References

Tate. 2020. Aubrey Beardsley – Exhibition Guide | Tate. [online] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/aubrey-beardsley/exhibition-guide&gt; [Accessed 19 October 2020].

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1 Posts

AGM62 Tacita Dean Crowhurst II 2007 20 October 2020

This haunting image of a yew tree is one of which I keep thinking about. The piece features a photograph of one of the oldest living trees in the UK. Called Crowhurst II (2007), it is one of a series of ‘painted trees’ that Dean began in 2005.

The piece is almost life size, printed on three pieces of photographic paper. The photograph has been painted with white gouache so the tree stands out from its surroundings. It is only when you get closer to the work that muted details of the graveyard in which the tree is situated can be seen.

Another, probably totally unintentional effect, is that of the gallery lights reflecting on the surface of the paper.

These are smartphone images I took when at the gallery. It looks as if a full moon is appearing in the branches of the tree.

According the Among The Trees brochure, Dean was:

‘Prompted by her discovery of a collection of postcards of France’s forest of Fontainebleau while travelling in Japan. Dean began researching the oldest living trees in the UK. One, an 800-year old oak, stood not far from her childhood home in Kent. Another, the yew pictured above, shared its name with Donald Crowhurst, an ill-fated amateur sailor who entered a round-the-world yacht race in 1968, never to return.’

(Among The Trees. 2020 pp. 148)

Majesty 2006 Tacita Dean born 1965 Presented by Tate Members 2008 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T12805

When digging further into Dean’s tree images, I came across this background information and quote on the Tate website:

‘Dean’s methodology is a combination of idea-driven research with an openness to chance, accident, coincidence and poetic associations which she allows to direct her processes. She has explained what drew her to ‘old and deformed trees’ in an interview with the novelist Jeffrey Eugenides:

I made a photograph for an edition for October magazine recently called Fontainebleau Postcard, and I had to phone them up to check the title, and it reminded me that I had found all these old postcards of The Forest of Fontainebleau when I was in Kitakyushu in Japan, and I remember thinking that’s so strange, why would they have so many postcards of Fontainebleau? And then I went onto the internet and I looked up the Forest of Fontainebleau, which lead me to the famous oak of Fontainebleau, which in turn led me to look up old oak trees and then the oldest of trees in England, the yew tree. Before I knew it, the tiny village where I grew up came up as the place where there once was a 1400-year old yew tree. I always need that tiny thread to get myself going.’

(Quoted in Jeffrey Eugenides, ‘Tacita Dean’, Bomb 95, spring 2006, http://www.bombsite.com/issues/95/articles/2801

(‘Majesty’, Tacita Dean, 2006 | Tate, 2020)

Dean’s methodology is similar to my own – find a thread and continue following.

The post also features information on the previous work of Dean’s that influenced these images:

‘In 2005, Dean created a series of Deformed Trees (reproduced Vischer and Friedli, pp.101–3), painting over the background, and sometimes also the foreground, of old black and white postcards depicting trees. The postcards came from a collection she had been acquiring from fleamarkets all over the world since the mid 1990s. The application of white onto a darker ground has its origin in Dean’s work with a series of drawings on blackboards initiated while she was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in London (MA 1990–2). Her work Sixteen Blackboards – a grid of sixteen square photographs documenting the progression of imagery, including drawing, writing, collage and rubbing out on a single black panel (reproduced Vischer and Friedli, pp.56–65) – featured in the Slade’s 1992 postgraduate exhibition. Elements of this, developed further by such works as The Roaring Forties: Seven Boards in Seven Days 1997 (T07613) – a series of drawings in white chalk on seven actual blackboards – are the precursors of Majesty and the group of photographs to which it belongs. The large areas of white overpainting on the photographs echo the patches of white left on the blackboards after rubbing out the drawings and text inscribed with chalk.’

(‘Majesty’, Tacita Dean, 2006 | Tate, 2020)

References

Among The Trees. (2020). London: Hayward Gallery Publishing

Pointdironie.com. 2020. Le Point D’ironie – N°36 Tacita Dean. [online] Available at: <http://www.pointdironie.com/in/36/dean_en.php&gt; [Accessed 23 November 2020].

Tate. 2020. ‘Majesty’, Tacita Dean, 2006 | Tate. [online] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dean-majesty-t12805&gt; [Accessed 20 October 2020].

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AGM62 An Introduction to Critical Ecology 19 October 2020

Critical Ecology – a phrase I hadn’t encountered before, but what is it? While waiting for a selection of books to arrive, I discovered a video by Dr Paige West that would enlighten me further.

According to the spoken introduction, Dr West ‘traces the history of the theory and how it emerged from the study of isolated communities and their connections to external structures that impact their social lives. Dr West defines political ecology as a critical approach that sees environmental change as caused by both natural and human structures with differential impacts for individuals within those structures. Dr West highlights the role that female academics have played in advancing the theory and methods of political ecology and then focuses on the influence and ideas from Foucault including discourse, power, and discipline. Dr West then draws from examples of her own work in Papua New Guinea to exemplify the ongoing use of the political ecology frame starting with characterising contemporary communities connected to the outside world and continuing to explore copy commodity chains as one form of local global relationships. Dr West ends by discussing updated understandings of Marx’s ideas of accumulation and dispossession and suggests that there are both material and non-material forms of these tendencies in modern global economic structures.’

I’ve made some notes so far for reference and will be revisiting this video to make further ones.

In the video, Dr West highlights a selection of academics writing on the following aspects of Political Ecology:

  • Post Structuralist Political Ecology
    • Arturo Escobar
    • Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
  • Feminist Political Ecology
    • Dianne Roucheleau
    • Barbara Thomas-Slayter
    • Esther Wangari
    • Kim Tallbear
  • Place-Based Political Ecology
    • Aletta Biersack
      • Reads the above then says ‘this is really interesting, but there’s this new work on the importance of place in anthropology coming out of the 1990s’ and she says people’s attachment to place is one of the most important things in people’s lives; how is people’s socio-cultural attachment and an understanding of place being altered by these kinds of multi-scale-ular interactions? So very specifically, how does someone thinking about a particular place as ‘sacred’ or ‘not-sacred’, how is that affected by these multiple scales of influence?
  • Ethnographic Political Ecology
    • Paige West
    • Molly Doane
    • Nicole Peterson

The one that jumped at me initially was Biersack’s Place-Based Political Ecology and the relevance of people’s attachment to place. Could this be connected to how I feel about Bushy Park and my relationship with this particular ‘place’?

References:

West, P. 2020. An Introduction to Critical Ecology [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWfggb1ezw&gt; [Accessed 16 October 2020].

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1 Posts

AGM62 Myoung Ho Lee 19 October 2020

While reading David Campany’s recently published book, On Photographs, I came across a pertinent section in connection with trees and photography. Using the series entitled ‘Tree’ by the South Korean Photographer Myoung Ho Lee and one of the images as an example, Campany states that the series can be seen as:

‘A meditation upon the artificial terms and conventions by which photographic images can become knowledge.’

(Campany, D. 2020 pp. 116)

Figure 1: Myoung Ho Lee, Tree #3, 2006 – From The Series ‘Tree’, 2006-2012

Myong Ho Lee erected a giant white backdrop which Campany describes as:

‘Turning space into a stage upon which the tree presents itself (or performs itself ) for the camera. The framing is wide, allowing us to see not just the isolated tree but also the whole drama of its isolation.’

(Campany, D. 2020 pp. 116)

I had also seen another of Myoung Ho Lee’s Tree series at the Among The Trees exhibition when I visited back in September 2020.

Figure 1: Myoung Ho Lee, Tree #2, 2012 – From The Series ‘Tree’, 2006-2012

In the exhibition’s accompanying brochure, Myoung Ho Lee asserts:

‘It’s as if the tree unites all: the ground, the sky and man in between. In East Asian philosophy the universe breaks down into three parts: Chun-Ji-In. Chun means the sky, Ji means the ground and In means human. Since a tree connects all three, I feel very much that a tree is like a universe.’

(Myong Ho Lee. 2020 pp. 106)

The brochure also gave a brief background into Myong Ho Lee’s tree photography, which resonated with my own passion for this subject. As mentioned in his Artist Statement, Myoung Ho Lee:

‘Began photographing trees because they are ‘something you see everyday, but we often overlook them; we forget their value and just pass by.’ Since 2004 he has focused attention on individual trees in the landscape by treating them like studio portraits, dissociating them from their immediate context and spotlighting their true shapes and forms.’

(Rugoff, R, 2020. pp 155)

The statement continues to describe Myoung Ho Lee’s practice motivation:

‘Lee selects his subjects for their personalities and patiently observes them through different seasons and at varying times of the day before deciding how to portray them.’

(Rugoff, R, 2020. pp 155

Next, the method:

‘In a complex performance-like process involving heavy machinery and skilled production crews, he isolates a chosen tree from its background by installing an expanse of white canvas behind it. Though evidence of this elaborate mechanical intervention is removed during retouching, the backdrop retains traces of the hoisting operation.’

(Rugoff, R, 2020. pp 155

The method results with the image of the tree being framed ‘naturally’ by the tree’s actual habitat.

What I found interesting is comparing the way in which Campany uses Lee’s images of trees in relation to photography to Lee’s motivations. Lee is portraying trees in particular way (philosophically, sensually and metaphorically), while Campany is taking a more literal approach.

Campany states that:

‘Being a medium of specifics means photography is not well suited to generalities. A photograph can record the uniqueness of an object but it cannot designate the general category to which it might belong. What makes it useful in compiling an inventory makes it quite useless in defining the group.’

(Campany, D. 2020 pp. 116)

Campany continues with his stance in putting forward the example of images found in books to be used for identifying plants. Campany purports that although photography can record a specimen, but not the species, as each individual specimen is a variation of that species. Campany states that botanical identification is better served by drawing than by photography as:

‘The skill of a botanical illustrator is to look at several specimens and then produce an average. The average does not exist in reality but it is useful to have it.’

(Campany, D, 2020 pp. 116)

Campany takes his observations further by stating that:

‘Photographs of specimens are, of course, extremely useful in their own way. They show not the average or the ideal but the actuality. A photograph of a plant might be able to show an instance of mutation by which a deviation is made from the species average. It might be able to show the specific effects of the environment on that particular specimen.’

(Campany, D, 2020 pp. 116)

The most pertinent comment that Campany makes in relation to choosing Lee’s work is:

‘To ease study, a specimen is best isolated from its surroundings.’

(Campany, D, 2020 pp. 116)

But the point of Lee’s work is not to make study of a particular specimen easier through isolation – it is to make an individual tree ‘visible’ through isolation. It also is make the viewer contemplate and mediate on the concept of ‘tree’ as a single entity and not just part of the landscape.

I also questioned my own motivations for this project when comparing these two viewpoints. I realised that am not looking to create ‘literal’ interpretations of particular individual trees within Bushy Park. Although I have spent the past seven years taking photographs of many of the trees within the park, I’m not seeking the perfect ‘tree’ picture. There is more to consider about the ecology of this managed environment and how the trees are part of it. Also, how trees and their ecology are portrayed artistically within photography.

References

Campany, D. (2020). On Photographs. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Rugoff, R., Among The Trees. (2020). London: Hayward Gallery Publishing.

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AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1 Posts

AGM62 Bushy Park 16 October 2020

With the words ‘take more photographs’ ringing in my ears, it was back to the park. My intention was to take shots of the trees with the sunlight shining through the Autumn colours. However, I was thwarted by the clouds and a grey sky. As a result, I resorted to focusing on observations and sub-conscious feelings.

My first stop was Chestnut Avenue.

I then stopped to take some further images through the Split tree:

Instead of heading to Woodland Gardens, I then took a detour to a copse that I only explored recently.

This is how it looks from the inside (smartphone shot).

I was using my 24mm-70mm lens at this stage and took some initial shots at 53mm.

I then set the lens at 70mm.

I then had an idea. What would it look it if I stood in the middle of the copse and took a series of images on the ’round’. I took two sets of these in two different locations using the 70mm lens setting.

Set 1

Set 2

I then walked towards Woodland Gardens, but before entering I took a couple of shots of these trees

According to the Royal Parks’ website, Bushy Park is one of the best sites in London for mistletoe. This parasitic plant is rare or absent in the the other Royal Parks and it grows very well on Limes and Hawthorns.

Woodland Gardens – Pheasantry Plantation

After a flask of hot tea and some ginger biscuits, I contemplated the park while sitting in this location.

I made some notes:

Bushy Park:

  • Logical, but not logical
  • Boundary – straight lines and curves
  • Lines of trees
  • Circles of trees
  • Plantations – SSSI (Special Sites of Scientific Interest)
  • Taking shots ‘in the round’ – what happens when images are in line?
  • B&W vs. Colour
  • Leaves vs. Branches
  • Space in between

After this meditation, I continued my walk through the gardens.

Nothing particularly exciting, but nice to capture the Autumn colours.

Woodland Gardens – The Waterhouse Plantation

I then visited The Waterhouse Plantation. On entering, I took shot of the map, which gives further details of the different areas of the plantation.

This is a smartphone shot of the area I focused on. I changed the lens to the 85mm as I wanted to try a different perspective.

While looking up, I noticed one tree that stood out from the surrounding ones.

I then captured some of the Autumn leaves close up on a lower tree.

The next two captures that caught my eye.

My next stop was the Hornbeam Avenue, another of my favourite spots. I then took three sequences ‘on the round’.

Hornbeam ‘On The Round’ Set 1

Hornbeam ‘On The Round’ Set 2

Hornbeam ‘On The Round’ Set 3

After processing the images, I created a few Black & White conversions. The originals are on the left, B&W on the right:

Chestnut Avenue

Split Tree

Autumn Leaves – The Waterhouse Plantation

References:

Rhs.org.uk. 2020. Mistletoe. [online] Available at: <https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=134&gt; [Accessed 18 October 2020].

The Royal Parks. 2020. Trees. [online] Available at: <https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/bushy-park/things-to-see-and-do/flora-and-fauna/trees&gt; [Accessed 18 October 2020].

Categories
AGM62 Photography Research Project Stage 1 Posts

AGM62 Bushy Park 9 October 2020

The plan for this session was to focus on ‘the space between’. The sky was clear and the sun shining, so I wanted to check where the light was and how it affected both the trees and resulting images.

I arrived at the park at 10.15am and initially focused on the Tree Avenue, taking images from different perspectives and focal lengths. I had taken my 24mm-70mm zoom lens for this purpose.

While taking photos, I noticed there were certain viewpoints that reminded me of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. This is where the leaves from adjacent trees would reach and just about touch.

I then started to experiment with depth of field, focusing on the leaves in the foreground.

I then realised that the tree which had split and fallen during my last visit had been totally felled and sliced apart. This reminded me that things are always changing in this park and, if you spot it, shoot it.

In order to find a contrast with the Tree Avenue, I then went to the Woodland Gardens. This area of the park is split into two distinct areas, the Pheasantry Plantation and Water House Plantation. There is also a patch between these two areas with its own concentration of trees. Each of these areas has their own distinctive characters.

Pheasantry Plantation

The Space Between

Water House Plantation

While taking photos, I played with the focus.

While walking in the Water House Plantation, I contemplated the differences between this part of Bushy Park and the Tree Avenue. The majority of the gaps between trees were more chaotic and less organised in these gardens than the formal and evenly spaced avenue. As both are managed, could there be a particular reason for this? Something to research further.

At this stage of the project, I hadn’t had the time to view and analyse the results in great detail. What I did do, however, is the following Black & White conversion of one of the Tree Avenue images.

This conversion reminded me of, to a certain extent, and infrared shot.

When looking closer, I noticed a particular detail.

More to contemplate, more to explore.

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