August 2018. Landscape Photo Project to Artistically Photograph Utah’s Canyonlands

August 2018. For the second time, we went to take landscape photographs in the Canyonlands National Park in the state of Utah in the United States.

Our goal was to create black and white landscape photographs to continue our great landscape project in the United States.

To photograph Canyonlands, two options are possible, and we explored both solutions. Our first is to photograph landscapes from the top of the Canyonlands’ rims. The views are impressive, and our photographs reveal the enormous size of the faults which extend as far as the eye can see. Our second option is to venture into the canyons via pebble trails. The use of an off-road vehicle with a high clearance height is necessary. The views are completely different from this perspective, because the photographs are taken at the foot of the cracks. The gradients extend for hundreds of meters.

This year was very difficult because of the devastating California fires, which produced vast amounts of smoke. For several days, we waited for the wind to flush out the fumes from these fires that had drifted into Utah. Until the smoke was gone, we could not shoot our photos.

The Canyonlands are perfectly suited for black and white photography. The shapes, textures, and structures are perfect. For our entire visit, we stayed in the area “Island in the Sky”.

The most notable locations are Grand Point Overlook and Green River Overlook.

For this project, we tried to account for the immensity of the landscapes and the special shapes of the canyons and faults. Over time, the Colorado River dug into the rock, creating an extraordinary winding course. One of the most remarkable points of Island in the Sky is Horseshoe Bend, which illuminates the splendor of the Colorado River.

Photographing the Canyonlands is not as easy as it may seem. The landscapes are huge. Capturing a specific point within one photo is often difficult. The look is lost in the immensity of the natural decorations. One of the problems in the region concerns the shadows which appear in the morning and in the evening because of the high altitude. These shadows cause unsightly effects in photos. Thus, the morning and twilight hours are not well suited to photography.

Nevertheless, we recognize that we were lucky during our visit because we had a lot of clouds in the sky. We often refer to the clouds as the language of the sky. Clouds allow us to translate our emotions and convey messages in our photographs.

Finally, our 10-day project was successful because we managed to create enough photographs for a new collection of art prints.

All the photographs we created during the trip are dedicated to create new fine art collections around the world » ou « around the mind ».

Click on one of the pictures to access a gallery.

Landscape photo project at Canyonlands in Utah State in United States.

Why and How Using Negative and Positive Spaces to Judge Fine Art Photos

Judging an artistic photograph is complex and difficult. Indeed, there are many detailed criteria that one must keep in mind. I often rely on a specific method that is constructed on the roles that are created through the positive and negative spaces within the image.

A black-winged stilt in Danube Delta in Romania. Fine art Photograph.

A fine art photograph of a black-winged stilt in Danube Delta in Romania.

An Emotional Act: The Practice of Judging a Fine Art Photo
Different Methods of Judgment
Judging Through the Use of Negative and Positive Spaces
Finally

An Emotional Act: The Practice of Judging a Fine Art Photo

To judge an artistic photograph, an observer can enact different methods that range from a direct objective to a subtle subjective. Often, I tend to think that focusing on the most objective is the best way to make a judgment. This is certainly true in theory, but in practice, it is often wrong.

Indeed, as fine art photographer, I have often found that the price of a work does not depend on objective technical criteria, but rather, on the emotion felt by the buyer when he first experiences the photograph.

When a person has a crush on an art print, it is a complex emotional and visual encounter between a human being and a work of art. In no case does this person make a detailed and precise analysis of the work. The buyer will only buy according to the time of a glance that lasted a fraction of a second, a click of a mouse that has occurred in the depths of his being.

A viewer can connect with an art print because memories suddenly rise to the surface of his conscious memory. A personal connection has been established. This immaterial link, totally incomprehensible to other observers, gives a value to the work.

I found that for most of the time that is spent appraising the photo, the judgment itself is an emotional act that has absolutely nothing to do with technique.

Different Methods of Judgment

An observer can utilize a full range of technical tools to judge an artistic photograph:

He can use the five-point method: contrast, light, sharpness, colors, and creativity. This technique is mostly used when viewing an image on a digital screen.
He can use the ten-point method: the work is presented as a final copy. It is printed and framed. It is a judgment in real life.
He can judge a series of photos. In this case, the observer judges the coherence of an artistic approach, a style, and an artistic approach with the respect of a true vision that flows through several pieces, and not just one.

All these methods have one thing in common; they are each analytical. They are based only on technical criteria. They are objective because the emotional feeling of the observer is totally absent.

Judging Through the Use of Negative and Positive Spaces

When an observer looks at and analyzes an art photograph, he looks for a main subject which will arouse interest. This is called the positive space of a photo. All other photographic elements, such as the background or subtopics, are of lesser importance, and will always be identified in a second step. These minor elements constitute the negative space.

The negative space supports the visual impact of the positive space.

In my ACANP method, which I use to create my artistic photographs and to animate my nature photography workshops, I place equal importance on the positive and negative spaces. I often judge a photograph the way a photographer would highlight these two spaces. The greater the harmony between the two, the more obvious it will be that the photo is successful.

This is one of the methods I use to judge photographs. I often use it to complement the ten-point method. Indeed, it allows me to bring a criterion of qualitative judgment according to the creativity without judging the emotional role, which is very subjective.

Negative space is a difficult concept to understand and apprehend for many photographers. For example, in wildlife photography, it may be the habitat or environment of an animal. The negative space can consist of a certain graphic plane within the photo, such as the imagery present in front, or the background illuminating the main subject.

Finally

To judge an artistic photograph by considering only negative and positive space is an additional tool in the vast range of judgment criteria. It is interesting to me because it allows a photographer to better identify the creativity of the artist while remaining objective to the image.

Be humble, patient, constant, persevering, and persistent because the road to excellence is long.