A Level Exam 2024 - Observe Seek Challenge - Hokusai Woodcut Prints - Views of Mount Fuji

 Hokusai produced a series of 36 Woodcut prints between 1830 -  1832 showing views of Mount Fuji in Japan. The Prints were so successful and popular that he produced a further 10 prints on the same theme

Some, like the Great Wave, a symbol of the power of nature with a view point that puts us in a choppy sea far off the coast of Japan are famous. Some use very interesting compositions with use of negative shapes and the Mountain in the background almost like a Wheres Wally.

Mount Fuji seen from a range of different viewpoints is an interesting visual device to connect together the series of prints as well as showing how central the large mountain is in that part of Japan

Sequence Photography

 

Duane Michals, Chance Meeting, 1970, gelatin silver print

Joe McNally - traditional Slow Exposure

Solve Sundsbo Norwegian Photographer - Dramatic Lighting and Shadows

 

Sølve Sundsbø (solvesundsbo.com)

Jean-Yves Lemoigne Strobe Photography

 

https://www.jeanyveslemoigne.com/home/

Gjon Mili Movement Strobe Photograpy

Gjon Mili (November 28, 1904 – February 14, 1984) was an Albanian-American Photographer

Multiple Exposure photographs taken using a Strobe

 Gene Krupa Jazz Drummer

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/dec/16/flash-forward-gjon-milis-amazing-stroboscopic-photographs-in-pictures

Hand Coloured Photography and Early Colour Photography

 Black and White or Monochrome Photography dates from around the middle of the 19th Century. Lots of different photographers used different systems to capture the first images onto plates 

Roger Fenton 1854. Early example of War Photography for Newspapers was this shot of 'The Valley Of Death' so called because of the Charge Of The Light Brigade during The Crimean War. This photo has become infamous too, because other images taken at the same time show that Fenton and his assistants moved more of the shot and canon balls that had fallen onto the road to make the photo look more dramatic

Dorothy Catherine Draper by her brother John William Draper 1839 or 1840 

Mary Dillwyn Wales 1853

Accurate Colour Photography using film for cameras was invented by Kodak in 1935 and called Kodachrome. 

However since the early days of Black and White Photography Photographers and Artists had been hand colouring their monochrome photos using ink or watercolour. These transparent washes of colour allowed the tones of the original photo to show through

Hand coloured early deguerreotype plate photography hand coloured J Garnier 1850

Leonard Frank 1935 Hand coloured photograph

Lots of Artists and Photographers hand colour photos using inks, paint and now photoshop. Be careful when you are looking at examples. It may be an old photo that has been hand coloured recently

Early colour photography used a system of prepared plates and a colour system called autochrome. The colours were not accurate the the starch in the potato cells used to grap colour favouring reds and not seeing blue accurately

This is an autochrome photo taken on the beach in Dorset in 1913. The picture is of Christine Bevan aged 16/17 and was taken by her neighbour and amateur photographer Mervyn O'Gorman. Autochrome required a long exposure of over a minute which has given the background a soft focus and the low aperture to grab lots of light had pushed everthing behind the model out of focus. These photos have a real charm though and look surprisingly modern.

More of these Photographs

Rosanna Webster - digital collage with Photos

 

Rosanna Webster is a UK Illustrator and Photographer who discovered the possibilities of digital collage while studying Illustration at Brighton University

Rosanna Webster Website

Digital Animation between different images creates an interesting effect

Before and after stages to create collaged image

Magazine commission from Dior using layering