Photographer #1

Nicholas Gooden 
Nicholas Gooden is an urban landscape photographer from the UK, in his work he focuses on the landscape of London. Within his work we see a lot of man made work (as in every urban area). I picked this photographer because I was intrigued by his use of technique when producing images of landscapes. I think by using visible editing, it reflects how the natural world is being editing into urban landscapes. I also picked this photographer because I really like the cityscapes he has produced of London.

In this image Gooden has took the landscape of London Underground and used blurring to show movement. I like this image because even though it is edited and therefore considered fake, this image holds such truth as everyone who has traveled via London Underground is aware of the rush that surrounds it. The use of blurring to show movement in this image is emphasizing the amount of movement and shows them to be moving a lot faster than what they are. I also like how this image has been put into black and white as it does not show the colours of what people are wearing, or even their faces, therefore none of their personality, this speaking saying that everyone is simply a rushed movement.

This photo has influenced me to give both camera techniques and editing techniques more opportunity within my photography work as it makes the picture more interesting to look at, but it can also represent something specific within the picture. It can speak to people and create a thought track, thus making people want to study your work more so. When looking at techniques to put into my work, this picture has influenced me to use a changed shutter speed, or perhaps multiple exposure, to convey movement and expand and broaden the options of aspects which I could look at, and still make it obvious to the audience.

In this picture Gooden has changed the shutter speed of the camera , and moved the camera whilst the runner is moving to produce a focused background to the image, but kept the runner blurred, emphasizing the image of his movement. The use of the aspect of movement in this image has broke this picture up, both the runner and the background contains bright colour therefore becomes a bit heavy on the eyes, however by blurring the image, it sort of makes the runner stand out and suggests he is going faster than what he is. Another aspect which could be suggested within this image, is the aspect of everyday life,in urban areas, people running is very normal, and again suggest an always moving lifestyle. I love this image as I am so used to seeing landscape photography simply being a field or a beach with the same colours, however I think this image is more captivating as something is actually happening within it, also I think with the use of a person, it is easier to produce a story, something I enjoy.

This image has influenced me to use colour more as within landscape photography black and white is often used to produce a feeling when looking at the photo, however I find the use of colour within the landscape much more interesting, and more natural and believeable in a sense. In this image the use of colour is so lovely as it is graffiti and the colours used are very gripping to an audience. This photo has again also influenced me to use movement to portray lifestyle and to perhaps venture into lifestyle as an aspect for my project. I am overly influenced by Gooden's urban landscape work and it influences me to simply shoot what I see when out in London as an aspect will find itself after.

In this image Gooden has taken a picture of the London Eye however has used multiple exposure to produce the London Eye inside the London Eye, I think this camera technique has been used perfectly and in a very original way. When multiple exposure is used, I have mainly seen people only place things side by side, however Gooden has incorporated the cameras zoom to produce what almost could be described to look like the vision of a different dimension. I think the use of black and white was ideal for the different dimension vibe of this photo as it added to the faintness when the options within black and white have clearly been played with to give it a more faint grayscale look.


This image has influenced me to again consider techniques when going out and shooting and perhaps with thought, a whole shoot could be created on the basis of technique, for example if I did shoots like this with the use of multiple exposure I could do an aspect of repetition. As I have the advantage of living a very short amount of time from London I am influenced to do this shoot of the London Eye however advance it by perhaps creating more of a multiple exposure, for example, putting more circles inside of the two circles, I think this could also create depth as the audience searches for an end inside the circles.

In this image Gooden has used selective colour on an underground tube station to highlight the place of where he is. This is the main focal point of an image however the technique of blurring has also been used as you can see to the right a train pulling in/ taking off. I think the use if selective colour breaks up the image and makes it interesting because without it it is simply a black and white image with a train that shows movement, that isnt the focal point of the image as it is out of the framing, whereas the sign is large and meets in the middle of the image, making the framing show that it is the focal point.

This image has influenced me to consider framing when I do my photography project so I can highlight what is meant to be seen/ what is the most important part of my picture. I think by including framing within my work and perhaps also incorporating selective colour within my work to show the focal point of the image, may send a message which I want the audience to see, however the way they decode it and what they end up with may be completely different to what I encoded.

Overall I really like this photographer and I think the main aspect he focuses on with his urban landscape photography is the use of techniques, I think this is quite different to other photographers I looked up on in my research log and makes his work stand out. He uses a lot of black and white but sometimes I feel this neutralizes the urban landscape and makes it a lot more calmer than the rush it is. For my future photoshoots I will definitely consider Goodens work and try to incorporate the techniques he displays within my own work.