I enjoyed looking at Justin Partyka’s website and images (Partyka, n.d.). They are closer to where I feel that my interests have moved to rather than the stereotypical landscape image such as the example I included in Exercise 1.1 of this course.
It does raise the question, are his images landscape or documentary but, since I feel that they provide a view of an area and its ‘feel’, I think that it is acceptable to say that these are landscape. Partyka lives in Norfolk and sources many of him images from that area (Partyka, 2011).
His collection Black Fen which is , for which I have shown a number of his images below shows a mixture of, perhaps, a more typical image (see Fig 1), but also features of the objects in the landscape (see Fig 2), the people in the landscape (See Fig 3), and less classically composed images that create an impression of the area as a whole, but whilst still showing some of the landscape’s feature or the objects in it (see Fig 4).
Fig. 1. Image from Black Fen (1975) 
Fig. 2. Image from Black Fen (1975) 
Fig. 3. Image from Black Fen (1975) 
Fig. 4. Image from Black Fen (1975) 
Fig.5. Image from Black Fen (1975)
On of my favourite images is Fig. 5 because it shows the landscape, part of a person that works there, and shows what the worker is doing, all in one frame. This is a very clever way of portraying all of these aspects in one go.
Looking at some of Partyka’s other collections, they all contain this variety of shots. I think the editing process is key, looking at a pair of images, one might think that they do not go together. But, I never feel that there are ‘odd ones out’ because every image is different from the others, as opposed to eight being the same and two different for example. That said, there is a consistency in colouring, and, when the images are a little similar, they are framed consistently.
Learnings
A landscape set does not have to be just a collection of ‘scenic’ views
It is possible to create a cohesive set even when all of the images in the set are different from each other.
Consistency of attributes such as colouring can help create a cohesion within a set.
Bibliography
Partyka, J., n.d. Home. [online] Justinpartyka.com. Available at: <http://justinpartyka.com> [Accessed 18 October 2020].
Partyka, J., 2011. Black Fen. [online] PlacesJournal.org. Available at: <https://placesjournal.org/article/black-fen> [Accessed 18 October 2020].
Figures
Figures 1 – 5. Partykas, J., 1975. Black Fen. [image] Available at: <http://justinpartyka.com/photographs/black-fen/> [Accessed 18 October 2020].