Landscape: Activity 3

Activity 3

Compare and contrast a landscape photograph with a landscape painting. Discuss the expressive possibilities of each medium using your examples to illustrate your argument. Choose your examples carefully as representative of the medium.

Example: The two images below are similar in subject matter, how are they similar? How are they different? What options does a painter have compared to the options a photographer has in terms of expression.

David Edwards
A Monsoon Storm In The Grand Canyon

Ed Mel
Ascending Storm

My Response

Al Levenson
Montezuma's Castle

Teresa Beyer
Montezuma Castle II

The subject for both of the images above is obviously Montezuma Castle, but the two pictures are easy to tell apart from one another. The top picture is a photograph and the bottom one is a painting. Both images take place at the same time of day, but with different angles and colors. These are some of the options a painter has that a photographer doesn't. Painters can choose the colors they work with to make the picture, while a photographer would have to edit colors and brightness during post processing. Another one of the options a painter has is perspective. Since Montezuma Castle is a national monument, the top picture is the closest someone is legally allowed to get to the site and capturing a close up picture is difficult unless one has the proper equipment (I would know, I use to live there). I guess some things just turn up better in a painting than they would in a picture.