During the time in my life where one finds places that they can categorize as their favorite places, I didn't really explore that much. Plus, while I like natural aesthetics, I prefer modern architecture and design. That means I don't have many favorite places in nature I can visit often. I mean, I do have favorite locations, picturesque places I could just put a house there and be perfectly alone, but those places aren't ones I visit often outside of my mind. For example, there is a rock shoal in Bells Bay near Charlevoix that just screams a portal to another world. Yet, I only go up there in the summertime, since a four hour drive separates Ann Arbor and Charlevoix. In fact, the closest nature place I enjoy is the quiet serenity of my grandfather's house, which was a one hour dive through awful weather conditions, so it was off the table during the photo-shoot days. So instead of picking places connected to me, I elected to go around Ann Arbor and find interesting shots, whether or not I had even stepped foot in that area in my life. These 11 pictures are the result of this.
"One of Many", James Lock-Arnold, iPhone 8, 2020
"A Grand Journey Awaits", James Lock-Arnold, iPhone 8, 2020
This first photoset was shot in the forest near Pionner High School. Even though I did say my aesthetic isn't rooted in nature that much, I do have some outliers in that regard. Particularly, I love forests and large fields. Maybe it's because when I was young, I did visit my grandpa alot, and he lived in an area with a forest and field I walked around in. Or maybe it's because I love the etherial nature of deep forests and untouched fields. Whatever the reason, I decided before shooting to try to take pictures in fields and forests. For this photoset, I wanted to convey how deep and majestic forests are, what interesting things lie waiting to be found. For the first photo, I wanted to emphasize a small branch compared to the majesty of the forest in general, so I put the twig in focus and the backdrop of trees out of focus, which looked even nicer when I added a filter to just the backdrop. For the second, I wanted to focus on how large the forest was, so I took a photo leading directly into the main part of the forest.
"Pathway", James Lock-Arnold, iPhone 8, 2020
"Variation", James Lock-Arnold, iPhone 8, 2020
This is the second photoset I took. I shot this one around a church to the Southwest of Ann Arbor (specifically, the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church). When I first arrived on location, I saw a patch of trees that I decided to revolve a photoset around. For the first photo, I felt that setting some of the trees in a line would look interesting, and I really like how one lead to the other. The second was born when I found a small stick poking out of the ground next to a comparatively massive tree, and it really gave me a feeling of contrast I loved, so I framed the stick in the foreground overlooking the tree, both set against the harsh blue of the sky. For both of these, I wanted to invoke less of a feeling, but more of an idea of contrast and similarity.
"Expanse", Jenna Lock-Arnold, iPhone 8, 2020
"Restricted", Jenna Lock-Arnold, iPhone 8, 2020
This third photoset (4th chronologically) was shot in a field southwest of Ann Arbor. I took it here because as we were driving around, I found a large quarry nearby, which was unfortunately guarded by a no trespassing sign. Still determined to get a good photo, we moved until the fence disappeared and I immediately went to get photos. These two photos of a snowy barren field are the result of this expedition. I really wanted to use the untouched nature of the field to convey a feeling of stillness. For the first one, I did this by trying to find a spot where there was just a plane of snow and the sun. so I could use the tree and bumps in the terrain as contrast. For the second, I wanted to put the hay bale in as emphasis, so I tried to use the shrubbery to block out everything except the bale.
The fourth photoset I took (the third chronologically) was at the same church in the southwest of Ann Arbor. Instead of a patch of trees overlooking an overgrown, this photoset was taken in a gully next to the church. For all of these photos, I really wanted to focus on specifics of nature, so I got really close up to things that I found interesting. I would then set my lens focus all the way back, so everything behind it was blurred. I feel that this also let me make a contrast between the sharp foreground, the blurry midground, and the solid color background.
The final photoset I took was in the far southwest of Ann Arbor, in an overgrown field. This area was the farthest from civilization we got that day, and I wanted to focus on that aspect of remoteness and isolation in this photoset. For the first set, I wanted to have one of the plants growing on the bump in the terrain overlook the field and forest beyond it, which I feel also gave a really nice close for the entire group of photos. For the second, I wanted to focus more on the tree sitting on the bump, which really gave the photo a wistful quality, especially when I added the artistic filter to make it look like a painting. Overall, I feel both photos really send off this piece well.