1. Unit 57: Photography and
Photographic Practice
Research of other
photographers work

2. Photographer: Philip Hyde
• Philip Hyde 1921-2006
• He was a pioneer landscape photographer, he actually
attended Ansel Adams programme at the California
School of Fine Arts. He photographed for a famous
book ‘this is dinosaur: Echo Park Country’ in 1995 after
studying under some very famous landscape artists to
get there, for example Ansel Adams and Edward
Weston and Minor White. Philip unlike Ansel Adams
used a lot of colour and made sure he captured all
types of it, and this is shown through his work. He was
born in San Francisco and was a west coast landscape
photographer. He made his first landscape photograph
in 1942. His photos helped to capture the Grand
Canyon, the Wind River Range and Canyonlands, these
are all national treasures. He photographed for 58 years
until he was 79 years old. People say that his work was
always ahead of its time and that his unique
photographic vision and composition are still used and
looked up to today.
• Two of his most famous and talked about images are
his 1964 colour, “Cathedral In The Desert, Glen
Canyon,” that American Photo Magazine named one of
the top 100 photographs of the 20th Century and “The
Minarets From Tarn Above Lake Ediza,” a vintage black
and white photograph, made in what is now the Ansel
Adams Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Ansel Adams said that he liked this 1950 photograph of
the Minarets better than his own.

3. Examples of photographs Marble Gorge, Grand Canyon,
Arizona, 1967
Mt. Denali, Reflection Pond, Denali
National Park, Alaska 1971
Lava, Flowers,
Craters of the
Moon National
Monument, Idaho,
1983

4. • I like this picture because of the three
different layers in it. This image uses the • This photo was taken in Arizona in 1963 but the
rule of thirds with the three noticeably skill and colour make this image timeless. The
different colours of the landscape into way the picture is taken shows almost like one
three layers. The big blue/grey sky full off side of the image creeping up on the other
clouds, then the brown desert going off bright side. On the left the trees are darker and
into the distance almost looking like it the clouds, whereas then on the other side there
merges with the sky and then the green are less dark clouds and the trees are a bright
and yellow trees which cut up all the yellow.
dull colours. I think this photo makes a
viewers think about how all the colours
are mixed even though it looks like a
desert and there's no one there trees still
grow and I could imagine how breath
taking it would look if you was actually
there. It looked like the image is taken
from somewhere high up so the layers
could be noticed and then zoomed in a
bit to get some of the detail. The way
the shot is framed is funny because
Philip Hyde has kept the animal at the
bottom I think this is good and makes
viewers think about why he did this. I
think this picture would be better if they
sky was brighter and maybe the shot
was closer so that was tight around the
trees and ends of the sky and desert.
However this was the look Hyde was
going for and maybe wanted to keep
extra around the side to show viewers
just how big this place was.

5. Composition
• In this picture Philip Hyde has taken the picture
close to the ground so whatever is in front of
the camera appears closer and then
everything else stretched out getting further
and taller. I think he has chose this camera
angle because of how it highlights the ripples
in the water and makes them the main
subject because it’s a darker shade of black.
In the image Hyde has chosen not to include
the beach where the waves are but by the
look of he waves it looks like he’s very close to
it. There’s also a big mountain in the
background that he hasn’t chosen to include
and I think he chose this angle just so he could
include the full height of the mountain. In the
top left corner there's a big black misty cloud
which he has shown quite a lot of, I think he
has done this so that there is a very wide
range of different shades of greys blacks and
whites. If the camera was zoomed out more or
taken further back we would maybe be able I think the message in this picture is to
to see some of the beach and what the black show how the mountains are tall but
round thing in the right hand corner was. Also the rivers are long and so they are
maybe more of the ripples and just how far a really the same just different angles.
long this shore was. If Hyde was going to crop Even though in this the mountains look
this picture in anyway I would think he would more dominating like they’re part of
choose one of the main subjects in the
the sky the sea is just as important and
photograph like the darker water ripples or the
mountains or the big black cloud at the top of I think that’s what he’s trying to show.
the mountains and then this would give the
photo a completely different look and review.

6. Techniques used
• In this picture taken by Philip Hyde the
shutter speed looks like it wasn’t too fast
sort of in the middle because of how the
rays of light look slightly misty and hazy.
The trees and leaves look like they blend
into the rays, which look like they are
trying to cover everything they can
every leaf and branch. I think the trees
look a bit blurry because he wanted us
to really focus on the bright rays of sun
as they are the main feature of the
picture.
• In this photograph the colours are all
bright but nothing to drastic they are all
natural and blend together, the yellows
and greens then the brown.
• The depth of filed in this shows the lens is
quite small because the left hand side
where the picture seems to be taken
from is very dark and this is so we see the
sharp colour of the rays. The reason the
trees are a bit blurred is because the
lens is smaller so it brings the sunlight into
perfect focus.

7. Strengths & Weaknesses
• In this image I like the colour of it, its an icy blue
all over the image which makes it seem cold
just like the ice. The darkness really makes the
white stand out look sharp and crystal like. I
think the shutter speed in this picture is in the
middle cause the water is blurred a bit as if runs
past the ice. The lens looks like it was quite small
so that the perfect focus was on the ice in the
water and on the trees in the background and
the water just merged into it flowing past. I think
the to improve the photo I would of used a
smaller lens to make everything around the ice
look more out of focus so that the
concentration is the pure white ice. I like the
way the colour balance is more blue in this
image because it makes the white and brown
in this photo stand out. I think a weakness in this
photo is that it doesn’t show enough of the blue
water next to the ice I would prefer to see that
rather than the trees. However maybe he did it
so we could think about how it would look over
the side and imagine it for ourselves. It can
influence my work because now I will think
about the colour balance of my image and
how it can make something seem colder or
warmer just by using more of one colour.