Discuss a Joe Cornish Photograph

[roteague]

Ok, in keeping with the spirit of the forum, here is an image by one of my favorite landscape photographers, Joe Cornish.



I find this image to be stunning in its simplicity, yet with rich tones, and just the right moment. The flowing curve of the water, as well as the detail on the sand, just to the left of the rock are what make the image for me. They keep my eyes going back to the rock in the center. This is a stunning image, that I wish I could do half as well on.

[David H. Bebbington]

Joe Cornish is a technical master and has I believe been very successful in achieving his own personal vision through admirable levels of dedication and years of effort. His work does absolutely nothing for me at all.

[Tom Stanworth]

I love Joe's work too. I find a few a little 'cold' but we must consider what he is trying to do and the breadth of the country he has to cover. I feel his genre is very much what Ansel Adams would have done were he a Brit shooting colour! Both are committed to the wilderness and the conservation thread represents a common purpose thru Yosemite and the Nat Trust respectively. Many of Joes images are sublime and really 'do it for me'.

I love this image for all the reasons you do, but he has others which I prefer still by quite a margin.

Tom

[roteague]

I love this image for all the reasons you do, but he has others which I prefer still by quite a margin.

Tom

It is really hard to pick one of his images to talk about. He has so many great one. This one isn't my favorite, but I thought it would be a good first start, since there are so few here who do color landscapes, and don't have a real good idea who Joe is.

[Jim Chinn]

I agree, it's really beautiful. What first catches my attention is the gradual lightening of the stream from dark to almost irridescent where the stream meets the larger body.

The repetition of the light on the top of the rocks and then repeated on the sand to the left of the stream comes next. That small area of light in the sand keeps the left side from throwing everything off balance.

Finally, I am always drawn to color that has this type of more limited, pastel type palette. Pretty much dark lavenders and subdued pinks except for that lemony yellow that threads through the sky. If you imagine the image without that yellow it still has wonderful graphic elements but not the same "punch".

Maybe like you point out it is the simplicity. Earth, sky and water at their most basic, almost primordial.

[naturephoto1]

Robert,

I agree about the simplicity of the image. The exposure is basically dead on and just holds in places in the sky. The composition has flow of line and rhythm with the main rock both acting as a (the) main subject and additionally acts as an anchor holding the image with some weight. I like magenta/purples/lavenders of the image. As Jim says it has the simplicity of earth, sky and water. I do not like this image as well as you, but I will have to do some investigation to find out more about Joe and find images that I may like better.

Rich

[roteague]

I do not like this image as well as you, but I will have to do some investigation to find out more about Joe and find images that I may like better. Rich

Look at "Light and the Art of Landscape Photography" by Joe Cornish, for some other examples of his work. My favorite image of his, is on page 141 in this book. It is titled "Ravenscar", taken at Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire.

[mikeg]

B&W is my main interest, but I find Joe's work inspirational, especially his First Light book. I'm a member of the National Trust and whenever I'm looking through their magazine I can usually recognise which photos are taken by him. They seem to have a certain quality and a something extra about them.

Mike

[reellis67]

I find this picture aesthetically pleasing, but not overly interesting, which I think has something to do with the number of similar pictures I've seen over the years. While this one appears to be technically well done, I just don't care overly for the looming foreground picture so it is hard for me to generate any emotion from viewing it. What I do like is the diagonal line leading into the picture which forms an interesting shape. I suppose that if there were something other than rocks in the foreground it would be more appealing. I don't feel strongly either way about this picture right now, but I will continue to view it and see if my feelings change.

- Randy

[Baxter Bradford]

Ahhhhhhh! The tremendous lure of a Cornish beach..... is why I am leaving in the middle hours of tonight for a few days having a go for myself and then surfing when the light is poor!

Back to the topic. Interesting range of responses. Deceptively simple image with tension between the rocks RHS and light tones of stream. Another important element as I view it, is the enhanced colour contrast to offset the sunset sky created by the blue colour cast in the bottom RHS caused by the incident lighting from the clear blue sky overhead.

He uses this technique to greater effect in "Contours in Blue" which I consider one of his best pictures. Sorry, best link I could find..... http://www.leefilters.com/ShowImageByID.asp?PageID=461