Chris Upton

Chris Upton is a Nottingham based, award winning photographer, whose work specialises in travel and landscape photography. He explores different lifestyles and cultures by utilising tone and colour which helps to differentiate each location which he visits. His work can take many forms, from personal portraiture to vast mountain ranges. His use of varying visual styles and focus on different formal elements creates a diverse body of work. This helps to enhance elements of journey photography by making the audience feel a sense of progression as they experience each location in a new and interesting way. 

This image features the use of tone and portraiture in order to create a sense of journey. The image features an image of a man which is highlighted through the use of shallow depth of field. This causes the audience to focus only on the man. We can see immediately that the man is of a different culture, judging by his clothing. The use of tone is enhanced by a black and white filter which highlights the texture of the man's skin. From this we can judge that the man has been exposed to high levels of sun light and heat which has had an effect on the condition of his skin over time. This implies that he is somewhere extremely hot despite using a black and white filter to convey this. Lastly, the audience may notice in the background that there are the silhouettes of camels, which is a final, clear indicator that this image takes place within an environment unlike our own. This in itself evokes a sense of journey.

This image uses elements of reflection, colour and landscape portraiture in order to give the audience an image unlike anything that is present within everyday life. The image appears to be a photograph of a lake which may be a common sight for most people in most locations, however Upton uses this as a platform to highlight unique aspects of the location. The lake is used to reflect everything within the surrounding environment, however due to the light of the image, the colours appear within the frame lose detail and begin to merge into each other. As a result the colours appear more intense and the image appears almost like a painting. As a result, the audience can look at the image and notice colours that are not common within everyday life and can see that the image takes place within a bright location with vibrant colours.

This image highlights certain aspects within the location in order to highlight the difference in culture. The image focuses on a car with the assumed owner of the car walking down the street with his child. The composition and ideas of this image appear normal, however the audience begins to notice a difference as the audience begins to analyse aspects of the location. The car appears to be of an older model, unlike the modern cars which can be seen within cities such as London. We can also see that the car has been driving on a dirt road which narrowly separates the buildings, this contrasts heavily with the concrete roads which are seen within everyday life. Finally the architecture of the buildings are highlighted as they appear very classic, the paint on the walls appear colourful but faded over years of exposure to the sun. Upton takes a familiar image concept and reflects it into a new environment. These culture aspects are mostly associated with Cuba, which is visually unlike anything within everyday life, giving the audience a sense of journey.

This image uses colour, contrast and composition in order to highlight unique aspects of an environment. The composition of the image is landscape based and is used to highlight contrasts and structures. The structure contrasts heavily with the otherwise empty desert landscape. Within the frame, we can see a vehicle and structure which appears different to anything within modern life. The style of the structures along with the use of primary colours create connotations to the 50s. This idea of something in the past making its way to modern times is enhanced by the way that the structure appears damaged over the years as paint begins to crack and rust. This causes the area to appear almost as a relic to another time. This can be used to show journey as the image hints that the location has a history which is unique to anywhere else in the world.

Summary:

To summarise, Chris Upton attempts to utilise formal elements and different styles of photography such as portraiture and large scale landscape imagery. He does this in order to make each location that he visits visually unique in order to evoke a sense of journey within his audience. He highlights aspects of the environment which are unique to the location in order to enhance this effect. Upton's photography has served as a massive influence for my work