Landscape photography is one of the largest genres of photography, it has many sub genres such as urban, rural and documentary. Landscape photography can be used in a multitude of ways; environmental, political, documentary, and as art. Landscape images have been popular even before the invention of photography, when Daguerre (along with Fox Talbot, Niepce and Bayard) invented the Diorama. This allowed Parisian gentlemen to see landscapes such as the Swiss Alps without travelling to the location. These were popular until the invention of the Daguerrotype which allowed people to carry around the image.
There are well known landscape photographers who have different styles and pursue different avenues of landscape photography. Some photographers eschew the use of politics when it comes to their work. Others use their work to raise awareness of issues around environmental concerns or to support a cause. The rest of the photographers fall somewhere in the middle. The uses of landscape photography can vary from art, commercial, fashion, political and environmental.
Landscape photography started off in the romantic pictorialism style until the First World War when the focus became more on documentary for the viewers. In the 1920's the photographs began to include more modern elements such as cars, telephone poles and concrete buildings. This style is called modernism, most modernist photographers started off as pictorialists. One of the most well known landscape photographers of the 20th century is Ansel Adams whose work avoided the impact of human interaction for the most part. In contrast the new 'Modernists' focused on the human impact on the landscape.
The two main points of landscape photography is Beauty and the Sublime which are not mutually exclusive. Beauty is the domain of contentment and harmony, evoking the feelings of calm and peace. The Sublime evokes unsettling feelings and emotional awakening, the images that this fits are those that show the raw power of Mother Nature.
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