Large Format Landscapes

[dlin]

Shadows By The Cemetery

Kodak TMY developed in Pyrocat HD
print on Ilford MGIV FB toned in selenium

[Donald Miller]

Very nice Daniel

[Andrew ren]

Carp Garbage Mt.

5x7 tmx, fuji lens.



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Got some kind of un-even development here on this sheet, this film has been X-rayed, once. I got same problem on that box of film as well, not every single sheet, but quite often.
developed in jobo 3006 with a beseler motor base.

Andrew

[rdenney]

And I don't think it's trolling or picking on anyone... just making an observation as to the sterility of most of these pictures making me a wee bit uncomfortable.

Perhaps the solitude is the point, and the sterility is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. Many times, the point of a stark landscape is to make us realize it may not be our home in which we are free to feel comfortable.

Rick "who has felt uncomfortable and sometimes even creepy looking as some of your unclothed models" Denney

[Frank Petronio]

I like pictures that challenge me and make me uncomfortable. But I suspect that many "landscapists" are unaware that their coldly perfect pictures have that effect. It's kind of a Pagan thing to worship the dirt quite so reverently....

[Sascha Welter]

I wouldn't consider Frank's post to be trolling, also since from other posts of his I perceive it to be "in character" :-) Instead I think it's a valid point of discussion.

Sure, sometimes these pictures seem a bit lonely. Still, I'm not on Frank's side here. I like going out into nature and be far away from civilization, "the world", people. At least for a little while. Some people might not feel comfortable, others love it. To each their own. Guess what, there's enough people and animals around if you want them in pictures.

[Robert Hughes]

Reminds me of that "Wisconsin Death Trip" rage in the 1860's, when photographers preferred models that were already dead. At least you didn't have to lecture your sitters to stay still.

FP a troll? Psshaw...

[mandoman7]

I like pictures that challenge me and make me uncomfortable. But I suspect that many "landscapists" are unaware that their coldly perfect pictures have that effect. It's kind of a Pagan thing to worship the dirt quite so reverently....

Ansel used to talk about complaints he would get about his landscapes having no people. He would tell them that someone was there, the guy behind the camera.

There's a lot of work that succeeds without a human form in the image. Still life's, abstracts, etc.. IMO the problem with the landscapes that seem too complacent is the marginal commitment on the part of the photographer. The replication of someone else's idea, or equipment, and hoping it works without going through any real process of self expression. Going through the motions, so to speak.

[rdenney]

I like pictures that challenge me and make me uncomfortable. But I suspect that many "landscapists" are unaware that their coldly perfect pictures have that effect. It's kind of a Pagan thing to worship the dirt quite so reverently....

None of my pictures are the subject of your observation, but they might have been. I am often forced to reckon with my own insignificance when faced with the natural scene, and I would hope that would come through. So, whether others intend their landscapes to be disengaged from human evidence, I can't say, but I often do intend just that.

There are other landscapes in which I feel engaged, and I make different choices in those cases. Rarely, though, do I think the presence of potato-shaped Ohioan tourists adds to what I would like to say about a scene.

Rick "meaning no disrespect to potato-shaped Ohioans" Denney

[Vaughn]

As I was photographing in Death Valley last week, I became acutely aware that I was not photographing rocks, I was photographing light...that I was most interested in the play of light and dark rather than what most people would consider to be the "subject".

This is how I have been photographing for the last 30 years. It is just that it became more intense than it ever had before. While in the desert I re-read Narcissus and Goldmund by Hesse (for the nth time) and as usual I was greatly moved by the book and its exploration of the duality of the human spirit (artist/scientist, world of the senses/world of the mind)...and this transformed into my studies of light/dark in my imagery.

When people "complain" about pictures of "rocks and trees", I can not help but think of the millions of images of people -- what an over-done subject!!! Gawd! Not another photo of a person! I see people every day. There's billions of them mucky things up! When is someone going to do a portrait in a new way, a way we haven't seen many many times before?! (this is my sarcasm symbol, BTW)

Vaughn