For the past 25 years I have enjoyed taking photographs in the area of America referred to as ‘the southwest’. The landscape here is of grand vistas with often harsh desert environment. Many of the sites I have photographed are remote and infrequently visited, others are areas within the famous national parks. The grandness of the landscape is impressive and translating the feeling one has when visiting these sites onto photographic film is not easy. Most images show the folding and textures seen with erosion from wind and water and the other forces of the natural world and I attempt to bringing out the rich textures and their sculpture-like forms. Other of the images are more intimate scenes from the same areas, many again showing the forces of nature at work.
In this quest I have followed on from the masters of the grand landscape of the American West – photographers such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and his son Brett Weston. In the 1930s to the late 1980s these photographers lived in the Big Sur area of California and this made Big Sur the spiritual home to 20th Century American landscape photography.
In this digital era the making of photographs in the way of these masters is in some ways more difficult. As was the case then, field cameras are heavy and require an extensive range of lenses and film holders to accompany them. However, now film and traditional black and white paper is starting to become harder to source. Many of the excellent materials available just a year or two ago are now no longer available. Using the same techniques of these famous American photographers and visiting some of the places made famous by them I have attempted to produce images that are in homage to them whilst retaining a part of my own individual style.
Other famous American photographers are continuing in this tradition, and some, John Sexton for example, still live in the Carmel area ….. I have yet to move there.
Private View Thursday 22 January 2009 5.30-7.30pm
The Art Gallery, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
|
