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Issue 309
Browse On Landscape on your Tablet, iPad or Desktop
End frame: On the Hill by Renate Wasinger
Chris Dale chooses one of his favourite images
Oliver Raymond Barker
Featured Photographer
The Sound of One Hand
A Zen understanding of the nature of reality
Woodwork by Finn Hopson
Book Review
NAMIB by Malcolm Macgregor
Book Review
Adam Johanknecht – Portrait of a Photographer
Physical activity, creativity, finding oneself and the power of nature
Upon the Wave
A brilliant cacophonic crash
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In this issue we have published an interview with photographer Oliver Raymond Barker that I made a few weeks ago. Both myself and Michela Griffiths were inspired by his ‘cameraless’ photography, a combination of chemigrams, pinholes, shadowgrams and more. However, as I talked to Oliver, it quickly became apparent that we shared a love of the outdoors and it was this that directly inspired his work. This triggered a series of thoughts about how the outdoors and our connection with it can inspire us to be creative without that inspiration necessarily having to do with what we see. Oliver’s work is far from representative of the natural environment he experiences, and some of the inspiration he gets is from climbing where the ideas around personal challenge, self-discovery, etc. all feed into his work.
There is increasing research about how being outside changes our mental state, even with only a short amount of time spent under the sky and around the natural environment. Our physical experience of stepping on rough, uneven ground quickly feeds into our blood pressure and hormones, changing us at a biochemical level. So how can our work not be influenced by those experiences?!
The more time you can spend connecting with the land, whether trying to understand the plants and trees you find, the geology under your feet, the environmental conditions, etc. all bring you closer to the landscape. More importantly, the more time you spend engaging with the landscape in these ways, ways that are personal to you, the more your connection with the landscape becomes differentiated from others and the more that personal connection shapes your own work.
There’s a trope that says “If you want to make more interesting pictures, be a more interesting person” and despite its flippance, it definitely has some intrinsic truth. The more you have a personal relationship with the landscape, the more your images reflect that and become more about you.
Tim
Tim Parkin
Issue 309
Click here to download issue 309 (high quality, 72Mb) Click here to download issue 309 (smaller download, 43Mb) more
End frame: On the Hill by Renate Wasinger
This aesthetic is something present in many of her photographs. She consistently captures a certain mood, whether it’s in snow or fog, urban or rural settings, minimalist scenes. more
Oliver Raymond Barker
In 2010 there was a seminal exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum entitles "Shadow Catchers - Camera-less Photography". The show was dedicated to the use of various techniques that involved photographic processes but excluded the use lenses and typical photographic apparatus. I was inspired by the photography of Adam Fuss and particularly that of Susan Derges whose images captured evocative representations of natural processes in an innovative and beautiful fashion. When Michela Griffiths suggested we interview more
The Sound of One Hand
Continuing on from my previous articles, Cloud Allusions and The Thing Itself, which covered the works and ideas of Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston and Ansel Adams and how they relate to a Zen understanding of the nature of reality, I come finally to the photographer most widely associated with Zen: Minor White. more
Woodwork by Finn Hopson
There is too much to see and no single photograph could possibly capture it all.” but he does a great job of capturing a broad range of character throughout the seasons. more
NAMIB by Malcolm Macgregor
The design is continued inside, minimal but tasteful. I wasn’t surprised when I learned it was Eddie Ephraums who designed this for Malcolm, he has a great eye for a tight design that really complements photography. more
Adam Johanknecht – Portrait of a Photographer
The links between time spent in nature, physical discomfort, physical activity, and creativity have always interested me since I have often felt more creative during and after a difficult hike or mountain climb. more
Upon the Wave
Knowing the boundaries of the wave and in which direction it leads can help us see what possibilities exist outside of it still lurking in the expanse of creative experience; as the old saying goes “you have to know the rules in order to break them.” more