How and why are photographers inspired by land?

April 29, 2014

HOW AND WHY ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS

INSPIRED BY LAND?
“I can go into the wilderness and not see anyone for days and experience a kind of space that hasn't changed for tens of thousands of years.
Having that experience was necessary to my perception of how photography can look at the changes humanity has brought about in the
landscape. My work does become a kind of lament.” - Edward Burtynsky (Archer)

To study the landscape and its many forms can be hard. To connect with the ever-changing scenes set
before us which we- as people - often just take as given, is a job that only certain people can achieve with
ease. Within this essay I want to find the reasoning behind why artists and photographers alike are so
intrigued with land and its many identities. I like the process of exploring something to find my most
desired outcome; the landscape (land in general) gives me that opportunity. You never have one
continuous feature in a landscape, each individual subject or movement will never be the same twice, the
interest in the image that you take will come from how you have captured that in its most present and
meaningful way. My curiosity for this area of photography comes from the captivating nature of our
relationship with the landscapes around us and how poignant the human influence is in the areas I have
grown up in. Every landscape has a history and throughout that history it has created a backdrop for
many of the most famous photographers we have seen. Through my own experiences I see the land I view
as part of a bigger picture, its finer details, forms and textures have been illustrated in many cultures,
periods of history and artistic styles. Why do we as photographers see the landscape as such a desirable
subject?

HISTORY

The earliest recording for the word landscape was in 1589, Dutch painters of the 16 Century adopted th

this word to describe their process and genre of working. It derived from the Dutch word ‘Landscap’,
which when broken down to its simplest definition means “region, track of land”. In a more artistic sense the
word was brought over into English as “a picture depicting scenery on land”. People were then only familiar
with the landscape of paintings only then were they able to start comprehending the reality of these places
and start visualising them in daily life. (Company) Influential landscapes proceeded to be formed with
painting and artists seemingly tried to open doors to what they viewed as being something of a dream,
frequently centring their ideas to the more physical attributes of nature. Moving from the media of paint
on canvas an easier and more direct approach to keeping a document of an idea or a place was found.
Photography was still a very new concept to many and being able to capture an image with the right
precision was harder than it would be today. The earliest records of the natural landscape were found in
the means of daguerreotypes (a process employing an iodine-sensitized silvered plate and mercury
vapour), for the art critic John Ruskin these developed images were used as his initial research and
exploration for his future books. As photography developed more places were being discovered,
photographers started to document the real aspects of the countryside around them. This was most
prominent in the work of American photographers in that era whose extensive and diverse landscapes
were that of a whole new world. (Z, 2009)

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 How and why are photographers inspired by land?
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Figure 1
JOEL STERNFELD

With influences of photographers such as Walker Evans of

the 1930’s photographic scene, Sternfeld creates large
format vivid works on the notions of American
distinctiveness. Using subjects that are ordinary to society,
he sets out to create imagery based around the people and
places he sees on his way around America. Cleverly Joel
Sternfeld combines his images with a deep sense of
emotion, connecting with each place individually and thus
representing it through astute irony and creative
juxtapositions. Colour is a must. Sternfeld never leaves this
out, he recognises that without colour you cannot visualise
he whole image. He sets out to show the reality in all of its
vast aspects but it is true to whoever or wherever he is photographed. America at this time was a vibrant mix of people and
style and without his instinctive accuracy when it came to how to photograph and how to use certain features for the better,
he wouldn’t have created the iconic imagery with the right mood. He showed all of America, he didn’t choose to be picky
with his subjects, nothing was out of bounds, all he needed to do was document what he saw and what attracted his
attention. In turn we was the viewer would be in awe of his imagery as you end up creating a story round each person or
place you happen upon. Who was she? Where is that? How can that be real?

To find a function for this works seems hard. Is it to convey ideas to others on what life in America was like? Is it Figure 3
to show how Americans themselves lived, stereotypes included? If you appreciate the
imagery just on its own, then yes they are seemingly remarkable in format and
technique, along with many other of his talents as a photographer. However if you
delve deep into the meanings of each photograph and the situations that happened
upon these landscapes and the subjects within them you will find hidden meanings
you didn’t think would exist in what look to
be such striking scenes. This was true of his
“On This Site” series, where in turn he
photographed areas that had been accustomed
to ‘crime passionnels’ along with racial
violence and stabbings. At first glance you
would see these as being a typical image of
what seems to be abandoned places or
architectural gems, and yes they do transport
a certain feeling of angst, but in theory that is Figure 4
what you can connect with. No matter who
you are seeing these images you understand and appreciate it for art sake, but would
you as a viewer then take time to appreciate the underlying emotions? Joel Sternfeld
is clearly in the midst of landscape and can see its many different aesthetic Figure 2
properties; he uses the landscape as the framework for his images, travelling through it almost joins him through
an outer bodily connection. He uses the inspiration he gets from a landscape in different ways; to him it’s more
what he finds in the landscape and what has happened in that specific space how the land has formed a constant reminder
through critical details. He looks at the land and sees what has been forced upon it not what it naturally becomes.

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 How and why are photographers inspired by land?
April 29, 2014

ROBERT ADAMS
“We tend to define the plains by what is absent, checking maps to find how far we have to drive before we get to
something—to mountains in the West or cities in the East. What, after all, are we to make of wheat fields, one-
horse towns, and sky?
Mystery in this landscape is a certainty, an eloquent one. There is everywhere silence—a silence in thunder, in
wind, in the call of doves, even a silence in the closing of a pickup door. If you are crossing the plains, leave the
interstate and find a back road on which to walk; listen.” Robert Adams-1978 (Gallery)

For over forty years Robert Adams had been photographing the altering landscapes of the American
West. His photos present to us the relationships we as humans have with the over powering nature of land
in all its forms. He sensitively broaches the emotional concerns, giving his photographic talents a feeling of
optimism, yet you can see an underlying factor of anguish to how we are setting out to develop the
landscape to suit our own purpose.

Figure 7 Figure 6 Figure 5

A well-known photographer to the genre of landscape Adams imagery studies the urban intrusions into the
landscape of America. He carefully and sympathetically expresses the moments of nature’s deepest
struggles to keep what was most recently its own wilderness. Setting out to photograph the boarders off
the Eastern edge of Colorado, Adams transformed the imagery of where he lived into a series called
“Summer Nights”. Robert Adams used many situations to his advantage when taking his imagery such
being elements like the prolonged summer nights which left a certain glow through the open plains, these
became that of a creative force, driving him further into his explorations. His photographs in this series
mentioned represent a walk out of town reaching the furthest points from the current urban hubs of
activity, where the twilight hours stretch far into the night, providing a moody and darker backdrop for
some of his electric light photos.

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This image produced by Joel Sternfeld shows what you can see to be the verge of a newly developed
housing area. The subject bases itself around the concepts surround America at the time, something he
liked to name “American Prospects”. The title alone explains the themes of the image you see here. In the
photograph you can see the built up housing in the middle of what looks like nowhere, alongside a
Figure 8 landslide of rubble and trees forming a verge over one side of the road. This large format film
image shows details to the
purest point, you can even see
the haziness of the light that hits
the mountains in the
background, and this creates
sharpness to the burnt yellow
grass foreground. The
composition is simple but
photographically clever as the
eye is drawn to the lower half
where it is clear here has been
some destruction, something
that he could be trying to show
through the imagery perhaps?
The image is really clear and
you can make out the smooth
flat texture of the newly built
up house against the realness
and the combined textures of
the natural elements
surrounding the human impositions. He cleverly uses the daylight to capture the scene at its most
attractive state, giving a sense of reality and optimism.

From looking at this image I get the emotions of a lonely place, it may look beautiful, scenic and
appealing but there is an emptiness you get from the hidden space the photograph holds. Along with this,
the colours in the photograph are really hazy, it seems to me like a very early morning where the light has
just taken its place, and this opens the image up so brightly with the intent to show all flaws of the
landscape in view. Its clever composition presents me with the message that it isn’t all how it seems, the
‘new’ America as it stands has its downfalls and this is due to the overloading factor of human presence.
The title of the set of images Sternfeld took is very poignant in understanding exactly what you are seeing
when you look at his photographs. ‘American Prospects’ the prospect of a built up area, a place called
suburbia, somewhere unexpected and regimented. A dream of a structured lifestyle… A dream that by
looking at this photograph can’t quite be grasped in a landscape that wants to repel any human contact,
this is a scene that to me and many others of change. But for the better? I don’t quite know. This
photograph will always make me think about the right and wrong way to approach change, and how our
relationship with our environment is that of a selfish one.

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 How and why are photographers inspired by land?
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Figure 9

I picked this photograph from Robert Adams’ collection called “New Topographics” because it
combines both reality with an almost dream like setting. As you can see there is a vast background in
which a mountain is taking centre stage. This leads the eye down to the seemingly out of place white
wood refabricated homes lined up one after the other. Robert Adams used black and white film on a
35mm camera. The natural light coming from the sun to the right hand side of the photograph sets the
highlights of the image, bouncing of the bright white structures built in the depths of the American west.
The sharp tonal values of having a black and white image show all textures from the slats of wood to the
fields beneath and surrounding. The tones create leading lines through to the top of the mountain along
with the way in which the houses are placed together, tightly impact together showing how much space
human influence has to take over. Composition is pretty minimal but that’s what makes this type of
imagery more effective, showing more subject than distraction. Keeping the photograph to the basics
makes it somewhat more interesting as he depicts the living situations in this clearly ever-growing town.

When I look at this image I see the uncomplicated version, I see houses in a picturesque landscape and this seems like the
ultimate place to live. But behind all that the developing areas of America have drawn the interest of many in the same era. I
like the documentation style the simple style Adams has to photographing his subjects. This photograph to me shows the
limits of how far we take development of humanity. He through simplicity creates an image of depth further than first
glance. The word topography, in its simplest state means this, an arrangement of natural and artificial physical features of an
area. The portrayal of this exact statement throughout his work is visible but the underlying imagery comes from the
amount of the specifics. Through visibly using a smaller amount of housing in the foreground you are left to imagine what is
beyond, there is a suggestion to the left of the image that this place stretches further than the view finder will let it but how
far is that? I like this image because it shows how much space and land we still have and how if even by small amounts we are
gradually taking over this land in our own ways. The black and white feature of this photograph makes it altogether less
emotional, you can’t connect with each person’s take on the homes they live in, and you can’t tell the colour of the land
surrounding such a confined space of structures. This helps me detach myself from how the place looks physically and focus
on the content and concept. This is exactly how Robert Adams works through this combined set of images.

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 How and why are photographers inspired by land?
April 29, 2014

HOW AND WHY ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS INSPRIED BY LAND?

One of the main reasons why I think photographers are inspired by land is that the
landscape is personal to you; people will always be able to explore the outdoors and he
world around them and then in turn everybody will experience something different.
Memories of a place or time are somewhat influential in the connection an artist has with
any given landscape, replicated through colour and technique the viewer has to be able to
fee this relationship as if it was them who had been there. This is present in the work the
both the artists I have looked at; they have chosen an intended meaning and produced work
focusing mainly around a concept. Robert Adams and Joel Sternfeld have similarities in
many areas of their delivery, their photographs both link through the nostalgic qualities,
concentrating their ideas on happenings upon the land. How we, as people living in the
midst of the landscape, have caused problems to the sustainability of its once natural
environment.

Adams and Sternfeld both use inspiration from the constant changing lands of America. Although their images differ in
technique and colour they stand almost identical in theme and representational value. I like the unpretentious aspects of
their photographic documentations, they preserve what they have seen by making it an image that will keep and be
observed by many. Joel Sternfeld has turned to explorations of portraiture, representing America through its people and
the discovery of the reality these interesting characters hold. He created typical, almost stereotype imagery that gave
outsiders a chance to see America’s vital reformation. Robert Adams on the other hand only used people as a second hand
subject if there were part of the landscape then this was recognised and shown but most of his imagery relied on the newly
created America which was every growing and ever changing. These two photographers both have qualities I wish for my
imagery. I want to connect with the land like these artists both have. They have experienced first-hand the growth a place
has from nothing, to a state of indulgence, where we as humans have entered a landscape unaware of its potential faux pas,
ignoring its limits and forcing our constructions into its infinite scenes. I think there is an attachment we have with the
land, everything we do falls on the natural elements of this world. We explore all possible options when it comes to us
interfering with the land we are surrounded by. We are a part of the land, our journeys; our livelihoods are supported by
the land. The inspiration comes from what we make of it and it responds to us. Photographers like Adams and Sternfeld
have provided us with the bigger picture, so we can see how we impose our life on the already living natural world. I think
land is an influential part of a photographer’s vision because we can all connect with it, its common ground; it’s a feature
of everyone’s existence and we can all say we have a part in it. This is my driving force, I want my photographs to simply
reflect a reality, an image combining concept and subject matter, I don’t need it to be about process or technique I just
need it to document a genuine emotional connection with each given person. A powerful yet simple photograph that will
captivate an audience and leave them to their thoughts.

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Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2014, from
https://hannahsarahlewis.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joel_sternfeld_american_prospects
_03.jpg

Archer, K. (n.d.). kendraarcher.wordpress. Retrieved 04 29, 2014, from

http://kendraarcher.wordpress.com/category/photography/

Company, H. M. (n.d.). The Free Dictionary. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/landscape

Gallery, Y. U. (n.d.). Robert Adams, The Place We Live. Retrieved from

http://media.artgallery.yale.edu/adams/slide.php?id=9047&s=102035

Guardian, T. (n.d.). Sean O'Hagen on Photography. Retrieved 05 7, 2014, from

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2010/feb/08/new-topographics-
landscape-photography#/?picture=359039828&index=1

Joel Sternfeld : on this site . (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.berk-
edu.com/RESEARCH/joelSternfeld/

Lewis, H. S. (n.d.). Hannah Lewis: A work in progress. Retrieved from

http://hannahsarahlewis.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joel_sternfeld_american_prospects_
03.jpg

Reiko. (n.d.). Style&Life in Tokyo. Retrieved from styleandlifeintokyo blogspot:

http://styleandlifeintokyo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/joel-sternfeld.html

Z, H. (2009, January 15). Introduction to Landscape Photography. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
http://www.slideshare.net/zhoeben/introduction-to-landscape-photography-presentation

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