WORKSHOP PORTFOLIO - PART 2: SQUARE LANDSCAPES
In the last post I mentioned that I’d conceptually organized the Workshop Portfolio into five sections. The organizing principle varies from section to section, but there is reason in the madness (or do all insane people say that?), as well as a certain consistency, even with the transitions. The first section focused on compositions - photographs of the landscape that, if not abstract, at least borders on a graphic depiction of details in nature extracted from the landscape. The second set of images broadens the photographic perspective (even with the close-up image included in this set) to look at the landscape as a landscape, not primarily as graphic forms. It may not sound like much, but the difference in intent between those two types of photography for me is significant.
Smoothing the transition between the two sections (or at least that was the idea) is the use of square images from the first set of photographs to the second. The predominance, though not total dominance, of square imagery in the portfolio is in recognition of the fact that my more recent photographs (from the past 4 years now), has largely been through the use of square framing, something I’d once abhorred. That, as much as anything, reflects the evolution in photographs I’ve made over the past decade or so.
Part 2 - Square Landscapes: I’m not sure why my interest in square image-making has grown so much, especially the square landscape. Perhaps it’s the fact that the dimensionality of the frame (not being horizontal or vertical) does not contribute to any overall effect - of space, or depth, or vastness - within the frame and requires finding elements in the landscape to convey those elements and the feelings they evoke. Creating depth in the image isn’t as simple as finding a strong foreground element and using a vertical frame to lead one’s eye to the distance where you want the eye to go. Or it might be that finding a balance within a square is a whole lot easier than when the proportions of the frame are rectangular. I really couldn’t tell you, but as long as I keep seeing things in a square frame, I suspect I’ll continue to photograph them that way.
Near Lake Powell, Grand Staircase Escalante, Utah 2019
Death Valley, California 2018
Aspen, Grand Canyon National Park 2018
Bandon, Oregon 2019
Painted Hills, Oregon 2019
Alabama Hills, California 2018