WORKSHOP PORTFOLIO - PART 3: HORIZONTAL LANDSCAPES
The transition from the second to the third category of images represents a visual shift (almost a shock) that isn’t present in the transition from the first to second categories. While the subject matter remains largely the same - grander landscapes, with a dash of detail - I had to address the fact that not all of the images I value (or that show the range of the landscapes I photograph) are in a square format. That raises the question of how does one deal with the images in prints (which was the original idea). You do not want a viewer to constantly have to readjust the portfolio, or the prints in hand, just to look at the images. And the intended page size of the prints (8x10) was too small to sacrifice the quality and effect of a horizontal or vertical image printed a smaller size on paper in the opposite orientation.
So I decided that whether the portfolio needs to be re-oriented must be a conscious part of the organization. When I had 4 sections, that choice became clear - it was easy enough to re-orient once. As you might have imagined, I print square images on vertical paper, and naturally print vertical images on vertical oriented paper to maximize the size of the image and do the same with a horizontal image on horizontal paper. With 4 sections, the orientation would be vertical - vertical - vertical - horizontal. One turn of the portfolio to review all of the images. That sequencing suddenly seemed odd when a fifth category was introduced. There, symmetry called for two turns of the portfolio: vertical - vertical - horizontal - vertical - vertical.
Part 3 - Horizontal Landscapes: Here, the range of image dates starts becoming greater, reaching back to the early years of my digital photography. It’s hard to not start with the image that convinced me that digital imagery had arrived and it was time to stop thinking about photographing with film. Even though it dates back a decade, it includes so many impressive qualities in a landscape photograph, and of a place that has given me so much photographically.
Painted Hills, Oregon 2011
Grand Teton National Park, 2014
Cat and Kittens, Bandon, Oregon 2016
Alabama Hills, California 2016
Arches National Park, Utah 2015
Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park 2015