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welder — Making Mountains
Published: 2009-08-27 13:37:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 659; Favourites: 50; Downloads: 0
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Description
This one I had up earlier in the year in the "Works of Man" exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Denver. This type of subject always fascinates me, how humans shape and affect the world around them. I know some people think this is sad, the way natural landscapes are disturbed and manipulated, but in some cases I think it's also interesting and beautiful.Anyways, my idea was to make a photo that was a mountain landscape photograph with artificial mountains, as you can see.
Thanks for looking
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Comments: 14
This is really interesting. Where was it taken?
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Hi, taken at a construction site in Sparks, Nevada.
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Hi Arthur, I've featured this here - I hope that's OK! If not, please let me know...
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I'm not sure what I can add to the comments already posted above; they mention a lot of excellent points that I hadn't specifically thought of.
I'll certainly agree that the composition is excellent and the toning is great - there's contrast, but the detail is retained.
One thing I like about this image is how the more obviously man-made elements aren't emphasised, and only creep in when you look a little closer: the tread-marks winding around the central heap, for example.
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This is a good string composition and you have captured a good tonal range to produce an image which is well composed as well as interesting. I do like the darkening sky which provides a good balance to the lighter regions of the ground.
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Oops, that should read 'strong' rather than 'string'
. . . don't you hate it when that happens and there is no way of going back and editing the mistake . . .
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Thanks Bernie
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Arthur, what I've always loved about your concept photography is that it is, for the most part, non-judgmental. You don't use bizarre exposure and development techniques to accentuate the unnaturalness of these mountains, nor did you go out of your way to find mountains that were specifically bad to the environment/landscape--you could have found a landfill, or sorted piles of trash like the discarded ordinance pictures from the training grounds you have in your gallery, but you didn't. These mountains are just dirt and rock. They're NATURAL unnatural mountains.
The composition is great, since they look so natural, but so is the exposure. Despite the black and white, we can clearly see lights and darks; it's a very healthy balance.
Good shot.
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Thank you for such thoughtful commentary.
It's funny, I was just talking about the topic with my wife the other day, I don't like so much to try and make a statement with a photograph that something is good or bad...just that it's interesting
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I must say you have composed it excellently as well. The tonalities are great. Like the way the space around the mountain creates interest & positioning of the mountain as well
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