From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 12/21/02-10:34:56 AM Z
Saulius wrote:
We also need to
> consider peoples view, interpretation of the landscape
> in history itself. For where we happen to be in a
> certain period of history and physical locale effects
> our view of landscape and nature. In my humble
> opinion landscape is how we "people" view ourselves
> with/besides the natural world around us.
This is interesting to think about. For example if huge vistas are the
classic American, especially Western way, of thinking of landscape--be it
photography or painting--what does that say about us? It fits perfectly
with the ideas that Euroamericans took out West: the idea that they were
going to take possession of the land from sea to shining sea. The sweeping
panoramas emphasize how much land there is to take. Plenty of room for
railroads, mines, grazing and wheat.
I guess I should turn the same analysis on myself. Why do I like smaller,
less sweeping views? I think because I have a sort of naturalist's
relationship to the land around here. I was a farmer and a land-protector
before I became a photographer. I look close, at the plants and rocks as
individuals. Sometimes I wonder if there might be spirits associated with
them; like maybe each tree has its own dryad, really and truly. I'm poking
around looking for an unusual looking branch or root, or an edible mushroom.
When I aim the camera at human things--clotheslines, wheelbarrows, barns,
etc--I think I'm thinking about my neighbors and how they use this land and
what they have built on it, and are building now. I suppose that's an
anthropological interest, and maybe those photographs are not simply
landscapes but something else: what?
Of course J B Jackson thought that the human impact on the landscape was the
most interesting part of the study of landscape, and he considered strip
malls and burger drive throughs and gas stations to be as interesting as
trees and rocks.
--shannon
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