Landscape Revisited

The ability for people to go into space has opened many doors in terms of exploration and knowledge of the universe, yet it has also given us a chance to look at our Earth from a different perspective.

Col. Chris Hadfield is a Canadian astronaut, currently onboard the International Space Station, who takes pictures of the Earth while on his mission in space. It is a new style of landscape photography. Previously, our only options in terms of ‘landscape’ photography were to take a picture of the Earth, on Earth, or capture the vast expanse of space via astrophotography.

Now, we can take into account the scale of the Earth; how massive desserts are, how tiny cities are. We can see both natural beauty and industrial devastation. His images are reflections of the various societies in this world, and its history. Like all great photographs, they tell stories, either about lost civilizations, daily routines or environmental changes.

Though not everyone can just get into a spaceship and take pictures all day, what Col. Chris Hadfield is doing, is opening doors for future artists, scientists, and explorers, to see the different ways in which we can capture our surroundings, through photography.

-Anna Paluch

Photo Friday With the Russian Tourists Who Climbed the Pyramids

This past week, photos and a rather contentious story of a few Russian tourists have been covered by dozens of major news sources. The stunning photos above were captured illegally by a small group of tourists at the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids, who hid from guards for four hours after closing time before climbing the Pyramid of Giza. 

Despite breaking the rules and the chaos that would ensue if more people tried to pull this off, I love these photographs. I have had the opportunity to visit the Pyramids a couple of times, and these photos portray the kind of experience that one hopes for but doesn’t necessarily receive. While the visit makes for an incredible experience, and the history and wonder is palpable, I remember the line ups, maze of tour buses, and litter as well as I can recall anything else. These photos inspire the sublime wonder of the Pyramids without all of the distractions.

Since the stunt, one of the photographers, Vadim Makhorov, has publicly apologized, though quite obviously without actually regretting the action. Nor is this the first brush with the law for the team, which included Vitaliy Raskalov, named Russian Skywalker by the Huffington Post . Check out his Instagram account for more photos.

Should the team have apologized? Or are photos like this an example of when rules are made to be broken?

Photo Friday with Luca Zanier’s Space and Energy 

Swiss photographer, Luca Zanier, photographed over fifty nuclear power plants, coal-fired power stations, storages for nuclear waste, and other energy systems over the course of two years. By focusing on shapes and colours, Zanier abstracts these environments and forces the viewer to think of them beyond their purpose. In doing this, the artist highlights a complexity, and perhaps even beauty, to these structures that may have otherwise been overlooked.

In his artist’s statement he explains, ” Enormous spaces, endless walkways, wide sluices, cryptic signs; all combined with miles of cables and pipes.They form a technical universe that radiates a cool logic. A hidden world, known only to a few and yet which has a huge influence on our day to day lives, absolutely essential in fact…What I am proposing is to dissipate technology into aesthetics, at least to a certain extent. Only the caption will remind the beholder of what he or she is contemplating: A highly complex system whereof our modern life depends. Energy systems which serve us and, at the same time, can threaten us.”

-Rudayna Bahubeshi

Photo Friday with Christopher Nunn’s Falling into the Day 

The above photographs belong to the aptly named series, Falling into the Day, by English photographer, Christopher Nunn. The ongoing series captures moments of David Blackburn’s life, as he tragically slips further into the recesses of Alzheimer’s. The famous pastel and landscape artist appears isolated, but simultaneously peaceful, as he lives, rests, and leaves notes about his home.

Incongruous household objects suggests he is slipping away, but organized slides and pictures suggests he is, or once was, a fastidious man. The empty pastel box begs the question of whether the once prolific and acclaimed artist remains, or whether the box that possessed his tools of creation was emptied some time ago.

In the photographer’s own words, “What began as a simple character study of an eccentric man and his quiet existence slowly became a story about the confusion and alienation of living with dementia and the subtle ways in which the condition can manifest itself.”

-Rudayna Bahubeshi

Photo Friday with Chris McCaw’s Sunburn

The beauty of Chris McCaw’s photo series, Sunburn, was born out of a mistake. During a camping trip, the artist tried to capture an all night exposure of the starry sky. As a result of drinking too much whiskey, McCaw failed to wake up before sunrise to close the shutter, and the image was burned, reversing the tones of the landscape. It was a failure in that he did not capture the image he hoped for, but it turned into a much more significant perspective: one that changed his outlook on photography.

He explains this on his website: “The intense light of the rising sun was so focused and powerful that it physically changed the film, creating a new way for me to think about photography.”

Since his first, accidental, burnt photograph in 2003, McCaw has spent years trying different methods and timings to make this series. His favourite results can be found in a photobook titled Sunburn released last year

For more of McCaw’s work, please visit his website.

-Rudayna Bahubeshi

Matthew Allred

Matthew Allred’s recent body of works reacts to what he calls the loss of intuition in digital photography. In this series, Allred wanted to capture more than just a moment and does so with a process called “Heliography”, which he describes as,

“A photographic process that utilizes pinhole cameras and ultra long exposures, ranging from 24 hours to 6 months. The resulting images are landscapes which feature the path of the sun. In the longer multi-month exposures the suns path can be seen shifting with the seasons. “

In this series Allred explores the extended length of the photographic moment and the aesthetics of chemical processes. By capturing stretches of time, Allred’s work focuses on the changes of the sky, the seasons, and overall effects of time. To see more of his work, click here. 

- Lee Jones