There was a time when I was inspired by (neo) topographics work, too. Unfortunately I think that its banal, deadpan aesthetic has reduced contemporary photography to a yawnful state. This thought is a huge motivation for my current work, which looks like it was made in the 1960s (and some of it even earlier, ha!). Though I do see the Baltz influence in your work, however, there is something far more poetic in the color that you find (use). I’m guessing that this nuanced appreciation of odd color palettes came from your work with light pollution. So though I certainly see the topographics aesthetic in your work, I think that your better images are far more poetic. Just like I would say that Robert Adams is the poetic one of his group. Not that pure description can’t have its own sense of poetry. The problem is that every photographer seems to work in this mode, and I’m tired of it. Who do we have to blame? The Bechers? Gursky? Certainly it seems that academia has scared people away from experimenting, as it is extremely difficult to tell one person’s work from the other these days. Everyone is so afraid of not having a topic or clear point of view that they don’t experiment. And I know that you experimented a lot at the beginning of graduate school. I think its this experimentation that led you to your unique use of color. Maybe this Easter we should resurrect Man Ray instead of Jesus.
Hi Nate,
There was a time when I was inspired by (neo) topographics work, too. Unfortunately I think that its banal, deadpan aesthetic has reduced contemporary photography to a yawnful state. This thought is a huge motivation for my current work, which looks like it was made in the 1960s (and some of it even earlier, ha!). Though I do see the Baltz influence in your work, however, there is something far more poetic in the color that you find (use). I’m guessing that this nuanced appreciation of odd color palettes came from your work with light pollution. So though I certainly see the topographics aesthetic in your work, I think that your better images are far more poetic. Just like I would say that Robert Adams is the poetic one of his group. Not that pure description can’t have its own sense of poetry. The problem is that every photographer seems to work in this mode, and I’m tired of it. Who do we have to blame? The Bechers? Gursky? Certainly it seems that academia has scared people away from experimenting, as it is extremely difficult to tell one person’s work from the other these days. Everyone is so afraid of not having a topic or clear point of view that they don’t experiment. And I know that you experimented a lot at the beginning of graduate school. I think its this experimentation that led you to your unique use of color. Maybe this Easter we should resurrect Man Ray instead of Jesus.
Hmm.
Thanks.