Landmarks is a family of photographs created with a 4x5
camera with a BetterLight scanning back. They are meant to be
seen together and large; each photograph is filled with detail
best appreciated in print at 36" x 27" (more or less). Therefore,
this web presentation is limited.
All of these photographs are from the deserts of California,
Nevada and Arizona and are part of an extensive documentary
project called Communicating Culture.
Culture is dynamic, like work in progress
it is evolving and building from what came before
These photographs explore and present the marks of others made
over time going back centuries. The marks speak about the culture
and values of those who made them, visit them, preserve them,
and sometimes damage them. These photographs have recorded light
on form set absolutely in real time and place - they are truthful
documents.
While viewing these photos, I invite you to listen as each image
informs another. These diverse marks include contemporary
monumental murals, casual graffiti, historic markers and
indigenous petroglyphs and pictographs and I suspect one will
have varying degrees of appreciation for them. This work requests
of the viewer to ask questions. When do new marks transcend
vandalism to untouched stone or to the older marks of others?
Why are some marks appreciated more, others less and why is it
the older a mark, the more attractive it might become? What drives
the urge to make these marks and at times disrespect the marks
of others? Perhaps, importantly, what is it that colors our value
judgments as we attempt to answer not only these questions but
whether we like what we see at all?
These marks and our value judgments say something about who we
are as citizens of the earth and in turn contribute to the
communication of our culture.
Acknowledgements
These photographs would not be possible if not for the convergence
of a great many. Here I give my heart felt thanks to the
environment that sustains us and to the people who made their "marks."
I am also deeply grateful for my wife, Jeanne, and dear friend,
Rich (Richard Rogers) for their endurance of cold and heat, rough
roads, cross-country hiking, hauling water and batteries and for
their patience during the hours it could take to photograph a
single scene. I also thank Michael Collette of BetterLight Inc.
who not only invented the digital scan-back that I use, but who
has provided generous technical and equipment support.
To return to the top of the Landmarks thumbnail page, please click Return to Top
