Vantage Points: Panoramic Views of the Landscape 2001-2003
Mid Hudson Valley, New York and New England.
As in the 19th century paintings of the early American landscape painters, like Thomas Cole, there still remains a desire to express the elemental power of the American landscape through its immensity of space and symbol of permanence in spite of the dramatically changing modern civilization within it.
In these photographs, I am interested in the view of the modern landscape as it is mapped out before me in a way that allows me to see all of its intricate details. Some of the views are made from the vantage point of a bridge arching over large bodies of water or higher vantage points looking downward. Still other images are made from the vantage point of lower bridges affording a more intimate, neutral and closer view of the quality of a particular place at a particular time. They are images which view the landscape in a pantheistic way in that they are romantic depictions of a larger Nature vs Man, as in the first image shown, “View From Mount Holyoke, South Hadley, Massachusetts” 2001 based on Thomas Cole’s painting “View From Mount Holyoke, The Oxbow after a thunderstorm,” 1836. The photograph is a temporary escape from the urban environment below – and a subjective and direct visual experience that I find to be dramatic and emotional.
