Intimate Landscapes

The landscape has to be one of the toughest subjects for any artist to tackle as there is so much history attached to it from our predecessors. The first thing that landscape denotes is – big, especially here in the west where everything is of a grand scale. As a photographer, I must walk in the footsteps of those who came before me such as William Henry Jackson or Ansel Adams. They and many others defined that landscape photography was about the large and majestic.

When I first took up photography, I certainly did my best to follow that tradition as most of do when we have a camera or a paint brush. We do not dally along the trail but push on to the top to get the view, the vista – the grand scheme of things. Majesty quite often is easier to experience than to express. Most of my early attempts to represent the majesty of the mountains which happen to be my backyard, were – well – lousy. In fact, as a photographer, I turned away from the landscape even though I spent the last 30 plus years hiking, skiing and climbing in it. I focussed my attention more on the works of man and his environment.

I continued to take pictures in the mountains but mostly as records of my travels and adventures. However, I reflected on the landscape. A pivotal experience was a mountaineering camp in the Adamants near Mt. Sir Sanford. I have pictures of this mountain and others in the area – they’re ok. My favourite image of this trip is one taken behind the camp of horsetails, water and stones. This image began a new exploration of the landscape , much closer to my feet – intimate. That is what this series is about, the beauty that lies at our feet in modest places that we often ignore in the rush to grasp the big view.

Ray Van Nes