TERRA INCOGNITA
The lands portrayed in my recent work are at once both familiar and unknown. These images of uncommon terrain are given an air of familiarity through the use of scale, context and our memories of classic landscape settings.
The tension created by the confluence of these two opposites encourages us to contemplate terrain in all its guises and reflect upon how we view our place within it.
I was born and raised in the open landscape of Montana. I left there as a young adult, but the power of the land that I felt growing up still resides deep within me no matter where I travel in the world.
Terrain can be serene, sublime, and surreal. It can welcome or terrify us. It can be comforting and it can be treacherous. It can be intimate and it can put us in touch with the vastness of the universe.
Terrain is the stage upon which our lives play out. It is not surprising that good writers often spend considerable time creating vivid descriptions of the landscape within which their stories unfold. Often it becomes another character, and sometimes the dominate character, in the tale.
This series of photographs, Terra Incognita, and its sister series, The Terrain Beyond, Lake Aura, and Dark Waters, attempt to capture terrain's many personalities. The images are meant to be provocative and raise questions. And it is intended that they reveal themselves slowly and reward the returning viewer with fresh insights upon each encounter.
They too tell stories, but they are not the stories of my visits there. It is my hope that the images create an evocative mood into which each viewer’s imagination can enter, find their path and continue the journey.