Prairie Landscapes
I suspect that my concerns about “framing” likely grew out of having spent most of my youth in southern Saskatchewan where, no matter where you point a camera, there’s no way of avoiding the fact that there’s always so much more. I’ve always found it hard enough to wrap my imagination around “prairie”, let alone contain it within a single, camera image.
Which is why I started working with the panoramic format. It didn’t solve the problem but it did get me going in the right direction. The first images I made in this way were of urban environments but, inevitably, I eventually moved out of the city and attempted to apply the lessons learned from my “New Topographics” experience to rural landscapes.
These are a few of the many photographs made in this way.
52° 08’ 25.14” N 106° 16’ 53.43” W
April, 1979
52° 08’ 25.28” N 106° 16’ 40.74” W
May, 1979
52° 07’ 45.06” N 106° 35’ 54.57” W
July, 1979
Patience Lake, R.R. No. 6, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
52° 08’ 36.36” N 106° 20’ 02.59” W
November 09, 1982
Lake Winnipeg, Whytewold, Manitoba, Canada
50° 27’ 08.11” N 96° 57’ 01.80” W
July 29, 2005. 12:52 pm.
Near Melaval, Saskatchewan, Canada
49° 41’ 10.03” N 106° 25’ 59.76” W
July 11, 1998. 3:31 – 3:37 pm.