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I’ve thought before about the camera as a censor. Image-processing software only enhances that capacity… so the trick with these photos has been to try and keep their tone true to memory, true to my visual experience, rather than creating something that didn’t actually exist. Which, too, is fine, but that’s not what I’m after, here.
A friend and I went to the Dunes in early February. Architects both, we naturally brought our cameras. These are the photos I like best.
The scale of this place is confoundingly beyond my normal environs.
Love this space. It made me think of Roden Crater. The top edge of the dune is the horizon… it could be the end of the world. Certainly it’s the edge of my experience.
This was just gorgeous. We guessed it was formed by runoff from fall and winter storms.
Antarctica… or a Lake Michigan ice shelf. Despite being there, I am still taken aback by the image, and can’t quite remember the scale.
Same here. The vast frozen… More below the break.
Icebergs. Again, though, with the visual cutoff… how high are we above the lake’s surface? The non-contiguous surface leaves questions open.
Dune’s edge. I’ve never seen an actual desert sand dune, though I hope to remedy that in the next few months.
Perhaps I’m in an aircraft, looking across miles of glacier…
…and miles of crevasse.
Self-portrait.
This is an odd formation that we saw and investigated. From a photographic standpoint it’s not my favorite, but there’s something worthwhile about the story.
This is the edge of that formation… it’s actually a ridge of soil underneath the sand. Signage posted inland of the dune says that it’s been migrating rapidly south. The occurrence is more interesting than the photos.
I really liked this shot, so leave it in to give you a sense of scale… or does that cliff drop off, and are we high above the frozen shelf?
Nor is this the most exciting image ever. Funny the things you’ll find. A lone, frozen-fingered shot of a structure discovered at the end of our journey… a seemingly interminable walk across a very wind-swept beach (wind was kicking up to 15-20, which is pretty unpleasant when it’s only 30 degrees out). The building was likely constructed in the late 1800s, pre-WWI. The work that’s been done since then has by and large been respectful to the structure, which made us happy.
So it’s the photos I like best - but not only the best photos. For some I like the experience of viewing the photo, others I enjoy the questions raised, others do well to help describe the place, the experience, to speak to the things that interest me, to tell the story.
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Wow. Nice pictures. I used to go up there all the time when I lived in the area. I loved it in the wintertime. Almost looks like another planet. I love the way the ice breaks up into great jagged piles on the lake.
Comment by Brian 03.05.10 @ 8:38 amHi Brian, Thanks for the complement! The winter visits there have been my favorite, though this was the least hospitable. A couple years ago in January there was no ice at all and we danced barefoot on the beach!
Comment by Julie 03.06.10 @ 12:56 amLeave a comment
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