Peter Lik

“In 2003 I completed the biggest challenge of my life – to shoot a 192-page book on the American Landscape. In order to capture the true essence of this vast country, I needed to visit every state and every landmark, though every season. Fifty thousand miles, a thousand rolls of film and five years of my life later I achieved my goal. It was the journey of a lifetime – the most ambitious project I’ve ever undertaken, and I doubt I’ll ever match my incredible experience."

I have chosen a range of photographs to look at. They aren’t my favourites, but I think they match my project. The photo below is one of the first photos in the book. It’s taken in Utah on Highway 163, leading to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. I decided to look at this image because of the straight horizontal and vertical lines and how they repeat so many times within the photograph. The horizon is very strong because it is it completely straight, even in a panorama photo. Then there is the vertical line of the road as well as all the rock formations towards the top of the photograph. The majority of the shadows mimic the horizon. Although my location isn’t anywhere near as spectacular as this, I want to create the same geometric style.

The photo below is taken in California, Redwoods – forest giants, Sequoia National Park. As stated earlier, Peter Lik went to every landmark during every season, and this definitely paid off. It is unusual for this much snowfall in California so the fact that Lik captured this is very unique. This photo has a much clearer link to my photography, obviously I’m photographing a woodland. The trees on the right side of the photograph look quite similar to the pine trees in my photographs, they are completely vertical and add to that geometric aspect I want to portray in my photos. The landscape has got a lot more hills in it than I’d like in my photos. Something that is similar to my photos is the sunlight on the trees and the shadows it creates. In my photos I found the sunlight an important aspect because they make the photo so much more interesting; the shadows create these unique shapes, just like the tree trunk on the left page.

I wanted to show the photo below, taken in Arizona in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, to show the amount of colour he uses in his photographs. Although this isn’t something I’m concerned with for this particular project, I want to keep it in mind because this is the kind photographer I want to be.  

The photo below is called Autumn Palette taken in Vermont. Again, the photo is incredibly colourful, which contrasts with the white birch (?) trees. I wanted to specifically look at this photograph because in the area where I am shooting there are also birch trees. However, I don’t feel this would fit in with my project as it is too close up. I like to have a vantage point in my photos, and here it just seems one layer. The photo does however make use of the repetition of the vertical lines.

 The photo below, taken in Virginia called Woodland Mosaic, fits in perfectly with my project. It’s a woodland of what look like birch trees, just like the ones in Horsell Common. There is a bit of a vantage point, however not as far as I’d like it to be. The photo is incredibly bright and colourful which, similar to the photograph above, contrasts with the white of the birch trees. There isn’t any sunshine on the trees, however, because of the colours of the leaves it looks as though the sun is shining. Another reason this photo is similar to the location where I’m shooting is because of the green towards the bottom of the photo. It almost looks like a carpet. A few of the photos I’m particularly interested in regarding the woodland photos have a grassy ground, which kind of reminds me of the photo below.