A Quiet Footprint

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

I am a senior digital media major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst currently studying abroad in New Zealand. Each and every day that goes by I am in awe of this beautiful country and the way its inhabitants choose to treat it. So much of contemporary art focuses on a negative interaction of humans and their environment. I have witnessed and attempted to capture the harmony of this particular relationship between New Zealand and its people with my photographs. The raw, untouched landscape is plentiful and surprisingly not packed with tourists.
While I usually like to work with color photography, I chose black and white images because of their simplicity. The shapes of man made objects or actual people integrated into the breathtaking natural landscapes are more apparent with the absence of color. The photographs are peaceful with their human elements small and subtle. For example, one photograph is of fog between mountains with obvious but relatively small car tracks. Another depicts one small bench in front of a beach. The horizontal lines of the bench almost blend into the landscape.
Whenever something goes wrong with my digital SLR camera and I am unable to take pictures I feel as though a part of me is missing. It is undoubtedly cliche to say, but I have this overwhelming need to capture the world around me. My obsession with creating perfect compositions in combination with my love for traveling and experiencing new places immediately drew me to this application. I look forward to seeing, or hopefully even taking photos of Bhutan. It seems like an inspiring and magical place to visit.