Plantscapes of Uncertainty
[TIL-S2 #2] Making surreal landscapes out of plants, light and a touch of doubt
Folks,
In this post, i’m sharing images from a project I’ve called Plantscapes of Uncertainty. The objective was to make photographs of plants that would evoke the feeling of navigating through an imaginary and slightly disturbing landscape. It is a manner to ponder over the sensation of having to find one’s way through uncertain times, dark times even.
I had observed plants in Lisbon’s parks and gardens on my walks. Out of interest for shapes and textures, I wanted to get closer, in particular to the cacti in the Tapada das Necessidades.
I’ve used some of these images to accompany musings on rewilding in my previous post.
Taking inspiration from other photographers on Substack, I’ve experimented with spreading some vaseline on the lens to make photographs that are not about achieving perfect sharpness: it is a way to step away from a quest for technical perfection, which will produce nice images that are very stereotypical or devoid of emotion, in order to produce photographs that have a deeper impact, photographs that will ask questions rather than repeat a rehearsed and formatted answer.
Turning to black and white, and adding some blur to defuse light and obtain a foggy effect, I obtained images that I call ‘plantscapes’ in which the familiar spines and textures dissolve into terrain, weather, and mood.
The other images in the project, including a few colour images, offer a sort of counterpoint that reinforces the sensation of walking or floating through an oneiric land that verges on the nightmarish.
These surreal landscapes are made of plants, light and a touch of doubt: they are an invitation to travel into an unknown.
That’s all for this time, folks.
Be safe, be well, be happy.
Clever use of perspective and depth; I like this assignment you gave to yourself.