Untitled (Chicago, IL #6333) copyright 2013 Douglas Stockdale
One aspect of this project is my investigation of the man-altered landscape. When the documentation of the landscape includes the impact of industry, this has been frequently linked to when a viewer is offered both industrial splendor and the tragedy of the environmental cost. Sometimes this cumulative message is very overt, such as Pieter Hugo’s “Permanent Error”, other times subtle such as the photographic work of John Davies, Joel Sternfeld and Lewis Baltz.
In my case, I do not think my photographic studies of these technological structures is revealing industrial splendor but hopefully a neutral and objective postindustrial portraits. The potential expanse of the landscape is truncated, unlike the romantic style of Davies, perhaps similar to the isolation of the subject by Bernd & Hilla Becher. As a result, I am creating the resulting photograph to appear cool and detached, as an engineer might look at the space and determine the form and function that is needed for the intended technology.
As to the documentation of the environmental cost, this I am not sure of as others will need to determine this aspect of my project.
Cheers!
Singular Images 
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