01/06/2020.

Exercise 5.7 Landscape, Place and Environment.

Artist Statement

For a self determined project. Work influenced by the work Casper David Friedrich.

My name is Michael Green I am a level 2 student with The Open College of the Arts. I have been interested in photography since attending college in my teens. I spent hours in the college library looking at photography books. The ones that interested me most linked photography with Art. This interest has led me to try to make images inspired by the artist Casper David Friedrich. Whilst Friedrich had the luxury of painting in a studio I had to work with alacrity. The moment my subject interacted with the sublime landscape lasted only a second meaning I had to be ready, in situ, camera set to capture the image within the second the subject reacts.

Recently I have been fortunate to visit Antarctica. I have endeavoured to capture the scale of the landscapes in Antarctica with varied success. Whilst thinking about these landscapes I saw people having a spiritual experience as they observe the scale of this place. These spiritual moments made me think of Casper David Friedrichs painting “The wanderer above the sea of fog”. This painting depicts a person having a reaction to the landscape before them. I see this same reaction in many of the people who witness the landscape in this polar place.

I find it fascinating watching people taking selfies as I did for a previous module in a past course. Equally beguiling is the way this landscape has the power to stop you in your tracks. I used my compact camera allowing me to carry it wherever I went and enabling me to quickly deploy it to capture these moments so I can share them with you.