“As man’s influence on the world has increased, so too has the definition of landscape photography – once language to describe the documentation of a natural wilderness, and now increasingly a study of the effect humans have on it, continually reshaping our environments to support our existence.
The effect it has is to create something highly atmospheric – the harsh heat is palpable from their neckerchiefs and sharp shadowing, but it is not them specifically that matter, rather the place that they are in, and as a viewer we’re transported into that moment too, trudging along a desert valley floor with them, shading ourselves as best we can from the blistering overhead sun.” – Life Framer “I was drawn to the bold framing of this image, the expected focal point inverted so that the two protagonists are softened with blur, and the sparse and arid hills behind them are captured with focused precision. Michael shares with us an unorthodox view into a beautiful moment of serenity.” – Life Framer Details emerge – the bright plates of food he carries and the similarly colored petals scattered behind him – but it’s what’s not shown that gives the image its strength where he is going and where he has come from out of sight. The thick milky blue water and unexpected viewpoint grab your gaze at first, and then the boy appears, anchoring the image with a sense of scale in what could otherwise be misinterpreted as a distant satellite view of a coastline. “Landscape and travel photography has the power to transport us to magical and surprizing places, and this image does just that. Other winning photographers © Michael Meissner It’s the type of image that summons a feeling as much as it does a place.” – Life Framer The animals stand sharply captured in the distance, but they’re secondary to the swathes of soft color – the expected browns and tans, but also peaches and pinks. “The image of a herd of camels traversing the desert has become something of a visual cliché, but here Donell takes that same premise and produces something fresh, poetic and dreamlike. It’s this inherent dichotomy – an image that conjures grand themes with a few friends and simple props – that makes it so captivating.” – Life Framer And on the other it warns of that all-powerful hold these screens have over us, distracting us from the present moment, the subjects here almost worshipping their devices, holding them aloft like idols to a new god. There are perhaps two interpretations to be made – on the one hand, it can be seen as a celebration of the human connection that technology enables, the phones creating their own constellations underneath the distant stars, symbolising the vast distances across which we can now communicate. “This scene is epic and cinematic, and at the same time charmingly home-made, the textured grain and brilliant night sky evoking that near dream-like state that can come with the freedom a vast open landscape provides. Face of the Earth – Life Framer 2018 Winners © Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
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