S H Bean ~ Photographer

More notes on The Invisible Landscape

By S H Bean on June 27, 2015

I try never to trust my vision,  so with the Invisible Landscape project I have gone back to basics and now concentrate solely  on the ‘cast shadow’. Shadows are somewhat difficult to perceive as the shadow darkness, its density, is predicated on the background stimulus outside the shadow area. Ruskin noted that ‘the perception of solid form is entirely a matter of experience’ So from a purely vision based perspective its density is controlled by the overall scene brightness. It is light or dark because of the overall background stimulus outside the shadow area.

To me shadows are essentially invisible objects and where once Photography was used to explore  invisible motion, I continue in that tradition to explore the shadow. In order to do this, one method I have is not to use my vision but my perception to discover its ‘imminent visibility’. (Maurice Merleau-Ponty)  The Images in the Invisible Landscape project were all taken during daylight. No artificial light was used.