Thinking About Photography
Dedicated to expanding our ideas about photography
Photographers and Water
Fall 2023
September 23rd - December 20th
The Late Show with Steven Colbert has a questionnaire for guests where he asks a series of 15 rather random questions – some silly – some profound. One of the questions is what is your "favorite smell." It's fun to play along and my answer, after tossing out the usual popcorn and freshly baked bread, is the smell of rain.
Living in the land of little rain, it's hard to describe the primitive joy one gets walking outside and sensing the smell that lets you know water is coming; it's as if the earth is sighing in relief. I love late summer in New Mexico when the afternoon heat is broken by a soft rain that leaves the smell of warm, wet dirt and piñon pine in the air. We start our life in water and mythology tells us we cross over the river Styx when we end it.
Water is life, and this is clearly illustrated by Google Earth at Night where we see how civilization clings to the edges of the Nile River. Water is also power, or rather access to water is power - think the Los Angeles Aqueduct and Owens Valley. That power is brilliantly illustrated in journalist Mark Arax’s The King of California: J. G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire which tells the story of how the world's richest cotton farmer started his empire by draining one of California's largest lakes in the central valley. This is the same valley which is now sinking each year due to the loss of aquifer water from the relentless growth of commercial wells that reach down thousands of feet - drying up local wells in the process. Access to water has historically played out on more intimate terms through denying use of beaches (Bryce Beach), pools and even drinking fountains. Pool: A Social History of Segregation is an interesting project which seeks to “illuminate a history of segregated swimming in America, and its connection to present-day drowning issues affecting Black communities.”
Rothstein, Arthur, FSA, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication ("CCO 1.0 Dedication")
Photographically, some of my fondest memories were spending days in the amber light of the darkroom, listening to the bubbling waterwheel of the print washer. Beyond the technical, photography has a long history of water-related projects, a great example is the FSA photographers who illustrated the effects of drought and economic depression in the 30s. In the late 40's Philippe Halsman created one of his most iconic images, Dalí Atomicus - featuring a flying Salvador Dali, three cats and a beautiful wave of water splashing through the scene - apparently it took over two dozen tries to get the right balance of mammal and water. In the 80s and into the 90s Michael Kenna’s long exposures turned the ocean into a flowing ethereal mist. Later, at the start of the 2000s, Alex Soth reinvigorated the roadtrip genre with his Sleeping by the Mississippi. More recently, we have the brilliant Water Life by Aïda Muluneh which highlights water poverty through the women of Afar in northern Ethiopia. Last year, Sebastião Salgado exhibited Aqua Mater: The Fragility of Water featuring 42 of his photographs that "remind us how subtle the balance of nature remains."
Water is a broad theme and the photographers here are good examples of looking at our relationship to water and how it transforms both our external and internal landscapes. They also explore the fight for control over access to water, how we interact with the substance, and what it means to us politically and metaphorically. Once again, many thanks to the editors at PhotoBook Journal for curating a set of very interesting books on the subject.
Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman
© Melissa Borman, all rights reserved
Sea Level
The series Sea Level comprises photographs made while swimming in the ocean. By placing the camera at the water's surface, the work immerses the viewer in the experience of open water swimming. The photographs document the changing waves over several days. Each image addresses the figurative and literal role of the water’s surface as a boundary between two worlds, the land and the sea. The images of Sea Level explore the relationship between these two worlds and the ways in which the surface can be both a barrier and a connection.
Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin
© Jessica Cantlin, all rights reserved
Captured By The Sea (diptychs)
When I was growing up in Seattle, my parents had a large poster of San Francisco’s Sutro Baths hanging in the hallway of our home. Sutro Baths was a fantastically large bathing facility built in 1894 on the shore of San Francisco Bay in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. At the time the largest indoor bathing facility in the world, the Baths introduced swimmers to a new era of bathing as recreation. The poster was a promotional tool depicting the architectural and recreational marvel, a massive glass complex with several bays, towering wood rafters, bleachers for spectators, and all sorts of diving boards, slides, and trapezes to encourage bathers to enjoy the water. Multiple times a day I would pass the poster in my house, and with a seemingly rubber neck, would memorize the swimmers’ faces, bathing costumes, and body language. How I wished that Sutro Baths still existed so that I could visit and swing from the rings dangling over the water. The Baths burned to the ground in 1966, so unfortunately, it was never meant to be, but my curiosity about people interacting with water has persisted and apparently embedded itself in my brain.
Fast forward a few decades. I may no longer be the kid amused by the faces on the faded poster in the hallway of my family home, but I have become an artist who approaches her work with very much the same interest. I have never considered beach photography the hallmark of my work; it is the genre in my portfolio that I sell the least. However, after cleaning out my archives last summer, I realized that I have a very deep file of images of beach culture that I have amassed over the years but never given much credence to individually. The photographs are detailed, vibrant, and convey a timeless sense of joy that has always been associated with beach culture. As a collection they come together and represent my lingering fascination with people interacting with water, or as the title of this book conveys, people captured by the sea.
Research has shown a direct correlation between wellness and being near water; those who live near it are proven to be happier (it’s no mystery that the color blue is associated with a feeling of calmness and a sense of peace). However, if you can’t live on the shore or in a home with a view of the water, you can still achieve the mildly meditative effects of water with a trip to the beach. The rhythmic sound of the waves, coupled with the smell of salty air, and the feeling of sand on your feet is shown to de-stimulate the brain and promotes feelings of relaxation and decompression. Just the physical act of transporting oneself to the beach, let alone turning off the phone, and breathing in the air, is enough for the brain to enter a state of mindfulness that transcends the psyche and reduces stress.
Humans are naturally drawn to water, whether they realize its therapeutic effects or not. It should therefore come as no surprise that a complete subculture based on the beach and recreational bathing came to life around the time that the Sutro Baths were built. Beach culture is not defined by class or race or age, but is rooted in local customs, resources, and accessibility. A day in the sun by the sea draws on everyone and is unifying in its ritual, one that when placed under the microscope of a camera is very telling anthropologically. As I walk down the beach with my cameras, I try to meet my subjects at eye level; however, my presence isn’t always welcome, so I have learned to disappear and become part of the view. I watch people interact with the landscape and contemplate what brings them to the sea. I wonder what the water does for them. I ponder if they are local or foreign. Is this a meeting spot for friends or for family, or am I perhaps witnessing a daily routine? These stories aren’t written in the sand, so I am left to evaluate body language, interpret age-old tendencies, and record fleeting moments with my cameras based on my instincts. After all, the beach is what you make of it.
The beach can be a wide spot on an island road next to the sea, where concrete rubble is piled up next to tattered, old umbrellas, and the only thing that matters is access to the water. The beach can be a place to escape the concrete jungle of cities where apartments are stacked on top of one another, and people live in close quarters. Such as it was in Rio de Janiero, where, on an average Thursday in September, the beach was packed with bodies, locals rejoicing in the salty ocean water, not a tourist in sight. The beach can also be a place of community where generations of families come together to reunite, swap stories, and lay their eyes on grandchildren who have been born during the darker months. Community comes to mind, a photograph that I made on the shore of a small beach club in Italy. Year to year, families occupy the same chairs and umbrellas, and are expected to be in attendance according to an invisible schedule dictated by the summer months. As the morning bleeds into the afternoon, groups gather naturally, standing close together in waist-high water. Octogenarian men in striped swim trunks talk business. Old ladies trade stories of families and children abroad. Mothers manage young ones and make plans for evening dinners. Teenagers preen like peacocks. Children splash and scream with delight. Or at least this is the narrative that I, as an observer, have formulated to explain what I am watching and why I am attracted to beach culture.
While this book is by no means the first of beach photography to hit the shelves, I hope that its images summon a deeper curiosity about the connection between people and water. So many nuances of beach culture are wrapped up in tiny details that go unnoticed or unappreciated, much like the swimmers’ body language drawn into the poster of the Sutro Baths that I didn’t notice for years. The next time you head to the beach, allow yourself to pause momentarily; take note of what the sea does for you, and then turn around and check out what everyone else is up to. Turn down the imaginary volume in your brain and sit silently with the scene. There is so much more to beach culture than a row of colorful umbrellas. Look into the eyes of the people around you—I bet you will find that they too are captured by the sea.
This essay is from my book, Captured by the Sea, which was published by Daylight Books in 2022.
Martin Cox
© Martin Cox
© Martin Cox
© Martin Cox
© Martin Cox
© Martin Cox
© Martin Cox
© Martin Cox, all rights reserved
Snow Drawings
I grew up in moist England, Los Angeles is where I chose to live. Riveted by photography and landscape I have followed my heart and vision. In my now familiar environment of semi-arid desert I have reveled (photographically) in the spaciousness and desiccated majesty of the desert expanses inland from LA. Many of my photo projects spiraling out from a drive to the desert to examine a mysterious old sign, or a dirt road from a map, or dry lake bed. The visual exploration of geography and geology carved by water and exposed by drought was in deep contrast to my leafy forested youth. Art schooled in the lush rolling and ancient countryside of Hampshire I was reacting to planetary vibe of the landscape in the southwest.
Nothing prepared me for the contrast of a landscape entirely made of water. In Iceland’s north east I roamed the fjords and valleys in winter’s grip. Deep snow covered everything. The skies, laden with snow flakes yet to fall cast a flat and mysterious light eliminating shadows and obscuring the horizon. Here under tons of frozen water was a silent magical world indicated by the merest of marks. Almost as if they were woodblock prints the my color photographs depict wide mountains hinted at by exposed rock or a feathery tree, the tiny farm house, the fragile imprint of a tree or hedge. Scale becomes illusive with no familiar horizon to gauge distance.
In a snowy desert, the sound of my breath, the muffled crunch under my feet were all that anchored me to the spacious watery vistas resulting in my series Snow Drawing.
Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier
© Carsten Meier, all rights reserved
Dam
DAM is a compilation of photographs of Dams from Europe and the United States, collected over five years. Dams are capable of balancing architectural allure with the strength to stop rivers just as they visually represent the dichotomy between water ecology and water management.
Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen
© Riitta Päiväläinen, all rights reserved
River Notes
I enter to the world of water,
into the reflection.
From the riverbed, I step to the unknown,
to the world of beavers,
fishes and water birds.
The simple, straight form of the ribbon,
starts to find new ways.
It races through the landscape, entwines,
weaves into giant knots, rosettes, cobwebs and labyrinths.
In the series River Notes, I have explored the combination of ribbons, water reflections and secluded places. By cutting and sewing fabrics together, I have made long ribbons which I placed to the nature. The results are maze-like weavings, outlines without distinguished endings or beginnings, organic creations almost like those found in the nature.
Ribbons, racing through the landscape, are reflected on the surface of still, serene water. The semi-circular form mirrors as a whole circle. The transparent lines merge, creating an entity. A breeze -in a blink of an eye- the vision disappears. The fluctuating quality of a reflection raises a question of its true existence.
Landscape is not only a topographical, objective phenomenon. For me, it is personal and subjective. Working with a landscape means going into it: experiencing and sensing the place, finally being one, equal part of it. By bringing the landscape and ribbons together, I create a dialogue―an interaction. A feeling, odour, shape, colour of the surrounding nature inspires and evokes me. My aim is to suggest and bring forth potential stories, mental images and associations.
In my photographs there are no landscapes with geographical or man-made landmarks. I am interested in the opposite; silent places that are abandoned, secluded, uninhabited. My wish is to bring them front, give them voice.
Wading in the rivers, streams and flooded areas enables observation from unusual perspective. For me the water represents mirages of our dreams, memories and our subconscious. Combined with the ribbons, the result is a riddle that allures the viewer further into the image.
John Trotter
© John Trotter
© John Trotter
@ John Trotter
© John Trotter
© John Trotter
© John Trotter
© John Trotter, all rights reserved
No Agua, No Vida
Since 2001, I have been photographing the consequences of the sweeping human alteration of the Colorado River, in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. The Colorado, I soon learned, was greatly reduced from what it once was and no longer makes its ancient rendezvous with the Sea of Cortez, between the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland.
Forces north of the border had other destinations planned for the river’s water, and in 1922 divided its annual flow between seven U.S. states and Mexico. They built an extensive network of dams, stilling much of the once roiling river and creating the foundation on which the Southwestern United States has been built.
But as it has turned out, the foundation of everything, the premise of 1922, was based more on wishful thinking than fact and up to 25% more water has been promised to the river’s users than actually exists.
My project has been an exploration of the disconnection many Americans have with the source of their water, one of the few things in the world without which we will not survive. Inevitably, our entire nation will pay for this hubris. Only the degree of sacrifice is still somewhat negotiable.
Grace Weston
© Grace Weston
© Grace Weston
© Grace Weston
© Grace Weston
© Grace Weston
© Grace Weston
© Grace Weston, all rights reserved
Escaping Gravity
Breathing, Dying, Swimming, Flying
My established artwork is still photography of staged miniature narrative vignettes that I construct and light in my studio. As a departure, while still employing photography of miniature scenes, I created an immersive life-size installation, addressing the drowning death of my brother and my learning to swim late in life. It is about loss, release, and liberation.
When I was four, my eight-year-old brother drowned in a nearby pond a week after we had moved from the city to the country. I have very strong and warm memories of him. He was my first best friend, and protector. The tragedy had a devastating effect on my family and our future. Out of my parents’ concern and fear, swimming pools and any bodies of water were off limits for me. I grew up not knowing how to swim. But as a child, I would fantasize about life as a mermaid.
Fast-forwarding to several years ago, I discovered adult swim classes at a pool where I had started taking aqua aerobics. I had subconsciously assumed every adult but me knew how to swim, but there I saw many taking a beginning class. I signed up, practicing regularly to improve. I now swim a mile and a half each session and it fills me with life. Water brings me joy, not fear. I belong there.
There are two chambers in this installation, one is the Pond, the other is the Pool. The vellum pages in the Pond room are taken from the newspaper article reporting the incident as well as a faded unsent letter found in a box after my mother passed. It was wrenching to read her thirteen grief-filled pages accounting the details of the tragic day, and the numerous things that went awry that set the stage for my brother’s death.
Passing through fabric streamers from the Pond chamber into the Pool, wafting chiffon banners of swimmers hang in the space, recorded sounds of bubbling and splashing water play, and moving theater lighting emulates the surface of the water on the ceiling. It captures the joy and serenity of my swimming experience.
Swimming is very meditative. It’s quiet, rhythmic, and a perfect atmosphere for the mind to muse. It makes sense that I often think of my brother. What was his experience of drowning that day? What would it have been like to grow up together? What would he be like as an adult? I miss what could have been.
PhotoBook Journal
I'm pleased to welcome back PhotoBook Journal with selections from Gerhard Clausing, Douglas Stockdale and their team of Contributing Editors on books that explore the Water theme. It's a wonderful selection and gives you the opportunity to find additional interesting artists.
The reviews are on a separate page, use this link.