Competitive Scholarship '14

Fictional Landscapes, Spring 2013

For centuries, humans have manipulated the environment to re-shape the natural world. The Aboriginies in Australia used fire to herd game into place when hunting. Consequently, fire became, over time, an essential part of the ecosystem. Humans continue to manipulate the landscapes, at both enormous and minute scales, to suit a purpose we have determined.

As old as photography itself, photo manipulation has been used to deceive, persuade, and challenge viewers. Subtle manipulations can have a profound impact on how a photograph interpreted. In 1982, a controversy surrounded National Geographic, when editors moved two Egyptian pyramids closer together in order to fit on a vertical cover. This brought to question the appropriateness of photo manipulation in journalism, some arguing that by publishing the manipulation, the magazine presented something that did not exist, as fact.

For this project, multiple images were blended to create fictional landscapes. By fabricating fiction, the manipulated landscapes reference the historical tendency to alter our natural environment.