Catherine Meadows Weekly Post 1.1

Mark Ruwedel

"Pictures of Hell"

"His photographs draw our attention to the plural and intersecting layers of geology and human history, framing the sandy shape of dried-out riverbeds scored into the surface of earth over the course of centuries."  

Mark chooses what looks like abandoned places to shoot at. For most, if not all, of his shots, he most likely had to have the shutter open for a long time. He also chooses places where we see tire tracks, old trails and pathways, along with an abandoned car frame. He really focuses on the way the land looks and how parts of it must have aged.

I think his choice to keep the shutter open for a while adds to his intended theme of time. I feel that he has this theme because of the places that he chose to shoot at. In some of the pictures we see tire tracks going in multiple directions. In another we see what may have been a car, but it has been completely taken apart leaving nothing left but the frame. The landscapes photographed look as if there used to be people on the land daily.

I absolutely loved Mark's "Pictures of Hell". I really enjoy looking at landscape photography and find myself often shooting landscape shots with my camera as well. I feel that they are very strong as black and white images with a very light sepia tone added to them. I think that some of the scenes that he chose to shoot contrast with others in the series. Some look as if they formed from the presence of people who used to frequent the area. Other shots are obviously not man-made, such as his pictures of the canyons. This contrast has an interesting effect on his overall theme of time.