(01.08.2022)
My actions, dictated by the weather, snow, rain, and heavy cloud, made an interesting week.
The fieldwork, in particular, is starting to take shape, it’s amazing how little you have to travel to see such a drastic shift in the landscape. Despite this, my traveling this week was extensive in an attempt to grasp the variety of the terrain. Locations I traveled to this week included Falls Creek XC trails, Pretty Valley, Towonga huts, and Mt Jaithmathang.
The journey towards Mt Jaithmathang in winter offers excellent viewpoints of the NE face of Mt Feathertop and the SW face of Mt McKay, two of the most picturesque mountains in Australia, a sight to be seen this time of year.
From the get-go, publication design for print and screen have been major precedents when considering how the artworks may form. This past week I focused on a variety of these, historic and contemporary, including the BCSC website and the publications of Japanese mountaineer photographer Yukio Tabuchi.
In process of creating draft visuals, in addition to the precedents, I decided to take lead from another angle, the interaction that I’ve been discovering in the field, the connection between geography and weather, and the marriage of these two entities that form the landscape.
My approach was to design the artwork that forms a similar bond, in this scenario, the connection between photographic form and the possible presentation formats.
In the first work, I experimented with page layouts to narrate the story, using high-contrast visual aesthetics, similar to the BSCS web platform and a simple grid system to present form and shape influenced by geography and weather. The Large black margins on the work entice the viewer to stop and inspect the visual sample, slowing them down to consider/inspect the terrain as if a scientists, one hovering over a microscopic plate. The color used is strictly B&W, and the margin full bleed black, paying homage to many great Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s.
In finalising, this week has been wonderful, with lots of moments of discovery, including sighting footprints from a snow dingo stretched across a snow-covered plateau, but I have to say, a bit of pain. The KM traveled whilst carrying a camera and snow camping gear has taken a toll on the body, so for the next few days, I’ll give my body a few days’ rest.