Back in November, in a “Here’s a Thought” episode of Brooks Jensen’s podcast, he talked about whether a body of work is finished or concluded. He mentioned book trilogies, specifically the Lord of the Rings. Each of the first two books in the series is done, or a finished novel, but the whole story of Frodo and Sam and Gandalf and Aragorn wasn’t concluded until the end of the third.
I’ve never really felt that my parks project as “finished.” Even though I had a “complete” body of work for a B.F.A. project; even though I haven’t made as many photographs as I could or should to really carry on that body of work, I have always intended to continue making photographs of parks, perhaps until I’m too old and worn out to do so. So my B.F.A. project could be Volume 1. But then how would I define a Volume 2? Does that volume begin upon the closing of my B.F.A. show, and any image made in and of parks between circa May 2005 and late-2024 comprises Volume 2? What would I do with a Volume 3 then? What themes would emerge from Volume 2? What would I need to do with a Volume 3? What is or would be the difference between: my B.F.A. project, the work I’ve created in the years 2005-2024, and the work moving forward? What do/will they each do or say?
All of that is taking each volume as a chronological progression. So far, all the images I’ve made in 20 years have been under the same premise—parks are an imitation of Nature, a manicured version of nature where people can enjoy being outside, whether it be because they lack the means or time to go out to the “real” Nature; indeed, I’ve included several images made in the intervening years in the project. So is a chronological approach the best way to treat the volumization of the work? Or, would it be better to take a thematical approach? Short answer: probably the latter. Long answer: most likely the latter, but if I do, I need to spend a lot of time with all of the work I’ve made thus far, and I need to get busy making new work. And that’s not a hard thing to do: there are a lot of parks just in Brigham to photograph. Then there’s Ogden, etc… In other words, I’ve got no shortage of parks to photograph. But then, what do I do with my B.F.A. project? Do I “archive” that body of work, and restructure everything I’ve made in relation to parks?
Another thing to consider is the types of capture method: most of the photographs I’ve made in the last 20 years have been done digitally, where everything for my B.F.A. project was done with my 5x7 large format camera. Do I need to return exclusively to large format, or just make images with whichever camera I feel like using at the time? How do I treat those images I’ve made digitally and have chosen to leave as color images, vs. those made with the 5x7 on black and white film?
There is a lot for me to consider moving forward, but in the mean time, enjoy a few of my favorite photographs of some parks I’ve photographed through the years.
