![]() I selected photographs that I thought were the most interesting and the most compelling images. So, is this exhibit a retrospective of photographs of landscapes that you’ve taken over your whole career? I think it has had some influence over several generations of designers now, in landscape architecture. As a result it’s had a significant influence on designers in the last few decades, and the images are quite powerful in terms of what Dan Kiley did at the Miller Garden. There was a book done on the Miller Garden for which I did photographs called “The Miller Garden: Icon of Modernism.” These images were reproduced many times in professional journals, magazines, books, as well as the monograph of the garden itself. I read online that you’re interested in the generational influences that past landscapes have had on the present. It’s been a long career in planning, urban design, and landscape design. In recent years I’ve done more landscape design and the rehabilitation of historic landscapes, such as the rehabilitation of the landscape at the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool here in Washington. Early on, I did mostly planning and urban design. I started working at Sasaki in 1978 as an urban designer and landscape designer. My first degree is in architecture, and my second degree is in landscape architecture. How long have you been a landscape architect? ![]() ![]() Prospect Park was a significant early park by Olmsted, but also influential in design terms. For example, the Miller Garden in Columbus, Indiana, was a very important design in the modern era. Either they were new project types, or they were just extremely influential as designs. Either they were a new project type, like Riverside, Illinois, the planned community, or Blue Ridge Parkway, or Mount Auburn cemetery, or the University of Virginia. The idea is that these are some of the most significant landscape designs in the country. And then, in the mid-'90s, I had an opportunity to do a book on my photography, so I took what I had and I supplemented it with sites that I had selected. It’s a hybrid process.Ĭan you tell me a little bit about the concept behind this exhibit?Įarly on I was asked to photograph certain designers’ work for an exhibition, and that was the work of Dan Kiley and Beatrix Farrand. The original, in most cases, is from a negative. So, what you’re actually seeing are digital prints. Once I got the print I liked, I would send it with an overlay of notes on what I did to manipulate the print to a master printer who would scan the negative, make adjustments to match my print, and send me a proof that was printed digitally. I would have the negatives processed and make a print in the darkroom that met my requirements for lightening, darkening and cropping. All of the landscapes that were done on film were with either the 4x5 view camera or the medium-format. The last two sites in the exhibit were done more recently with a digital camera. It uses roll film, but three frames of a 2-and-a-quarter-inch negative. I also used a panoramic camera, which is also medium-format. In more recent years I started using a medium format camera, with a Hasselblad 2-and-a-quarter-inch negative. Most of the photographs are with a 4x5 view camera. There’s a 4x5 view camera-this is an old-style camera and a kind of a technology that originated in the late 19 th century, and architectural photographers used it until being supplanted by digital cameras. The cameras are actually on display in the exhibit. We chatted with Ward about his transition from film to digital photography, and about some of his favorite landscapes.Ĭan you tell me about the cameras that you used to take these photos? Luminous Landscapes, which will run through September, showcases the history, evolution, and sheer beauty of American landscape design, as well as Ward’s own keen eye and skill with a camera. Ward’s photography work is currently being featured in a retrospective of sorts at Washington, D.C.’s National Building Museum. He took his first photograph in 1978, the same year that he started working at the Watertown, Massachusetts architecture firm Sasaki Associates, using a large-format view camera with a tripod to capture an image of Cambridge’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. Landscape architect Alan Ward, FASLA, has channeled his love of photography into a second career spanning nearly 40 years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |