Robert Welkie "American Anthroposcene" Anthropocene Epoch (definition) Earth's geologic epochs—time periods defined by evidence in rock layers—typically last more than three million years. We're barely 11,500 years into the current epoch, the Holocene. But we've already entered a new one—the Anthropocene, or "new man," epoch. This epoch takes into account the impact of man on the environment. Our guest today, Robert Welkie" has focused his camera on scenes relating to our newest epoch in a set of photographs he entitles "American Anthroposcene"...the juxtaposition of man made structures with our environment. Robert discussed his aesthetic approach to his photography as well as his journey in photography to get to this time in his career. He showed pictures from many of his eclectic visual projects including his pictures of clouds. He brought in large prints from his cloud series. First several pictures from the Cloud Series (both color and B&W) Below is a quote from Robert about his clouds "My clouds are not about music. My clouds are about clouds. The time for metaphor has passed. There was a time when beauty was poetic in the way it rhymed with what happened. My work is urgent. The clouds are beautiful because they are clouds." (Robert Welkie) The next few pictures are from his American Anthroposcene Series... The final picture was a thoughtful gift to all f8'ers of one of his American Anthroposcenic images entitled "Water Table"...the juxtaposition of a table and moving water I thought I would include his narrative with this picture
"Water Table is a part of my series “American Anthropocene” The image was made during a rainstorm. In Logan Canyon, in northern Utah. The site is a picnic table next to the Logan River. The pictures in American Anthropocene juxtapose images of man made objects with images of nature. The Water Table. for me is exciting because of the layers and the way they move. The image layers time in space. The motion of the river is frozen in time. The wood grain of the picnic table echos the motion of the river and is itself expression of a frozen moment in time reaching back to to the sawmill it came from. The concrete too is a moment set in time, the day the concrete was poured. The texture of the finished cement too, implies motion, though it is the most anchored plane of the image. The twig and flowers on the surface of the table bring the image to the present moment. Or at least the moment of exposure. The three separate planes all seem to be moving. There is a patch of some sort in the concrete that that at times joins the table as some sort of extension. It comes and goes. What that does is set up a spiral. It takes the eye back from the flow to start over again." (Robert Welkie) Here is link to his website Robert Welkie Website
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