We love pretty pictures but in order to do so photographers often have to omit or Photoshop out the ugliness that us humans leave upon this earth. The thing about getting out in nature is to relax and get away from the things of society, and the clutter of our own homes to breathe and feel free. Trouble is not every one that ventures out into nature practices leave no trace and often our technology or infrastructure can destroy our best views! Is it wrong for photographers to manipulate photos to remove the ugliness of a scene to create a more wondrous neat clean portrayal of a place that has actually been spoiled? Is that deceitful? What do people think when they get to a destination that they saw in photo that was so pristine and clean only to find it trashed or next to fa smog billowing factory? I don't have Photoshop so there is not much manipulation in the development end in my photos although I can and do crop. I crop out all the wires and cables that I possibly can. I have walked away from beautiful would be shots because of cables, wires, signs and other other things that mar the landscape and could not be worked around. It is really frustrating. Should I have made the photo anyways? We do a lot of hiking and camping miles into the woods and have to work around mounds of trash left by other hikers or campers too lazy to pack out their own trash. I can recall a trip to Beaver Lake and the memory makes my stomach churn. I need to make sure we start packing gloves and trash bags! Sometimes I photograph it and sometimes not and generally don't share it because no one wants to see that kind of stuff or do they? I have seen neighbor kids just drop their candy wrappers out in the yard and walk away. When I told them to pick it up and put it in the trash the little miscreants were like, "no and you can't make me!" My son reached over grabbed it off the ground and threw it away for the kid. That kind of defeated the purpose but I can only hope something was learned and not that someone else will always do it for me. The parents paid no attention. What are people teaching their children these days. Do these people want to live in a dump because I certainly do not! We live next to a bunch of storage units next to a wetland and a pond. The owner has stopped cleaning up after its cliental. Broken Power Wheels lay in the swamp, a shatter sink lines the drive, beer cans and bottles are strewn everywhere. The neighbor kids piled up some of the moldy abandoned mattresses and jumped down on to them from rooftops, and made ramps for their bikes out of some of the junk people left. Broken dishes, bags of clothes, microwaves, fake flowers, bits of scrap metal you name it , you can find in our yard! The pretty pond is filled with plastic bags, cans, popped balls and who knows what else! It is very depressing. My son and I started picking some of it up but then the snow came. I guess we have a big project for the spring if we are still stuck here. I guess that is why such photos are more for photojournalists rather than landscape artists. We want to create and see the beauty in the world provide a moment of respite from reality or give hope. Often we have to climb over or work around all the human trash, leaving the photos of true reality to photojournalists! Truthfully we would prefer not to have to see, smell or deal with the trash at all!
Let's do the world a favor and practice leave no trace both in the wild and public spaces. Personally, I have been looking into ways to reduce the amount of trash we produce. Our family of three fills a garbage bag to a bag and a half every week. We recycle a ton. We have switched to a bar shampoo and conditioner called Ethique available on Amazon to cut down on plastic waste. I have also stopped buying paper plates too, as much as I hate washing dishes. We each have a special plate for camping. Now I need to see about getting camp utensils so we can stop using plastic throw away utensils. I have also seen a lot of ads for laundry detergent strips and am very serious about giving them a try too. Those would be either Earth Breeze or True Earth. I don't want my child or grandchildren to have to live on or near a filthy dump so let us all try to do better! It is bad enough the town I grew up in was literally dumped on. A dump was put in next to a wetland just a few miles from the high school. I dread driving through there to visit my folks it smells so bad! So what do you think, should landscape photographer shoot the whole picture or just the pretty part? |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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