%, 4s DOUG & MIKE ALBARRAN MARK _ STARN CABRERA = ~~ RUWEDEL VOICE OF NATURE | CONTENTS ISSUE #3 2022 CONTENTS Rebecca Najdowski Wendi Schneider Ambient Pressure Into the Mist Portfolio Interview Inspiration Feature =e Analogue Photography as an Analogy for Earth Processes Photo Culture CONTENTS ISSUE #3 2022 Doug & Mike Starn Mosaics about the transience of life Portfolio Interview Patricia Pettitt Chrysalis Inspiration Feature Art Photography Highlights of Artdoc Photo Exhibition Artdoc Exhibition Albarran Cabrera The golden leaves Portfolio Interview Ge Mark Ruwedel Minimalist landscapes Portfolio Interview Gert Motmans Now it’s day, but | am dreaming Inspiration Feature CONTENTS ISSUE #3 2022 Marina Tsaregorodtseva Shades of blue Inspiration Feature LU6 Gino Buhler The personality of plants Portfolio Interview ¢¢ Many lens-based artists have an innate sensitivity to the beauty, power, energy and hidden messages of plants, trees, rivers and hills. —- The Artdoc Team NOTE OF THE EDITORS Voice of nature It is widely acknowledged that our relationship with nature has been heavily distorted over the last centuries. The destructive Western approach to our natural world started with the Greek philosophy reinforced by the Christian view on man and his habitat. Their shared anthropocentric view created a dichotomy between the rational man and the allegedly ‘non- conscious’ botanical world, bereft of feelings and purposes. This hierarchy positioned humans far above plants and trees, giving the modern man the ethical right to exploit the natural world for his own benefit. But currently, everybody knows the tide is turning against the exploiter. We as humans need to refocus our view on life and board on an ‘eco-centric’ worldview. Many lens-based artists have an innate sensitivity to the beauty, power, energy and hidden messages of plants, trees, rivers and hills. The artists we bring in this Artdoc Issue have built their personal relationship with nature, investigating the intrinsic value of our natural environment. Their works create a new aesthetic realm where the spectator can enjoy the beauties of the world. Moreover, the photo artists’ works invite the spectator to an ethical involvement with all living beings and every rock and river. The insightful talks Artdoc had with Albarran Cabrera, Doug and Mike Starn, Rebecca Najdowski, Mark Ruwedel and Gino Biihler testify to their appraisal of our natural surroundings. This Artdoc issue brings photo works that echo the whispering voice of nature. - The Artdoc Team ARTDOC PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE 7 REBECCA NAJDOWSKI =9=—W—— Ambient Pressure Rebecca Najdowski In this epoch of the Anthropocene, many photographers have realized our imperialistic approach to nature, as we appropriate and objectify nature by our default photographic practice. Artists develop alternative approaches to visualize nature and its inner energy. Rebecca Najdowski, an American-Australian artist and academic researcher in photography, is investigating the inner voice of nature by inviting physical interactions on photographic materials. Her series, Ambient Pressure, is aresponse to our way of framing nature through photography. Her work was shown at the Belfast Photo Festival 2022. Ul 2y x OS puke Ul QO? x ve ‘ud yuaWwAbid ‘gTO2 ‘TT aunssaig quaiquiy | bysmopfen edJaqay © ARTDOC PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE 9 10 REBECCA NAJDOWSKI In her artwork, Rebecca Najdowski reacts to how we frame nature in a limited way, creating an illusion that we know about it. “We have created a limited view of nature by photographing it in a repetitive way. We tend to default to a standard way of making images. It is almost like a script of how photographs of nature should be. But I think we should be paying attention to how nature has been mediated and seek out new ways to depict it.” The history of photography is moulded by the iconic and majestic photography of Ansel Adams, celebrating the beauty of the natural world. Many have criticised his work, saying he creates a myth of nature. “Growing up near National Parks in the United States, I became fascinated with viewpoints from which you are supposed to photograph. They guide the view so that many people photograph nature from the same perspective. In this sense, nature is depicted in a culturally formatted convention.” Disrupting the frame The original photographs Najdowski used in Ambient Pressure have been shot analogue on 6x7 film, after which she scanned the negatives and printed them. “I took the old conventional landscape images in my archive, images that I took throughout the years without any intention, and worked with those photographs by manipulating ARTDOC PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE