The 100 Series and South America
Many people do photography during their journeys in South America, and any more by quantity the vast majority is taken as cell phone pictures. Cell phone cameras are close to hand, and are affordable to many who otherwise would not directly purchase a camera. The digital photography software has come a long way, and the resolution has greatly increased, for both traditional format dedicated cameras and cell phones. But regardless of the platform, the saturation of many regions of South America by expert and inexpert snapshots goes to what end? Filling up internet servers for social media sharing? Banking the pictures in the Cloud? Hoarding archives on home computers? Maxing out the memory on people’s cell phones? Are we just permitting overload search engines to organize and distribute the content? A direction was clearly required, a goal as a photographer taking pictures of South America and elsewhere.
CHILE 100
And what measures the photographer’s capability beyond a great picture? With the constant iteration of millions of pictures being almost randomly executed at the major tourist destinations during all weather conditions and lighting, the one-off exceptional pictures are certain to emerge. Where a picture says a thousand words, a collection of pictures actually tells the story. Being able to photograph with consistent quality with a distinct character is what sets a photograph apart from the random mob taking visual sub-setting through digitization. It is with these general long thought over concepts that brought forth the framework of shooting the 100 series in South America.
To further contrast the digital photography comparison between camera and cell phones, one major difference still exists between the two- the lens. The essentially pinhole variety of camera lens on cellphones fundamentally gather less light because of the aperture diameter. The optics found in lenses of true cameras yield lower distortions that do not need post-processing software corrections. Analogue zoom lenses work differently than digital zooms. Cameras can physically change the type of lens that captures the images; cell phones are stuck with what the company engineers planted for the largest profit margin.
The 100 series goes through the self-examination and regime to curtail the endless capturing of scenes; anybody can push the camera or cellphone button 1000 times in less than a week during travel. Instead, what matters is the composition of the picture, the scene selection, and using a limited number of photographs to characterize a topic. This is far easier said than done.
Santiago 100
Lima 100
Putting together the first 100 series photography collections in South America started with Chile and Peru, and then went on to make additional 100 collections of their respective capital cities. With Peru 100 it was a culmination of more than a decade of travel done over many trips covering a numerous regions of the country. Peru is not just about Machu Picchu or colorful alpaca woven products. Just by merit of the country’s geography having extreme coastal desert, Andean terrain, and Amazon basin, the number of pictures out of quickly totals to 100 thereby requiring selectivity. There are little visited towns that deserved to be elevated in the story, interesting areas that must be included and expected stereotype places in country that had to be acknowledged. This is about 100 representative photographs of Peru and not just the vacation spots. The diverse nature of Chile likewise made it a challenge to assemble the subset of photographs in the Chile 100 collection covering this spectacular country. With both the Chile 100 and Peru 100 collections my background as geologist also contributes to the directions of travel, and inclination towards what matters in looking at the Andes. A surfer or a stamp collector would gather a different set of 100 pictures to illustrate these two countries. A geologist-photographer is Earth-aware, sees in the landscape deep time and rock forming processes that others are not educated in. This does have an impact in these series. The 100 selected photographs emphasize the landscapes, but do not overly avoid the human fabrications that manifest as cities. Instead, I took the 100 concept to make photograph collections of the large cities of Lima and Santiago as topics worthy of themselves to stand alone. Lima 100 was very difficult project given the geography making hazy and gray skies. Santiago 100 came together after living there for two years, and also had to deal with the terrible city pollution that renders the sky dirty hazy brown-gray that warrants the nickname of Smogtiago. The photographs were selected to convey the history and shifts of architecture through time, to show these places as something more than parking lots of jammed cars. It was to present the cities as places that live and changes.
Denver 100
Seattle 100
The 100 series photography collection has been advanced beyond South America, with two additional topics being covered in North America- Denver 100 and Seattle 100. Both had their challenges and advantages, and made for a worthy experience to push beyond the styles of South America culture. Other 100 series are presently being advanced. Furthermore, the photography collections of Nevada Visions and Doors of South America represent major time investments and persistence in gathering topical photographs.
Nevada Visions
Doors of South America
Example travel related photographs can be found at my photographer’s website www.jamesmwise.com along with short descriptions of all of the above collections that are available as books on Amazon. More than one picture is required for a story, and photography is about direction, composition, and decisions that reflect the artist over the random pressure of mass and internet social media slave masters. Photography is a conscious exercise of topic.
Do connect with us:
ResearchGate: James M. Wise
Author´s page: James M. Wise
Photography page: JamesM.Wise.com
Author´s page: Yanira K. Wise
South America seems to refuse to show its inexhaustible creative force.
