"So also is the growing interest in the care and preservation of forests and wild places in general, and in the half wild parks and gardens of towns." John Muir (1901, c. 1909)
Half Wild is a motley group of photographs that grapple with the idea of wilderness and the image legacy of the American West. Its title is drawn from a passage in the book, “Our National Parks,” written by John Muir in 1901. Early in the book, Muir characterizes the parks and gardens of towns as half wild and celebrates the public’s growing interest in the natural environment as a spiritual and rejuvenating place. During the summer of 2011, I removed three large shrubs from my front yard during a landscaping project. In the process of pulling the root balls from the ground, a rusted animal trap popped out of the dirt. With Muir’s words in my mind, I suddenly recognized the latent wild character of my residential landscape. Could this familiar landscape, now a terra incognita, captivate me in the way one might view a pristine valley from a mountaintop?
Half Wild was published by Conveyor Editions in September 2014. The hardcover book is 112 pages and consists of 49 color and black & white plates along with images in the accompanying essay. It was designed by Elana Schlenker and the essay, Terra Incognita, was written by Liz Sales. View the entire essay and plates section online here. Editing and sequencing was performed under the astute guidance of Christina Labey. You can purchase your copy through the Conveyor Editions website.
*Named a best photobook of 2014 by Humble Arts Foundation.
*Review of Half Wild by Adam Bell on PhotoEye.
*Featured on It's Nice That.
Half Wild
photo credit: Elana Schlenker and Ross Mantle
Western
Black Maple Eyeball
Nickel Mountain
OK OK
Gold Rush
Sun Sets
Going Back
Collapsed Rock
The Mountain
Merced
Lance Mountain Lion
"So also is the growing interest in the care and preservation of forests and wild places in general, and in the half wild parks and gardens of towns." John Muir (1901, c. 1909)
Half Wild is a motley group of photographs that grapple with the colonial idea of wilderness, the photographic image legacy of the American West, and the landscape as a place of psychological reflection. Its title is drawn from a passage in the book, “Our National Parks,” written by John Muir in 1901. Early in the book, Muir characterizes the parks and gardens of towns as half wild and celebrates the public’s growing interest in the natural environment as a spiritual and rejuvenating place. During the summer of 2011, I removed three large shrubs from my front yard during a landscaping project. In the process of pulling the root balls from the ground, a rusted animal trap popped out of the dirt. With Muir’s words in my mind, I recognized the latent “wild” character of my residential landscape. Could this familiar landscape, now a terra incognita, captivate me in the way one might view a meadow from a mountaintop?
Half Wild was published by Conveyor Studio in September 2014. The hardcover book is 112 pages and consists of 49 color and black & white plates along with images in the accompanying essay. It was designed by Elana Schlenker and the essay, Terra Incognita, was written by Liz Sales. View the entire essay and plates section online here. Editing and sequencing was performed under the astute guidance of Christina Labey.
*Named a best photobook of 2014 by Humble Arts Foundation.
*Review of Half Wild by Adam Bell on PhotoEye.
*Featured on It's Nice That.
