Weifenbach's work steers well clear of the cliches of landscape photography. Her subjects are often slices of the landscape in the fringes between the true countryside and areas inhabited by man. Large wilderness vistas are not for her. She focuses on local intimate subjects. Her style is to make images which leave much for the viewer to ponder and interpret.
To quote an essay on her work by Gareth Branwyn 'Her photographs unapologetically challenge our everyday visual awareness, provoking the normal conduct of the eye to quickly and categorically assess the visual information we take in. Using narrow depth of field, selective focus, forced perspective, and other techniques, she's confidently taken photography to a place that is both familiar and strange, a realm somewhere between painting and photography.'
This is an excellent description of what I found when reviewing her photographs.
Her work is difficult and generally unresolved. Much is left to the viewer. One is forced to look closely and to consider. It is very thought provoking and forced me to consider some uncomfortable questions about my own work. Am I too hidebound by classical landscape traditions? Are my images too predictable and cliche? Am I really looking at the landscape around me or am I just seeking grand vistas - which in turn make it easy to produce appealing, apparently beautiful images? Am I really trying to develop my own style or am I simply a sheep following the latest trends in the photographic media? Heady stuff and important if I am to truly find my own signature.
For me Weifenbach's work is a curates egg. Some images I find both moving and attractive. When one looks carefully one finds nuances or secrets within them....perhaps this is why she entitled two of her series 'Secrets' . She forces the viewer to look carefully to find the hidden nuances.
Other images I find more difficult. They are both difficult to understand and unattractive. I have decided for this review to examine this dichotomy in more detail by comparing images from Secret Series which I like and from the Woods Series which I find more difficult.
Here are two images from Secret Series:
Secret Series 14 by Terri Weifenbach
Secret Series 26 by Terri Weifenbach
Both of these images are impressionistic. Number 14 is completely out of focus or blurred with a heavy vignette. It is almost like one is has a fleeting glance though some leaves into a clearing in a wood. The colours are rich and saturated and have an autumn feel about them. There is a path leading out of the frame to the right. It poses questions. Where is this clearing? Why can't I see it clearly? Shall I go there to investigate? Where is the path going? Will someone be coming along soon or am I alone? Because it is unresolved it allows the viewer to use his or her imagination to interpret the photograph. However, I wonder if I like the photograph because of its intriguing nature or because of the strong colour and the associations that this has with autumn landscapes? I am not sure.
In Number 26 Weifenbach has used limited depth of field to throw most of the image out of focus. There is just a single leaf from the maple treein focus. This is situated close to the intersection of thirds towards the top of the image. The colour is very strong with complementary reds and greens predominating. The bokeh in the out of focus areas is very attractive. Beyond the green (of foliage?) in the background one can make out the blue of the sky. There is what looks like the trunk of the tree at the edge of the frame to the right. What I really like about this image is the way the in focus leaf leaps out of the frame and says look at me. It seems to me that this image is about that leaf....Its five pointed shape. Its rich red colour. Its position at the high-point of a branch on the tree. The out of focus areas around the leaf add context but do not detract from our concentration on the leaf itself.
Turning now to the Woods series. Here are two images I find more difficult:
Woods number 9 by Terri Weifenbach
What strikes me immediately is that I find the colour of the woods images unappealing. Green is a colour which recedes and as such everything in these images seems to move away into the background. In number 9 we once again appear to be looking through trees into a clearing or path. However in this case what we are looking at is less distinct. The impression is therefore more difficult to resolve. There does not appear to be any main subject to grab my attention. The same could be said of Number 3. Although in this case the out of focus leaf towards the bottom of the frame does command attention as does the glimpse of the sky through the centre of the frame. Once again though the lack of a clear subject or point of focus makes this image unappealing for me. Both images do however convey a sense of what it feels like to be lost in a wood....perhaps this is Weifenbach's intent.
Whilst my initial impression of Weifenbach's work was not a positive one, looking at her work has been very thought provoking. I have also come to admire her iconoclastic style and indeed some of her images I now personally rate very highly. I think I will return to her work again for inspiration.
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