Photographer John Pfahl

One advantage about lousy weather (cold, wet and miserable at the moment) is that you get the chance to study the work of other photographers. I had never heard of John Pfahl so visited his web-site at johnpfahl.com.

The site has examples of many of his works from 1974 onwards. You also have the benefit of the his comments so that you have some idea of the driving force behind his photography. His early work is a reflection of his environmental concerns that are part of all his subsequent work. One of his early series entitled 'Altered Landscape' is, for me, the least impressive. Landscape shots that are 'ordinary' are altered by the addition of such things as representational 'lightning' that have either been placed in the landscape by the photographer or added later in post processing. They presumably are some sort of message but are so contrived as to make the whole image appear artificial. Why Pfahl felt the need to add these artefacts is not clear and although they appear in some later work he lets the landscape speak for itself in the most recent.

There is a series entitled 'Power Places' (1981-1984) where he photographs power plants such as nuclear facilities but places them within the landscape so that they are but a small part. I thought these were very powerful images that, by hinting at the intrusion of something that is almost anti nature in its conception, his message is that much more potent than a simple shot of the facility where it dominates the surrounding area. There are close up images of the grid network that whilst interesting do not have the impact of the others. On a personal level I have photographed nuclear facilities at Sizewell and Dungeness in the UK but these were close ups and I now realise that the impact was much less than if I had stepped back and shown the surrounding landscape.

There are other series such as 'Bali Suite' that is an exercise in the variation of the colour green perhaps taken out of the ordinary by the man made crop patterns and 'Smoke' that is literally what it says - photographs of smoke. I could not decide whether my indifference to this latter series was created by the sameness of too many images presented one after the other or simply disinterest in the subject matter.

If I had to choose a favourite series it would be 'Luminous River'. It is the sort of landscape photography I aspire to. My personal choice would be:

Fisherman at Shamokin Dam  (Aug 2002) - the combination of the soft ethereal light with the buildings and shoreline in silhouette and the placement of a gap in the shoreline that has been placed top left draws the eye into the picture and on to the distant shoreline that is barely visible inviting the viewer to ponder what is there.

Morning light on RailRoad Viaduct (June 2004) - The arches caught by the sun that is low in the sky form a strong diagonal of repeating patterns the effect of which is increased by the reflection in the water. My favourite.

Morning Mist near Owego NY (August 2003) - The quite beautiful light, the threatening sky that provides just a glimpse of the sun, the curve of the river emphasised by the silhouetting of the river banks and the tree that dominates the left side of the image makes for a memorable and striking image.

There is a noticeable difference between his early work that seems contrived and tries too hard to put across a message and his later work where the use of light on the landscape and the relationship between the elements of the image offer a much more subtle but nevertheless powerful message. It is fairly obvious where my preference lies.