Azimuth - William Binzen

Azimuth deals with reading traces in the landscape where history and lore linger still, before being overwritten by modernity. The theme is ideally suited to an 8x10 view camera, which offers extreme detail and a precise plane of focus from the ground in front of the tripod to the horizon. Azimuth explores what direction we’re moving as we reevaluate and reshape the West. Like a tracker I read places, patterns and markings in/on/of the landscape. Sometimes they’re big, like open pit mines; sometimes they’re subtle, places where historical “incident and accident” remain as marker or relic. What are the implications of our development decisions? What kinds of custodians are we? What is the worth of land left alone? How do land-use decisions affect us socially? Is beauty in landscape, void of cliché, still possible?