The Contaminated Landscape

Landscapes have been an inspirational subject for photographers since the earliest days of the medium. Most would agree that those captured by William H. Jackson, Timothy O'Sullivan, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams portray the earth in glorious fashion—sweeping vistas and pristine wilderness, where any sign of man melds harmoniously with nature.

This catalog is the document of a 2014 juried photography exhibition at Gallery 136½ in Connecticut, an exhibition about the contamination of the landscape, both physical and visual. It portrays the landscape's struggles with the often heavy-handed interactions of humans. Those unadulterated views presented to us by the classic landscape photographers have become more difficult to find. We are left instead with a landscape that will forever include the forceful hand of man.