Dale Kistemaker
Second Nature, Traveler, and Encyclopedia of Childhood Series
Second Nature: Constructed landscapes from California and Ohio 2006 - 2010
Each of the prints in these series began with three separate digital files photographed from different vantage points in the same general environment. In the computer the files were assembled into a composite image. It is not a literal reconstruction of a specific location but more like the experience of walking through a landscape and mentally building a memory of it section by section, like each frame contributes to a film.
The print changes with viewing distance. Closely examining the print reveals disjunctions between each file. Moving away from it minimizes the differences and the print solidifies into a single image. The multiple perspective points minimize the hierarchical structure and narrative content implied with single point perspective.
Since childhood I have been profoundly affected by weather and terrain. Born in Ohio, I moved to California in my early twenties. The process of discovering the California landscape became central to my definition of self. After several decades living in California I moved back to Ohio and set about exploring the countryside, gathering pieces of the puzzle that shaped my earliest memories of the world.