Rexer: Other Natures (Landscape In Five Views of Yosemite)

In his chapter, Rexer argues that photographs have been taken of landscapes for so long and viewers have been consuming nature through those photographs that it's unclear as to whether or not the same kind of landscape consumption exists today. Instead of being content with viewing scenery through someone else's images, everyone needs one that they have taken. I studied abroad in New Zealand for approximately six months and during that time I took around two-thousand photos of my trip. That's probably the most photos I've taken on any single trip and for good reason cause New Zealand has some of the most amazing landscapes I've ever seen. When I got back home to the US I conducted a series of slideshows for my parents who had never been to New Zealand so I could show them what I had seen. Maybe it's a generational thing. While I wanted to take a million photos to remember my trip, just looking at my photos seemed to be enough for my parents. Rexer acknowledges that the viewer gets a different experience looking into a photograph than they do looking at the scenery in person. "This act of looking into a photograph as opposed to looking at the scene it depicts is decisive It offers another nature, but one more intimately connected to nature itself" (Rexer 83). I feel as though there is more intrigue when looking at a photograph. If you've never seen the full landscape then you are left to admire what small amount the photograph captured. This in turn can create a more intimate relationship between the viewer and the photograph.