Writing

Photography as process

My writing examines the interdependent relationship between landscape and photography. This work looks at how the use of photography greatly influences how we understand, value and design landscape places.

Photography is integral to all of the diverse facets of the discipline of landscape architecture and the broader fields of environmental design. Photography is a complex medium, often taken for granted. My writing applies contemporary cultural theories about photography to the daily practices of environmental design, so that we learn to make photographs rigorously and consciously.

Books

Active Landscape Photography: Theoretical Groundwork for Landscape Architecture (Routledge Press 2020)

Active Landscape Photography: Methods and Concepts for Landscape Investigation (Routledge Press 2022)

Active Landscape Photography: Diverse Practices (Routledge Press 2023)

This series examines current practices, proposes methodological  approaches, and presents new theory and concepts about the use of photography within landscape architecture and environmental design.

Featured are specific examples from a diverse set of firms including: SCAPE, Snøhetta, Nelson Byrd Woltz, West 8, Coen+Partners, Mayer/Reed, TEN x TEN, Claude Cormier + Associés (now CCxA), Agency, MIG and Alta Planning + Design.  Each example presents a unique practice of engaging in photography as a central part of design decision making.

A set of contemporary photographers are discussed to further develop theory and methods, including: Richard Misrach, Dawoud Bey, Duane Michals, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Mark Klett, Sophie Calle, Joe Deal, Robert Adams, Naima Green, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Stephen Shore, David Hockney, Amy Sherald, William Christenberry, Jeff Wall and Sohei Nishino.