In this world of color, black-and-white stands out, although you have to hunt for it. It’s certainly not on TV or video games or even most digital cameras’ mini-viewing screens.
We hike through color, we bike and sail through color, we climb and walk and ski through color, and only rarely do we move through a monochromatic landscape.
Few photographers prefer black-and-white, but their photographs demand a considered measure of thoughtfulness.
Mary Peck’s photograph taken along the South Fork Hoh River in her new book, “Away Out Over Everything: The Olympic Peninsula and The Elwha River” is an example.
In color, we might have admired the greens and grays, and moved on. Without that “distraction,” we’re more likely to see the story: the lean of moss-covered trees, the terrace once flooded and perhaps browsed by elk to a low wave of ferns and grasses.
Without the color mask, the bones of the rainforest are clearer, the voice of the river valley stronger, the sense of primeval power and a sense of movement of time and place more evident in her photographs.
“In black-and-white, it’s not just a document. It’s as much about an emotional state,” said the Olympic Peninsula resident.
An exhibit of her photographs runs through Nov. 27 at the National Parks Art Gallery, 313-A First Ave. S., Seattle. Charles Wilkinson, who provided the book’s essay about attitudes toward water use and the ways they have changed, reads at 5 p.m. Nov. 18 at Elliott Bay Book Co. in Seattle.
Peck’s photographs are horizontal and fairly narrow.
“When I’m walking, and that’s how I do most of my work, on long extended trips into the backcountry, that’s what I’m seeing; that kind of peripheral vision is how I enjoy looking at things. It best captures the place.”
Peck’s photographs have been exhibited, and purchased for museum collections, around the world. She uses a Fujica 617 for negatives that are about 2.25 by 6 inches, a size that helps create the quality in the print.
Peck started college with an interest in history and politics and a plan to be an attorney, but a Christmas gift of a camera changed her direction.
“I guess I was primed for doing something with it at that point. A camera seemed a better way for me to work with some of those issues (history and politics),” she said.
The following June she attended Center for the Eye in Aspen, Colo. She stayed six months. The darkroom work was fascinating, and photography gave her a great excuse to work outside.
“Law was history,” Peck said.
She later graduated with a BFA in photography from Utah State University, concentrating on black-and-white landscapes.
Most of Peck’s work is done on solo backcountry trips. She knows the importance of wild places and, in the case of tearing down two dams on the Elwha River, the importance of removing human presence.
“In my life, there’s a lot that needs to be done in a day, and it’s not true out there. Out there, you can sit still and look … I change quite a bit when I’m out there.
“People who spend time in wild places bring back an ability to cope with many of the (modern-day stresses). Artists rely on these places as a place to work or as a source of inspiration. The world will be poorer (if) art and literature is affected.”
Slow down to appreciate the outdoors and Peck’s photographs.
“The photographs that have been powerful and helpful to me are the ones I have really lived with and gone back to. It takes time. It is an investment of time. These things aren’t to be read in a nanosecond.”
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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