Rustic Landscape

View from the MFA kickoff party on Saturday.

I’m taking a class this semester on Gothic literature in the 19th Century, and the professor was talking the other day about the picturesque as a Gothic trope. The word is nowadays in such common use that it feels banal, but it’s interesting to think that it was introduced as a concept as late as 1782.

The basic idea is to look at the landscape from the perspective of a painter — what before me would look good in a frame? I find myself thinking that way a lot, though with reference to photography, not painting. It’s frustrating because, lacking a wide lens, there is so much less I can squeeze into a photo than what I can behold with my eye. I’m often shocked at how dwarfish and truncated my landscapes look when I finally upload them. Still, it’s what I came to this land for, to a great extent! So hopefully my technique will improve.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 10:33 pm and is filed under scenery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.