Kalalau is so large that it can look almost simple at first: cliffs, valley, ocean. The longer I look, the more that first reading breaks apart. One ridge throws a shadow across another. Green holds on the steep walls. Clouds touch the distant tops, and the valley opens all the way toward the sea.
I kept this view wide because I wanted those connections in the same photograph. The dark foreground helps you enter; the ridges lead you farther in; then the ocean appears at the end of the valley. Your eye can take that trip quickly, or stop halfway and spend time with the folds in the land.
There’s a reason I return to big panoramas. Scale can tell you something true about a place, but the smaller marks are part of that truth too. In Kalalau’s Embrace, I wanted room for both. The valley doesn’t reveal itself in a single glance, and I like that the photograph doesn’t either.
The valley doesn’t reveal itself in a single glance, and I like that the photograph doesn’t either.
Look Closer
In Space
See what scale changes.
About Lance
Choose how this piece meets your wall.
