Student photos interpret architecture vs. nature

detail of photo by Jasmine Wilhelm

Western Washington University art professor Garth Amundson and students in his Art 390: Intermediate Black and White Photography class will be holding an exhibition, “Architecture vs. Nature: The 4X5 View Camera,” which will feature twenty 40-by-50-inch photographs the students created with a 4-by-5-view camera. The exhibition opened April 16 in the foyer of the Science Mathematics and Technology Education building and will run until May 7. 

The class project is based on the notion that urban encroachment, over-development, and all forms of architecture sometimes complement the landscape in which they are hosted and other times create a jarring and brutal juxtaposition and interruption. Students worked in groups of three to four to create these striking large-format images, utilizing light, composition, and the movements of the 4-by-5-view camera. Having read Deborah Bright’s article about concepts surrounding nature and landscape photography, “Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men,” the students set out to interpret architecture vs. nature.