The final for our large format class is to create a body of work (at least ten images) with the 4X5 film camera. I have taken on quite a large and difficult project by doing landscape photos in the night. You can read the working draft of my artist statement below and check out what I have done so far. Feedback is welcome. Please click on the images to look at them large. I have also included some of the stories that influenced this work below the images.
Perhaps one of the largest influences on the formation of superstitions, fears, myths, and legends is the landscape that surrounds us. Although man is always developing land and altering the landscape, in the end we may be the ones who are being sculpted by the landscape. My own experiences growing up in the desert have changed the way I think.The Southwest can be a very beautiful and interesting place but once the sun goes down over the horizon everything seems to change. Things that seemed pleasant and harmless in the day transform into mysterious shapes. Imagination begins to fill in the blanks and then every movement in the night seems to be malicious. The fear of the unknown is deeply set within our own nature. The desert comes alive after dark with mysterious noises, shapes and movements. It is as if the very desert itself changes in nature and hosts a realm of supernatural beings that thrive in the absence of light. Having researching a variety of myths, legends, and ghost stories about the Southwest region I have set out to create a series of night-time landscape photographs that express the anxiety of the unknown that has fueled our own fears and superstitions.
STORIES:
Sqaw's Cave:
There is a narrow canyon with a large boulder wedged in the top which creates a cave-like structure. A small stream flows down into the cave. Many years ago there was a squaw picking berries at the top of the cave. She slipped on the wet, muddy rock and fell into the cave where she died. Many stories are told of satanic rituals, crimes, and other terrible things that happen inside of the cave. To this day there is a large crow that nests in the ledges of the canyon. Some believe that it is the ghost of the squaw trying to drive away the evil in the canyon. I personally have heard strange things coming from within the cave while hiking nearby.
Lost gold mine of Enterprise:
In the mountains near Enterprise Reservoir. A man everyone just called Bishop Terry had a large hunk of gold. He said it was given to him by his father and his father before him who found it in a mine in the mountains near the reservoir. The man was about to buy the rights to the land where the mine was on, but on the way he was visited by an old man and told not to do it. People look for it to this day.
Zuckerman’s Barn
There is an old barn on the highway in the west desert where a white owl lives. Old timers in the area have said that it is the ghost of a man who saw his wife killed by Indians.
Hairy Man of Hebron:
For about a hundred years stories have been told of a tall hairy man that has been seen near the ghost town of Hebron. Some people say he terrorizes them and others have claimed that he has helped them. Hebron was abandoned because of an earthquake, drought, Indian troubles, and a later flood.
Mountain Meadows Massacre:
There was a tragic massacre of emigrants at Mountain Meadows in 1857. Around 120 men, women, and children were killed. People say that coyotes still come to the site because the smell of blood is still present.
Giants of Pyramid Lake:
There is a Paiute legend of large red-haired people that lived near the Pyramid Lake area. The giants terrorized the Natives by carrying off their women and children. Finally the tribes of the area came together and attacked the giants. Those who were not killed in the attack fled to a nearby cave to hide. The Indians started a fire and blew the smoke into the cave. Those that fled were killed by arrows and those that stayed in the cave were suffocated. Scientists have recently found unusually large skeletal remains in a cave in the area. Arrowheads and spears were also found with the skeletons.
Dog Valley:
There have been reports of strange appearances and unexplained tragedies/deaths in Dog Valley. People claim that it is infested with skin walkers (Evil Native American witches) and was the last stronghold of the Gadianton Robbers (an evil band of ancient robbers and murderers told in the Book of Mormon).
Three Lakes near Kanab:
In 1914, a man named Freddy Crystal produced evidence which some interpreted that the treasure of Montezuma may be buried somewhere near Kanab, UT. After many years of searching an Aztec symbol was found carved into the sandstone at the lower pond of Three Lakes. The story is told that divers were send in and found a 100 foot long tunnel but every diver that entered the tunnel experienced a choking sensation and returned to the surface in a panic. The property was closed off to protect an endangered species and is now private property.
Bryce Canyon Hoodoos:
A Paiute legend claims that the large hoodoos (colorful, redrock spires) of Bryce Canyon are ancient people that were turned to stone as a punishment for bad deeds.
