Calm Before the Storm Review of "Burning Field by Kathleen Robbins

The Calm Before the Storm
“Burning Field”
Kathleen Robbins

            I have had the pleasure of getting to see a spectacular exhibit at the Light Factory full of exquisite photography.  It is important to me as a young and growing photographer to see the work of others to help inspire me.  I often hope to be as amazing as they are one day.  The show was called “The Calm Before the Storm”.  All the work was extremely engaging and interesting, however one in particular stood out from the rest for me personally.  It was a work by Kathleen Robbins entitled: “Burning Field” done in 2011 from a series called “In Cotton”.

            The digital image was surprisingly simple, and yet it was oddly captivating.  The main focal point of the work was a red tractor off-center engulfed in smoke as it plowed through a field.  The crop field looks dead and barren as its particles are thrown up into the air billowing in clouds until you cannot even see the sky.  Then, you notice a small corner piece at the top right of a pure baby blue.  A little bit of the sky managed to show through.  Even though this splash of color was up in the corner, it doesn’t distract or bring the eye out of the piece.  Somehow it’s cohesive and brings unity within the photograph.  Once examined even further, on the small horizon line in the distance there’s a line of fire blazing.
            People often wondered what type of field it was and why were they burning it? Was it a plan to scorch the land to prepare it for new life? Or was it something else?  It’s also interesting that such simple subject was chosen for a photograph.  Most viewers would find these rural settings to be boring or unexciting.  The artist must have some connection to such a place for it to become effective.  My hunch was correct.  The artist had grown up on this land for most of her life.  She says she’s “pulled to this place”.  Sometimes such places of origin can define you and even keep you coming back over and over again.  I relate to this because I too grew up in a rural setting for my entire life until college.  My hometown has such an imprint on who I am as a person that it is often the basis of my own photography.  A sense of place can be extremely impactful.
            I believe that Robbins succeeded with her intentions of opening up the viewers’ world to her own background and the beauty and simplicity of rural places.  She probably often saw the crop fields being burned and taken care of for a new season of growth and translates this in her piece.  It’s just so beautiful to see most of the sky covered in dirt and particles from the fire and the plowing, but then a small piece of that deep, rich blue still shines through despite it all.  That kind of blue you cannot find in cities and that kind of growth/rebirth and care for the land you also cannot find cities.  I love that she’s bringing awareness to these places by her photographic skills, attention to composition and detail, and by her own background.  Origin is a great start for artwork and we as the viewers can almost feel her connection to these places while we view the work.
            

Find Your Muse-Inspiration

My Muse
I tend to find that much of my work gravitates towards the art of dance.  It’s been a part of my life since I was 3 and it keeps becoming more and more important to me as I’ve gotten older.  It’s a means of keeping me mentally sound, physically healthy, and blissfully happy.

Lois Greenfield

Lois Greenfield is a world renowned dance photographer who is known for her weightless looking, impossible movements of her dancers.  She began as a documentary photographer for newspapers and magazines until one day she had to cover a dance performance.  When photographing performances, the one must anticipate the movement of the dancer and the lighting upon the model while everything is in continuous motion. Greenfield says “I’ve spent the last 25 years of my photographic career investigating movement and its expressive potential…My interest in photography is not to capture an image I see or even have in my mind, but to explore the potential of moments I can only begin to imagine.”  She strives to confound the viewer with how she captures the dancers’ movements.  They often wonder how the dancers got into the positions they were in.  She achieves a weightlessness by using white or black backgrounds and often encourages the dancers to improvise so that she can capture unplanned, imaginative movement. Greenfield also uses extra props in her work such as extravagant fabrics, mirrors, flour, etc. that enhance the dancers movements within the photograph.  

“Dancers Among Us”

Jordan Matter embarked on a series involving dancers in everyday situations being completely alive and in the moment, which often seemed out of place in these settings.  They often were jumping, contorting their body, or doing some type of dancing pose that showed an energy that we often see in children, but as we grow older we seem to lose over time.  Matter says “Dancers are storytellers. They’re trained to personify passionate moments, their bodies imbued with a stunning combination of artistry and athleticism. They create a fantasy world, offering us a deeper look into familiar settings. They bring to life what we feel but are unable to express physically.”  

My Series

Upon researching and viewing the work of these photographers, it has inspired me to create my own series about my life and how dance relates to it.  My idea is to take dancers that I know and to use them in everyday situations that correlate to me in regards to my life in my hometown and now my life in Charlotte.  I’m going to place these dancers in these settings that are personally mine, and really immerse them into the situation.  I also have been thinking of wrapping/engaging my models in different materials (like fabric) that deal with each situation.  I want my settings to be extremely kinetic and energetic so that it has that feeling of motion being frozen in time.  This is where Photoshop will come into play.  I can manipulate these objects and materials in my pieces, to warp them, repeat them, and interact them more within the image to give it that “in motion” quality that I’m striving for.
Overall, I really want these to be an expression of me and how I feel dance plays a part in my daily life and even in my past when I was back in my hometown.