Architecture and the Land

STONE POEMS - ARCHITECTURE AND THE LAND
Oia, Island of Santorini, Cyclades, Greece *** Ortahisar, Cappadocia, Turkey
White House, Canyon de Chelley, New Mexico, USA *** Rock of Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland
Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA ***Uchisar, Cappadocia, Turkey
Pigeon Valley, Cappadocia, Turkey *** Rousanou, Meteora, Greece

ARCHITECTURE THAT BLANKETS THE LAND
Trevi, Umbria, Italy *** Thiksey Monastery, Shey Valley, Ladakh, India
Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy***White Village in Andalusia, Spain
Fira, Island of Santorini, Greece *** Isle of Capri, Italy *** Takrouna, Tunisia
The Kasbah at Tifoultout, Morocco *** Mardin, Turkey *** Oia, Santorini
Cuzco, Peru *** Tile Roofed Town in the Sierra Nevada, Spain
Rooftops of Lijiang, Yunnan, China

ARCHITECTURE THAT CROWNS THE SITE
Seats of Power, Andalusia, Spain *** Potala Palace, Llasa, Tibet, China
Rousanou, Meteora, Greece *** Monastic Community in the Mountains of Ladakh, India
Palace in Ladakh, India *** Cliffhouse in Cuenca, Spain *** La Iruela, Andalusia, Spain
San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy *** Hopi Pueblo on Second Mesa, Arizona, USA

ARCHITECTURE OF SUBTRACTION - ARCHITECTURE IN THE LAND
Cave Dwellings, Fira, Island of Santorini, Cyclades, Greece
Underground House, Matmata, Tunisia *** Troglodyte Courtyard House, Xian, China
Rock Cut Tomb, Amasya, Turkey *** Troglodyte Chapel, Santorini, Cyclades, Greece
Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde, Colorado, USA *** Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde, Colorado, USA
Temple of Abu Simbel, Egypt *** Dogon Granaries on the Escarpment, Teli, Mali


Rock Hewn Pyramid, Malinalco, Mexico
Rock Hewn Buddha,Yungang Grotto, Datong, Shanxi, China
Circular Terraces of Moray, Peru *** Rice Paddy Terraces, Fujian, China
Cave Dwelling, Guadix, Spain

ARCHITECTURE ON THE LAND - "MONOPOLY PIECES"
Pyramids of Giza, Egypt *** Farm Structures in Tyrol, Austria *** Yumba La Kang, Tibet, China
Farm Houses near Takeyama, Japan *** Barn in a Wheat Field, Kentucky, USA
Prairie Farmstead, Illinois, USA *** Corn Crib in a Farm Field, Illinois, USA
American Vernacular, Corn Crib, Illinois, USA *** Island in a Corn Field, Illinois, USA
White Cribs in a Corn Field, Indiana, USA *** Diamond Mine Ghost Town, Kolmannskuppe, Namibia
Windmills of La Mancha, Spain *** Pole Corn Crib, Philo, Illinois, USA
Grain Elevators of Indian Head, Saskatchewan, Canada
Monsoon Season in a Lisu Village, Thailand *** Iban Longhouse on the Skrang, Banuk, Borneo
Railroad Water Tank, New Mexico, USA

ARCHITECTURE AND WATER
Cox Ford Covered Bridge, Parke County, Indiana, USA
Urus Floating Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru Castle on Loch Melfort, Strathclyde, Scotland
Fishing Village of Naoussa, Paros, Greece *** Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Covered Walkway, Lucerne, Switzerland *** Li River, Yangshuo, Guangxi, China
Pittenween, Fife Peninsula, Scotland *** Mykonos, Greece Tobermory, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Island of Janitzio, Patzcuaro, Mexico *** Yangtze Watertown, Ke Qiao, China
Floating Market on the Klongs of Danoen Saduak, Thailand
Plowing the Rice Paddies, Fujian, China

ARCHITECTURE ON THE HILLSIDE
Mountainside Temple, Wutai Shan, Shanxi, China *** Assisi, Italy ***Dogon Village of Banani, Mali
Metsovo, Greece *** Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy *** Mining Town of Real de Catorce, Mexico
Hanging Temple, Shanxi, China *** Cliffside Buddhist Temple, Leh, Ladakh, India
Greek Orthodox Monastery, Meteora, Greece *** Ait Benhaddou, High Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Oia, Island of Santorini, Cyclades, Greece *** Miao Farm Houses, Guangzhou, China

ONE WITH NATURE - ARCHITECTURE OF THE LAND
Stone House Ruins, Kilkenny, Ireland *** Maya Temple of the Sun, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
Somewhere in Time and the Mountains, Tibet, China *** High Atlas Village, Morocco
Dogon Village, Banani, Mali *** High Atlas Village, Morocco ***Graneries of Teli, Mali
Lost City of the Incas, Machu Picchu, Peru *** Stone Cityscape, Alberobello, Puglia, Italy
Monodendri, Zagoria, Greece ***Rock, Guano and Architecture, Ballestas Islands, Peru

RELIGION, ARCHITECTURE AND THE LAND
Stone Circle, Drombeg, Cork, Ireland *** Buddhist Temple in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh, India
Prayer Flags at a Himalayan Pass, Tibet, China *** Mont Sainte Michel, Normandy, France
Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico *** Sun, Stone and Sand, Giza, Egypt
A Dolmen in the Burren, Clare, Ireland *** The Necropolis, Glasgow, Scotland

DEFENSIVE ARCHITECTURE - LAND FORTIFIED
Castle on a Hilltop, Spain ***The Alcazar, Segovia, Spain *** Himeji Castle, Japan
Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, Scotland *** Fortification above the Tigris, Hasan Keyf, Turkey
Towers of the Nobility, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy *** Great Wall of China, Mutian Valley, China
Sacsahuaman, Cuzco, Peru

FORMS ON THE HORIZON - ARCHITECTURE AND THE SKY
Silhouette at Sunset, Andalusia, Spain *** Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
Windmills of La Mancha, Spain *** Grain Elevators against the Sky, Manitoba, Canada
Prairie Sky, Illinois, USA *** Rural Sentinel, Illinois, USA


On Photography

I enjoy the visual!
Although STONE POEMS is about architecture and ideas,
I cannot deny the passion that I have for the specific images I select to share.
Nor can I dismiss the inevitable practical and technical questions
about the photographs.
How are the subjects selected? What cameras, lenses and film do I use?
How are the photographs printed? Here are some details.

I began taking photos in 1963 with a twin lens reflex Yashika Mat,
2-3/4" x 2 3/4" 120 slide film.
I used that camera for 8 years, shooting exclusively positive slide
transparency film from the beginning,a standard I continue to this day.
My subjects in those years were colorful Indian markets and
indigenous architecture located in high-altitude regions
of Mexico and Bolivia.
These were areas of remarkable color and intense sunlight,
so I opted for Ektachrome with its rich color rendition, "stopping down"
one-half stop to achieve even further detail, contrast and saturation.
In 1972, I converted to the more conventional 35mm format, and for the
next 16 years I shot with a series of Milnota cameras
and fixed lenses from 28mm to 300mm.
Since 1988, I have photographed with a Canon EOS 35mm fully automatic
cameras mounted with a single 28mm to 300mm zoom lens. While I still step down
in good light, I have learned
that the EOS is a smart camera,
capable of good shots in bad light as long as I trust it.
So in recent years it has been my delight to ignore lighting conditions and
shoot regardless of rain or clouds or fog.

As much as a photographer, I consider myself a collector
-a collector of experiences and visual images.
This means going to where the images are.
I am often asked where I learn of subjects of the type
illustrated in STONE POEMS?
My major sources are books like Bernard Rudofsky's Architecture without Architects,
Paul Oliver's Dwellings, and naturally, National Geographic.
A wonderful source not to be overlooked is good travel guide books,
the Insight Guides, Frommer and Lonely Planet.
I also learn of sites when traveling
from promotional brochures and local postcards.
And finally, I stay late in the theaters for credits to see
where glorious movies are filmed.

Although finances demanded an economic use of film in my younger years,
I soon learned that film costs are but a small fraction of travel expenses,
not a place to skimp.
For the last 40 years, I have averaged two months
research abroad per year-
that's 60 days x two 36-exposure rolls per day; 4,000 slides per year!
I shoot with abandon.
I never edit on site. Editing can always be done later.
A shot not taken can never be recouped.

While I amassed an enormous slide collection in my academic career and
used the material as an essential part of my teaching, full use of the
positive transparencies was limited
by the tremendous expense of conversion to photographic prints.
The Ektachrome slides provided rich, colorful images for illustrated
lectures, but I amassed few prints.
Today, with the use of the slide scanner, the collection has been liberated.
Photoshop has allowed me to clean favorite slides damaged by years of
projection and to reclaim irreplaceable visuals.
And inkjet printing has provided an in office technology
which rivals the photograph dark room of years past.
Last year, in my exhibit INALTERABLE DREAMS, I experimented with a
self-printed 13"x19" format
in an effort to capture the color of daily life in China.
In STONE POEMS, my intentions in the printed exhibit have been best
served by converting the color originals to black and white.
My goal has been to explore the integral relationship achieved
between architecture and nature,
where I have found that texture is important, color a distraction.
I was also eager to produce a poster-scale exhibit inspired by
Norman Carver's high contrast, grainy black and white images of the
classic study Italian Hilltowns. And so a collection of 150,000 is distilled into 50 black and white images.
And so it goes….

  
© 2008 James Warfield. All rights reserved.
Contact: jwarfiel (at) uiuc (dot) edu