I attended a Lucas Foglia give an artist talk about his two main photography projects from the past ten years.
A Natural Order
He first focused on a series of photographs called A Natural Order. He made this series during his five years of visiting a network of remote communities. Those communities decided to abandon urban areas of the U.S. and live off the grid. His photos tell the interesting yet at times contradictory stories of these people’s lives. These people are attempting to reduce their impact on nature while trying to avoid the dominance of technology in modern culture. His photos were of people hunting, picking fruit, swimming nude, and living in shacks. They wonderfully showed the humanity and character of his subjects.
Front Country
He then discussed his series called Frontcountry. In this series, he explored the contemporary American West and its changing landscape due to mining and other landscape-altering industries. His photos depicted people riding horses and working on ranches. They provided a stark contrast with his photos of people driving tractors and working in mines.
Overall Thoughts
I found Lucas Foglia’s talk to be inspiring and very well done. I really enjoyed the way he shared the story behind many of his photos. His photography was also very creative and well done. He excellently composed and exposed each photo perfectly. They all have a sense of depth as well, visually and intellectually. His photos were also good at evoking an emotional response from me when I initially looked at them.
I have only two critiques. At times his photos appeared to be orchestrated. While others appear to be very candid and spontaneous, especially in his A Natural Order series. This back and forth at times was jarring for me. The other would be about his Frontcountry series. I loved the narrative of this series. But I felt that there are photos in it that don’t seem to fit or further his narrative. Photos like Brisco County Jail Cell and Brittany.
Overall I thought Lucas Foglia’s talk was great, I immensely enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. I also appreciated his humble attitude about his work and the way he answered everyone’s questions.