Andy Klunder: Images II

Geothermal I

These images were the ones which instigated the current photographic project. They were taken at Hell's Kitchen near Rotorua New Zealand, at the end of an extended trip through South East Asia and India. Although they seem to be of wild mist-laden landscapes, Hell's Kitchen is in fact a very developed geothermal tourist destination. All the photographs were taken from the safety of a man-made path, not far from the restaurant area. The contrast between the situation and the feeling evoked by the images was, I felt, suggestive of the 'Sublime' of 19th Century Romanticism, in which one may experience a sense of fear or danger, but in the full knowledge that one does so from a position of perfect security. Their main interest for me, however, was in the depiction of a landscape which was veiled or only hinted at, one whose form was uncertain and vague, and which was therefore a more powerful trigger for the imagination.