Land used to reveal itself as continuous and mysterious scenery; majestic mountain, strange rock, precipitous gorge, wandering river, dusky swamp, immense glacier, and burning lava distinguish one place from other homogenous terrain. Magnificent and astonishing landscape enters people’s view with divinity, and then separates the ordinary scenes that carry mundane life. These spectacles reigned over the souls of men and demanded reverence at the times when human grew distance with nature but yet entered the modern age.
These alternative choices of subject at various scenic points are the embodiment of an artist’s belief of photography. If photography provides not only practical information but also ceremonial function, the marked site is a belief projected consciously or unconsciously. With the knowledge of natural science and advancement of technology, mankind turns to rule the nature instead of being governed, and those, who take cover in civilization, visit the sites are no longer pilgrims. Through meticulous arrangement of photography, the images that were once far to reach and strange as transformed gods are readily available. Nonetheless, whether these flat images are capable to represent the ineffable experience remains questionable. In the modern days, the distinction between here and there depends on if it’s a place worth a photograph.