Grant Simon Rogers
Grant Simon Rogers
TERRA INCOGNITA
Where I live in Berlin, there is an avenue of Cherry Trees. They are about 30 years old. They are planted along part of the line of the wall. A shadow of The Wall. Every spring the Berliner Mauer is marked out in blossom. It is beautiful. The wall was demolished 30 years ago.
My flora pictures are made in parks planted over rubble mountains or Schuttberg. Volkspark Friedrichshain is one, Volksparks Hasenheide, Humboldthain have others. I make pictures of trees that are 75 years old in Soviet war memorials or were planted after all other trees were cut down for firewood. Most trees in Berlin are 75 years old. Grasses have been photographed outside Luftwaffe assembly hangars on an airfield that was to be the show piece of Germania.
And then some of the time it is just the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, which is of course, full of refugee species.
I am passionate about the seen and unseen benefits of city greenspaces, many of which are areas of civic pride, gardens for the gardenless and museums without walls.
This is an ongoing photographic odyssey that has absorbed my time for the last 12 years. Photography is my mark making. My thinking about my work is constantly evolving which is very exciting and feels to be full of possibilities. I have pet themes that frame my making and we are of course a sum of parts so my love of cinema, painting, literature, and food all play their part. These pictures are a record of what I look at when I go for a walk. I walk a lot throughout the year so this work evolves with the seasons.
All pictures are made using a variation of the same camera settings and an off camera flash. The variables are always the available light and my mood on the day. These pictures are virtually straight out of the camera. I love making them and feel energised by being in the moment.
I make my pictures entirely for my own pleasure.
Locations: Germany
Categories: Fine Art, Landscape, Lecturer/tutor, Nature, Photographer, Workshop leader