These are some works I’ve really been enjoying by Noel Rodo-Vankeulen.

Noel Rodo-Vankeulen

Noel Rodo-Vankeulen

Noel also has a handful of great series and ongoing projects on his site.
You can find his work in the next edition of Lay Flat, entitled Lay Flat 02: Meta.

I discovered Liza Faktor’s work through Conscientious blog this morning and found some really nice images in her series Surface of Siberia.

Dudinka, Taimyr peninsula, 2001. Liza Faktor

The statement reads;
“Surface of Siberia is a study of Siberian landscape (shot primarily between 2001 and 2003) looking at the signs of the human presence and the man’s relationship with the vast land that somehow never feels conquered.”

Republic of Khakassia, 2002. Liza Faktor

Dudinka, Taimyr peninsula, 2001. Liza Faktor

Lesosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk region, 2002. Liza Faktor

You can see more of Liza’s work here.

Some really beautiful and evocative works from Birthe Piontek.

Birthe Piontek. From: The Idea of North

An excerpt of the statement reads:
“In 2008, I spent three months in a small community in Canada’s Yukon, where I experienced first hand the mystery and fascination of life above the 60th parallel, and met people who came here as part of their quest for the idea of North.

Birthe Piontek. From: The Idea of North

I’m not the first observer to be simultaneously intrigued, yet remain a visitor. Glenn Gould, whose work inspired the title, wrote after visiting the North briefly, “I’ve read about it, written about it, and even pulled up my parka once and gone there. Yet like all but a few Canadians I’ve had no real experience of the North. I’ve remained, of necessity, an outsider. And the North remained for me, a convenient place to dream about, spin tales about,” and in the end, return South.”

Birthe Piontek. From: The Idea of North

Birthe Piontek. From: The Idea of North

You can find more work here.

Bryan Schutmaat

I have been looking at Bryan Schutmaat’s work recently and really enjoying his series Western Frieze.

His statement reads:
“From Indians and pioneers who toiled over mountaintops, to carefree families who drove down Route 66, travelers in America have always been inspired by the West—that vast bulge of land whose allure never seems to fade.  Throughout the ages people have had different ideas about what the West represents, but many agree that it harbors a certain mystique born from wilderness.  Though much of the West has been populated, paved over, and commercialized, I believe it still retains this mystique in various forms, and to find it means looking from various perspectives.

Bryan Schutmaat

My body of work, Western Frieze, takes on these perspectives and seeks to update our collective impression of the West by putting forth a vision of Americaʼs landscape that uses roadside culture to convey where the West has been and where itʼs going.  Yet these photos are not meant to be pure documentation of America and its identity, but rather a portrait of what American identity means to me, and by photographing the West—where enigma, nostalgia, and history can be found in everyday scenes—I hope to help
viewers find out what it means to them, whether or not they ever visit these sleepy towns
and loneliest of landscapes for themselves. ”

Bryan Schutmaat

You can see Western Frieze and more of Bryan’s work here.