Cameron Burns, artist
Michael Mergen, faculty advisor
I remember growing up as a child exploring the woods of Watkins Mill day in and day out. These woods became my escape from reality, and my home away from home. Now, the 450 wooded acres that are adjacent to our property are being developed into forty-five, ten-acre lots. This not only will change our lives, but the lives of countless different species of animals that call this land their home.
I began photographing how I see nature. Instead of pristine landscapes, viewers are presented with silently still woods and newly constructed homes. My work has an eerie stillness to it that can only be explained by the juxtaposing of noise and chaos with a naturally quiet landscape.
My work features my quiet observations of man and his interaction with his environment. Today, our relationship with nature is more like that of a bystander. We just stand on the sidelines waiting for something to happen without intervening ourselves. We fail to get close enough to truly examine the trees and how they interact with their environment, until it is too late.
