Work In Progress by Peter Essick

''That’s something that tends to happen with new technologies generally: The most interesting applications turn up on a battlefield, or in a gallery.'' - William Gibson

Photography has a history of documenting everyday life. In my neighborhood in Atlanta, construction activity is an everyday occurrence. It wasn’t until I started flying a drone that I realized construction sites offered so many different visual perspectives. The textures and colors of human-altered landscapes are endlessly fascinating. Seeing and photographing this landscape from the air has opened up for me new ways of creative expression.

I find it hard to explain my deeper motives for photographing construction sites. On a personal level, I enjoy the unique challenge of capturing an ever-changing landscape. Construction sites change by the day, and the light and exposure are never the same, so there is always a sense of joy in capturing the perfect moment. Soil, wood, steel, and concrete relate to each other in infinite varieties of order and disorder. Surface reflections can create altering moods and various meanings. I enjoy capturing it all.

I am also trying to document the environmental impact of construction, land use, and suburban sprawl. Construction and development eliminate tree cover and result in loss of habitat for wildlife. More pavement heats up the city and exacerbates global warming. Sprawl is a major contributor to poor quality of life, and a sedentary lifestyle produces many detrimental health effects. All this development is happening on the traditional lands of the Muscogee people, whom the federal government forcibly removed from the region two centuries ago. Drones have been and continue to be used as weapons of war. I try to understand these issues and incorporate them into my photographic practice.





Peter Essick
Peter Essick is a photographer, teacher, and editor with 30 years of experience working with National Geographic Magazine. He specializes in nature and environmental themes. Named one of the forty most influential nature photographers in the world by Outdoor Photography Magazine UK, Essick has been influenced by many noted American landscape photographers from Carleton Watkins to Robert Adams. His goal is to make photographs that move beyond documentation to reveal in careful compositions the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land.
www.peteressick.com
@essickpeter