Phenomenon: non, non, non.

‘Phantom’ © Peter Lik

Jonathan Jones is at it again. He loves to stir it. Writing in The Guardian about Peter Lik’s very expensive canyon photograph, he makes some grand pronouncements. I’ll let others take issue with Jones’ nonsensical “Photography is not an art. It is a technology.” comment. What I’ll take issue with is Jones’ description of the image as being of  “a grand phenomenon of nature”. Sorry Jonathan – but that’s a grand phenomenon of ignorance you display.

If it’s the canyon you refer to, then yes I’d agree, if it’s the shaft of light, well yes indeed, but if it’s the ‘phantom’ of the title, which is all that differentiates it from a host of other similar shots, then I hate to disillusion you but it’s artifice.

The ‘effect’ is obtained by tossing a handful of dirt from the canyon floor into the air in the shaft of sunlight. More organized photographers get a companion to lob the stuff down from above. Those with even less scruples lob a handful of talcum powder into the air, which more is uniform in size and lighter than dirt and floats just a little bit longer, making it easier to get a few frames; however that latter technique is also environmentally unsustainable and grossly polluting. Those with no scruples whatsoever set something on fire and send smoke up the shaft of light. Smoke is very light and floats better, but is less controllable. It can also leave soot residues and other toxins depending on what was burned.

Is it worth $6.5m as a piece of art? Well yes the buyer thought so. So I guess that’s that part of the debate settled then.

But I have to say, when I look at it, I just see something that is at best some careful artifice, or at worst crass environmental vandalism. I have no idea what method was used, and make no pronouncements about the author’s environmental credentials. It is what it is, and what it is, is most likely not natural.

Why am I concerned about this? Well the success of this image will no doubt prompt a rash of copycats. Some will take the unscrupulous route I’m quite sure. And the environmental consequences of that could be considerable. Art, I’d like to think, whether good or bad, should not destroy or pollute that which it celebrates. Time will tell, and I hope I am proved wrong.

Maybe a hint of sour grapes on my part? If you say so.

But…..do you want to see my own ‘phantom’?

Here you go then: Isle of Rum, a long hard climb through thick mist and misery to emerge on the summit ridge. In the distance the Skye Cuillin mountains rise up from the Atlantic, and closer to, a momentary glimpse of a swirling ‘phantom’ which swelled up out of the corrie opposite, outspread it’s arms and dived across the ridge, soaring off into nothingness.

$6.5m for a print of this? Aye, aye that’ll do nicely thanks, if you want to have it to grace your wall. I’ll even sign it.

But the reality – the experience of climbing hard, breathless, and being there to see something like this unfold before me, a true phenomenon of nature…….priceless. And you cannot purchase that.

Mist phantom dives across a ridge, Isle of Rum © John MacPherson