Solitude is a selection of Black and White Landscapes by ManButur Suantara. Images that are especially poetic in its sombreness and silence. Each frame draws you in. Transporting you to a place that is detached from everything else.

Perhaps you get a sense of being frozen in a moment. Yet, what I love about these images by ManButur is that they not only convey a visual story. There is a strong atmosphere of overwhelming silence. Of a stillness and quiet. You can imagine yourself entereing the world within each captured moment and be held in that moment. Silently.

What defines Landscape Photography and the differences with Nature Photography

Landscape photography shows the spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes.

Nature Photography shows natural elements This includes landscapes, wildlife and plants as well as close ups of natural scenes and textures. It has a stronger emphasis on the aesthetic qualities of the image. Nature Photography are published in Sciencific travel and cultural publications like National Geographic.

A key point regarding the definition of Landscape Photography is the expression ‘ showing spaces within the world’. In ManButurs’ Solitude, this sense of space is so beautifully captured whilst adding the element of a disjointed intruder. A foreign presence that somehow protrudes in that space. The man-made element. The human and urban traces are a key focus. Yet the space envelopes them completely. Leaving us with a sense of being adrift in a wide infinite space.

Solitude can be time for yourself to reflect and understand yourself better. What you have done what you haven’t done. Self reflection.

What reflections did you have when you took these photographs?

Each photograph is different. In some of the photographs, I think it expresses my feeling like I am an outcast. In the house, it shows perhaps a desire to escape into this place , perhaps for a few days or weeks. wouldn’t it be nice to be in that space. Solitude here might not be loneliness, but like a sanctuary. A place that is peaceful and safe.

ManButur Suantara

Photographers often take refuge behind their cameras. Sometimes in a detached way. Through this separation from the world by way of the lens, they are often freer to make comment and observations . In another way through the lens, they reveal very much of themselves in the images that capture them. ManButur’s comfort being in Nature’s elements is perhaps very evident here. The mood of peace and beauty one finds in what others may interpret as lonely or cold, reveals more the artists’ sentiments about Nature. In her vastness, we are still at home.