Sentiers

In November 2023, I spent several days photographing in the Forest of Fontainebleau, the second-largest national forest in France and a site steeped in artistic heritage. This storied woodland inspired famous 19th century Impressionist painters and early landscape photographers, and in 1861 it became the first nature preserve in history, designated specifically for artists. Its intricate network of “sentiers,” established by Claude-François Denecourt, were the world’s first marked hiking trails, offering a curated visual experience that merges the natural with the constructed and marks the birth of modern nature tourism. 

This convergence of art history, conservation, and ecology captivates me. The more I learned about the Forest of Fontainebleau’s rich past, the more I was drawn to its layered narrative of preserved landscapes and deliberately shaped paths. “Sentier,” a French word meaning footpath, also echoes “sentir,” meaning to sense or feel. By weaving together the physical act of walking with the deeper act of sensing and looking, my photography project, Sentiers, aims to highlight the delicate balance between human intervention and the innate beauty of nature. 

Photographs from the Sentiers project are made with a state-of-the-art medium format digital camera and are incredibly detailed. I plan to merge this modern digital imaging with historical printmaking traditions. In collaboration with Prints on Paper, an innovative and collaborative printmaking studio in Vermont, I will create unique, large-scale, photogravure prints of my Sentiers images. The photogravure is an early nineteenth century photographic printing process renowned for its detailed tonal range and capacity to capture subtle shades of grey. By integrating this historical process with twenty-first century digital images, the project creates a dialogue between past and present, highlighting the evolving nature of contemporary fine art photography and artistic expression. 

 This project is supported with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts.