"Embracing landscapes" by Barbara Walker McCabe

"Embracing landscapes" by Barbara Walker McCabe

Photography using a 4x5 view camera and the contact printing process of Kallitype and Cyanotype.

Opening Reception: Friday, February 2nd | 5:00–7:00 pm

Showing at the Nevada City Winery Gallery February 1st – March 3rd

About the Show

With “Embracing Landscapes” photographer Barbara Walker McCabe literally merges with her compelling self-portraiture landscapes. As if weaving herself into the landscape, she becomes one with the land, rather than being in a space apart from it. She intertwines with the land, is rooted in, even sprouting, or flying from the Earth.

“Embracing Landscapes” includes both a self-portraiture series, and a selection of her most recent black and white works. These pure and respectful images are rich with texture, graceful and have wide-open mystery. They bring forth qualities of dance which stunningly fuse with the moods, shadows, and the feel of the land.

Walker McCabe’s thoughtful compositions and skilled use of a 4x5 view camera and historic and alternative processes including Kallitype printing with its soft brown tones, give viewers a sense of the land’s ancientness, and what effect humans may have had on it over time.

She helps us realize that we are a part of the land, and if we do not take care of the earth and embrace it, it will no longer be able to take care of us.

Artist Statement

Fine Art Photographer Barbara Walker McCabe talks about her Show “Embracing Landscapes.”

The landscapes I am capturing are the open spaces around my home in the Serra Nevada Mountains and the deserts of Nevada and Arizona. I hope to appeal to anyone who appreciates the outdoors either by taking it in visually or by being present in it physically. At its heart, my work is about the human connection to the natural world and the protection and preservation of that environment. No matter where I am, I am grounded when I feel and see nature around me. When the busyness of everyday life threatened to overwhelm, I discovered in nature recovery and peace. Inside I often felt empty, but outside I could feel. I could feel the texture of the old tree’s bark, the dry crunch of the dead fall leaves underfoot, and the icy sting of a winter wind. Through the use of self-portraiture, I am able to capture the human connection to the world around us, outside our structured environments. I choose to create images in black and white to reference the old master photographers of the great American landscapes and to create focus on form, shape, and textures. I use a 4x5 view camera and the contact printing process of Kallitype and Cyanotype to further enhance the historic approach and the presence of natural lands across time. Beyond the yearnings for a relationship with the world outside comes the need to protect and preserve it. In the tradition of Carleton Watkins, John Muir, Thomas Moran, and Ansel Adams, I hope that by providing a visual and tactile connection to nature, others will be inspired to conserve it.

About the Artist

Barbara Walker McCabe is a Fine Art Photographer living and working in the picturesque town of Clio, CA. Barbara's work focuses on self-portraiture in natural landscapes with emphasis on alternative processes, large format and film, and landscape photography. Her unique Kallitype prints are distinctive and one of a kind. Barbara has two works featured in the 2024 Wild & Scenic Film Festival Art Exhibition in Nevada County, CA. Barbara was featured in Black and White magazine’s August 2023 Portfolio Contest Awards and had her Kallitype portfolio presented in the 2022 Silver Grain Classics magazine issue #17. Barbara currently has work displayed in Truckee, Graeagle, as well as Main Street Artists Gallery and Plumas Arts in Quincy, CA. She is the owner of McCabe Earthscape Photography. When not making images, Barbara can be found roaming the wilds of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountains with her husband, Greg and St. Bernard, Cooper.

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