Subjective Landscapes is a series of images by young Hungarian photographer Judit Dombovari documenting the artist's travels across Europe. Bleached cityscapes and natural landscapes appear as though scorched by the sun; pastel pink and soft blue dominate throughout. Faceless and deserted, the images feel more like postcards than real places — an effect reinforced by the format: Judit has left white mats around each photograph.
Although Judit Dombovari describes herself on her website as a fashion photographer — she works closely with Marie Claire, and has produced fashion shoots and lookbooks for numerous magazines and brands — her portfolio also encompasses street photography, architecture, still-life work, and what she calls 'photo studies', in which she frames whatever she is curious to explore at a given moment: from monochrome buildings and flowerpots to the human body and colour associations. The photo series Subjective Landscapes grew out of her desire to refine a perfect sense of balance in her work.
Judit does not specify exactly where in the world these photographs were taken — and that is beside the point. The series aims to present landscapes as anonymous outlines, simplified basic forms through which the memory of any place can be expressed — like cardboard boxes into which any object can be placed. 'I try to turn places into feelings and create a harmony between subjectivity and immediate associations,' the photographer says.
Subjective Landscapes is not Judit's only work in which she contemplates the objects of the surrounding world within an averaged-out reality stripped of subjectivity and belonging. Her series 'Imperfection' depicts 'a set of raw aspects divested of their subjectivity', reflected in concrete architecture. For a fashion photographer, such a choice of subject is particularly compelling — for fashion models, too, are stripped of individuality and regarded merely as an assemblage of features that serve as a framework for what the designer or make-up artist wishes to convey.
Losko has previously written about how Kimmo Metsäranta revealed Helsinki's faceless, formalised yet oddly appealing side; we have also published a piece on a deserted Los Angeles, where empty streets transformed the city into a perfect subject for photographic exploration. And if you are drawn to pastel palettes, take a look at our photo selection in shades of pink.
