Contemplating the Anthropocene

Over the past few years I've tried to shift my focus away from protests, events, and breaking news photography in hopes that I might return to more traditional documentary/fine art work. As time has passed I've become more interested in the changing landscape we find ourselves existing and/or constructing in contemporary America.

Lately, I'm interested in how our constructed landscape specifically reflects our cultural values and priorities. Here are the questions I've been trying to visually explore: How does our built environment interact with existing landscapes and ecologies? How does the built environment affect our social interactions in any given space or place? What's our relationship with our public spaces and civic spaces? What happens when our constructed landscapes are divorced from our cultural histories and traditions?

I've got a million and one ideas swirling in my head. Here are a handful of images that have emerged as I slowly venture deeper into the ideas and the inevitable questions they raise. This work is a continuation of my explorations of the New Topographics movement that I previously posted about. With any luck, I'll be pulling this project together (possibly hanging a show somewhere) in the coming months.

Click to enlarge.

The landscape of Vermont is changing. With any luck, these images will spark a conversation around what mechanisms are driving that change. The tourist-driven economy has fetishized the rolling hills and Green Mountains with postcard perfect imagery of quaint villages and villagers, but this is a false image that we've been selling to the tourists and to ourselves. It's time to re-imagine the creative output concerning the Vermont Landscape and revise our relationship to the land we've been left to manage.

Check out more of my work at my website, Like my page on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter.

Burlington Mourns Orlando Shooting Victims

In the wake of the shooting of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, more than 1,500 of Burlington's LGBTQ community gathered to mourn. Politicians turned out and made speeches and the crowd tried to make sense of everything.

Stay tuned for an upcoming article from Toward Freedom. Here's a quick preview of the photos:

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Returning to Photography

At last! After months/years of radio production, graphic design, and a million miles of other work, I'm finally able to get back to the good old medium of documentary photography that I hold so dear.

It's not exactly a massive dump of photos tonight, just a few photographs of friends working on a nearby construction site. But what fun it's been to return to the style of working that I spent more than a decade mastering.

That said, here are some photos. I hope to be posting more frequently in the weeks and months to come.

If you'd like to see more of my work (or get in touch about projects and collaborations) check out my website, Facebook page, and Twitter handle.

-Dylan

Click to enlarge images

Interference Radio Hour: Gaza and Operation Protective Edge

A new episode of the Interference Radio Hour is out!

In this episode I sit down with Ayman Nijim and Cliff Bennet to talk about Gaza and everything that has (or hasn't) transpired since Operation Protective Edge.

For more of my work you can like my Facebook Page, follow me on Twitter, and (of course) check out my website.

Migrant Justices Marches on Ben & Jerry's for Milk with Dignity

Hello hello!

I haven't posted photos in quite a while so I'm super happy to show this quick set of images from today's in the Milk with Dignity National Day of Action by Migrant Justice and a coalition of other organizations that are standing up for human rights in the Ben & Jerry's supply chain.

 

 

For more media work by Dylan Kelley visit his website, like his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter.

Pride 2014!

I know, I'm totally guilty of posting way later than I should. Nevertheless, here are a handful of the more entertaining or interesting images from the 2014 Burlington celebration of Pride.

Rather than photograph all the typical festivities, loyal followers of this blog will recognize that this is indeed the Queers Against Capitalism section of the march. In addition to taking a shot or two at capitalism, they also called for the release of US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning and recognition of the Stonewall Riots in New York City.

 

For more work by Dylan Kelley visit his website, Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter via @LiveFromGround.

Illustrating Complex Issues

As my wonderful partner and I move forward on publishing our next issue of The Heretic we came upon the task of visually illustrating the complex ideas of urban renewal and market-rate development.

How to illustrate a complex issue beyond boring photos of construction equipment and vacant lots? How to show the sprawling and extremely expensive condos effect without showing the admittedly photogenic facades?

We ultimately captured and decided on the image you see below.

Additionally, we encountered a similar challenge when illustrating an article regarding a No Trespass ordinance on our city's primary pedestrian market. With a little experimentation, we arrived at the following image.

Each of these images underline the new and exciting challenge of creating a publication that makes sense beyond individual illustrations, photographs, or articles. The challenges of space, printing, cohesion, and accessibility have been one of the more enlightening and exciting experiences I've known thus far. Stay tuned for the full issue, coming soon!