SMOKE LINE

At first glance, "SMOKE LINE" appears to be a simple book of landscape photographs, albeit with the twist that each spread consists of two photographs which combine to create a panorama effect. The field of vision of these pairs usually overlaps, perhaps mimicking the way that human eyes take in visual information. The content of Tsuda's landscapes ranges from meadows to foggy mountains to the desert. The last half of the book, though, begins to hint at the experience behind this work: we see a shaman, some people sitting in a stone dwelling, a man in a turban. In his text following the photographs, Tsuda explains that these photos were taken in remote areas China, Morocco and Mongolia. He feels that there is a kind of "wind belt" encompassing the globe, which unites regions of the world. He goes on to describe his almost mystical encounters with the people who guided him through these places far from modern civilization. In this way, "SMOKE LINE" becomes less a book of "landscape photography" and more of a mysterious travelogue.