How Photographer Brendan George Ko Captures the Spirit of Nature

What techniques do you use to transform nature into something so surreal?

I find it is less about technique and more about feeling. I work mostly with film and use an Imacon scanner to help me get a similar result that I used to get in the darkroom. Then I work my images in Photoshop. How I set the mood for my images is guided by my emotional memory of the scene captured in the photograph. I am conjuring up past spirits by creating a mood that takes me back to the moment.

How has your relationship with nature evolved since you started working as a photographer?

I have always had a spiritual connection to nature even before I picked up a camera two decades ago. Over the years I have developed more vocation towards that spirituality and connection. With my studies in Hawai’i Nei, I have learned to address the places I enter, acknowledge the spirits around me, and see the place as I would see a person I deeply respected and understand that I am a guest in their house.

How do heritage, place and past experiences come into your work?

From my time living in New Mexico, I learned to see the land intrinsically connected with memory. We are surrounded by regions of land seeping in memory of past humans and all life that has passed through and it is what haunts a landscape. I enjoy seeking out those who hold those histories and learning to see the land as they do.

How important is storytelling to your process?

The story is everything. A picture without one feels as hollow as some form of commodity. A story either attached or embedded in the image gives it life and stirs our curiosity and connection to what is captured.

Do you have an overarching message that you hope your audience embraces?

That’s a tough question. I think that varies depending on what project I am working on. I think as a human being on the planet earth my message is to think of oneself as a guest on this planet and a good guest leaves a place in better shape than when they first arrived.

How has your process and interests evolved as you’ve gained more creative experience?

I found shortly after finishing my MFA that accessibility is one of the most important aspects to any project. Showing in gallery spaces meant the work was limited to a certain art-going audience who had the time to visit a gallery in a specific city and neighbourhood. I started thinking how work can exist without any borders and be accessible. I started to work with magazines, sharing projects I was developing or publishing entire projects online so that it can be experienced by all that have access to the internet. With the stories and experiences I had access to came a responsibility to share them with a greater audience.

How did the Scrapbook project come about and what changes do you see in your own perspective with each edition?

The Scrapbook project started in 2013 as a container of all my “b-sides” for the year. My research projects take me years to complete and all the while I am still making images of the places and people I encounter. My mother was the family documentarian growing up and she’d make these scrapbooks photo albums of our family vacations and road trips. As an adult when I look at those scrapbooks I am taken back to my childhood and recall so many forgotten memories. There’s a magic to those scrapbooks and I am continuing that legacy with my own brand of scrapbooks.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you’d like to mention?

I have a book project that I am working on with Conveyor Arts called Moemoeā – on my work with traditional voyaging in the Pacific. In addition, I am currently producing a documentary about the parallels of plants and people being introduced to an isolated environment.