Ghosts in the Landscape

Over a four-year period beginning in 1995, photographer Craig J. Barber, ex-combat Marine, returned to Vietnam to traverse many of his former military routes, making images with an 8 x 10- inch pinhole camera. Part cathartic exercise, part curiosity about what had become of this once war-torn country, Barber has created a series of diptych and triptych panorama platinum images that capture the serene beauty of the country and, at times for him, the all-too-memorable landscapes.

The images Barber has captured are not documentary images. The minutes-long exposure required to record pinhole images produce blurring in anything that was in motion during the exposure. This sense of movement contributes to both a sense of mystery and a dreamlike, introspective quality. One critic wrote: "The blur in the images, here seen in diptychs or triptychs as when the soldier Barber was looking to left and right-for a movement, a muzzle flash-now takes on a new meaning in the civilian Barber's eyes...[and] completely capture the haunting power of wartime memory and trauma." Yet these images do convey beauty and peace. They will appeal to a wide audience and to Vietnam veterans who may find some comfort, as does Craig Barber, in seeing Vietnam in a different light.

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