ABSTRACT
Landscape architecture’s use of photography is fluid. This fluidity reflects the contemporary uses of photography in everyday society. The discipline uses many types of photographs as a means to understanding places and making design decisions. Because of the contexts in which these photographs are viewed, and the motivations of the viewer, the meaning of these photographs shifts and changes. This is discussed in relationship to a contemporary understanding that photographic meaning is not fixed. This condition is articulated through examples in the daily practice of landscape architecture. Arguments for multiplicity and complexity are central to the success of the practice – conceptually understanding and treating photographic representations as fluid reinforces this idea. Examples discuss how multiplicity and complexity is possible for photo-based representations in landscape architecture, and what is achieved by working in these ways.
