I have been frequently photographing clouds on the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula during the winter of 2022 influenced by the gallery of cloud photos of The Cloud Appreciation Society. So it was great to come across another photographer with an interest in clouds. Vicky Dennison has a more sophisticated, conceptual and systematic approach to clouds than my casual, off the cuff snapshots.

There is a gallery of her series of cloud photos on Light Paths.

There is much food for thought in this series of clouds as a radically, dynamic object caught in a process of perpetual transfiguration. A cloud can be understood as being in a perpetual drift away from itself.

Dennison’s cloud photography is more sophisticated and systematic than the snapshot approach because it ranges far and wide across the state and explores the different cloud formations in the different seasons and territories. An Australian reference point is Greg Wayn’s black and white Clouds published in 2014.

Broader and more historical reference points in the art world are Constable’s Cloud Studies, John Ruskin’s writings on clouds in which he highlighted the effects of human industrial activity on the atmosphere over the cities and natural landscapes, Alfred Stieglitz’s Equivalents, and Gerhard Lang’s Cloud Walks. These reference points provide a rich history of artistic approaches to clouds that is worthwhile exploring as indicated by this article that connects Ruskin’s storm clouds, the new climate and Victorian aesthetics with the present.