Why is it that most landscape photographers are drawn to the edge of landscapes?

Coastline is perhaps the most obvious example of this, but often times I find myself wishing to be where I cannot. Either by being three or more feet into the water, or three feet beyond the edge of a cliff, it appears as though we are always hunting for the unobtainable: a view or vantage point that is beyond the scope of reality.

I think the same is true of my, and many other’s draw towards empty places. I do not think we are drawn to these places because of their simplicity (well, it may be a factor). Instead, I think we are drawn to these empty places because there is a seeking of something more than what is there.

In visual psychology, the brain is always constructing our vision. We innately construct our reality, pattern match, make sense of the shapes of objects and put them into a meaningful arrangement in our mind’s eye. With empty spaces, the brain finds itself hunting for a conclusion which cannot be reached: when there is nothing there, we find our mind’s eye trying to see deeper, trying to see something when there is nothing.

I think this draw to the edge of places and to empty spaces is one and the same. It is a hunt for ‘more than reality’; to look for something more, something that lurks below the surface of our everyday existence.

If it were at all possible to ever find this ‘more than reality’ we seek, then it would be just beyond the reach of normal places and spaces because it is where our reality ends and our dreams begin.