Jungle Aethsetic

One of my favorite old movies is the 1933 version of King Kong. It has all the ingredients of a great adventure film, and audiences were stunned at the visual effects. They might look dated to the modern eye, but in the context of its time it remains quite an accomplishment.



Why am I writing about this? Even as a child, I was fascinated with the depiction of the jungle in this movie. Created on studios, back lots, or in miniatures - the forest is depicted as a etherial, mysterious and dangerous place.

When I was in Ecuador recently I was struggling to come up with a new or interesting perspective on the rain forest. The locations were interesting and gorgeous but had been photographed hundreds of times before. What could I do the was new?

I opted for something old. With a few simple filters applied in Photoshop, I took the original photos and added grain and optical imperfections. It is debatable if doing this has any merit, and it might have been more "honest" to have taken the photos with a Holga camera on black white film. But in truth, I like the results. And these images remind me a great deal of the fanciful locations found in the 1933 version of King Kong.