'Nature photographer' by Gregory Gentert at ČEKAONA, Zagreb

A teacher once told me that true nature photography shows no trace of a human presence. I disagree. I made these photographs working backwards from that idea. Nature, like anything else, is a human construct. Perception is always grazing against this indifferent reality, pushing meaning into chaos, and we should not confuse the two. I think beauty is what’s at stake here. We confuse the idea of a pristine unspoiled nature with our desire to perceive it. That unreal desire and the inability to meet it is where I find beauty, and what it means to be human.

This impossible notion of the pristine still interests me—the desire for it—I am not above it. It can be glimpsed in some photographs. Things can appear to simply exist. This is how we can both see and erase ourselves and our perception.