Mapping with a Car and a Camera: Ralph Bagnold in the Libyan Desert

Abstract

The view of a track-riven sandy terrain, dotted with the silhouettes of two cars and the remnants of a camp, was taken by British military engineer cum desert explorer, Ralph Bagnold during 1929 (Figure 1). The tread of the tyres arches violently across the fore and mid-ground, cutting through the furrows left in the sand by the wind and training the eye upward toward the horizon. The movement of the eye, in looking, mimics the motion suggested to have occurred immediately prior to exposure. More than this, the photograph is a synergy of the imprinting potential of the car and camera, both mechanized technologies united in their ability to mark out a surface. Show more