Image-making with the landscape: between representation and reification

This study investigates the complexities of engaging with and interpreting landscapes through image-making practices using smartphone cameras. The exploration centres on how technologically mediated experiences co-shape our perception of landscapes through human–technology–world interactions. The study examines discussion data gathered during participatory workshops in Portugal and Finland, where participants engaged with landscapes through smartphone image-making practices. The article uses postphenomenology to analyse the smartphone camera’s mediating role in technologically mediated experiences of the landscape, treating these discussions as situated sense-making. The discussions with participants highlighted the multifaceted nature of landscape perception, demonstrating the social, cultural, and political processes that shape it. These processes underscore the importance of intersubjectivity in perceiving landscapes as shared experiences, with social interactions shaping their meaning. The research offers a perspective on landscape engagement by integrating postphenomenological approaches with image-making practices, contributing to an understanding of how landscapes are co-constituted through human-technology relations.