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ALIEN LANDSCAPES

The terrain of our neighboring planets serves as a hypothetical landscape for what Earth used to be, could have been, or might become. Alien Landscapes is a photographic series of fabricated planetary environments which create prophetic possibilities of other extraterrestrial realities. Based on data gathered from rovers, satellites, telescopes, and scientists, Cassandra recreates these landscapes through constructed photography. She uses organic materials and in-camera effects to fabricate miniature designs of planet terrains in our solar system. Viewers are presented with fictional possibilities, based on actual scientific data, of places we know exist but have not yet seen.

Uranus 2014

 

A water tank filled with condensed milk, paint and dye was used to simulate Uranus atmosphere. Currents were created to show the different tempermental weather conditions that exists on Uranus.

Saturn 2014

 

Saturn's atmosphere was created with condensed milk, paint and dye in a water tank.

Mercury 2014

 

The surface of Mercury was created with ash from a fireplace and water droplets dropped to create the impact of craters that often hit Mercury's landscape due to its lack of atmosphere. The stars were grided out on poster board by using a star map, holes were poked through and strobes were used to create the light bloom of the stars.

Venus 2013

 

​The Venus landscape was constructed with clay and rocks that were covered in 2 and 1/2 pounds of paprika. Half of the landscape was inside a tank and the other half was behind it. Incense was burned inside the covered tank to create an atmosphere representing clouds of carbon dioxide that creates a greenhouse effect.

Neptune 2013

 

​This series was made using a traditional VFX known as the Cloud Tank method. This involved having two layers of water density, bottom layer salt water made from rock salt and the top layer fresh water. Condensed milk in a baby snotsucker was squirted at the density line to create the cloud and bubbles.

 

Special thanks to Jared Wright  for assisting in production.

Jupiter 2013

 

​After conducting extensive research on Jupiter, I consulted with a Chemist to get an accurate visual description of the chemical properties that make up Jupiter. I also studied and experimented with traditional movie VFX techniques to get the visual effect I was looking for. In the end, I used organic materials of condensed milk, paint, water, and LED lights to create these Jupiter landscape photo series.

 

Special thanks to Dr. Beverly Clement as Chemistry consultant.

Mars 2012

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Since Mars is one of the only planets besides Earth to have an extensive amount of photos on the surface, I recreated the photos by using organic materials to create the planetary landscapes of Mars.

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