To our own eyes, the visual field is infinitely deep, infinitely broad. Because we cannot see beyond its peripheral limits, we cannot see that it HAS limits. As far as the eyes can tell, the visual field is without borders. The landscape expands infinitely in two dimensions. From its center one becomes aware of the tight circularity of our planet, of the absurdity of human scale, and, with a shock, of the eye's abilities. Piercing the universe as far as there is light, the tiny human eye never knows its own boundaries, can never see itself.In contrast, the project image is bounded by the limits of the frame. Its borders determine and compose the film, but also act as dividing line, separating out what is to be unseen. The cinematic image, unlike the visual field, is clearly severely defined. Its depth, illusory and fragile, extends only as far as there are foot-candles and sufficiently close grains of emulsion. Limited in depth, forever conscious of what it excludes, the camera is the antithesis of the eye. The skillful camera composer sometimes organizes his frame by choosing what he will exclude; his compositions serve as a reminder of the limitless world beyond the frame. The filmed landscape is a catalyst for the finite/infinite, camera/eye, inclusion/exclusion tensions. And the soil of such tensions grow interesting works. - Grahame Weinbren
[Source: Los Angeles Independent Film Oasis Program Notes, 1976]