{"id":619040,"date":"2026-10-03T02:34:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T02:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/619040\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T02:34:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T02:34:26","slug":"photographer-spencer-lowell-embraces-the-occasionally-bizarre-intersection-of-humans-and-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/619040\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer Spencer Lowell Embraces the Occasionally Bizarre Intersection of Humans and Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

Photographer Spencer Lowell\u2019s<\/a> first monograph, Futures Past<\/a>, delivers 57 color images across nearly 100 pages, each unified by its visual investigation of technological progress and how technology intersects with humanity. <\/p>\n

The subject matter ranges from aerial shots of New York City to a close-up of an automated cow milking machine. There\u2019s a fire tornado inside a lab in Montana, a crazy-looking auditory testing room at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and a person bowing to a humanoid, robotic priest in Kyoto, Japan. Nuclear reactors, Mars rovers, pleasure robots, and supercomputers appear throughout. <\/p>\n

Lowell describes himself as a photographer of \u201cscience, technology, industry, environment, and people,\u201d and all of that is shown throughout his debut monograph. The Los Angeles-born, New York City-based photographer has worked with huge names over the years. He\u2019s worked with Apple, Bloomberg, National Geographic, Google, Meta, NASA, OpenAI, TIME, and many more. <\/p>\n

\"ThreeLaurance Doyle with Dolphins, Vallejo, California, 2018 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"AAutomated Cow Milking System, Katwoude, Netherlands, 2019 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"AMindar (Robotic Priest), Kyoto, Japan, 2019 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell<\/p>\n

Lowell has been a working photographer for over 20 years, and he says Futures Past is a definitive collection of his \u201cfinest images\u201d so far. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis work does not propose conclusions. It documents a condition in which biological life and technological systems are no longer separable, yet remain unevenly aligned,\u201d Lowell says. <\/p>\n

\"MoltenMolten Gold Refining Cortez Gold Mine Refinery, Elko, Nevada, 2024 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"AnButt Robot, Batesville, Indiana, 2011 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"AUnit 4 Reactor Door, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, 2017 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell<\/p>\n

Futures Past includes an opening essay from climate activist and Fulbright Award-winning writer, Daniel Sherrell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people in these photos, but rarely are there individuals. The technologies are the real individuals, protagonists of their own cryptic story,\u201d Sherrell says. \u201cThe photographs capture them on their own terms, in the worlds that they\u2019ve built \u2014 worlds that both serve and exclude us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sherrell adds that Lowell\u2019s photos approach the subject \u201cin thrall to their alien beauty.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"AnSpace Shuttle Endeavor, Los Angeles, California, 2012 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"ASpace Communication Testing, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, 2008 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"AMars Rover Curiosity Launch, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 2011 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell<\/p>\n

While many of Lowell\u2019s subjects showcase technologies that have not pervaded everyday life for most people, Sherrell thinks many of the subjects and concepts on display are inevitable. <\/p>\n

Lowell says the technology he has photographed for over two decades around the world does not stand in opposition to nature, but rather continues it. While a robotic priest may seem entirely out of this world, for example, it is clearly not, and speaks to a very human experience. <\/p>\n

\"AMicroplastics, Mediterranean Sea, 2014 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell<\/p>\n

\"AExperimental Fire Tornado Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana, 2019 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell
\n\"AnPanorama of the City of New York, Queens, New York, 2016 | \u00a9 Spencer Lowell<\/p>\n

Futures Past ships this month and is published by KGP Monolith. The standard edition is $75, although special edition copies with limited-edition prints are available for $250 each. There\u2019s also an option to get the book with four signed prints for $1,000. All versions can be preordered<\/a> now. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image credits\u00a9 Spencer Lowell. All photos from \u2018Futures Past,\u2019 designed by Luminosity Lab and published by KGP Monolith.<\/p>\n

\n\tAffiliate Disclosure
\n\tPetaPixel articles may include affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you buy through one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photographer Spencer Lowell\u2019s first monograph, Futures Past, delivers 57 color images across nearly 100 pages, each unified by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-619040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}