Dr. Kieran Baxter Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Email: k.w.baxter@dundee.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)1382 385611
University of Dundee Discovery Profile: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/persons/kieran-baxter


Topographic vision

The creative application of aerial photography and digital visualisation for built heritage and archaeological narrative

Aerial photography and computer-generated imagery can offer a powerful and revealing vision of our landscape heritage. Despite this, these types of images can become distanced from the materiality of the archaeological record and estranged from the visitor’s experience. This research follows the hypothesis that creative practice can be employed to bridge the gap between visualisation technologies and lived experience, exploring aerial photography and digital vision as toolsets to enhance engagement with built heritage.

This practice-based enquiry draws from the researcher’s training in digital media and practice in low altitude aerial photography techniques. Time-based and interactive visual outcomes are explored for their capacity to enhance visitor’s experience. A practice-based approach allows access to the process of image-making while considering the perspectives of other stakeholders including lay participants, archaeologists and heritage professionals. The aim is to better understand how an emerging array of visualisation tools can be applied creatively to this area in a way that is both appropriate and meaningful.