one lovely summer project this year was spending four sundays in july at high lake. it's a regular place for me to hike, ski and photograph. road's end was shot just over the ridge from here. this year, a very cool, rainy and snowy april thru june delayed wildflowers 4-5 weeks, especially at 8,000'.
it's been a lovely summer for photography. with the high price of gas, i've been staying closer to home. i bought a macro lens for close ups of flowers, insects and tiny things in the backyard. it's been challenging shifting from 200+ mile panoramas to 2 cm size bugs. i'm currently keeping an eye on some praying mantis in the garden. shifting from tiny to panoramic and back again has sharpened my eye for both.
making the transition from film to digital photography has had a rather steep learning curve. some aspects of camera, lens and print are the same; others are quite different.
when i committed to this photography/creative process, i wasn't interested in all the manipulation of an image by computer editing, being something of a luddite. i thought it was changing the photo from what was originally recorded at the scene.
comments from people viewing a photo are a very important part of the creative process. often, this takes the form of personal feedback to the artist. this can be very helpful to the artist, yet it is limited to just two people.
viewing a photograph as a print and on a screen or monitor are two very different visual experiences. it can be helpful to explore a little of the technical aspects to understand this difference.
without planning to, i find myself deeply drawn into this creative photographic process. it's not like i need another career; the healing arts of chinese medicine are very fulfilling. backcountry treks are immensely nourishing on a personal level. body, mind and spirit vibrate with the energy, just being there is enough. why carry around all that photo gear?
...nature provides the beauty. in some ways, nature photography is easy. the beauty that we look for in art is right in front of us: form, lines, color palettes, contrast, composition, texture, flow, balance, movement. these are the basics an artist learns when seeking to create a piece from scratch, starting with a blank canvas, page, stone.
ink runs in my blood, possibly from working in the graphics trades after college, doing calligraphy and chinese brush painting where i learned to grind ink on stone. diving into this photography creative process has allowed me to indulge this fascination with ink on paper in another way.
taking treks out into backcountry oregon is a great pleasure. there are many benefits: getting out into nature, finding great scenes to photograph, chance encounters with wildlife, seeing star-filled skies without any light pollution, feeling the desert wind scour my spirit, the smell of sage and juniper, the freedom to wander...the list keeps on
going. these photos are one way of trying to express these experiences.
when i first moved to this area i learned about wild horse herds scattered around the region. the idea of wild horses stimulated images of the wild west and this land before settlers. first experiences were in the murderer's creek area of aldrich mountain. forested rugged terrain made tracking and finding these horses challenging and very rewarding with the first photos. they seemed quite wild to me.
mandalas are used in a variety of spiritual, religious, creative contexts. in general, they are an artistic expression meant to focus or inspire us about core principles or truths. mandalas are believed to represent different aspects of the universe and are used as instruments of meditation and symbols of prayer most notably in china, japan, and tibet. often mandalas focus on a specific teaching or healing aspect.
if you've wandered around this website, seen some of the photos and read some of the words, it is probably obvious: i love this place. that could be the title of the website, portfolio and every photo. it's a big surprise to me. this isn't the place i thought i would live in and love.