FINDING FINE ART IN NATURE

As photographers, there is a strong tendency for us to walk around with our cameras, waiting for something to hit us between the eyes and say, "Here I am. Take your shot!" If it doesn't, we continue walking.

In my book, Right Brain Photography, I spend pages talking about how to find those gems I call fine art. 

If we only see with our eyes, we will leave behind some of the best images possible. We need to look with our eyes and see with our imagination. 

Fine art is not just pretty pictures of pretty things. It's finding artistic compositions with color,  shapes, patterns, mood, mystique, or feelings.

We can either create fine art in-camera, or fine the fine art that nature gives us; art that is already there for the taking.

Now, let me share some fine art I have either found or created from what I "saw." 

I was with a student during one of my 3-day Rocky Mountain National Park workshops in Colorado. I  pointed to a section of the lake with several rocks and tree branches at the bottom of the shallow lake. I could see the clouds reflected on the lake's surface, even through the fast-moving waves on a breezy morning. I told my student we were going to use a fast shutter speed in order to freeze the waves and capture the clouds in the water. The end result was a surreal depiction of simply rocks and tree branches at the bottom of a lake.

Mt. Elbert is the highest peak in Colorado, at 14,443.' Yes, that's pretty high. I know,  I've hiked it! On another hike up the trail, I was looking for autumn colors. It was a little early in September, so I wasn't sure I would find them. But, to my surprise, I found this "painting" before me. It was already there, without a frame, just waiting for me. The composition was perfect, with the trail that went up to the aspens, then disappeared as it continued down the hill. The trail was surrounded by white vertical lines, late-summer greens, and a sprinkling of early autumn yellows. 

Another year, still in Colorado, I was also looking for fall colors, but, to my chagrin, this time I was too late. I noticed on my way to the Crested Butte area that there were few colorful leaves, if any, still hanging on the trees. But, I always carry with me my go-to mantra: What does this moment give me? So, as I continued searching for color, my moment came when I saw this grouping of naked aspens, exposing their white vertical beauty to me! Click.

Look with your eyes; see with your imagination. I went on a hike up the Indian Peaks Wilderness area in Colorado. It had rained the day before, so I, like the other hikers on the trail, found myself hopping over small, inconspicuous, puddles of water. On my way back down the long trail, I started doing what I teach my students to do--take the labels off. When I took the labels of the "puddles," I started seeing with my imagination. They weren't puddles anymore; they were nature's art, right there in front of me.

Several hikers noticed me with my camera and tripod, as I aimed my camera downward toward one of the puddles. "What do you see?" they asked. When I pointed out what I was photographing, one hiker said, "I would not have seen that...." 

My message to you? Don't just look for tangible objects around you; look for the art they give you. It's free!

I ran across this dry creek bed. I was astonished to see what I was not expecting to see-- several smoothed-out colorful rocks sprinkled along the creek bed for several yards. They were randomly placed by nature in patterns I would expect to see along the Pacific or Atlantic shoreline. 

As I stared at them, it occurred to me that nature needed some help in "organizing" these rocks in a more artistic fashion. I started picking up a variety of shapes and colors and putting them together to form a tight collection of "canvass" art.

Sometimes I take what nature gives me and add to it an extra artistic spin, as I did to this nice array of tulips in spring, in Garvan Woodland Gardens, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The scene itself looked good; very good, in fact. But I wanted to go from "good" to "wow." So, I decided to create my trademark double exposure technique to create this fine art rendition of what my eyes saw.

I saw a wall of trees with some autumn colors strewn about the scene. I was on my way down from West Mountain, also in Hot Springs. When I saw some yellows to my right, I stopped and pulled over to get a closer look. I saw the cool vertical lines of the huddled trees, and some yellows and greens in-between them. Emotionally, it was good. I could feel fall in the air. However, visually, it lacked that "pull" that makes me take my camera out and start shooting. My right brain kicked in. Since there were a lot of verticals in the scene, I decided to see what I could create from the scene if I moved my camera downward. I set my camera to where I got a 2-second exposure--that is very slow in photography. I then hand-held my camera and slowly moved it downward, trying my best to keep my verticals as straight as possible. The result was an impressionistic interpretation of what was just an okay scene. 

And, sometimes the whole scene before us can look like a  fine art painting, as this scene near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. My timing was intentional--I wanted that late afternoon lighting, a few minutes before sunset. I found it! When I stared in awe at this scene, I thought that if Claude Monet, the French Impressionist, had been with me that day, he would have painted this scene. It was absolutely jaw-dropping. I didn't have to do anything special to it; it was all there, just waiting for me. It is not surprising that titled this piece, "Impressionistic Valley."

So, challenge yourself to see from an artist's perspective. Look for, or create, images that would look like "art on canvas."

Feel free to contact me if you'd like a 1-2 hour ZOOM lesson on this topic. Have fun!