Photo Exhibition Blog

Nature is by far the best subject for artistic photography. Your creativity comes in catching an extra dimension to an otherwise ever evolving landscape.

Birdwatchers would spend an afternoon hiding in a tree to record the tweeting of a rare bird. Likewise nature photographers go out of their way to study their subject and bring us yet another unseen facet of our world.

It is an act of worship to acknowledge the majesty of Creation. How could someone deny the existence of God while in the open spaces is beyond belief. Maybe staying too long cuffed in a man made world is cutting us off from our destiny.

So how could you ever relate those emotions with a camera? Well, there are still two variables that you control: the precise moment you press the shutter release and the framing of the image in the viewfinder.

Just consider the implications. As the sun travels from dawn to dusk there are infinite shades and hues that will pass over your subject without mentioning the weather, season of the year - or even the same scene by moonlight!

Next is what you want your audience to see. You are standing there at the pinnacle of a hill. You could aim your camera to 360 degrees of panorama. In fact some people were so overwhelmed that they couldn't make up their mind. Panoramic cameras were invented to record on a long strip a continuous series of juxtaposed frames.

If you let loose in the open ten people with a camera should you expect them to return from their trip with something artistic? Obviously not. But if they enjoyed what they saw, got passionate about it and want to do it again, chances are you might have a budding artist there.

So how do you decide what is art and what is not? When you stroll through a modern art museum you might well ask the same question(!) In our case of nature photography art would be the personal contribution of the photographer to add an extra dimension to the subject. If you haven't been there yourself as a spectator, how can you tell what is the extra added artistic value in the image you're looking at? Simple: you would ask yourself: "Is this real?" "Does this place really exist?" "You didn't retouch the photo, did you?" if the answers the three questions are yes, yes and no, then it is art.