Living Art

Sometimes it is not about “creating art” , but instead about recognizing the art in your subject.  It is great to be an artist, but there is nothing wrong with being a “witness to art” and using your skills to pass that information along.

With the first three photos below, my job was to “see” the art that my subjects were displaying.  The rest was about being a photographer and knowing how to capture the art that existed within and without.

The male Northern Pintail is not one of our more colorful ducks, but their natural elegance leads to a lot of easy art.  Just let the duck do it’s thing and you and your audience will benefit.

The Northern Shoveler is a dabbling duck that seems to find not only shallow, but clean waters.  There is no species that has presented me with more beautiful reflections than the Shoveler.  Point and shoot?

Wading birds are art, with every feather on their body.  They don’t try to be, they just can’t help it.  I made dozens of artful shots of this Great Egret.  I saw my job as one of bringing the poetic movements of this bird to the world.

I think most people would consider the traditional perched while singing pose of the Male Eastern/Western Meadowlark to be the most artistic pose this bird can provide.  I agree it is great, but this more unusual singing on the ground view is equally artistic and a bit more unique just as well.

The final shot required a little more participation from me.  I did not want a proper exposure.  I wanted an underexposure so that the colors would remain deep and rich and my subject would remain an interesting shape without detail.  I then added a little compositional knowledge about how to show movement within a picture frame.

Pollen Collector (Flower Powder)

I love photographing bees because they so often are covered with pollen.  I enjoy the texture that this powder adds to a close-up image.

Not So Wild

I still remember the day my parents and I pulled into Custer State Park in South Dakota.  This was my first western trip and Custer and the Black Hills was our second stop after the stark and beautiful Badlands.  My first sight was an enormous herd of Bison crossing the road in front of us.  A few miles down the road Custer’s famous wild burros were stopping traffic by looking for hand outs.  In those days places like Custer and Yellowstone N.P. made no effort to stop visitors from feeding the wildlife. Thankfully that has been stopped but it seems like someone forgot to tell the burros.  Fast forward to 2005 and there were two mares with foals standing on a distant hillside when my buddy Ron asked if the “wild” burros would let us get close.  I suggested I would try to get them to come to us, and got out of the car and waved a white plastic bag.  Within 3 or 4 minutes our “wild” friends were at the back of the car.  The top image was made with a 70mm lens while the second was created with an 18mm wide-angle. No we didn’t feed them but clearly some individuals still use bribery as a method to get close to these cute little equines.

I have mentioned in a variety of articles that I owned horses for over twenty years.  I enjoyed every one of my horses, and they were of many different breeds.  Of all of them Freedom, and Chicago still evoke memories.  Freedom was a mixed breed gelding that came to Colorado off a Montana ranch.  He was supposed to have been a rodeo (roping) horse at one time and he showed it with his amazing bursts of speed.  Chicago (too long to explain) was my beautiful five gaited American Saddlebred show horse.  She was spirited and high-stepping by nature.  Freedom will always be special because he was my first, and he taught me never to walk (or ride) in fear.  Chicago was more than I ever dreamed of and was a show in herself when she Slow Gaited or Racked.   She will forever be on my mind because of the 20 years that I was privileged to know her.  What I learned from both horses was the amazing silent dialogue you can have with an animal.  As time went on, first with Freedom and then with Chicago, I learned that with the proper affection and respect, there was no need for a riding crop, or to kick to go, or to pull dramatically on the reins to stop.  My motions and sounds became more subtle over time, and eventually they pretty much disappeared. A horse and rider can bond to the point that not only will the smallest of body movements send the intended signal to your companion, but at times it seemed like you only had to think about your desires and your friend would already begin the transition that you hoped for. A sort of electricity would flow back and forth. There is no way to completely explain the unexplainable.  As the years wore on with Chicago she changed from a fairly scary horse to ride, to a good friend who would take care of you in bad times.  I watched out for her…….and she took care of me.  Mutual respect and love can go a long ways

There have been times when I (you too?) have been working at making pictures for a long while with a wildlife subject and a bond of trust begins to develop.  It is an exceptional feeling and great pictures usually result.  When the shoot is over and I can issue a knowing look of gratitude, and I leave the animal just where I found it, I  have reached that moment of nirvana that I always dream of.