Today let’s look at some great examples of the three major forms of nature photography, and one popular (my favorite) type of non-nature photography.

These four photographers are certainly artists, be it each in their own very different way. The images below are primarily straight up (no heavy manipulation) pictures, and they show what an artful eye can do.

Sharon Landis has become one of my favorite wildlife action photographers. This shot of an immature Bald Eagle in the process of landing shows why. She has that wonderful timing which stops movement in wild animals just when something is either beginning, or ending. Some people are born to do one thing, and do it well.

The third major type of nature photography is close-up, or macro photography. Shikhei Goh is one of the very best at this. The clarity and compositional simplicity in this picture of a tiny frog, is amazing. Shickei is a major league talent.

If I had to choose a favorite form of nature photography, it would be macro. My first successes in nature were in landscapes, only to have that supplanted by wildlife, and it was close-up photography that ruled the roost in the end.

To me there is more discovery, and more wonder in macro photography than any other form of picture making. Line, color, texture, and an entire almost invisible world at our feet. Most nature photographers that I have known, would have never even noticed the tiny frog in the photo below. I’m glad that Shikhei did.

Visual artists should always be about what ever “trips their trigger”.  As most of you know, architectural photography is my favorite non-nature subject. When we are dealing with those things that were made by man, there are as many ways to interpret a subject, as there are people with cameras. I love Larry W. Winslett’s ability to find the abstract forms that develop with shape, color and light. These two images were created at the Holy Spirit Monastery and Larry proves he has a “good eye” as my father used to say. In the second picture he layers architectural beams, leaving them just offset enough to take us on a journey. Finally he includes just a splash of contrasting color to jar our senses. Despite both images being made in the same building, the second shot is a departure from the first where he works with clouds of artificial light and warm colors. I especially like the way he composes the cross off-center in the first picture, breaking up what might have been too much symmetry.

God Bless,                                                                                                                                       Wayne