Fine Art Photography and Trees
(aka Ownership)
Untitled
I’ve written about my fine art photographs of trees on a previous occasion (HERE …) but these images are such an intrinsic part of both my fine art story and my ownership of a fine art style that I’m pausing to reconsider them again now.
In a strictly artistic sense, I’d been producing fine art images for several years (like the one below). I’d gained extensive practice at transforming a camera image into a fine art one when I was being mentored by Julia Anna Gospodarou; I’d developed my skill-set and experienced all the pleasures of being ‘in the zone’ as I lost myself into the task.
Perhaps it's Just Called Choice
from 'Perhaps' Series
The only problem was that my heart wasn’t completely in these images – they’re not entirely mine. Yes, I planned them, I captured the original on my camera and I spent hours editing them, but stylistically I was emulating Julia and, like a child, 'borrowing' her emotional committment to fit the story. I can’t claim ownership.
Julia played a crucial part in my development as a fine art photographer – it wouldn't have happened without her – but my personal expression emerged a little later.
And that’s why my woodland images are very different. Firstly because I had a strong emotional investment of my own in them (not a vicarious one); it was important to me that I could do justice to the experience of walking through the woods. And secondly because I had to find my own fine art style for these images, for the simple reason I couldn’t get them to work in Julia’s style! It mattered to me – and I had to produce something different.
Thus, I stumbled into the full experience of fine art photography (with ownership and self-expression) – nothing ‘borrowed’ or ‘acquired’ – through a mixture of necessity, childlike playfulness, experimentation and analogous thinking.
And so, if you asked me about fine art photography, I’ll tell you it needs ownership – and that it was my woodland images which got things started for me.