It's been a loooong time since I've regularly written for a blog.  This time it's not about plants!  Also this time I have relatively solid deadlines to encourage me not to flounder.  Let's see how this turns out.

Sempervivum 2014

   For my first post, starting fall term on a fresh (and fabulous) start, I'm looking at some particular work of mine that I've really enjoyed, and the inspiration from a few artists that will hopefully influence how I continue my work, both in general and this particular project.  Some of my friends and family are probably familiar with the work itself that I've recently made, but bare with me as I'll be writing more in-depth than I do on my Facebook photography page.

Sedum 2014

Crassula 2014

  These pictures started out as a way to closer analyze plants, but not in a purely macro photography method.  Macro photography frequently grants you only part of the picture; Victorian botanical illustrations were side-profile pictures documenting the entire plant top to bottom.  So out of that tradition came these prints, adapted for the modern 21st century.  I used a scanner instead of ink, and felt that the black background contributed a contemporary aesthetic feel. 

Cacti 2014

Aloe 2014

   I hope to continue this project, following in the steps of other natural photographers who's methods are as much important and unique to their work as the art they produce.  Photographers such as Chris McCaw, who's self-admittedly mistake led to a phenomenal series of landscape work in Sunburn.  His one of a kind photographs aren't just of the land, but are directly influenced by the pathway of the sun.  I hate to make a pun (spoilers: I don't) but the images are burned into my head for the quality and uniqueness of photography I want to create.

Petapixel.com 2013

DreamBeing.com 2013

   Another artist I find inspiring is Hiroshi Sugimoto.  One way in particular is because he has such a diverse body of work, subjects that frequently have nothing to do with one another and methods that are fantastically experimental.  While his seascapes are definitively serene, his work with exposing large prints to electricity are shockingly (hah did it again) energetic.  And he clearly gets so much joy out of trying new things!  There is clearly an unseen joy to his work, a quality that emerges only from having so much enjoyment in taking these pictures.  At times I've wondered if my work isn't focused enough, and then I remember how many successes Sugimoto has had, and remind myself to never not try something new for fear of something as finicky as focus on a particular subject.

NYTimes 2010

Lenscratch.com 2010