Nature Photography

The sounds of birds chirping in the woods, the laughing brook, and the rustling of leaves from a soft April breeze fills my soul with warmth and reduces time to a meaningless set of digits on a cell phone buried deep in my pack.  No photograph can capture the true essence of nature, for an image on a sheet of paper cannot compare to the three dimensional splendor of nature's might and beauty; However, what that piece of paper or image on a computer screen can do is allow a person to see a glimpse through another person's eyes. 

One person might look at a landscape and see a tree, hill, and bird in the air.  Another person might look at the same scene and see a series of interlocking lines and shapes that, as a whole, creates harmony, meaning, and purpose.  For this person, great care is taken for the placement of each element in the image and avoids objects that will distract from the overall feeling the photographer was trying to portray.

The nature photographer can't pose mountains, rotate trees, or reposition boulders (without completely disrupting the natural environment) so he patiently works with what he can and waits for the right moment when the light from the sun, the clouds in the sky, and the overall weather is exactly right.  Then, he'll carefully compose the picture so that each element is strengthening the harmony of the overall image rather than sticking out and becoming a distraction. Often, a monopod or tripod is used to help force the photographer to take the time to compose the shot as well as help ensure the photograph will be as crisp as intended.

Often, even with the help of LCD screens on the back of a digital camera, it's not known how good an image really is until it's viewed on a large screen or in the form of a print. For this reason, I'll usually shoot hundreds of pictures and choose from the best few to show to others.  On an average day shooting, I'll take 200-300 photos and show one or two of them to other people.

I hope you enjoy the samples below.  If you're a naturalist, photography enthusiast, or simply want to enjoy more outstanding landscape, wildlife, and other natural scenes, these and thousands of other nature landscapes can be found on my art and photography gallery.  The gallery contains not only my work, but the artwork of hundreds of others as well.