Nature's Black & White Canvas

Do you know of any contemporary wildlife art currently being produced?

This is something I have been thinking about recently. Nature is beautiful as it is and, in my mind at least, wildlife photography can be an art in itself. I know there are people out there who might disagree but if you spend enough time out in the field and look at your results over time you will see how your images can go from 'happy-snappy-tommy-tourist' type pics to something with a lot more substance.

Even some photographers with really big cameras and lenses sometimes struggle to capture the essence of nature. It is not the same as photographing landscapes, portraits or a still life. It takes patience, an understanding and appreciation of your subject, luck - and when all of these factors fall together along with 'that special something' you get images that transcend the normal wildlife photographs and becomes something more.

Yes content is important but there is so much more.

Let's take a zebra for example.

This icon of Africa asks, cancel that, demands to be photographed. The lines, contrasts and character of these animals makes them the perfect candidate for wildlife photography. With their black & white lines you can utilize almost any kind of light to create an interesting image. I am not referring to just another wildlife image but something special.

By zooming in and cropping this zebra quite tight, the image immediately takes on a more interesting (read art) kind of feel.

It might not be everybody's cup of tea and is not always the kind of images that you see in coffee table books but I believe this is quite an interesting image. Blown up with the right frame this could be considered art. Don't you think?

Then you can take it one step further and isolate, highlight and showcase only a small a part of what nature has given us to work with.

Don't you think the following image, blown up onto an A3 size canvas, and with the correct frame could look absolutely beautiful on a wall or in a studio somewhere?

I reckon it could work!! I spent a couple of minutes on this close up of a zebra's skin with the idea of 'creating art'. Again, not something for everybody but I believe nature has given us the content if we are only willing to 'see' it.

There are so many ways in which to portray wildlife and nature and I think sometimes people are afraid of experimenting. Over the next few weeks I am going to spend a little bit if time and see how I can take nature's canvas and represent it as art.

One of the ideas in the back of my mind is to start printing more canvas images, combine them with the right type of frame and see what I can create. Perhaps a market in there somewhere? With the amount of new content and images we get out in the field everyday there has to be a few masterpieces waiting to happen.

Anyway, just a few thoughts! I look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time.

Gerry