Newest Art Piece
Recently I have been away in the North Island, with the ability to take some time for photos about the Central Plateau. This is one piece I have created title ‘Kaimanawa Stump’.
Being from Canterbury, I don’t often explore deep around the North Island. In fact, it has been a few years since I lived and worked there. I’d actually forgotten about some of the hidden wonders that abound. I LOVE the South Island, and in true Cantabrian fashion do tend to be a bit one eyed about the scenic wonder that we are blessed to live amongst here. Yet there is beauty and awe everywhere, sometimes you just have to look.
Thanks to good buddy Glen Howey, I have a little behind the scenes video, to share the location for the epic black and white stump you see here.
We drove a short way off the Desert Road, and stopped by a fairly non descript bridge set amongst native bush. Yet Glen had been here before, and knew a semi hidden track that lead down a steep path to the river canyon you see here.
It was rugged, quite steep, with only a faint track. Yet holding onto branches and logs, we clambered down onto the rocky edge of the canyon.
At first I wasn’t too sure there was much on offer, but managed to explore away. While the overall canyon was wild and imposing, there didn’t seem to be ‘a lot’. Like many things creative, you need to play around and work your eye in. I’m now super stoked with the final image. Photographed with a neutral density filter, and long exposure, the aim was always to try and introduce some movement of the water. I feel this adds a sense of softness to the obvious power of water that caused the destruction of the fallen tree. You know at some stage, this spot would not have been a nice place to be. Even on a fine day like this, you couldn’t help be mindful of what was about you, knowing the crashing water led to a very deep gorge close by. The sort of place that if wet, you knew you would be in serious danger. Not only dangerous underfoot, but also with limited options to get away from rising and almost certainly raging water. If swept into the canyon chute just after the log seen, you know it would be simply terrifying . Yet despite this, the serenity of cotton candy trails captured here have a certain beauty.
The final image is largely as seen in-camera. The RAW file was converted to black and white, with localised highlight control, and some fairly broad edge vignetting.
You can see a couple of mock ups of potential framing options below. There are many quite clever options now available for artists to vsualise their work. While rooms may be generic, it is helpful I think to see a visual of how a photo might look on display.
Neat huh?!
I hope you like seeing a little behind the scenes, and learning a little of the background behind where I have created one of my art images. I may start doing a few more visual descriptors, as I journey about the countryside looking for inspiring landscape photos.
The link to purchase a print of this wild river scene is available here:
https://shop.photoshots.co.nz/print_shop/products/32968463/196165/all
All other fine art photographs available to purchase as prints, enlargements, frames, or canvasses can be viewed here: