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Branches

Brian

Brian

Administrator
Staff member
I've been intrigued by the interplay of dark branches and white snow for more than 50 years. A heavy snow presents opportunities and I've tried to capture the essence of branches countless times, with varying degrees of success.

This morning, I took a bunch of photographs of snow-covered branches against a bright blue sky.

I liked this one the most so it was the one I decided to play with. I wasn't sure where I wanted to take it but this is where it ended.

IMG_1023-ps1.jpg
 
I really like it and the contrast between the black and white. Beautiful old tree too, I do like trees :) !
 
It’s beautiful! I love bare trees too! Don’t know what editing or manipulation you did but it looks like a pen drawing … really nice!
 
Taking sort of the opposite tack than the original photo in this thread.

This was another photo with a bright blue sky. It was perfectly okay but I liked the pattern of snow on the branches and trunks so I decided to emphasize those. It's the same tree as above.

IMG_4105.jpg
 
Actually, now you mentioned it Maureen, I don't think I've seen any of Brian's paintings on any of these forums. I know he has the artists eye from all his wonderful photographs, but do you paint Brian? Come on mate, let us have a gander.
 
Glyn, as you may have surmised, I'm not a painter. My preferred medium is photography. 49 years ago, I was anguishing about going into a career as an artistic photographer. I'd originally planned on being an attorney but decided not to do that, so artistic photographer seemed the right road for me.

However, an old man who had gone down that road strongly suggested that I choose a career that would provide a regular income and do photography on the side for fun. Since I was already in graduate school for computer science, it was an easy decision and I was determined to keep up with my photography.

Ah, the dreams of the young.

Reality hit and everything else got in the way until I realized one day that I'd turned into a snapshot photographer.

I had thousands of dollars of photographic equipment -- which was actually quite a lot of money back then -- and a small library full of photography books, which I had eagerly devoured. I'd taken thousands of photographs. Sometimes dozens of a one person or another, in planned shoots just for fun. Sometimes going out on trips just to photograph different landscapes, some of which were vast and some of which were tiny. There were shots of the night sky and shots of food and all sorts of things.

Photography changed the way I see the world. Color and composition became so natural that it was sometimes hard to see things other than as shapes and angles and shadows and shades and macro photography delighted me as it revealed the secrets of a tiny world.

Today, with a camera in my phone that is far more capable than any of my professional cameras ever were, I take snapshots. Occasionally, I'll go do something with a purpose and I'll feel the joy again. One example was pulling my plane out into a sunset and finding new ways of seeing it for that challenge last spring but generally life just keeps getting in the way.

I take my blood pressure every morning, twice in a row to get a solid test. While the machine is doing its thing, I sit quietly and look out the window at the same scene every day. But it's not the same scene every day or even two days in a row. While I'm relaxing for the machine, I look at the scene and identify the shapes I see and the colors. Sometimes, I only identify 6 different colors on a cloudy day while sometimes I can see as many as 12 or 13 on other days. I think about what I'm seeing and the palette and I imagine ways to find new and different perspectives on that scene.

But I can't call myself a photographer today. Not a real one. To do that and think it a fair call, I'd need to go out and do nothing much but photography for a few months. Then maybe I'd feel ready again.

But I am not a painter. Now. Will I be a painter? Yes. When? I don't know. I thought it would be last year but life again got in the way. I've told myself that I will learn to paint when I am old and retired but that day keeps getting pushed down the road.
 
Don't concern yourself with what you are Brian. You take photographs, you are a photographer, full stop. You know that so it is. Just like if you picked up a brush and dipped it into paint, you would be a painter. Have a go, I'm dieing to see what you see out that window you described. Why not paint it. You know it so well, it may surprise you how well you could paint it. Challenge yourself, I can't wait to see the results...
 
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