The Artist

I started life young and foolish, and now I am older.  The most impressive thing I can say about my photography is that I have been doing it a long time.  Lengthy practice is not an indication of success in my craft; just as shooting a few hoops every weekend will not eventually make one a Michael Jordan. Art, and particularly good art, is one of those things that defies sensible definition. I marvel at episodes of "Antiques Road Show" on PBS when the appraiser informs the hopeful that if a piece of Art had a particular signature on it, then it could sell for many times its worth without the signature.  Is it the signature that makes the Art outstanding or is it the Artistic qualities of the piece itself.  At Art auctions, price (worth?) is dictated solely by what someone in the audience is willing to pay.  This can be a function of scarcity (it helps to be a dead artist), what is "hot" at the moment, how quirky a bidder may feel, and any number of other difficult to define qualities. Who can say where "artistic expressiveness" fits into the equation. Such are the vagaries of the Art world.

So, do I sound like a frustrated artist?  Not at all !  I have found that if I just do what I like, then the rest takes care of itself in some fashion (maybe being dead would be beneficial).  I am not going to tell you about my passion for photography.  My story is told by the photographs that I take. I don't want to be pigeon holed into one particular genre.  My interest change with time, and so does the look of my photographs.  I feel like I am growing as an Artist, but towards what, I have no idea.

I have a technical background, so I tend to become fascinated by many of the technical aspects of photography. The field has been moving quickly and gaining more traction over the past decade.  There are now digital gadgets galore.  When I started in photography over 50 years ago, I had one camera (medium format) that had one fixed lens and was totally mechanical (no battery). Imagine a camera that worked wholely on spring power. Back then, I was in a real darkroom with trays of chemicals that magically produced a black and white print right before your eyes. The digital age is just as magical (though with less awe) using millions of pixels that are manipulated with computers to produce an image by spraying colored inks onto paper. I am personally delighted with the digital age.  I now have far more artistic control of the final product (a print) than ever before. Some are nostalgic for the old ways, but not me. I can do far more with the tools that are available today.  Somewhere in these web pages (see the “Tools” tab at top of the page) I plan to talk about some of the photography tools that I use today.

If you look through my galleries you will find a diversity of photographic and artistic interest. You will also see that the majority of the work is in nature and wildlife areas.  I think this is because I like the outdoors and photography is a good reason to travel to some really interesting natural areas.  I hope you enjoy what you see here, but if you don't, that's OK too. Perhaps we can have a dialog in the blog page.  See you there!

Ron is a member of NANPA and CNPA Photographer Associations.


© Ronald Brunsvold 2014, All rights reserved