04/9/13 ~ Susan

Springtime in the Lowcountry

Awash in Bloom

Spring finally arrived in the South Carolina lowcountry (low-lying region along the coast) as plantations and gardens awash with color boast abundant varieties of flora, including azaleas, irises, wisteria, dogwood, and others. The lowcountry possesses an ethereal beauty that is unlike any other, bringing thousands of visitors to the area every year just to witness the fleeting spectacle.

Walking around Magnolia Plantation with my camera, I bumped into one such visitor on the wooden bridge that traverses the swamp, shown in featured photograph “Awash in Bloom”,  sporting a point-and-shoot camera and a bewildered expression on his face. We greeted one another, and then he confessed his extreme frustration at leaving his good camera equipment at home, lamenting, “I just didn’t expect this. I’m not sure how impressed I was with anything until I saw this, right here, right now! This is amazing!”

02/15/13 ~ Susan

What is Fine Art Photography?

When photographic images are referred to as “fine art”, it raises questions—perhaps because it gives an impression that fine art images are somehow superior, more artistic, even gallery-worthy. Still, there is a history and an established meaning of “fine art images” in the world of photography.

Advocates such as S.D. Jouhar, founder and Chairman of the Photographic Fine Art Association in 1961, strove to establish a new classification of photography created as art, defining “fine art” as “creating images that evoke emotion by a photographic process in which one’s mind and imagination are freely but competently exercised (Jouhar).”

Along those lines, fine art photography was distinguished from commercial photography.   Jouhar strove to classify photography as an art rather than a craft, one of the prevailing perceptions at the time. The new definition also encompassed the “technical” perspective from which the photograph was created, emphasizing “fine perception” and “technical execution”.

Clearly, characterizing photography as fine art was intended to promote it in a new and positive way that would benefit all photographers. Even so, common misperceptions exist about the use of this term, suggesting it may be a means to elevate a photographer’s status.

Investigating present day photographers for the meaning of “fine art photography”, Alain Briton provides a note-worthy analysis of the term in his essay, “Fine Art Photography Top 16” (Briot, 2010), excerpted below:

  1. “Become an expert in light
  2. Compose your images carefully
  3. Study colors and contrast
  4. Create images that represent what you felt, not just what you saw
  5. Focus on quality not quantity
  6. Master both art and technique
  7. Master all the aspects of fine art photography (composition, conversion, optimization, printing, curating, and exhibiting)
  8. Optimize your photographs using layers in Photoshop
  9. Make the final print your goal
  10. Mat and present your work in a professional manner
  11. Focus your work and effort on projects
  12. Share your work with others and build an audience
  13. Do not try to recreate the wheel
  14. Create a personal style
  15. Do not expect success overnight
  16. Do not overestimate talent” 

References:

Briot, A. (2010, June 5). Fine Art Photography Top 16. Retrieved February 15, 2013, from Nature Photographers – Online Magazine: www.naturephotographers.net

Jouhar, D. S. (n.d.). Dr. S.D. Jouhar (1901-1963) – A Retrospective. Retrieved February 15, 2013, from www.sdjouhar.com

02/15/13 ~ Susan

New Topics on Photography!

I’m expanding this photoblog to feature articles on photography-related topics in addition to continuing with its original focus—to display featured photographs blended with creative writing.

Customers approach me to discuss all aspects of photography, so adding those discussion topics for blog postings seems like the perfect way to share them!

07/25/12 ~ Susan

Ode to Angel Oak

Indelible Imprint, Limited Edition

The featured Limited Edition photograph, “Indelible Imprint“, and the haiku that follows express my fascination with a well-known magnificent Southern Live Oak tree—the Angel Oak located on Johns Island, South Carolina. A previous release of a similar photograph taken on the same day, “Mighty Angel Oak“, was very popular with customers.

Southern Live Oaks are amazing trees with curving branches that reach out in every direction and then arch up again toward the sky, and the Angel Oak is the granddaddy of them all.  Measuring 65 feet tall with limbs stretching out to 180 feet at their widest point, tip-to-tip (according to Wikipedia), the Angel Oak is the oldest living Live Oak tree in the Southeast and has quite a following. Each time I visit the tree, I witness the awe and admiration surrounding it. Visitors from all over the world are snapping pictures and can often be seen hugging the tree, hoping to absorb some of its strong life force. The haiku that follows is an ode to the beloved Angel Oak.

Curving ancient limbs
adorned in mossy splendor ~
angel of an oak.

 

06/27/12 ~ Susan

Riding a Butterfly

Sipping Nectar

Riding a Butterfly
If I hitched a ride from a butterfly,
holding tight, wings fluttering beside me—
I wouldn’t have to ramble through brush,
woven with prickers, every pest in tow,
to catch a glimpse of one perfect flower—
gardens and meadows alike, we would go.
My flighty host would alight each blossom,
sipping sweet nectar from a very fine straw;
the flowers would shower us with pollen,
the wind gently blowing the seeds to sow;
the bees would encircle us for hours,
all the while, putting on their jealous show.
– Susan DeTomi

04/3/12 ~ Susan

April Showers

Couple under umbrella at Middleton Place

April Showers

Although it seldom rains around Charleston, there is a refreshing sense of renewal in the air when it does. Instead of rushing indoors, you want to press your face to the sky and feel the cool droplets splash on your skin.

Strolling around Middleton Place and dodging rain showers one April morning, I turned a corner to find a couple framed in azaleas and sharing an umbrella while live oaks formed a perfect canopy over their heads.

10/10/11 ~ Susan

The Boneyard

Botany Bay Boneyard

The Boneyard

The Boneyard seems like a befitting theme as Halloween approaches, yet the boneyard captured in this picture doesn’t quite match the one that comes to mind—the image of a graveyard, scattered with headstones tended by splintered black trees, stabbing their craggy limbs into the steel gray sky. This graveyard belongs to Mother Nature, a graveyard of trees slowly being reclaimed by the sea, trees that are now just remnants of what they once were. This place possesses a haunting beauty, a dichotomy of life and death that transcends elements of nature into the supernatural.

Despite the outward forces of destruction, life is teeming in and around the boneyard at Botany Bay Plantation: surf continues to batter the shoreline, pelicans fly in symmetrical formations overhead, and the sun shines so bright you can scarcely steal a glance at the Carolina blue sky. The sculptural tree relics of the boneyard contrast starkly against the life-giving blues of the sky and still, this place of turbulence is much more than a ghostly apparition. A diverse wildlife population flourishes nearby, including endangered species such as Loggerhead Sea Turtles, Wilson’s Plovers, and Least Terns. After spotting one of the rare Painted Buntings that inhabit this coastal area, I am reminded once again that life goes on.

09/17/11 ~ Susan

Rugged Beauty

Clouds Illusions

I recently went on an adventure to Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve on Edisto Island and found an abundance of photographic opportunities and places to explore. That first trek through the park revealed an amazing trail of terrain and plant life, some of which was unfamiliar to me—live oaks wrapped in mossy garlands stretching their long arms out over the water while tiny crabs scurried about beneath them; seabirds swooping over the edge of the marshlands to scoop up their dinner and then soar back upwards to the sky; and tree skeletons lining the shore of the Boneyard like so many petrified soldiers unwilling to release their hold on this ever-changing landscape.

Some favorite photographs captured during this experience include the featured photograph in this posting, “Clouds Illusions”, of one of the marshes there. This series of photographs became one of my most popular with many customers having purchased a similar photograph of the marsh captured at a different time of day, “Wind-kissed Marsh”. Other cherished photographs captured around the same time are “Surreal Sunset” and “Surreal Sunset II“.

My hope for this ruggedly beautiful natural environment is that the strong tides and erosion will not erase it altogether, especially for the many species and endangered species who call it home.

08/18/11 ~ Susan

Little Armored One

"Little Armored One"

Little Armored One

Encounter with a Baby Armadillo

After chasing several varieties of dragonflies on the Edisto Nature Trail a couple of months ago, I heard something rustling in the dead leaves to the left of the walkway, where I spotted a small patch of gray peaking through the mélange of brown. What could this naked, hairless patch of gray be connected to? A snake? Some type of reptile?

The rustling continued until, up popped two ears, alert and erect, followed by a pointy snout. The little body emerged, scaled and practically hairless, followed by a long, segmented tail. It then became clear that this little critter was a baby armadillo, somewhat resembling Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. It brought to mind a family trip to Florida many years ago when I saw my first armadillo, only that earlier siting was a full grown one, sizable in comparison to this little baby and fully encased in a shell of “armor”.

The critter continued foraging through the dead leaves, waddling along, while intermittently poking his head down into the leaves. He was so small, I could nearly fit his entire body in the palm of my hand, but of course I did not, fearing the mother’s retribution to me and to her baby. So I left him there, alone, to find his own way, his mother nowhere in sight. Afterwards, my discovery left me wanting to learn more about this little creature that I stumbled upon in the forest, so I did my own digging…

It is no wonder that the armadillo is such a prehistoric looking creature, as its most recent ancestor existed 60 million years ago; however, it was much larger than the present day armadillo, which typically weighs between 8 and 17 pounds. According to Audubon, the nine-banded armadillo is the only species of armadillo living in the United States, although there are 20 different species of the mammal in Latin America. The name armadillo is of Spanish origin and means “little armored one” due to the hard shells on its head, back, legs, and tail, which do not harden until the animal is fully grown. Armadillos make their homes in shady areas such as forests and brushland. They mainly eat a wide range of insects and larvae, including earthworms, spiders, snails, cockroaches, ants, wasps, flies, beetles, and such, searching for their prey by burrowing and digging into ground litter. They often become road kill victims on the highway due to their natural instinct of jumping upwards when faced by a predator, which doesn’t help them much when approached by a moving vehicle.

Although the armadillo is associated with negative connotations, being the only other mammal to carry leprosy other than humans and often being implicated as a nuisance to homeowners and golf-course operators alike due to its burrowing behavior, I prefer to think of this creature in a more whimsical way. Rudyard Kipling said it best in, “The Beginning of the Armadillo”, a story about how a hedgehog, who couldn’t swim, and a turtle, who couldn’t curl up, became an armadillo, who could do both. The Mother Jaguar in the story remarks at the end, “But it isn’t a hedgehog, and it isn’t a tortoise. It’s a little bit of both, and I don’t know its proper name.”