Challenging the norm – a different way of doing things

There seems to be a change occurring in natural history photography. Due to most species of animal and plant being fairly well covered photographically with straight imagery, the quest is starting for a more artistic impression of the natural world. Blur seem to becoming more acceptable whether the subject is in motion or not and also the ability to discern the subject itself also seems to be less important.

These images are more challenging to the viewer and a debate is still continuing as to the validity of these images. Are they art? Are they proper photography? Aren’t they just mistakes? I think this is up to the individual to decide. Personally I like some, but not all of them.

I was prompted to experiment with a few images myself after being inspired by looking at the website of French wildlife photographer Vincent Munier. He has mastered the art of? what I call “grey” ?photography. As I live in a country with its fair share of cloudy, grey and rainy days, it is amazing to see the images he produces in these conditions. A good image I believe has to connect to you on an emotional level. Each person has different needs that need to be connected to to get that emotional link to make the image more than a pretty picture. His images link to me emotionally. Other UK wildlife photographers such as Niall Benvie and Pete Cairns think the same way too. Not all like the images and Vincent has his fair share of critics as well. Visit his site, explore it and make up your own mind.

I had to visit Rhayader in mid Wales to pick up a framed print that I had ordered from Andrew at Actpix, as it had been trapped by the snow. (By the way if you need?superb quality printing and framing contact Andrew, he is a master of his craft!) The forecast was for mist and fog. Not normally the weather forecast I would want for a visit to Gigrin Farm, but how many more images of a red kite against a blue sky to we need. Typically I couldn’t even rely on bad weather to hang around and the fog and mist cleared to produce a dark, grey day.

The lighting was not different enough for straight imagery and not what I had originally hoped for. Time for something different. Instead of a wide aperture and high shutter speed, I chose a small aperture and slow shutter speed; blur was desired and not being avoided. To add to the mix, I added some slow sync flash as well for another different input.

Make up your own minds on the results. Some are very different from the norm, others only fractionally different. As they are not quite reality?I have processed them differently with a more artistic interpretation. Is this a new direction for nature photography that will last? Who knows, but if it connects emotionally, who cares?