Back at the Ranch
Is there something wrong with me???
Somehow I feel compelled to create things that are non-traditional. I’m not sure why.
Here in NOVA (Northern Virginia) there are many beautiful works of art that represent traditional, pastoral images, whether the medium is photography, oils or watercolors.
The animals in these artworks, if they’re included, are typically embellishments for some combination of rolling hills, a lone barn or farmhouse, a babbling brook, a placid pond, and comforting trees. A person’s pulse and breathing can slow down just by viewing them. All those pastels. The artwork that’s inspired by these scenes can bring a wonderful sense of peace and calm to almost anyone’s demeanor.
It should do that for me, too. For example, last year I visited Donkey Meadows in Purcelville, VA. It’s a non-profit farm where they raise a particular breed of donkey, the American Mammoth Jackstock. The farm is in a very serene location with lush, green meadows and trees on rolling hills.
Such a beautifully soothing place! Being inspired by the calming landscape, I began to make my own pastoral images.
Monty Python, forever.
Anyway.
I’m surrounded by serene, pastoral scenes every week, but I just don’t stop to capture them. I should make those images, they’re right there, but I don’t.
I always seem to make something else instead.
A different angle
As you may realize, one of my inclinations is to make the animal the subject. Sometimes I enter a scene to get up-close rather than viewing it from afar. Those serene shots have been available repeatedly and I’ve walked right through them to get to something else. Compulsive tunnel vision, you might say.
They said if I’d just turned around, the rolling hills were gorgeous behind me. They were spectacular, even. I missed it. I was busy.
When I pull back for a larger view
Donkey Meadows was just one kind of example. Sometimes a larger scene is central to my image, and contains all the soothing components a person could ask for. But my personal quirks have me “assembling” the pieces differently. Farm animals on a hillside in rural California, with meadows and trees in the background, that should lead to a nice watercolor, or a similar-feeling photograph, right?
But instead I did this.
Forget about relaxation. That llama is on alert, ready for conflict.
Discomfort
What about barns, though? People love pretty barns as the centerpiece of an image. Cool, I shoot barns. But somehow not the pretty ones. Instead, I find scenes that are distinctly uncomfortable. Why do I do that?
I try to tell myself that a person can’t truly appreciate comfort unless they experience discomfort first, and I’m drawn to discomfort as a counterbalance. I tell myself that I can enjoy warmer experiences more thoroughly when I first experience the alternative.
That’s my story anyway. It’s all I’ve got for now!
Dystopia
Sometimes I come sooooo close. But even when a scene feels like it wants to be serene, somehow I gravitate to alternate perspectives. For goodness sakes, in the next image we have everything a person could ask for, all the components. We’ve got horses in pastures, we have trees, a babbling brook, and “magic hour” light. Maximum serenity, coming up!
Except, nope. It’s not bucolic at all. I’m naturally drawn to the power plant which looms ominously over the otherwise peaceful, natural beauty that was visible to the right and to the left of this scene. Heck, it’s even pretty if you just crop out the top part. But I didn’t do that.
Jeez. What’s wrong with me?
Don’t answer that question, it’s rhetorical. I know I’m not normal. But I’ve been this way for a whole bunch of years, and I’m trying to accept it.
Still, in my defense, not every subject has to be tense, foreboding, or uncomfortable to get my attention. I’ll do warm and fuzzy so long there’s something that makes me curious about it.
I think I’ll end here. At least I’m leaving you with a pleasant final image, even if it’s not specifically soothing.
I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I’ve started a practice of “sitting still” for a handful of minutes each day… sort of a preschool-level activity for people who might someday hope to graduate to meditation. If someday I can graduate, maybe then I’ll be able to embrace and create the serene landscape scenes that other artists capture so well.
I wouldn’t bet on it any time soon though; I have a loooong way to go. But I guess it’s possible. There may be hope for me somewhere out on the pastoral horizon.
Until next time,
Limited Edition Prints for Sale
Another channel of my photography. Oof. But as promised, I’ve got this new set of Limited Edition prints available for purchase. Any unsold African wildlife images from last fall, as promised, have been retired from circulation.
Each edition consists of ten Numbered Prints and two Artists Prints, 16x24” silver halide, with certificate of authentication. As before, these are limited both by number and duration of the offer. If you’d like one or more for that special person, don’t hesitate. You wouldn't want to become he who is lost!
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Ah so I'm not the only one who does that ;) I mean you could leave the power plant out of the frame but what does that say about how you show that landscape? Only show the 'pretty side', or really how it is? I prefer the latter. The llama photo is great btw, llama and sheep on a steep hill, nice diagonal line,👍
Ha! I loved that! The donkey is beautiful. And the photo with the chicken is excellent. You caught them in the right moment!