Spring Flowers

Posted on April 21, 2015 by natemetz

Road Trip

Posted on May 28, 2014 by natemetz

For Mother’s Day, my mum and I took a road trip to visit some family. I did bring my dSLR along, but snapping these images with my smart phone captured the pace of the trip much better. It was a quick trip, but still enough time for this photo journal:

Damn Good Advice: SIXTEEN

Posted on May 7, 2014 by natemetz

There is nothing very overt about the provocative nature of my photographs. Often, they are beautiful moments of color, line, form, and texture. I do find, though, as I continue to submit work and meet other artists and converse with gallery folk that my work isn’t Photography with a capital P. It’s unexpected in some ways because it’s not how most people would use a camera. For example, these tidal lines are rather unassuming perhaps, but I see a delicacy worthy of framing. But, no, you say, it’s pedestrian at best– lacks varying qualities of color, depth of field, and these five other technical aspects of a Photograph.

This is my brand, my photography. I’m not overly intricate or technical in my approach, although my perfectionism may ask me to lean that way at times. I challenge your classic and traditional view of photography, and that’s my style of provocation. I do not accept any established definition of what art should be. I own my expression fully. These prints are for sale because they are worth money and would look great hanging on your wall or even a 4×6 on your desk. If you already know me, then this diatribe is not news. If you’re new to Nate World, now you know!

Needless to say, I do already embrace this Damn Good Advice and follow it unconsciously. Being a cultural provocateur is an archetype repeated throughout many areas of my life. It isn’t easy and I don’t know that I would pick it out for myself if I had a deck to choose from because it is an ongoing challenge. It requires great strength and courage to think freely and remain centered so that I can continue to honor the pure place of my creativity. I’m glad seasoned creators like Lois can ask younger generations to continue to push boundaries and reinvent the art world.

Late Spring

Posted on April 27, 2014 by natemetz

A nice hike led me along these frames this late spring:

BLOOMS

Posted on December 22, 2013 by natemetz

I put off editing these photographs for several months because I wasn’t sure what direction to go in the post processing. I prefer to do very minimal cropping and lighting adjustments with some sharpening in the export. But, these flowers just didn’t have the right impact following my usual PP flow. I like the gloomy lighting of such a vibrant white flower, but out of the camera it lacked some shine. In Photoshop I was able to rescue these images with a black and white conversion. Instead of forcing a color image, I decided to follow the image and go monochromatic and BLOOM!

Damn Good Advice – THIRTEEN

Posted on June 2, 2013 by natemetz

I can say that I am guilty of it: google. I’ll be in the midst of a brainstorming session and I start to google my ideas. Sometimes I’m checking to see if it’s been done before and take a litmus on my originality. Sometimes I’m having trouble connecting some ideas and look to see what other people think on the subject. And, other times, I cannot articulate my thoughts so I mind map on google images and help myself see. Lastly, I google myself (name, art, business) to check on my SEO and visibility.

So if you’re not tinkering on a computer, as George Lois so vaguely puts it, where do you find the big idea? He doesn’t offer up any suggestions. Rereading his tagline, I see he is merely pointing out that one should not expect a computer to do the work. One must still put forth the effort to procure the big idea. As the illustration on the page says: “DUH!” I’m not sure that this is really great advice though for any creative individual. We already know this fact: ideas come from within ourselves.

When I meditate, dream, or set forth the intention to solve a creative problem, develop a big idea, or embark on a new creative project, it always comes from within my being. It is spiritual. Sometimes I feel it in my heart. Sometimes I think in new ways that challenges my beliefs. And, other times, the big idea explodes with such a tremendous force that the fountainhead remains shadowed by the idea itself. I do not question my intuition when it leads me to a great idea. Because I trust the process of my artwork and photography, the big idea blooms like a flower. It just happens. And then with a series of computer tricks, contents, and forms my computer delivers it to the world to share all of it’s glory.

Magnolia Dream

Posted on May 15, 2013 by natemetz

Bored one afternoon this spring, I pulled out my 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR that I haven’t used since I first bought it 5+ (?!) years ago to test it out. I thought, erroneously, that it would only be good when out scouting birds or taking tourist type shots that I could zoom up onto monuments and so forth. And that is precisely why I hadn’t been using it, focusing instead on my prime lens to capture a nice bokeh and shallow DOF for my translucent light studies. I have had a lot of micromovements in some of my throwaways, so I decided to play with the VR by standing 7-10 feet away. These are the shots I came up with:

Biltmore Conservatory

Posted on February 15, 2013 by natemetz

A month ago I toured the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. I brought my full kit (4 lenses, camera, and external flash) so that I could get some pictures, but was surprised upon walking in the front door that all photography was prohibited inside the main house, including cell phone cameras! I claim no expertise on historical preservation, but I’m pretty sure flash-less photography does not harm the subject in any way. My guess is that the Estate wants the tourists to purchase the official and professional photographs from the gift shops. While I may have taken a few of those style to document the trip, I’m more interested in colors, shapes, and textures and other more abstract pictures. I clearly disagree with the ban because I feel as though they misunderstood the type of photography that I wanted to do! So, I had to rebel just a little bit. I took this photograph in the basement with my cell phone:

By the time the house tour was over, I caught a break in the rain and decided to check out the conservatory. I have been to Longwood Gardens several times and really enjoy taking pictures of the flora because of the soft lighting and near-perfect subjects. The conservatory at Biltmore is much smaller and had much less variety, I was able to take several interesting photographs. These all remain untitled for now. As I select a few favorites for prints, frames, entries, and so forth cleaner edits and titles will emerge! For now, enjoy an early look of spring: