Mid Atlantic Nature Photo Expo

Today I had the great pleasure of making a presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Nature Photography Expo.
The Hylton Center for Performing Arts is a fabulous new building on the campus of George Mason University and it made a terrific venue for the expo.

It is a huge effort put forth on the part of the Volunteer Members that organize and plan the event and they did a super job!
Unfortunately Charles Needle was taken ill and I was asked on Friday to fill the hour long presentation on Impressionism and Creative Macro Photography. So I began to cull through images for the presentation. One of the fun aspects of going through old files is finding jewels that have been processed and filed away. I became involved in photography because I enjoyed seeing the wonders of nature up close through a macro lens. The images here represent the quote I used as an opening idea on Photo Impressionism, from Paul Klee "Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible."

The images here I made shortly after I shot them in January.  The literal image capture was only one quarter of what is "visible" here. The subjects were large icicles that formed along the banks of the lake and had trapped matter from the shore inside them as they formed. When I discovered them the sun was low on the horizon and the way in which the light was hitting the icicles created all these jewel like colors as the ice acted as a prism.

The technique I used to make these Kaleidoscope like images is mirroring in Photoshop, both on the horizontal and vertical. When I was a child I was fascinated with the unique effects the kaleidoscope made visible just by tumbling colorful glass chips. I am still fascinated by the patterns created here.

This week I am looking forward to conducting my New York Photo Day Trip Workshop. I still have a few spaces if you might want to go. It should be a fun day!