About Bryan
motivation, background
Capturing nature’s magic and mystery
I’ve always seen nature as something inherently mysterious, a far more complex subject than what one might register at first glance. Those wild places which resonate deeply within us reflect our primeval relationship with the environment—even in modern times when we think we’ve evolved beyond nature. Today, many of us can no longer relate to the wild. Any sense of profundity during an outing is lost in our race to grab a selfie before hurrying on to the next iconic spot. With such a mindset, we experience it all at a superficial level where success is measured solely by the number of places we’ve visited. A body count mentality, if you will.
In contrast, my photographs serve as meditations. They invite you to linger, to enjoy the interplay between simplicity and depth, contrast and calm, form and feeling. I want my art to not only transport you to memorable locations, but to have it peel back the shrouds of the mundane, and guide you into a realm filled with possibilities—a place where nature’s magic and mystery are just a thought away.
“But what does this really mean?” you might rightly wonder. “How can a photograph peel back the shrouds of the mundane?”
Glad you asked! Practically speaking, I realized I needed to break out of the constraints traditionally imposed onto the notion of what fine art photography is. Intrigued? The following section describes my artistic journey that’s resulted in my producing two new forms of photographic artwork.
Challenging the notion of what fine art photography can be
When presenting fine art landscape photography, I often find that viewers consider the pieces at purely face value: a tree is a tree; stone is stone; a shipwreck is nothing more than its pieces scattered along the beach. I want my art to offer deeper, more intimate experiences.
Herein lies the challenge: How might I inspire my audience to look for more creative interpretations of my landscape subjects?
This question put me on a quest of artistic soul-searching—and ultimately led me to a simple yet powerful solution. In order to encourage viewers to consider deeper meanings in my landscape photographs, I would extend the design of my artwork into two areas: story-based imagery that incorporates a combination of image and text, and morphing static photographs into animated videos.
An example of a framed photograph hanging on the wall with its accompanying narrative plaque
A close-up view of the plaque
Turning photos into stories
We’re all familiar with the phrase, “A picture is worth 1,000 words,” but have you ever considered the reverse—how a certain phrase can paint very different images in 1,000 peoples’ minds?
For me, this realization became the core of my artistic expression: I would harness the power of pictures and words by combining my landscape photography with fanciful narratives. The synergistic effect achieved when merging image and text prompts us to consider layers of meaning by stimulating our most powerful sense: the imagination. When we do so, we can peer beneath the surface of our everyday world and look upon these landscapes with fresh eyes.
Because the narrative is a critical component of each artwork, my “Landscape Stories” are always produced in pairs: the photograph, which is printed, mounted, and framed; and the accompanying narrative, which is etched into a black acrylic plaque that is designed be mounted on the wall next to its framed photograph, as shown in this section’s graphics.
An example of a framed photograph hanging on the wall with its accompanying narrative plaque
An enlarged view of the plaque
Most of my art is in this image/text format. When browsing my portfolio, each photograph’s detail page includes its accompanying narrative.
Breathing life into static images
In addition to my photograph/narrative pairings, I’ve started exploring a second style of presentation: morphing photographs into animated videos. Although the foundation of each artwork remains a landscape photograph, this new format seamlessly integrates image & narrative into a single piece of art in a digital frame that’s hung on a wall, just like traditional prints.
This method is much more immersive: I apply zoom-and-pan techniques to provide a sense of movement across the static image, and background music adds ambience to enhance the mood. Most importantly, the digital nature of this medium allows me to embed the narrative directly into the animation, where each stanza is carefully synchronized with the music to appear at the appropriate moment.
The result is a powerful experience that applies movement, sound, and timing to my landscape photographs—all crafted to achieve my ambition of stimulating your imagination and senses to hear, feel, and see far beneath the photograph’s surface.
A mockup of a digital frame displaying its animated video. A stanza from the work’s narrative is shown at the bottom of the screen
You can view all of my animated videos by visiting the Animated Videos collection.
A mockup of a digital frame displaying its animated video. A stanza from the work’s narrative is shown at the bottom of the screen
