Nature Photography as Fine Art

Text and photos by Heather Cline 

When people ask me what type of photography I do, without really thinking about it, my answer has always been, "Nature and Wildlife" because in my mind this is how I identify with the expansive world of photography. 

There are many genres of photography that one can explore, such as landscape, portrait, fashion, sports, nature, and fine art to name a few. But - can fine art overlap some of these other types of photography? Like, fine art nature photography? I suppose that depends on how fine art is defined. What exactly is fine art?

When I first set out to write this article, I would be the first to admit I probably wasn't qualified to answer these questions, so I did some research on what fine art photography is and learned some new things about photography's role in fine art and a little about my role in it as well. 

As I researched, I noticed a lot of repeating trends on the definition of fine art photography: 

• Deliberately made to convey the photographer's vision or idea
• Primarily created for aesthetic value, imaginative nature, or creative expression 
• May leverage editing and manipulation of a subject 
• Creation of beautiful objects requiring skill 

Vision

Do you take photos or make photos? Taking a photo is more literal and often casual representation of what the photographer saw. Some examples might include that snapshot of the family in front of the Grand Canyon or your niece blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.

When you have a vision or idea you want to express through a photo - that's a different story. Now you have moved beyond taking a photo to making a photo. For years, I was creating images that expressed my vision of the natural world - without even realizing I was doing it. Having the realization that you aren't interested in simply recording an event but going a step further to capture what you saw and what you saw as important is a real game changer. 

This alone doesn't guarantee the successful creation of a fine art photo, which is where the other aspects of fine art photography come into play. 

Aesthetics

The idea that fine art is built upon creative expression for aesthetic purposes leaves some room for interpretation because beauty is subjective. It relies on the vision of the artist to decide what is beautiful and how best to convey that beauty. In photography, this can be achieved through creation of a simple and straightforward image of a subject - or - something that is derived through heavy manipulation in camera or in post process. Neither of these are wrong, allowing for many different approaches in the creation of fine art photography.

While the viewers appreciation of the final work is a matter of taste, one aspect that should apply across all works is that they have the ability to affects our moods and beliefs. 

Skill

When we think of skill in photography, we might consider the photographer's ability to use their tool to create images that are in focus and properly exposed. While those are necessary technical skills, in fine art, it goes beyond that to include creative and communication skills.

Creativity includes composition, or how the elements are placed together to create the final image, and technique which covers a wide variety of approaches such as light painting, motion blur, infrared, and multiple exposures.

Communication is the ability to successfully communicate intent. Of course, each viewer brings their experiences, emotions and perspectives that influence how they interpret the message but that is part of the relationship between the photographer and viewer.

One of the best parts of writing these articles, is having the opportunity to learn more about a topic simply so I can write about it. In this case, I also learned that I too have crossed into the pursuit of fine art photography. If you look over your catalog of images, I am sure you will find examples of these as well!