David Watkins

My photographic work, primarily digital, is strongly influenced by my early training as a graphic designer. My subjects are botanicals and landscapes, natural and human made. Many of the photographs are taken in my own extensive perennial gardens and in the Ithaca, New York area. I find inspiration in the textures and patterns created in nature by color, light, weather, age and natural predators.

Most of my images are straightforward. Some are manipulated or enhanced only to emphasize the subject or to improve a less than perfect exposure. More recently, I have been experimenting with extensive image enhancement and/or manipulation to achieve a final more artistic vision. In many cases an image presents the opportunity to answer the question: “What more can it become?” Images captured digitally and transferred to a computer offer the photographer/artist a myriad of new and creative possibilities.

In this exhibit, "Five Visions by State of the Art Photographers" you will find examples of three current avenues of exploration: floral images isolated from their background; landscapes that have a graphic quality; and a few images that represent a more graphic, artistic approach to the original image.

On a recent trip I ran across a quote by Pierre Auguste Rodin that sums up my current approach to photography or more correctly, my use of photography and the computer as a means of artistic expression.

" Pictures should be pretty. There are enough ugly things in the world."