“Textures of Nature” - A Philosophy and a Workshop Series
Throughout my life as an artist and creator, among the subjects that have most interested me are the intimate aspects of the natural world: the patterns, textures, and colors found in the multitude of environments of nature. But for a long period of my life creating nature and natural history images, I primarily focused on interesting patterns and vivid colors in my photography. In reality, as a color-blind photographer suffering what’s known as a “red-green color deficiency,” to some extent the vivid colors were my subjects because they were the only ones I saw.
But I often felt much of my work was cliché - just more of the pretty flowers, summer postcard landscapes, and vibrant macro imagery everyone else was making. To move in a different direction I could instead shoot black-and-white, and bypass the color, and I often did that. But moreso, I pushed myself to do more work at times of the year during which colors aren’t really vivid at all. Even at times when the colors are considered by most to be dull and drab. And to venture into environments where vivid colors simply aren’t found.
What I found was a beauty in the tones of grey and brown, as well as in the muted shades of the colors that I had long cursed as “the only ones I could see” (as well as the “I know this is brown or green, or maybe deep red, I just don’t know which” colors). I began concentrating on the textures of nature, moreso than simply patterns and colors, as a foundation of the portfolios I was building.
This approach became a major force in my natural history photography, and also forced me to more deeply immerse myself in the principals of art and design, as I was no longer relying on the colors, the patterns, or the tonal range of a B/W image to carry the photograph.
As a longtime photo workshop instructor moving through this process, at some point I envisioned a series of photography workshops focused on this concept. Finally in the fall of 2021 I offered my first “Textures of Autumn: Artistry in Nature” workshop, and in spring 2022 “Textures of Spring: Artistry in Nature.”
I learned a lot in my initial two offerings of these workshops, and for 2023 I’ve almost completely overhauled the teaching approach I’ll use.
My presentation to the club will discuss and illustrate with images my “Textures of Nature” concept, and I’ll talk a bit about my current one-day “Textures” workshops and future plans for the series.
About Mark:
Mark S. Peterson is a professional photographer from Ames, Iowa. His photographs appear in magazines, books, national advertising campaigns, and corporate and non-profit annual reports. His client list includes such diverse organizations as Anheuser-Busch, Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications, and The Farm Journal Foundation. His fine-art photographs have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in art galleries and public spaces throughout the Midwest, and appear in private and corporate art collections in the U.S. and Europe. Peterson has also been an art exhibit juror for The Iowa Arts Council, The Iowa State Fair, Iowa State University, Octagon Center for the Arts, and others.
Peterson has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simpson College, and an MBA from The University of Iowa. Among Peterson’s interests when not photographing, is teaching photography through his Peterson Photo Workshops events and for other organizations. Peterson’s work can be seen at www.mpetersonphoto.com.