Fortissimo

Fortissimo Artist Statement

Nature. a constantly changing back drop of my life, draws my attention, feeds my soul, brings me peace, joy and an on-going sense of wonder. As a child, my parents allowed me to explore alone in the woods and in a row boat on a deserted lake. As such at an early age I developed a profound love of nature. The photographs 'Fortissimo' were born from this sense of love, adventure, and exploration.
As a photographer, I have explored the natural world with a camera. Attending the Rocky Mountain of Photography for their residual 4-month intensive program provided a technical foundation. When wandering in wild places the stresses of daily life seem to disappear, and I feel free to express my wonder using the camera. I prefer to be alone as it allows me to become one with the world around me. I look for light, color, and then work to create intimate expressions. When immersed with wilderness around me the images seem to find me. I can sometimes enter an alternate state where my heart instead of brain is in control with an almost spiritual result. Instead of trying to document what I see, my motivation is to express a more intimate. personal view of what is around me.

The portfolio Fortissimo was spawned from a realization that an inner voice wanted to be seen. When starting to explore this voice, I only knew it wanted bright colors and a non-literal interpretation of a scene. With much trial and error, the voice started to take shape. In its current form, it expresses natural landscape images by combining the technical skills of a photographer with the impressionistic vision of a painter. They give a loose, impressionistic, emotional rendition of nature.

Fortissimo images are fun to create. The effects are created in camera using techniques such as intentional camera movement, selective focus, multiple exposures, zooming the image, special lenses, and combinations of techniques. The Fortissimo photographs project bright, colorful, joyful, adventurous, and occasionally peaceful celebrations of nature.
Web: larrybrenden.com