Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Photography in Nature Magazines

Anyone who has seen traditional Chinese painting has noticed the inclusion of birds, strangely shaped trees, bridges, and boats in water in front of tall, rocky mountains. To the Western eye, the paintings, with some finely drawn items in less defined settings, seem very stylized. The photos of Don Hong-Oai (1929-2000) in the May-June 2005 issue of Audubon magazine suggest the Chinese painters were just painting it as they saw it. These misty, foggy landscape photos could easily be mounted beside the paintings in art museums. See pages 52 to 57. I do not see one good website of images by Don Hong-Oai, but many gallery sites can be found through search engines.

The May-June issue of Sierra has an interesting environmental photo essay. Yann Arthus-Bertrand is an aerial photographer who gives us interesting perspectives of a cotton fabric drying field in India, a mud hut village in Mali, and housing developments outside Miami. See pages 36-43. The photographer also has a web site with aerial photos from all the continents.

Don Hong-Oai. “East is East.” in Audubon. May-June 2005. Volume 107, number 3: 52-57.

Arthus-Bertrand, Yann. “Above It All” in Sierra. May-June 2005. Volume 90, number 3: 36-43.

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