“Flower Essence”

There is universality in the appeal of flowers.

Every corner deli in New York City has flowers for sale. Dubai Flower Centre has a hanger dedicated to importing and exporting flowers from around the world. City and suburban grocery stores sell flowers. Along the city streets in Kazakhstan, roadside stands offer flower bouquets for house gifts.

Flowers, New York City, Deli — Flowers at a New York City Deli

When looking at a flower I view the flower with my mind’s eye, not just my eyes. Focusing on the complexity of design and color nuance of each flower enhances my sense of observation. Using the ocular of the camera’s lens, I explore and express what my mind’s eye is seeing. When I focus on a flower, this visual connection is transformed into an emotional one. I see beauty. I sense grace. I am moved by the marvel of design within the flower.

This experience represents a first principle of existence for me: transference of energy or spirit. It is the bond between the human spirit and the spirit within nature. When that momentary connection is made, the rejuvenating power of nature is activated. Perhaps this is why flowers have a universal appeal.

We all see or feel something unique in art, even when looking at the same object. When I look at the images of flowers in this collection, I see many different things: beauty, complexity, grace, design, sensuality and delicacy.

I would love to read what you see, sense, and feel in response to looking at the flowers in this collection: “Flower Essence” at WayneEastep.com.

You may write me at WayneEastep@gmail.com.

If you would like to share with a broader audience feel free to comment on my website’s blog WayneEastep.com, or my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WayneEastepPhotography

Art, creativity, Design, Flowers, Interior Design, Nature

Seeing with my Mind’s Eye

When I look at a flower I realize I view the flower with my mind’s eye not just my eyes.

Flower Essence

About the Artist and this exhibition

The signature characteristic of Wayne Eastep’s photography is the ability to express the essence of a subject. His images go beyond representational pictures to touch the spirit of the subject, evoking an emotional response. In this exhibition he turns his attention to the exquisite design in nature and inherent beauty within flowers.

Eastep’s images are commissioned and collected internationally. They garner awards for books, documentary, and commercial assignments. His intention with each assignment is to go beyond the surface and look inside the subject. Photography for Wayne is both vocation and avocation. He is driven by a passion for the art of image making.

Exhibition February 4 – May 14, 2015

The sunflower an annual plant is native to the Americas. The flower petals within the sunflower’s cluster are always in a spiral pattern. Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5 degrees, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.

Flour Parlor

Opening February 4, 2015 6 pm to 9 pm

128 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236

Contact: Amy Nichols 941.993.8649 flourparlor@gmail.com http://www.flourparlor.com

Hours: Monday – Friday 8 – 5:30, Saturday 9 – 4

Art, artists, creativity, Culture, Design, Exhibition, Flowers, Interior Design, Nature, Recent Personal Images, Sarasota, Florida, Art

Arabia, Beauty in Nature, Blue, Central Arabia, Clouds, Landscape, Middle East, Najd, Nejd, Saudi Arabia, Sunrise, ancient land, desert, escarpment, highland region, iris in April, peaceful, plateau, solitary

Sunrise in the Najd

Sunrise in the Najd, or “highland,” the central region of the Arabian Peninsula.

The dromedary camel walks moving both legs on one side then the other while its body rolls side to side. This seesaw movement can cause a storage bag to rub against the camels body developing a hole. As best I can tell this is what most likely took place on one of the caravans crossing the Arabian desert.

Numerous caravan routes criss crossed Arabia. This image is of one traversing the Najd in central Saudi Arabia. Along this ancient trade route a hole wore into a bag carrying iris bulbs. The seesaw movement of the camel deposited bulbs along the desert floor. Wind blew sand over the bulbs and they lay dormant until in the spring the winter rains enable the iris to bloom.

To buy a print and see more images visit EastepPhotography.com

Art, Culture, Design, Interior Design, Nature, Recent Personal Images, Saudi Arabia, Travel

Gift of the Caravans

Caterpillar (Monarch) eating in preparation for metamorphosis

Magnificent shelter of the Monarch

Butterfly emerging from the chrysalis

Monarch Butterfly Monarch drying it’s wings preparing for the first flight

Ten days are the time of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. Over the four hours before the butterfly emerges the emerald-green color of the chrysalis case will change becoming transparent. During this phase you can see through the case markings of the Monarchs wings wrapped tight around the caterpillar/butterfly body. In order to see this spectacular performance one needs to sit and watch, the change can happen at anytime. Leaving for one minute could result in missing the magical moment. Patience rewards with a memory of wonderment and beauty that you can recall and cherish, what a precious gift.

Image Library: EastepPhotography.com

Art, creativity, Design, Interior Design, Nature

Circle of Life in Ten Days

coral, Saba, Tubeworm, Underwater, Photography,

Serpulid Tubeworm (Ponastegus stellatus), Saba

The beauty of nature often speaks for itself, take a breath, look, enjoy.

Art, creativity, Design, Interior Design, Nature, underwater

Elegance

Kazakhstan is dotted with 48,000 lakes, many small like this mirror-surfaced one at Ush-Konyr near Fabrichny

Lake Ush-Konyr is a one of my favorite places with no power lines in sight, silent and serene. Kazakhs consider lakes the eyes of the sky.

Kazakhstan is a place of irony. Some of the worst man-made disasters; Aral Sea and Polygon have occurred in Kazakhstan. Some of the most beautiful and pristine places on earth are to be found in Kazakhstan.

To see more images of Kazakhstan visit: EastepPhotography.com

Art, creativity, Design, Interior Design, Kazakhstan, Nature, Recent Personal Images, Travel

Eyes of the Sky

Art, artists, creativity, Culture, Design, People who have influenced me, Portraits

Like a Good Bonfire

Actor, Costume Designer, Disco, Geoffrey Holder, NYC, New Yok, New York City, Photographer, Stage Director, Studio 54, Tony Award Winner, Winner of Guggenheim Fellowship, artist, dancer

Geoffery Holder Studio 54, New York NY

Passion personified, that’s the impression I had of Geoffery Holder when I photographed him at Studio 54. He lived around the corner from my NY apartment and each time I saw him in the neighborhood I had the same response, I was in the presence of power.

When I heard on NPR that Geoffery Holder was listening to one of his favorite artists, Bill Evans moving with the music, expressing life and his love of art at the moment of his passing on sunday, I thought that seems about right. He was full of life and creativity. He expressed that passion with his last breath.

“When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.” Shunryu Suzuki

Polaroid, Photograph, Image, Fine Art, St. Lucia, Interior Designers, Interior Design, Decor, Decorative Print,

Polaroid image on St. Lucia of a Rasta man and Rooster.

What camera should I use? I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been asked this question. I learned on an assignment for Polaroid that it did not matter what camera I use. Creating an image is mostly about the way I see. I grant that a particular lens or camera may give me a technical tool that helps craft the image. When I photographed for Polaroid I was limited to the camera and film they provided. The goal was to demonstrate that fine art images could be created using only Polaroid film and a Spectra camera. These are two of many images I made for Polaroid. The images won awards in a number of categories and proved to be successful in promoting the Spectra camera.

I learned from this assignment that creating images was mostly about the way I see and minimally about what camera I use. There’s a saying among working photographers that “the best camera is the one you have with you”. These days I always have my “smart phone” with me and am pleased with the images I am creating. I love the spontaneous feel of the images. In coming posts I’ll share some of those with you.

Polaroid, Photograph, Image, Fine Art, Decorative Image, Decorative Picture, Interior Designers, Interior Design,

Polaroid image, Crete, Greece

Art, creativity, Design, Interior Design, Portraits, Travel

What Camera Should I Use?

Design, Nature, underwater

Artist’s Primary Source, Nature

Bonaire, Caribbean, Nature Photography, Underwater, Underwater Photography, Orange Sea Lily, Nemaster rubiginosa, The Living Seas,

Orange Sea Lily (Nemaster rubiginosa) Bonaire

One of the reasons artists collect so much stuff; rocks, feathers, shells, crushed cans, you name it, is because they have a talent for seeing elements of design in everything. Shapes and forms in the natural world awakens a sensibility that we recognize as having a “sense of rightness,” Mark Getlein, Living With Art.

Sea Rod (Gorgonian coral) Bonaire

Focusing on the natural world engages our imagination and inspires a creative response. Design principles from nature show up in science, engineering, architecture, art, textiles and fashion.

Sea Fan Pan (Gorgonia ventalina) Grand Cayman

The approach I took to photographing marine subjects for the book The Living Seas was to concentrate on design within marine life. I looked with curiosity at the line, light, shape and form I saw within the underwater world. Compositions focused on the central design feature of the subject I was studying.

A few years ago a project came along which gave me the opportunity to work with one of the finest designers in America, Chip Reay. Chip selected from my underwater images ones which had clean simple design . He played with the photographs by making a duplicate of the image, flipping it and merging it with the original. the result was a wonderful mirror image, a delightful rorschach. These three images are examples of his successful collaboration with my photographs.

To see more underwater images visit my Image Archive: EastepPhotography.com

wayne eastep's blog

I hear and I forget, I do and I understand, I see and I remember

Category Archives: Design

“Flower Essence”

Seeing with my Mind’s Eye