This series is in a sense to propose the question to the viewer about what is the role of Nature in contemporary society. Many people that visit Natural History Museums, Bass Pro Shop, or Cabela's see installations of not only nature, but man's dominance and distance from Nature. Taxidermy animals are killed in order to be re-contextualized in completely false "habitats". American culture finds that when indoors we are separate from nature and in order to "get back to Nature" one must leave the comforts of the modern world to seek trees and wilderness. Humans and anything they have produced are in fact as natural to the earth as anything on the planet. I personally believe it is this separation which has caused us to not only pollute the earth and take up all the resources in a parasitic manner, but also to think that we must fix something that is broken and unnatural with what we are doing instead of taking upon the responsibility of finding a balance as a natural system. These photo-montage / collages represent a fleeting and unsuccessful attempt at revitalizing these taxidermy animals back into a more natural environment. I say unsuccessful because no matter my attempts the animals are not back to being alive and thrives which reflects the solution is not as simple as A + B = C. To make the series seem cohesive, I took 1 photo of an animal with 1 photo of the environment. To give the series rhythm and to avoid monotony, some of the collages range from comical to solemn as well as the degree of photoshop is obvious in some and more subtle in others. The color pallet was chosen to be less saturated to reflect the dead quality of the animals in their taxidermy state.
Category Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Cervine (Other)
Size 439 x 600px
File Size 199.2 kB
Let me first say thank you so much for watching me. I think Ive been following you on here for about as long as I've been in the fandom.
You are right about my process. This one was more of a simple collage. The tall Orange grasses and trees and the sky are all from another photo. I made decisions to keep which stones and bushes from the other image as well as gradient the edge to make it look more cohesive.
You are right about my process. This one was more of a simple collage. The tall Orange grasses and trees and the sky are all from another photo. I made decisions to keep which stones and bushes from the other image as well as gradient the edge to make it look more cohesive.
the pleasure is all mine C: your photos are quite fantastic! and i thank you for being a long time watcher :3
what i found most intriguing about this photo (besides the beautiful composition) was the surreal appearance of the ground cover in the foreground. it looks more artfully placed than naturally growing. i am assuming it is part of the exhibit these caribou were a part of? the textures and colors of it all are quite nice and give the image a sort of fantasy world feel. sometimes the simplest things yield the most powerful results :]
what i found most intriguing about this photo (besides the beautiful composition) was the surreal appearance of the ground cover in the foreground. it looks more artfully placed than naturally growing. i am assuming it is part of the exhibit these caribou were a part of? the textures and colors of it all are quite nice and give the image a sort of fantasy world feel. sometimes the simplest things yield the most powerful results :]
it's interesting that you find such exhibits as a representation of 'conquering' nature. i personally find exhibits of the like to be silently utopian. but i am talking about museum exhibits where you know the animals died of natural causes (or it is safe to assume so). seeing hunting trophies is another story though. i can definitely see the sense of conquering there, i personally find such trophies to be deeply saddening. unless the animal was killed for food. but that is a whole other story. i just really wanted to compliment you on your work :3
I see it as Man conquering Nature b/c they have recontextualized dead animals and put them in very unrealistic settings in order to show them off to other humans. It's Nature b/c it does not include humans or industry in the display but as you put it a Utopia of what Nature ideally is
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