Photographic artist and ambassador for Bush Heritage Australia
Everyone faces challenges in their
lives, but what has always uplifted me in times of
stress is a strong connection with nature,
especially when combined with a creative
outpouring.
My chosen creative mediums - words and
images - have long enabled me to step out of a
negative head-space into a world of creative
bliss, and all in a heartbeat. Wow, natureconnection, free mental health care!
After fifty years of making realistic images
promoting and sharing Australia’s natural wealth
in books, through seminars, exhibitions and
online, in 2011 I decided that it was time to
share, promote and teach a wider range of
artistic expressions that I had been exploring
over recent years. I also found students were
hungry to explore new opportunities afforded by
technology.
My career in publishing began in the 60’s on
one-colour printing presses and up until the early
2000’s I had worked through limited creative
variables. Since then, with technological
advances in computing, I have been revelling in
the newfound freedom of being able to express
more what I felt, not simply what I saw.
Broadly speaking my work now falls between a
realistic approach - when a realistic images ‘says
it all’ - and the playful pixel bending worlds of
textural effects, from realism through to total
abstraction. My expressions may begin in the
field during capture and/or in the digital darkroom
sometimes much later. All are then expressed
based on a story that I want to tell. So, in effect,
the storytelling remains and they are usually
based on a blend of the emotion during field
capture and the state of mind I am in when I am
at the keyboard - often, not always, these
emotions are poles apart.
While creating I am always alert to the belief that
at this time I am sharing a story that is truthful, in
the moment and most importantly is free of a
perceived overt commercial outcome. I know
only too well after a long commercial life that
‘commercial thoughts and overthinking concerns
of the opinions of others’ can destroy a creative
outpouring. Although the world teaches us that
originality and acceptance are essential end
goals - or are they?
Steve Parish conducts workshops, tours and
seminars which are accessible via his website
under EVENTS:
www.steveparish-natureconnect.com.au