102 Guy Tal - Artist Working with Photography
Today’s featured guest is Guy Tal
Guy is a landscape photographer, artist, educator, and public speaker. He does not consider himself a photographer who makes art but rather an artists working in the medium of photography. Guy conducts several workshops throughout the western United States and educates through talks along with the 7 books he has published; furthermore his work has been featured in publications such as LensWork Magazine, Outdoor Photographer, Popular Photography, and many others.
“Photography is an adventure just as life is an adventure and if man wishes to express himself photographically he must understand, surly to a certain extent, his relationship to life.” – Harry Callahan
I am a professional artist, author, photographer, educator and public speaker. I believe that the practice of creative pursuits manifests not only in the making of art, but also has the ability to transform and enrich life, facilitate meaningful and rewarding experiences, and foster contentment and satisfaction through life-long discovery and learning.
In photography I strive to create images that speak to wildness – the quality of being attuned to, and inspired by, the wild. Many of my images also articulate my intimate connection with the natural landscape, particularly that of my home, and the friendship I found with certain places. Rather than glimpses of superficial beauty, I wish for my work to speak to a deep familiarity with my subjects, revealing something of the role they play in my life – a relationship as intricate as any I have had with another person. The things I photograph are not just attractive models to me, they are temples and sanctuaries and multi-dimensional characters in my own story, as I am in theirs.
I do not photograph for the sake of photography, and not to simply document the external appearance of things, no matter how objectively appealing. Instead, I photograph as a means of exploring and expressing things that I cannot express in any other way, and because it is important to me to share them. I do not photograph things; I photograph my love for them, and sometimes I photograph my love through them.
I do not consider myself a photographer who creates art, but rather an artist working in the medium of photography. Where some photographers take a representational approach to the landscape, I wish instead to use visual elements and natural aesthetics as evocative metaphors, creating images that are not merely of, but about places and things that have become personally meaningful to me.