Tony Heath: Photographic Statement

The portfolios on this Web site are my gallery. They are here to give the viewer a glimpse into my world, as my photography has always been essentially autobiographical. I use the camera in a private and personal way as an instrument of devotion, documenting my visual experiences and the events and people in my life as it progresses. I simply shoot images of what interests me visually and spiritually, attempting to document the passage of my life, which I can only hope may be remotely interesting to others.

I encourage people to view them, comment by e-mail, and if they'd like, order prints. I am also available for commercial work.

I am not a “nature photographer,” but primariliy an outdoor photographer. As a lay-naturalist and conservationist, the natural world, as well as the physical landscape and its interaction with the elements (ie: light and weather), is an important subject for me. I shoot spontaneously and subject to the limitations of my equipment, as well as the medium (film or digital). I prefer images in which the subject is portrayed in the context of the surrounding environment. Forms and shapes created by the distortions of the lens become welcome visual elements in the composition. I rarely crop or blow up my images preferring to shoot full frame. I prefer available light to artificial.

Many of the portfolios feature the wildlife that share their lives with my wife Kate and me here at Birdland Ranch Wildlife Conservation Area. Some nature images are from my travels when I am always on the lookout for opportunities to film critters in their natural settings and sometimes unnatural, as you might notice. An encounter with any wilding is a magical experience to be cherished, as they are so perfect in their innocence. Animals must be hallowed and protected lest they be destroyed by stampeding human beings, so hopefully, my images promote respect for their right too, to live here on the earth unmolested and in peace.

I am not or will I ever aspire to be purely “professional,” as market forces distort the creative process. I do not wish to be compared to others — I am not a “good competitor.” Professional goals often require creative compromise and expose the artist to a world that judges merit on financial prowess. Paul Gauguin must have understood this when he isolated himself in Tahiti in the final years of his life, creating his greatest works. I choose to take pictures mostly for my own visual and perceptual edification.

I hope to leave for others a trace of the time in which I lived. I shoot partly for those that will follow me and for what my pictures might teach them about our drastically changing world.

Trained as a fine artist, I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

degree in 1975, beginning my career as a painter, although serious interest in photography came earlier. I had a small black and white darkroom in the basement of my parents’ home in Connecticut in the nineteen-sixties where I learned the basics of developing and printing negatives. However, I do not consider myself a “printer,” which fortunately has become unnecessary for me, as Photoshop and digitalization is the darkroom of the twenty-first century. Those who do choose to pursue the older methods deserve great credit, and of course, the highest-quality crafted prints are still derived in the traditional darkroom. I personally do not have the market for or the space in which to create and store a lot of material work. Thus, the computer screen and the Internet is a perfect medium to organize and communicate my visual thoughts and ideas.

On a technical note: From 1987 to 2008, I used the same 35mm Canon T-90 manual focus camera with one addition body, and three L-Series lenses (50mm f1.2, 20-35mm f3.5, 80-200mm f4). I shot almost exclusively handheld in available light. I usually shot color negatives mostly with Kodak ISO 200 film, but also used Kodachrome, Ectachrome, Fujifilm, Tri-X and T-Max at different times.

Currently, I am in the middle of gradually scanning the best of my older work. This project will take many more years, I suspect. I use a Nikon CoolScan V, because it is all I can afford.

In the spring of 2008, I began shooting with a Nikon D300 digital SLR with an AF-S 18-135mm 1:3.5-5.6G ED zoom lens. I am still trying to train myself not to inadvertently change the shutter speed with my thumb while in shutter priority. I hate it when that happens. I also have a Canon G9 “point and shoot” for informal settings and home video. Out of sheer practicality, I somewhat reluctantly went to digital, but thus far it has proved exciting discovering new techniques (for example Photoshop’s Camera Raw) and having the luxury of not driving to the lab. The greatest challenge is the sheer number of images one generates and the editing nightmare it creates, not to mention the challenge of archivally storing digital photographs reliably.

So far, so good. Happy shooting, shutterbugs!

Tony Heath

Birdland Ranch – January 2009
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