“God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.”
Pablo Picasso
As a student of photography, I often study other styles and see what techniques I can adopt in my own craft. I analyse images shot by other photographers, hoping to glean new perspectives on my work.
One style that caught my interest was boudoir photography. Simply put, boudoir involves abstractly shooting the human body. Typically erotic and sensual, this style views the body as a landscape, photographing its curves like the contours of a landform (Here is an example).
This got me thinking, could I think of an animal’s form as a landscape of its own? Can I photograph wildlife in a manner that uses its profile and lines as its own terrain?
Wildlife comes in a dizzying array of shapes and colours. Like the great mountains and oceans, they rise and fall, ebb and flow. Their swirling patterns make for its own fascinating topography.
Over the years, I have captured these motifs in nature. I have shot them as landscapes hoping to advocate a novel way of looking at these creatures. This has culminated in the several photo series below.
(Wildscapes is an ongoing project that I am working on. This page will be updated with my latest work once it is ready)
Finished work
If you found this insightful, please subscribe. It encourages me to produce new content regularly.
Enter your email ID below. You will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Once you confirm, sit back and enjoy content delivered right into your inbox. It’s free!
Ishan Shanavas 