ABOUT DAVID FOSTER

My images are created as an ongoing celebration of the extraordinary beauty to be discovered in the natural world around us – beauty that lies in the delicate glint of a dewdrop, the glory of a waterfall, or the sweep of a radiant sunrise.

These images reflect my joyous endeavor to put myself close to nature, to be fully present to the beauty, and to let it captivate and lighten my spirit. I love to get 'lost' in a field or a park, along a stream or trail – where all sense of time vanishes and I become totally consumed by both the smallest delicate details and the broad scope of what surrounds me. While this beauty is always there to enjoy, it is also ever changing. Exploring one place for a day, as the sun arcs from sunrise to sunset, reveals different colors, shapes and textures in the same objects. Coming back from time to time over months similarly affords new images as the light changes angles, plants appear – flourish – die, and critters of various shapes and sizes appear and disappear. So I return many times to the same fields and forests, open to seeing their beauty in new ways. For me this often involves lying on the ground, sometimes getting soaked with dew, looking for new perspectives and ways of seeing that which often goes unseen as we walk along.

Much of my photographic artwork reflects my fascination with water, with an array of images that capture some of its beauty, mystery, energy and variety. Water has so many qualities that entice my interest. Perhaps most compelling is its extraordinary variations:

Dewdrop, rain, stream, waterfall, surf
Opaque, translucent, transparent
Prismatic, refractive, reflective
Still, flowing, churning, raging
Solid, liquid, vapor
Scarce, abundant
Clean, polluted
Fresh, salty

These variations offer such diverse elements for creating engaging images. Add to these, sunlight at different times of day, times of year, and angles – with varied colors, shapes and textures in the surrounding landscapes. This provides a recipe for endless fascination in my photographic endeavors.

I have discovered that my passion for exploring the beauty and intricacies of the natural world is increasingly intertwined with my spiritual journey. This has led, most significantly, to a shift from seeing my photography as a primarily private pursuit, to an excitement about sharing my images publicly. I feel an insatiable desire to experience first hand the vast array of natural beauty around us and a clear calling to share glimpses of that beauty with others through these images. [While I do use Photoshop, I do so only in ways that help to create final images that capture as closely as possible what I saw in the moment.]

These explorations always fill me with a joyful sense of wonder and gratitude.