Artist Statement for



Nature Studies:

A Journey in Black & White



By Michael Flicek



The human experience of beauty is at once both universal and personal. The experience of beauty can vary from subtle and rather ordinary to dramatic and intense. When the experience is dramatic and intense, words like “it took my breath away” are called upon to describe the experience but, in reality, such words are inadequate. Photography, for me, has always been about a quest for visual beauty and the emotion that it can evoke ... whether subtle or dramatic I'm compelled by the desire to share the experience with others.



From early on my interest in photography was closely related to my experiences of beauty in nature. Such experiences led to an interest in trying to capture that beauty through photography. The nature studies included in this exhibition were captured in wild places and cities from around the United States and the world. While traveling, I actively seek out wild places. In the cities I seek out the park lands. In some cities, natural areas within urban and suburban settings are simply and intentionally left as wild park land to serve the need that people everywhere have for a refuge from the trappings of the modern world. In other places park lands are carefully landscaped and designed to create vignettes of nature intended almost solely for human appreciation. In landscaped settings, the designers specifically intend for their creations to attract butterflies, birds, and other wildlife. In Jingan Park in Shanghai and Jiefang Park in Wuhan, the park’s caretakers went so far as to place bird cages in trees that contained birds that sang the most beautiful songs each morning. All of this simply encourages my belief that emotional responses to the natural world are a shared by individuals regardless of culture. Often, however, we are so busy addressing the demands of our daily lives that we fail to take the moments necessary to notice and appreciate the wonder that nature has to offer. I’ve found that walking with a camera helps me to take the moments needed to focus attention on my immediate surroundings. Quite often my attention has focused on what I’ve come to refer to as nature studies. For this, my life is richer.



The nature studies included in this project range from portraits of spring blossoms to landscapes and much that falls in between. These photographs were made within a few years of my decision to seriously pursue fine art photography. From equipment, to image capture, to image processing, to printing; I had much to learn and I was learning much. Such was the journey … and the journey will continue. I fully anticipate that this will be a lifelong project.