American
Photo
May/June 2001
"Discovery" section
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A Young Photographer takes a Postmodern
Approach to the Real World
By Miranda Crowell
When Mark Oatney grabs his camera and hikes into the bush, he isn’t necessarily looking for transcendent views. This young Santa Cruz, California-based nature photographer keeps his eyes trained low to search out some very down-to-earth subjects.
"I tend to be attracted to things that aren’t terribly attractive- insects, weeds, desolate landscapes," says Oatney. "It’s like having a blank canvas, instead of one with a picture painted for you."
For the photograph here, Oatney, 31, found his palette in Northern California’s Cascade Range. He spent several hours shooting in the area before a patch of light and some flowers caught his eye. There he crawled to discover an unexpectedly photogenic star, the checkered beetle.
Oatney approaches the business of Nature Photography with an excellent pedigree: He assisted the renowned Frans Lanting for three years, then went out on his own in 2000. Oatney has a degree in biology and worked as a wildlife biologist before dedicating himself full-time to photography. But with an accompanying interest in art history, he brings a painterly feel to his landscapes and portraits. His ethereal images, often shot in color or black-and-white infrared, are catching the attention of the fine art and commercial world alike.
"This is a very exciting time for nature photography," says Oatney. "Now there is a lot of room for abstraction and subjectivity. I think there is a need for it, to keep nature photography in step with the postmodern world."
A postmodern beetle just might be what nature photography has been waiting for.
