{"id":281,"date":"2014-04-16T17:48:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T17:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/?page_id=281"},"modified":"2021-01-15T22:50:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T03:50:59","slug":"sentenel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/about-3\/biography\/sentenel\/","title":{"rendered":"Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Nature Photography Has Been Made Into An Art Form<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n

by Bill Rea
\nKing Sentinel April 21, 2010 <\/b>
\n\"\" Garry Conway sits by his computer. The screen shows gannets he photographed at Gasp\u00e9. The best of King\u2019s artistic creativity is going to be on display the weekend of May 1 and 2 with the annual Studio Tour King.<\/p>\n

\u201cKing is one of the fastest growing regions in Ontario, in terms of the number of artists coming in,\u201d observed Laskay resident Garry Conway. He added the artistic communities in other places of York are envious of King\u2019s artist contingent, both in terms of numbers and calibre, \u201cwhich is pretty neat to hear.\u201d
\nConway\u2019s medium is photography, and specifically nature photography. He said he first became interested as a student at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and was reintroduced to it about 12 years ago, when he moved to King and found \u201call these absolutely incredible places.\u201d  The wide variety of vistas has been a major attraction for him. He helps take care of some of the local tracks for the Oak Ridges Trail Association, and he said there is one area in the Happy Valley that he believes has more trilliums per square kilometre than any other place on the moraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time I go into the woods, for me it becomes like visual candy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He added the variety available in nature sometimes complicates the task of picking something out, while other scenes can be passed by several times before their visual value is really noticed.
\n\u201cPhotographs are a language,\u201d Conway explained. \u201cAs we learn about the language and the images, the more there is to learn. It just spirals on and on.\u201d
\nConway uses digital photography. \u201cI changed quite a while ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advent of digital has been a positive development. He said it\u2019s a benefit in terms of conservation and deciding if there\u2019s enough film available. \u201cI can shoot many, many variations of the same thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As well, he said the digital technology has advanced to where the quality is better than that of film, although that\u2019s only been in the last couple of years.
\nPhotography as an art form has been gaining popularity over the last several years. Conway said he\u2019s learned to pay more attention when he goes to movies, noting that most sets in house interiors have pictures on the walls, as opposed to other types of art.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re looking at photographs as the art form,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n

Some art forms can be a little more dangerous than others, although there are times when a calculated risk is in order. Conway recalled there was one occasion when he came upon four baby skunks on the edged of the Oak Ridges Trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a chance and got right close to them,\u201d he said, adding he had just read that skunks aren\u2019t able to spray anything until they are about four weeks old. He said they did try. \u201cI ran, but I couldn\u2019t have been fast enough if they could have done it,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Research came in handy on that occasion, as it has at other times when Conway has been working on his craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spend a lot of time reading nature books and looking up Websites when I can,\u201d Conway said.<\/p>\n

Although he has found a richness of subject matter to photograph close to home, Conway said he has never been able to get a good picture of a deer close to this area, suggesting they tend to be more cautious this far south because there are so many people. It\u2019s a different story farther north, where their habitat is not disturbed as much. He said he has taken lots of great shots of deer around Haliburton and Bancroft.<\/p>\n

Conway also said when he sees wildlife, such as deer, that he wants to photograph, he starts taking pictures right away, before trying to get close. \u201cThey become accustom very quickly,\u201d he said, adding it\u2019s the sudden sounds of the camera up close that tends to frighten them. \u201cThere\u2019s a fair amount of strategizing, in terms of how to get them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said beavers can be fun to photograph. He added the best time of year to get them in March, when lakes and rivers have started to thaw, and they don\u2019t mind having people around as they nibble on a branch. For some reason, they are much more timid in June.<\/p>\n

Studio Tour King will feature more than 25 artists showing their work in 17 different locations. conway\u2019s creations will be on display at Laskay Hall on Weston Road, along with the ceramic works of Beverly Berger and Christine Paige.<\/p>\n

The tour will run from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. both days, and admission is free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nature Photography Has Been Made Into An Art Form by Bill Rea King Sentinel April 21, 2010 Garry Conway sits by his computer. The screen shows gannets he photographed at Gasp\u00e9. The best of King\u2019s artistic creativity is going to be on display the weekend of May 1 and 2 with the annual Studio Tour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":219,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-281","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16279,"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/281\/revisions\/16279"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture-connection.net\/gcphoto1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}