Have you ever considered that the art in your office or place of business could be sending a message to your clients, customers, patients or colleagues? It is something to consider for sure, when you choose nature photography to decorate the walls.  Here are some samples of unique and inspiring works from the world of nature that can create exactly the moods and feelings that you want in your office.

If you would like to instill a feeling of calm in your office, a selection in muted, relaxing tones is a good choice.  The composition should be simple and uncomplicated and in as few colors as possible.  This grass photograph with its muted colors and suggestion of flowing movements is perfect.  You can almost feel the calming breezes flowing by!

If you want to imply that your company is a one of a kind, you could do this by hanging prints with one bold object as the focal point of the print.  In a subconscious implication, your art can say that your clients are in the waiting room of a company that really stands out.

Definitely one of a kind, this magnificent white tiger is an image any business would be proud to be associated with.

Believe it or not you can even reinforce your company’s sense of identity and connection to an area, city country or even the nation.  If you are proud to associate yourself with a particular place, you could display some awesome art that includes a state flower, local waterfall, or natural landmark.

Every company, business or even individual wants their customers to see their business as strong and prosperous.  You can promote your image of strength by arranging art that displays bold and defined images in its composition on your walls.

Along with an image of strength, you can also promote a sense of stability for your business by displaying art that depicts deep roots and perseverance.  Your clients will feel confident that they are dealing with a company that’s going to be around for a while to see them through their needs.  The large solid rock photographed here is a definite symbol of immoveable strength.

All of these prints are available along with many more distinctive nature photography prints, a few of which are sure to make your office art stand out and be remembered.

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Removing color from a photograph can add a lot to it; it can reveal details that would otherwise go unnoticed.  Color, in some cases, may obscure the texture and form of the subjects, while black and white emphasizes the structure of the composition.

Black and White Botannical #80407_190bw

© Byron Jorjorian

There are many ways in which the different colors turn into different grays, meaning that you can experience great light and dark richness when using black and white nature photography.  While color may emphasize the shape of a subject, its black and white version may add a lot of character and feeling by highlighting its texture.

In black and white photography, the absence of light is as important as its presence.  The profound shadows add depth and strength to an image.  Photographers know how different colors, and lighting, react, and they use this knowledge to create impacting black and whites that deeply arouse, shock, inspire or relax.

Healing Waters #070508-03bw

© Byron Jorjorian

Black and white photography allows you to see color in a different way.  The artist detaches himself from the effects of color and brightness, and this lets him use color more effectively, to really provoke a strong emotion, one that can be translated into a space to create a special and intense mood.

Black and white photography may offer dramatic stone carving textures, wild active skies, or unusual atmospheres.  Shadows are a basic part of a black and white composition, as the aim is to create contrast between light and dark, between what is known and what remains a mystery, between stillness and turbulence, only to find out in the end, that both are always there, as a part of life and its balance.

Twisted Oak Tree Image #32107_76bw

© Byron Jorjorian

So, why use black and white photographs to decorate when you can use color?

Good black and white photographs enhance a space with the image’s strong mood.  Color can get in the way of the message you desire to convey when it is full of momentum, force, drama and beauty.  Black and white makes color work better, under its shades and tones; you reach out to the viewers, showing them a side of nature they have yet to discover.

Any of Byron’s images can be converted to black and white. If you would like to view some images that have already been converted, click HERE.

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While still on my trip to Mississippi I noticed a pattern of reeds against the reflections of the sky in a pond.

Clouds and sky reflected in water with abstract reeds and grasses #041808_215crv2

© Byron Jorjorian

It reminded me of a Japanese painting. I began setting up my camera and tripod as if in a trance. Suddenly, while I looked through the lens of my camera I was a child again….watching my father (a commercial artist) painting with brush and ink stone (Sumi-e) on watercolor paper. Tears welled up in my eyes. He died long ago. Would he be proud of my work as a photographer. Am I still trying to please him? I framed image after image and this became the basis for an entirely new collection of images which can be found in the Zen Gallery on my site.

Clouds and sky reflected in water with abstract reeds and grasses #041708_499v2

© Byron Jorjorian

I recently spent 4 days in the swamps of Mississippi photographing wood ducks. I would enter the blind at 4am and be out of the blind with time to explore the swamp by 9am.

© Byron Jorjorian

One morning as I walked through the swamp in Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge, I was struck by the pattern of arching trees and their reflections in the dark still water.

Angled Trees Patterns in the Swamp #041808_333

© Byron Jorjorian

Here in all the chaos of a swamp was order in nature. I composed the image and began taking pictures. During one particularly long exposure, it occured to me that I had returned to make pictures in a place that was only a little over an hour from where I spent my childhood catching snakes, lizards, turtles, and frogs.

Reflections of trees and leaves #041708_486

© Byron Jorjorian

Have you ever noticed how the colors of a photographic print will look diferent at various times of day and under different light sources?

© Byron Jorjorian

Most photographers and printers use daylight profiles. The print looks good under daylight but under flourescent or incandesent lighting the colors can take on radically different hues.

I have been making fine art photographic prints for more than 30 years first in a black and white darkroom, then a cibachrome lab and now using state of the art photography printers.

This has been an issue which has bothered me a lot in the digital era.

My solution to this problem is to use mixed lighting profiles and even profiles for specific light sources.

© Byron Jorjorian

The majority of fine art prints which I produce are produced using a mixed lighting profile. It is designed to give the most natural looking color under a varity of lighting conditions. It works well even under conditions where a combination of light sources (for example flourescent and daylight) might both be illuminating the photographic print.

If you know that the image will be viewed only under a specific light source and not moved you can let us know and we can set the color to create the art print to look best in your environment.

However, if the photograph may be moved or viewed under different light sources it is best for us to use the mixed lighting profiles that I use by default.

This image is my best selling image of all time. I photographed the two deer on the right for a few minutes and positioned myself low to get a deer’s eye view through the grass.

© Byron Jorjorian

I was pleased with what I was getting, but when the third deer wandered into the image I felt that the composition was complete. This was the image I was after. I looked down at my camera and saw that I had just taken image number 36 on a 36 exposure roll of film (This was back in the ancient days of film). In those days you could sometimes squeeze a 37th frame out of a 36 roll depending on who processed the film.
I had no time to reload so I set the camera to overexpose by 1/2 stop and I fired. Several days later I was in the lab going through the thirty rolls of film I shot during that 3 day photo shoot in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was only interested in finding that photograph so I pulled the last frame out of each box in a frantic search for it. When I found it I was ecstatic, whooping and hollering like a kid. I just knew it would be a winner and it was!

Concern for the environment goes hand in hand with being a photographic artist that specializes in nature. Therefore, I was eager to try the new Bamboo paper that Hahnemule introduced recently as a paper that has been produced in a more eco-friendly fashion.

Their website states:

“Bamboo 290 gsm

Is the first fine art inkjet paper that consists of approx. 90% fibres from highly renewable bamboo grass and whose production is therefore very eco-friendly.”

I have been using the Hahnemule Bamboo paper to make some stunning prints over the last few months. I really like the texture and warm glow that the paper imparts to my photographs.The paper is recyclable and produced in a way that leaves less of a footprint on the environment and it is beautiful.

© Byron Jorjorian

I say it is a step in the right direction.

If you are working on a project that you feel might benefit from this paper and you would like to get a sample please contact susan@byronjorjorian.com

9/16/05 New Website Launches!!!! We look forward to serving you.

We all have a favorite piece of nature photography that we love, or home decor photos that we want to display to beautify our homes and just simply enjoy.  Some of us are collectors and buying that next gorgeous piece of art photography that we’ve found is just too hard to resist.  But now we are left with the question of what to do with it all.  We only have so much wall space, right?  Well the good news is, there are a number of ways to display these cherished pieces without taking up every square inch of wall space.  When you need something a little different, be sure to try out one of these cool ideas for getting your art off the wall!

© Byron Jorjorian

One obvious solution that has become very popular is to display art on a shelf.  There are even specially designed shelves available that have an edge on the front to keep your art from sliding off.  Arrange a single photo or an arrangement on a shelf and see how effective it is.

Take a hint from the artist himself, and try displaying a piece of art on a freestanding easel.  An unused corner of space can suddenly become the focal point of the room.  Easels come in a variety of materials from shiny aluminum to highly polished ebony.  Choose an easel that compliments your art and matches your room for a very dramatic effect.

Another thing to do when using photos for decorating is to try and downsize your prints somewhat so they can be placed on bookshelves or other decorative shelving.  Arranging a few photographs among the spines is a great way to break up the monotony of a bookshelf.

Try putting some art in chunky freestanding frames that can sit proudly on a piano, in a curio cabinet or even on open kitchen cabinets.  After all, looking at our art gives us pleasure and should be all around us.

Large pieces of framed art can even be displayed on the floor.  Lean a large picture against the wall and arrange some smaller pieces in front.  This type of display is especially effective with country style frames in a more rustic setting.  Create a little vignette by adding a vase, sculpture or other decorative piece to the arrangement of pictures.

Floor screens that are designed to hold photos or art are another option for displaying pictures once your walls are full.  The advantage of one of these types of frames is that they allow you to display a large number of photos in one place.

If you’re both an art collector and a craftsman, you may want to create a table that displays some of your favorite pieces.  For this, your art is displayed under a piece of glass that is fitted to the top of your coffee table.  Instead of picking up that coffee table book, you can admire your mini art collection every time you sit down to relax!

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For various reasons, most of us are timid when it comes to arranging art on our walls.  We love to use photos for decorating, whether they are our own or purchased art, but we tend to procrastinate before getting out that hammer and hangers.  It is a fear definitely born out of uncertainty.  What if we don’t like where we put them?  What if we make a mistake and make all those holes for nothing?  How can we be sure they won’t be too high or too low? What if they just plain don’t look right? Here are some simple guidelines to making the home decor photos that you want to display end up arranged just the way you want them.

1.    Before beginning, try to visualize the end design.  Some people cut out paper shapes that match their art pieces and do a mock arrangement on the wall to test it out.

2.    Art should be hung at “eye” level.  Obviously everyone’s eyes are not at the same level so an average rule of thumb is between 54 and 57 inches from the floor.  Art is generally hung a little lower in dining rooms where most of the time is spent seated.

3.    Arrange similarly framed pieces together for a formal presentation, and mismatched frames for a more casual look, but all the frames in an arrangement should complement each other in some way.

4.    If you are hanging a single picture over a piece of furniture, the art should not be wider than the piece.  Half the width of the furniture is ideal.

© Byron Jorjorian

5.    Smaller home decoration photos look best arranged together rather than grouping with larger pieces.

6.    Pictures should be hung no closer than three inches together and no farther apart than eight inches.

7.    When arranging art over a table, remember to hang it so that the bottom pictures are not blocked by items that will be sitting on the table.

8.    The “heavier” pieces of art should be placed in the bottom of the arrangement.  Heavy can refer to the size, framing materials or even the color of the photograph.

9.    Art arrangements do not need to be symmetrical.  Here’s where using the paper shapes you’ve cut out can help you choose the best layout for the wall you are decorating.

10.    Finally, remember this is your art.  You are the one who is going to be looking at it the most.  Arrange it in a way that you like and that will make you smile every time you’re in the room.

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