Jeff Green

Fine art photographer Jeff Green describes his photography as a joyful process of experimentation and discovery. He has moved away from a strictly representational approach to a more interpretive and creative one, to express the beauty and energy he sees in nature. Through more than 30 years of shooting his combination of light, color, in- camera techniques and a unique development process produces images that evocatively communicate with admirers of his work.

Photography has always been a passion for Jeff, who majored in psychology, spent 20 years in the advertising industry, and taught marketing at NYU, before transitioning to photography full time. This move coincided with the successful launch of 2 kids, reducing his duties as the “official family photographer,” and allowing him to more freely explore and expand his skills.

In 2007, Jeff took his first travel photography workshop to Yellowstone National Park and his most recent workshop was earlier this year. Jeff uses workshops to explore new techniques, sharpen his photographic eye, and broaden his subject matter.

One of Jeff’s influential heroes is Ansel Adams. While in Santa Fe several years ago, he stopped at the Andrew Smith Gallery and studied the multiple versions of Adams’ famous Moonrise, Hernandez photograph. He was surprised by the many differences! Each photograph conveyed a novel interpretation, expressing how Adams’ felt at different times in his life.

This was an artistic jolt for Jeff, realizing that there is no definitive or “right” way to develop a photograph – that it is as much about creative expression as the “upfront” decisions about subject matter, composition, lens choice, camera settings, etc. This experience continues to resonate in Jeff’s photo-making process.

Jeff’s second major influence is the annual family vacation in Aruba. He wakes up early each day to nab a treasured spot with an unobstructed view of the ocean. He loves photographing the subtle and changing morning light, as it turns from soft pastels to glimmering slivers of light on the breaking waves.

During these quiet mornings, Jeff uses non-traditional camera settings, varying shutter speeds and intentional camera movement (“ICM”) to capture the energy he sees and feels in new and more evocative ways. This distinctive, more abstracted style is ever- present throughout his fine art nature photography.

Jeff has explored making imagery with large format film cameras, alternative development processes (such as cyanotype and platinum palladium), and portrait lighting techniques. These creative stretches have reinforced his artistic inclinations towards digital capture and development and the expressive power of color and light in the natural (people- less) world, his favorite subject matter.

Jeff taps into the energy in a scene, ranging from calm and graceful to dynamic and kinetic. Sometimes it is literal: the way clouds move, waves break, or the wind rustles leaves on trees. More often, though, he uses both in- camera and processing techniques to express the inherent energy in more abstracted ways that aren’t immediately apparent to the naked eye. His images are intentionally ambiguous – enough to keep you intrigued and engaged, but not too much to make them difficult to decipher and enjoy.

Jeff hopes that when you look at his imagery, you are swept up in the energy of the scene, as if you were next to him when he captured it, and that it elicits in you, as it does in him, a sense of curiosity, wonder and joy.

Jeff is based in Long Island, New York. His images are captured in a variety of locations including America’s National Parks, the Midwest, New York, New England, Iceland, Aruba, and Europe.

His work has been exhibited in 12 group shows over the last 3 years in the Northeast and Midwest.

He handles the complete workflow of each image, from capture, through editing and digital development, to producing the final print.

Artist Statement:

What draws me to my natural subject matter is light, color and gesture, an evocative trinity coined by photographer Jay Maisel. Of the three, gesture is the most meaningful and the most open to interpretation. To me, it’s about the energy I perceive in the scene – ranging from calm and graceful to dynamic and kinetic. Sometimes it can be literal, such as the way clouds form, a wave breaks, wind rustles the leaves, tree branches create a pattern, or how the scene is reflected in water. I often use both in- camera and processing techniques to express the inherent energy in more abstracted ways that aren’t immediately apparent to the naked eye. I want to keep my images somewhat ambiguous – enough to keep you intrigued and engaged but not too much to make them uninterpretable or too much work to decipher and enjoy.

Discovery and experimentation are integral to each stage of my photography process. At the moment of capture I consider various elements of composition; exposure time, ICM, choice of lens and viewpoint. For example, I might be in ocean waves, on a mountain trail, or on my belly for a macro close-up. During processing I’m thinking about how to bring out the energy and emotion in the image, looking at variations in luminosity, hue, saturation, HDR, dodging/burning, or cropping. When I’m printing the image, I think about which medium and hanging treatment is most appropriate. Will the image look best on matte fine art paper with a simple frame and perhaps no glazing, or will it come alive more on a glossier medium such as metal or acrylic?

My goal is to immerse you in the energy of the scene, as if you were next to me as I captured it. Hopefully, it elicits in you, as it does me, a sense of curiosity, wonder, and joy.