Thomas Herbst on Fstoppers

Thomas Herbst Photography

For those interested in prints, feel free to email me at tghfkb@mst.edu, or DM on Instagram @thomas.herbst.photography

I am a Geologist by trade and an award-winning photographic artist. I am self-taught and most often capture nature and landscapes. I draw inspiration from nature itself. It is not my intention to be a documentarian with a camera. Instead, my goal is to draw the viewer in and lead them on a journey throughout each photograph while imparting what I felt at the time. This is accomplished through stylistic choices in exposure, color, and composition. Photography is a subtractive medium. Rather than continually adding, for example, paint to a canvas, I seek to reduce distracting elements until those that remain harmonize with one another. Where the science of everyday can be rigid and calculated, I take solace in the creativity of photography. Although careful planning and pre-visualization are important ingredients to capture the proper conditions for an epic landscape photograph, they are but one part of my workflow. My photography is often reactive, especially in situations when the light is ever-changing. Afterall, the presence of light invites shadow, shadows elicit depth, and depth is what draws us in. One of my goals is to publish works highlighting our natural resources, not as a record-keeper behind a lens, but rather offering an artist’s perspective.

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