Art & Antiques - June 2001

Special Photography Issue

Tara N. Wilfong

“The woods are his canvas, his camera the paint.  Philip Bogdan scouts out his location in the daylight, transported by kayak.  When he finds the exact location he wants to photograph, he marks it with GPS (Global Positioning System), coordinates and returns home for his equipment.  At dusk, Bogdan gathers 100 pounds of equipment and heads back to his chosen site.  The nightfall, deafening silence and fear of the unknown creep in, but are quickly suppressed because he lives “for the moment when I no longer need to think, but simply act.  This results in some of my best pictures.  The darkness tends to enhance the experience, and suddenly the shot is born.”

“While many believe “Into The Woods” was created digitally, Bogdan says instead of it being high tech it actually has more similarities with images produced more than a century ago.”

“If all the energy generated by the natural world, manifested by plant life, could be given visual form - it would probably look something like this.” Constance Thalken says.  “Crazy, wild and surprising.”