Smithsonian National Museum of African Art / April 25, 2017 by Todd Henson

Garden entrance to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art is located in Washington, D.C., along the National Mall and just across from the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. These two museums are separated by a beautiful outdoor garden and share a very similar look to their exterior architecture. The majority of each museum is located below ground, and the two museums actually connect to one another through a lower-level hallway.

Beautiful stairwell in the National Museum of African Art

I love all of the Smithsonian museums I’ve had the pleasure to visit. Not only do they each contain amazing works of art, culture, or engineering, they also were built by very creative architects. There are so many fantastic elements to these buildings, and the National Museum of African Art is no different. I was drawn to one of the stairwells, lit from a skylight overhead and from an entryway above.

Contact by Nandipha Mntambo, viewed through an entryway — *Contact* by Nandipha Mntambo, viewed through an entryway

This museum contained artwork and cultural items from all over the African continent. Some were very old relics and others were more modern works of art. The piece that most stood out for me this trip was titled Contact, created by Nandipha Mntambo from Swaziland. It’s a sculpture cast from the artist’s body and covered in cowhide and cow hooves, and was inspired by a ship’s figurehead. The piece is beautifully displayed on a dark brown wall, with spotlights highlighting the artwork. I first viewed the piece through an entryway from another part of the museum, and I was immediately transfixed by this piece. Something about it spoke to me.

Contact by Nandipha Mntambo, displayed in the National Museum of African Art — *Contact* by Nandipha Mntambo, displayed in the National Museum of African Art

We walked through several other rooms full of interesting and beautiful pieces. Below are images from some of the ones I was most drawn to.

Crest Mask, part of the Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection at the National Museum of African Art

The Crest Mask is part of the Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, which is a current highlight of the museum.

Ethiopian shield made from leather and silver alloy

I’ve always been drawn to arms and armor from different cultures and times, so I was pulled in by the Ethiopian shield made from leather and silver alloy. It’s an amazing piece.

I loved the details and the shapes of the silver coffee pot from the Sultanate of Oman.

In the corner of one gallery hall were an ornate chest displayed in front of a door in its frame. These were both Swahili pieces from Tanzania. I was fascinated by the details and the craftsmanship.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art is a fantastic museum. I highly recommend you visit if you have the opportunity. These Smithsonian museums really are a treasure, one I hope to revisit many times. Have you ever visiting the National Museum of African Art? Which pieces were you most drawn to?

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Museums

Strasburg Museum (Virginia)

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

Smithsonian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum

National Gallery of Art - West Building

Create Art Through Photography with Art Wolfe. Image credit: CreativeLive — *Create Art Through Photography* with Art Wolfe. Image credit: CreativeLive

Do you ever find yourself looking for inspiration? Do you find yourself falling into the same ruts, creating the same photographs over and over? Would you like someone with passion and creativity to help guide you out of the ruts and help you see the world in different ways, help you seek out and create something new, something abstract and artistic? Art Wolfe may be just the person to help, and his CreativeLive class, Create Art Through Photography, may be just the class to start you down a new path.

Create Art Through Photography is all about seeing the world in new ways. It’s about studying art in all its many forms, visiting museums or surfing the web, viewing paintings and drawings by the masters. Study what has come before, learn to see the different patterns, textures, and lines that draw you into the artwork. And then go out into the world, into nature, and look for these same things. You will find them. The world is full of compelling abstract compositions just waiting for a photographer with the right eye to find it and create a beautiful photograph to share with the rest of the world.

Art starts out the class stepping you through his history, what led him to where he is today. He began as a painter, but eventually embraced photography. He has always loved the outdoors, and would spend much of his time hiking and climbing through woods and mountains. Through photography he found opportunities to travel, to see different cultures. He was drawn to different cultures and became passionate about documenting them before they disappeared. He loves wildlife and has spent much of his career traveling the world and photographing animals of all sorts. If you’ve already watched his previous class, The Art of Nature Photography, then some of this section may already be familiar to you. In the beginning of both classes he goes over his history for those who are not familiar with it.

Through his life, Art has continued to stretch himself artistically. He is always looking for something new to photograph, and for new ways to photograph. New technology has opened up new possibilities, giving him the opportunity to explore photographs that never would have been possible in the past. Art embraces these possibilities.

But he has also explored different subjects, or the same subjects in different ways. Over the years, Art has spent more time looking for the smaller, more intimate landscapes. He has created the large sweeping iconic shots, but he also strives to find the more subtle, less photographed shots.

This class explores the world of the abstract, images where we may not recognize the subject of the photograph. These are abstract expressionist photographs, more akin to the artwork of the great painters. Think Mark Rothko, Piet Mondrian, Jasper Johns, Kazimir Malevich, M.C. Escher.

Art discusses the concept of Wabi Sabi, a Japanese term referencing the randomness and impermanence of nature. It’s about balance, and filling the frame with content so your eyes can navigate through it. He says there is so much potential out there, that we should try to see in ways we don’t normally see. It can take time, but we can train ourselves to do this, to see patterns, textures, and lines, and to capture these in abstract compositions.

Visit museums to help maintain inspiration. Art mines the work of abstract expressionist painters, finding new ways to photograph landscapes. It helps him see subjects he might not have considered years ago. Study artists work, then go out into the world and see what you can find that reminds you of their work. It’s not about copying the work of others, but drawing inspiration from it.

Over time this will become natural and will shape the way you see the world around you. You’ll walk around town visiting locations most photographers never visit. You’ll find compositions most other people would overlook. You can do this in town or out in nature. There are subjects everywhere. Look for line, color, distortion, ambiguity. Art says this is creating metaphors through photography.

In the final section of the class, Art looks through photographs submitted by students. He critiques their composition and brings them into Lightroom to show how he might approach editing the work. I really enjoyed seeing how Art approaches this process, taking the raw file and turning it into something more. You can’t make a bad photograph great this way, but you can bring out the detail and wonder you visualized when snapping the shutter. I think there’s always something of value to be taken from these types of critique sessions.

I was pleased with my purchase of this class, even though I was familiar with some of the content both through a previous class I purchased (The Art of Nature Photography) and through a live presentation I was fortunate to attend. Art considers this class an appetizer for the Photography As Art seminar he teaches in various locations. If you have the opportunity try to attend one of his live seminars. If you’re unable to attend a live seminar, or if you just want to own the videos to watch again and again, then consider this class.

Create Art Through Photography consists of 16 videos totaling about 5 hours of content. It also includes a 150 page ebook, titled On Puget Sound, that is absolutely full of beautiful images by Art Wolfe. When you purchase the course you’re given the ability to download all the videos to your computer or mobile device to watch offline anytime. You can also stream the content from CreativeLive’s website.

More CreativeLive Classes

The Art of Wildlife Photography with Tom Mangelsen

The Art of Flower Photography

Fundamentals of Photography with John Greengo

CreativeLive's Create Art Through Photography with Art Wolfe

CreativeLive's The Art of Nature Photography with Art Wolfe

Travel Photography: The Complete Guide with Ben Willmore

Female Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher sitting in her nest, beautifully lit by early morning sunlight

There are times when the trees in some parks are filled with the sights and sounds of Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers. These are small birds with a blue-gray head and back and a white underside. Their call has a lot of volume for a bird so small, and it matches their bravado, as they don’t seem at all afraid of people.

Male Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher sitting on a limb above the nest

Male Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher singing while sitting in the nest. It is actually working on building the inside of the nest.

The photos in this post were created over a two day period when I was fortunate enough to watch a pair of gnatcatchers building a nest on a tree limb very close to the trail. The nest was perfectly situated to be lit by the early morning sun when it wasn’t hiding behind a cloud. This combination of great location and nice lighting enabled me to create some decent images of these fantastic little birds.

I found it an absolute joy watching this pair. They would fly away, looking for small pieces of lichen, bark, grass, or spiderwebs, then return to add their find to the nest. They use the spiderwebs to hold everything together. Click on the images for full-screen views, where you can see the lichen and spiderwebs woven through the nest.

Female Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher sitting on a branch

Take another close look at the photos to compare the male and female. You can tell them apart because the male has a black eyebrow, whereas the female does not.