Artist Statement

As with all art, photography is an emotional response to a subject. The artist captures his reaction to the subject with his medium, and an audience experiences the resulting work with a unique, and often varied, emotion. It is this emotion, this wordless communication that is the foundation of Fine Art Photography. It is not the camera or the equipment, or any other tangible thing.

As an artist, my mission is to create landscape photographs that are artistically inspired as well as technically excellent. I strive to make each work inviting, both visually and emotionally, and my desire is that each one is exciting and enjoyable for my audience.

Film and digital are two different mediums. They both have their own artistic appeal and, of course, their limitations. Prints made from each medium are very different in characters and I love them both.

In the field, my priority is to be as precise and as self aware as possible in order to preserve and honor the environment in which I work. While the landscape is art in itself, I can only maintain control over the composition, type of light, and colors to a certain extent. I can choose the equipment and techniques that I employ, but any artist still lacks sufficient influence over his subject to realize his full creative vision. Thus, in order to achieve creative satisfaction, it is important for me to further develop the works after the shutter has closed in the field.

While the post processing I implement is basic, it is critical. Whether it is adjusting the brightness and contrast or optimizing the saturation, tonalities and colors, my ultimate goal is to bring out the image to my exact taste. It is this transformation that realizes my memories and emotion from the original scene into the work of art that I "saw" in my mind's eye.

I crop images based on the subject of the scenery, and not the limits of the camera I chose to use, and at times I utilize a collage technique to combine multiple captures into a single image if I see an image presenting itself in such a fashion.

While I fully embrace the digital workflow and technologies, it is important to me to artistically and truthfully transform a capture into a photograph based only on what inspired me in the field. I do not add elements or manipulate images with subject that was not from the original capture.

I have been blessed and fortunate enough to visit some of the most amazing places in the world. Through my portfolio, I hope to share my reverence and marvel at the natural beauty, wilderness and prestige that I have encountered along the way and convey a sense of affection for the intimate beauty of this special planet in which we all live.

Thomas Yang
Novi, Michigan 2013

Biography

Originally from Taipei Taiwan, I am a Taiwanese-American landscape photographer, based in Novi, Michigan since ’97.

I specialize in Landscape, Nature and Urban photography as well as creating large size limited fine art photographs for home and interior decoration as well as for collectors.

My photography endeavor started in the early 90’s as a photographer & editor for a Taipei based international automotive magazine. I moved to the United States in 1995 to pursue my Masters Degree in Science at University of Wisconsin Madison. I continued to work as a freelancer in the publication industry.

I entered the corporate world in ‘97 after finished my Masters degree, but my photography journey has by no means ended.

It was the trip back in 2005 to Yosemite that really elicited me to discover my real passion. It was like a calling from above when I saw those large original prints from the Masters at Yosemite Ansel Adams Gallery. I since then launched this website and dedicated myself to pursuing Fine Art Landscape Photography.

In the early years of my photography career, I thoroughly studied the works from Ansel Adams, Joseph Holmes, William Neill and Charlie Waite. Recently, I studied more of the works from Rodney Lough Jr., Art Wolfe, and Alan Briot. While greatly influenced by the Greats before me, I have developed my own approach and personal style to create my own works.

Photographs on this website were mainly captured from 6x7 roll films, 4x5 sheet films as well as digital. Since 2010, I have been using a Phase One 39 MP digital back as my primary capture device and adapted to a full digital workflow from capture to print.

As the beginning of 2013, I am re-launching my website, planning on a new book and a business plan to open a home-based gallery later this year.

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