Daniel Sroka

Daniel Sroka has been a professional artist for the past decade "developing a new approach to nature art through his own unique style of abstract macro photography" (danielsroka.com). He spent 20 years as a graphic designer before making the switch to fine art photography. He was also Yahoo's first creative director. In addition to his fine art photography he also maintains a photography business online, doing weddings etc. He is represented by the Karin Newby Gallery.

He creates "abstract, dream-like images out of the simple elements of nature, such as leaves, sticks, flowers, and seeds. He finds most of his subjects as he walks through the parks and gardens near his home, collecting the sticks and leaves that have fallen to the ground. In his hands, these overlooked natural objects reveal their complexity and subtlety" (danielsroka.com).

When I first saw this artist's work I was blown away by our similar styles and our similar artistic goals. Upon further research I discovered that many of his shots are done in the studio. That made me feel a little bit better. While he focuses mainly on one object in nature to glorify I usually focus on an overall landscape or groups of objects in the environment. In a lot of ways his work is even more abstracted than mine. It was nice to see an artist doing similar things and it was also nice to know that even though a lot of our ideas are the same, we're able to do different things and make completely different work.

http://hammermarks.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/july-artist-of-the-month-daniel-sroka/

http://www.danielsroka.com

http://www.karinnewbygallery.com/