Rich Brooks: Colors of Provence
Rich Brooks confesses up front that he is a Wildlife and Landscape Photographer. He loves the challenge of capturing beautiful images in extreme conditions. Capturing Alaskan grizzly bears catching salmon or heavy snowfall in Yosemite is his happy place.
However, his exhibition is an example of breaking out of your mold. It’s about finding art or inspiration in the world around us.
In the Spring of 2024, he was staying in Beaumont de Pertuis, a small hilltop village in the Provence region of France. He was there to support his wife, a professional impressionistic oil painter during her artist residency. Other artists there were contemporary artists.
Due to luggage constraints, he was limited to one camera body and one lens. Compounding the camera limitation, the poppies and lavender were not in bloom and the wildlife was scarce. He felt he had hit a creative wall.
Then one morning as he was sitting at a sidewalk café sipping a cappuccino, he noticed the weathered wood and paint on the window shutter next to him. The weathered wood, rusty nails and layers of peeled paint hit him like a thunderbolt. Mother Nature seemed to be creating the most beautiful contemporary art with texture and dashes of color.
His mission was to document the beautiful modern art in Beaumont de Pertuis’ doors and shutters. He shot a couple hundred images and selected 36 to produce a 6 x 6 grid as the final product. The photos were taken handheld with him standing, crouching, stretching up or lying down. In fact, some of the locals reported him to the mayor’s office. They thought he was a burglar casing their village!
Rich says, “Inspiration for our art is all around us. Sometimes all you need is a cappuccino at a sidewalk café in France! Cheers.”