Undeterred
Awards
Color Photography Contest
2024Honorable Mention
Nature
Non Professional
Undeterred
About Artist
Seth Baum
In my early years, I achieved total relaxation through Tae Kwon Do, archery, and skiing. Their demand for absolute focus reliably yielded a quiet, meditative state. Unfortunately, in my 40s and 50s illness struck, leaving me unable to pursue any of these therapeutic avocations. Finally, after repetitive reflection, I recalled an even earlier source of relaxation and joy, photography. As a boy, I loved to take pictures. My father owned an old 35 mm SLR Leicaflex that I appropriated, subsequently spending most vacations viewing the world through its lens. Prints were costly, a darkroom was not possible, and I gradually lost touch with my camera. Fast forward several decades and I re-discovered the benefits of being behind the lens. This time though the stakes were higher, as I desperately needed an activity that would provide total relaxation. I required something beyond a pastime, a pursuit to completely captivate me, something entirely mesmerizing like the sports of my youth. Being a medical doctor, clinical researcher, and author, I have always enjoyed stretching both sides of the brain, concrete and abstract. Photography offered both. Cognizant of time’s grip, I steadily devoured every photography course and book I could find. Over the span of a few years, I consumed literally hundreds of resources. And I avidly shot. The more I shot, the greater was my need to shoot. I experimented (and still do) with multiple motifs: landscape, portraiture, street photography, macro, and ultra-long lens. Each has its draw but I continually find myself most inspired by macro and ultra-long lens. I love the splendor of nature’s tiny intricacies, the unexpected glimpses of active life beyond our eyes. I always attempt to unite scientific wonder with art; our minuscule natural world is not only fascinating; it is spectacular. Experiencing joy is my ultimate objective. When I smile with the completion of an image I know I have something to share. Rarely will I shoot a somber scene. Though sadness is a necessary part of life; it isn’t what interests me when I am behind the lens. Instead, I search for glimpses of unanticipated magic. I hope you enjoy my images as much as I have enjoyed finding and making them.
Photographic Areas of Focus
Macro, Nature, Wildlife
Location
United States of America
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