Vote for the Lone Tree @ the Saatchi Gallery, please.

I 'discovered' the Saatchi Online Gallery through a link from the brilliant Australian artist Margarita Georgiadis. It's a great access point for artists and art lovers to discover and share art. Thanks Margarita!

In their own words....

'We are an open social platform providing the global art community with a new way to discover, share, exhibit, promote, discuss and sell art online. We banded together a dream team of caffeine-fueled developers, creative conceptualists, an international network of talented programmers, emerging and established creators, and self-professed "artoholics" to generate this new frontier. We built this site for artists, art lovers, and anyone who appreciates a creative envinroment. It is a free and open landscape to foster talent, support the process, share ideas and influences and exhibit the result of artistic self-expression. Please let us know if you are feeling at home or if there is anything we can work on to improve the landscape.'

While only new to the gallery I have found it exciting to be a part of. It's a quality way to show off my pictures and to be inspired by all kinds of ideas and the creative, beautiful executions of those ideas.

For the art lover it's a great place to wander around, explore, enjoy and learn. A very pleasant, if temporary, escape from a busy world.

Part of Saatchi Online is their regular Showdown - an online tournament. Saatchi Online artists can showcase their work and go head-to-head with other artists on the site. Saatchi Online members can vote for their favorite works of art and give one winner and one runner-up a chance to display their art at the Saatchi Gallery in London and other possible venues in major art markets.

I voted in the most recent Showdown and found it very educational in helping me understand why I might like one piece of art over another. At first I was voting very quickly - relying on my gut instinct on what appealed and what didn't. After a few minutes I found myself taking a little more time and questioning my first impressions. Why did I like this one more than that? What took my attention first? Colours? Tones? Composition? Subject?

Not surprisingly, I found it was all of those things and more but with different emphasis with every picture. It would be interesting to hear how you find it.

I've entered in the new Showdown and hope you could spend a few moments voting for my Lone Tree.  I took it a while ago now but it is a favourite and important to why I love photography.

Just follow this link (there's a quick registration required) to vote. If you have some free time check out a few of the other entries and have some fun finding out a little more about why you like what you like.

With your help the tree might get to tell its story in Saatchi's London gallery. Thanks and Enjoy!

Artist Statement

I found this tree on a ridge line in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. When I made the picture I saw it as a stoic, if singular reminder, of what the landscape in the valley had once been like when many thousands (millions?) of eucalyptus trees covered the land. Later, when I looked at the print, I also saw in it the determination of the individual and at the same time the futility of the "last stand". The almost vacant, sparse landscape that attracted my eye and excited me photographically now caused a deep sadness. It was as if my forebears had cleared the land of so many trees to give me my picture and by bearing witness with my camera I vindicated the thoughtless waste. These days I prefer to see the Lone Tree's symbolism more positively - the "last stand" may not be futile. At least it has me taking responsibility for the mark I make on my part of the planet. Not a perfect or complete solution, I know...