Note: click photograph for larger view. ©2014, David A. Porter

Digital photography tools have been making waves in the world of visual arts over the past few years.  You see, artistic painters were quite upset with the advent of the camera as it quickly took away their sole possession of immortalizing a portrait or landscape.  As a result of this, we saw artistic styles like impressionism gain great popularity.

Now, with today’s digital photography tools, it is possible to add a painting-like look to a photograph.  In fact, the whole field of what some are calling paintography is in its infancy, and we’re just now beginning to see a few standouts in this new and growing field.  And, once again, I suppose the photographer is again crowding in on the space of the artistic painter.

I snapped the photograph above while traveling in the commune of Lansac, which lies in the Bordeaux region of France, while enjoying a fabulous 8-day river cruise with Uniworld.

While I find my creation pleasing to my eye at first glance, perhaps more pleasure might be gained by understanding a little context.

First of all, the Moulin de Lansac is one of the few historic windmills still operating in the region.  My fast shutter speed froze the blades in motion, but if you look at the reflection in the window, you can see the cloth sails that capture the wind and drives the mill.  No one is certain of the age of this windmill, but the oldest windmills in the region date back to 1597.

The stately moulin has a weathered look with her skin slowly peeling away from the stone underneath.  You can see a touch of mold growing above the flower box, and the flowers themselves seem to speak to the beauty, as well as to the decay of life.

I hope you enjoy my little contribution to the growing genre of paintography as much as I enjoyed creating it for you to see!  🙂

 
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