A different focus
Portrait photographer shifts lens to landscape, flowers for exhibit
Capturing moments is something Max Woltman has done for more than a decade.
Although he works primarily in portraiture, his latest exhibit, “Sense of Place,” helped him slow down and take in his surroundings.
Most of the pieces are landscape and floral works, though a few figurative works will be displayed.
“The theme is basically how we fit into our environment, what our environment reveals to us,” he says. “A lot of the pieces are surreal and mysterious. It’s all in our search to find our sense of place.”
The exhibit is on display at the Margaret & Turner Branch Benefactors Lounge, next to Popejoy Hall on University of New Mexico’s campus. It contains about 25 photographs. Woltman captured the images in New Mexico, Alaska and Pennsylvania.
“It was difficult to pare down,” he says of the exhibit’s size. “I sent (Popejoy) a body of my work and they chose what they thought was most appropriate.”
Woltman is used to photographing people for portraits.
To have the opportunity to slow down his process and spend some time in nature was a great change.
“It’s kind of meditative,” he says. “It requires me to spend several hours focusing on one particular tree or flower. I didn’t have to talk or maintain a conversation. It was me and my thoughts.”
In addition to the landscape photography, Woltman also got the chance to do some floral photography.
“Because I’m shooting them with a macro lens and getting up close, I see the abstract nature,” he says. “They become landscapes in their own right.”
In putting together this exhibit, Woltman is thinking more about how humans interact with one another and nature.
Because of having more time to take in the environments, he feels another wave of inspiration.
“We’re blessed to be here in New Mexico, to have such beautiful light and landscapes,” he says. “We often take that for granted.”