Iron Photography and Photo Manipulation Design · 2021
WoodBergs Nature
- A' Design Award 2021 Iron Winner in Photography and Photo Manipulation Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: *PatIsHere
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 19,043
- Verification code 2D59BB93DD · Verify this award
About WoodBergs Nature
These images represent details of sections of trees felled to be transformed into something else. The use of negative inversion and direct printing on aluminum enhance the colors and the concept of destruction of our planet. The artist is inspired by artistic photography and environmental rights, transforming details of nature and flora: photographic technique and rights merge into surreal images to lead the viewer to reflect on what can be done to safeguard the planet. A better world is possible, it also depends on you.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- It is one of the seven works on the elements of nature, flora, printed in negative directly on aluminum. In these images, which belong to the Winter series, are trees cut and ready to be distributed and transformed.
The use of surreal expression through negative inversion is a technique that the artist began to use in 2008 to reinforce the concept he wants to express: increasing the level of awareness on the consequences of our actions on the environmental issue. - Dimensions & Packaging
- All the pictures are printed in negative directed on aluminium.
900 mm x 650 mm (orizontal pictures), 0,5 mm depth. - Tags
- nature, wood, trees, flowers, leaves, environment, planet, photography, photo, artistic-photos
- Production Technology
- She tooks the pictures in this case with her smartphone Samsung S7edge, raw method, as because she realized that she went in a carpentry where she found all the trees cut down and ready to be transformed into something else. It was a unique moment.
Than she inverted the pictures with Adobe Photoshop, as she did with the other pictures of the project, and she put them in the Series Winter.
Finally she printed them directly on aluminum to enhance the colors. - Design Challenge
- Her thoughts on environmental issues and her surrealistic taste have pushed her into expressive research, through photography, to express her point of view with an artistic eye both for the technique (photographic inversion) and for the realization.
The difficulty in photography and in this project lies in capturing the viewer's attention through a beautiful and mysterious image. The increased visibility increases the possibility of understanding that all mankind must safeguard nature and the planet before it is too late. - Project Duration
- The WoodBergs project started in November 2012 in New Canaan in Conecticut and last presented in April 2015 in Rome. These photos from the Winter Series in particular were never presented in public because they were taken later, in 2017.
- Operation Flow
- Photos do not transform themselves but they could transform the mind of the viewer because he sees different colors from reality and asks himself questions.
- Research
- It is a type of photographic research on nature, flora, in details and in panoramas, which aims to awaken the conscience on the environmental problem, using above all the professional camera (Nikon) but also the mobile phone on some occasions, like this one. In showing the photos during the exhibitions she was able to listen to the sensations and emotions that the images created in the impact with the visitors and to understand if the right questions were asked to interpret her goal.
- Inspiration
- Photography and politics are two fundamental elements in her life. When she started the environmental rights project, in order to sensitize people to safeguard nature, she took into consideration the four fundamental elements. But later she had the need to interpret Flora and for this reason she examined the oriental philosophy which is based on the five fundamental elements, therefore including wood, which becomes her Flora, represented in negative.
- Image Credits
- Image #No 1: patrizia dottori, WB_S4_Wood_09, 2017
Optional Image #No 1: patrizia dottori, WB_S4_Wood_01, 2017
Optional Image #No 2: patrizia dottori, WB_S4_Wood_03, 2017
Optional Image #No 3: patrizia dottori, WB_S4_Wood_05, 2017
Optional Image #No 4: patrizia dottori, WB_S4_Wood_10, 2017
Video Credit: patrizia dottori, 2014
Colors of WoodBergs Nature
Grand Interview about WoodBergs Nature
WoodBerg was one of the final projects in a series focused on the environment, all encompassed within the broader concept of Mother&Land. The inversion of colors carries a profound message—a passage from life to death. Awareness of the possible end of Planet Earth can only urge us to do more to prevent it, each in our own way. For me, this is expressed through photography.
Every exhibition requires its own unique setup. In the case of WoodBerg, wood—which is naturally warm—becomes cold through color inversion. To enhance this effect, I considered glossy paper, aluminum, and E6 photographic paper. The latter, however, proved too cold and too dark for some images, so I opted for direct printing on aluminum. The colors appear softer, and the tonalities are clearer, emphasizing the concept of forest destruction while marking a very specific moment.
The WoodBergs project was born in a woodworking shop: seeing so many felled trees moved me deeply to create something about destruction and transformation. The use of color inversion from positive to negative—already employed in my environmental projects starting with FireBerg—made my task easier, as I was already familiar with an effective visual language. Later, I “rediscovered” many other images I had taken on the subject, as if I only needed to bring them together. It is clear that in my photography, the desire to convey environmental concern has always been strong.
In the case of this image, the use of a smartphone was incidental, simply because I happened to be in the woodworking shop without my camera. I still used the Pro mode, which is like a smartphone RAW format.The use of smartphones (as in the case of FireBerg) can be part of research or, in extreme cases like this one, the only way to seize an opportunity. In general, I try to avoid it, but if the goal is to convey my message, it works.
Images not only need a proper display, but, in my view, also a title.Since I was exploring Nature in its most literal sense, I decided to give the series the names of the seasons, linking the five elements to the annual cycle of life. If the seasons represent a process of transformation, the use of negatives freezes this process at a single moment of destruction.
When I worked on my first FireBerg project, I realized that I would need to focus on the four elements of Nature. However, as I worked on subsequent projects, I felt that these elements did not encompass all environmental rights. So I conducted various researches and readings and arrived at the five elements of Eastern philosophy, integrating wood and thus “flora.”
Through beauty, I engage the audience in asking questions. Cold wood leaves the viewer in a state of mixed confusion. This allows the observer to delve deeper into their interpretation of the image, to explore their emotions, sensations, and experiences, and thus move beyond beauty itself. The “warmth” that becomes “cold” is one of the most tragic human experiences.
Winning the A’Design Award was a significant achievement, and as such, it must be surpassed through the consistency of my work, creativity, and dedication. The structure of the A’Design Award is very rigorous, but also highly constructive for the artist, supporting their reputation and growth. Through communication and distribution to other members in different countries, it not only increases awareness of the artist but, most importantly, of their message and the creativity with which they convey it.
Size is another detail that contributes to the exhibition process. I believe that the greater and deeper the concept or message, the larger the dimensions needed to convey it, allowing the viewer to immerse themselves—especially emotionally—so as to reach a reflection that we all recognize intellectually, but less so on an emotional level.
Beyond the visual language I use—not always involving inversion from negative to positive, sometimes simply positive for some of the projects that make up Mother&Land—I have realized that ever since I began photographing, in many places around the world and in countless details, I already carried this environmental concept within me, reflected in all my shots and in the search for new ones. Every time I travel, I carry a perspective attuned to all ongoing projects. Every time I review my images, I draw on my experience to develop the visual language to its fullest potential.