During
The artist spent two months in Costa Rica. Jason DeMarte Nature photography occupied him for days and nights as he stayed in cabins scattered throughout the mountains and clouds forests of the country. He recalls, “It was me, my portable studio and nature.” “Watching the slow, quiet movement of clouds over the mountain punctuated with the busy buzzing noise of hundreds of Hummingbirds felt completely surreal.”
Costa Rica, known for its natural beauty and commitment to restoring and protecting vital ecosystems proved to be the ideal location for DeMarte’s Arcadia project, which shares its name with a mythological Greek utopia, home of mountains, fields and heroes. DeMarte’s work is not always straightforward. The global climate crisis, environmental degradation and other issues are also present.
If you look closely, you will see that, among the birds, orchids, and sprinkles, gummy candies are also included, giving an artificial feel to what would otherwise be a beautiful scene. These are not single photos but carefully constructed illusions composed of multiple parts. The artist explains, “I focus-stack each element and shoot it separately to achieve maximum depth of the field.”
The stacked images were then mask and collaged. If you count the focus-stacking there are hundreds individual photographs in one of the Arcadia pictures. DeMarte worked on the seven images in the series for two years.
All of the elements have been “realized,” but rearranged. DeMarte, who was in Costa Rica at the time, packed his studio and condensed everything into a portable set-up that included small reflectors, backdrops and “a lot of clamps”. He then traveled from Airbnb to Airbnb, taking photos.
He spent hours in the hot sun visiting botanical gardens, orchid farms and nature reserves to find natural treasures. DeMarte knew that the birds would have to be captured in their natural environment, so he planned his trip so it coincided with the season of fruiting, when they were out and about.
The artist combined his wonder at the beauty of Costa Rica and his unease over the future of nature when constructing these images. Cloudy skies can be beautiful and natural, but when they are littered artificial sweets it gives them a foreboding feel.
DeMarte drew inspiration from the 19th century paintings by Martin Johnson Heade of hummingbirds, orchids, and other flora. The photographer, like Heade, has always been passionate about natural history. But his style of nature photography is distinctly dark and 21st century.
DeMarte says, “I love that clouds can be interpreted as smoke from a forestfire, volcanic eruptions or benign clouds.” DeMarte’s work has evolved both in terms of content and in terms of process in recent years. He’s refined and extended his techniques and is also increasingly interested in the society’s obsession for entertainment and instant satisfaction, which both bring us further away from our natural origins.
The artist says that despite this change in focus, his fundamental concerns remain the same. They are the climate crisis and mass extinctions, as well as the fate of the natural world. This concern can be seen in my entire body of work.
DeMarte was captivated by nature during his childhood, especially the insects, amphibians, and reptiles he encountered while walking through the woods. His current work deals with the destruction and alienation of the environment, but it still contains the wonder that inspired him when he was a child.
He’s recently started growing flowers, and raising moths to photograph. “I still feel the magic and wonder of nature, but I have a new understanding of its fragility,” says he.