Revised Artist Statement: Gary Nylander

I have been working on updating my website including the often dreaded artist statement which I will post here, the above photograph taken at Moraine Lake in 1987 and was partly the inspiration for my statement..... 

 It's been said home is where the heart is. My "home" is Canada. 

 One day while photographing from atop a large rock pile at the end of Moraine Lake in Alberta's Banff National Park, I gazed upon the beautiful scene before me, spectacular jagged mountains backlit by the late-afternoon sun filtering through high puffy clouds, the illuminating sun creating millions of sparkle like jewels on the lake — the scene was simply breathtaking. 

 I knew right then there was no other place I wanted to photograph. I had found my passion and I didn't have to travel thousands of miles to some exotic distant land to find what I had been seeking. It was right there before me. I'm quite at home in the visual world. For me, it's the best way I know to express my interest in the world around me, to capture the magic and the soul of my subject, something much deeper than what first appears on the surface. Much of my artistic drive and what I do also comes from my curiosity to explore the world around me and to see "what is out there". 

 I have tried to capture with my camera a sense of beauty, however fleeting it may be, I offer through my photographs what I feel is a reflection of our world and hope that my work will engage viewers to reflect upon their own place in the world.