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There is something about a black and white image that evokes more than meets the eye. Photographs were black and white for most of the people in the world till almost eighty years ago. But when they burst into colour, black and white was first relegated to nostalgia and ignored. And as quickly as it was cast aside by neo-conformists, black and white returned with new meaning and context into the photographers’ world. It is now an art form in itself. Dennis Frates monochromatic representation of a laughing gull’s fly by, with the Virgin Islands forming the background, and a lone yacht moving towards the horizon is a timeless example.

Capturing human presence in a natural scene is an art in itself. Through the photograph of an abandoned farmhouse in Flora, Oregon, Dennis Frates does credit to himself as an artist whose heart is in the right place.

Invariably, when it comes to photographing flora, the majority of photographers, including most professionals choose to get up close. In other words, the photographs tend to be close-ups of the flowers, plants or parts of the trees in question. And wider frames are used only to describe the majesty of the tree’s canopy or structure. Here is where Dennis Frates’ photograph of a lone tree in fall colour near Ennis, Montana, stands out (pun intended).

When faced with something larger than oneself, one is often feels either a sense of fear, or awe. Nothing is more awe inspiring than the flow of water in a river. Dennis Frates, in his photograph of the left fork of north creek in the Zion National park, has captured this sense of awe, like never before.

Clear and defined shapes and forms, rich colour, striking contrasts, depth; these are some of the basic elements that make a photograph appealing or even passable. Nature abounds in colour and contrast and a myriad shapes and forms. But shooting through fog is a whole different ballgame. In fact, fog robs the visual landscape of all of the above elements. And yet, through his photograph ‘The Haar’s Requiem’, Dan Frates captures a beautiful image of a solitary lighthouse engulfed by fog.

In a world where advances in photography have made it possible to represent a visual in three dimensions, there is still a need and for shooting in black and white. And that is because the choice to shoot in monochrome has less to do with technical limitations and more to do with the right mood. David Frates, for over twenty five years as a professional photographer, has tried unerringly to bring out the emotion that the setting evokes in him, into the photographs he takes. Which is why, his photograph ‘A thousand Hues in Monochrome’ of a lone tree in a Hawaiian pasture, evokes various shades of the emotion that one feels in solitude.

As citizens of a more connected urban world, humans have somehow disconnected themselves from the natural world. What was once home, is now ‘away’. And yet, the pull of nature is still strong within individuals, even if they are self proclaimed denizens of the concrete jungle. One needs pictures and images of leaves, and sunlight and the bark of trees in cubbyhole offices, for fear of mentally suffocating. David Frate’s photograph ‘Nature’s Lenses Through the Lens-man’s’ captures this yearning perfectly.

A photograph is, in a sense, a study of the illusion of time. In an effort to capture movement in a still frame, the photographer ends up capturing time, or the absence of it. And this feeling of timelessness is felt most clearly when two seemingly different subjects come together; man and nature.

Anyone who witnesses something beautiful, wishes to turn it into a memory and take it with them. When it comes to a sunset by the beach, this rings true for all. But when an amateur takes a snap of the breath taking beauty of light, glare and rays, the results are invariably underwhelming. One might expect to see the subtle interplay of light and shadow, and be unpleasantly surprised with an underexposed image. Alternately, one might try to capture the brilliant rays of sunburst, and end up with an unsightly glare in the middle of the frame, while the rest of the picture is either burnt out or dark. Interestingly, this is the case even for many professional photographers. It is impossible for a sunset to not look beautiful. What is the true challenge though, is to capture its beauty through the lens.

Mountains touch the human heart in inexplicable ways. It is fairly easy to capture the grandeur of the mountains through a photograph. The true challenge is in creating an image that also captures the perfect moment, thereby evoking a very specific emotion. The resultant outcome of such a photograph is that it instantly connects with the viewer and pulls one into the time and place that has been captured. David Frate’s photograph ‘Sawatch Range Watched by a Lady Hiker’ evokes this effect.