fog over sawgrass marsh Photograph - Limited Edition of 12

David M. Korte, born and raised in Midwest United States. Korte’s early interests focus on street photography in Minneapolis, Europe, and other American cities. Eight years in Africa included six years in a remote village in Gabon, among monkeys, elephants and gorillas, where rainforest meets the Atlantic Ocean. Two additional years in Monrovia, capitol of Liberia, reintroduced an interest in street photography. Today, Korte searches for inspiration among cypresses, swamps, and pine forests, dodging snakes and alligators, appreciating those variations in light, weather and topography that define Florida’s Paradise Coast. Inspired by the work of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson’s, decisive moment, Robert Frank’s spontaneous street images and Irving Penn’s portrait and still life works; with additional inspiration by way of joyful, brilliantly-colored market scenes of obscure West African artists, the stylized tropical themes of Henri Rousseau, and the symbolist-inspired, color-drenched depictions of tropical paradise by Paul Gauguin. The list is endless. Korte finds the medium of photography ideal for working in the wild lands of tropical Africa and America. Precautions against heat, humidity and rain apply to all artistic mediums, but the portability of photographic equipment allows one to be present in the environment, in the moment, with efficiency and discretion. Post processing brings to realization the nuances of light and atmosphere. Korte loves all aspects of this artistic process. Transitioning to digital photography in the 20-teens, during his life in Africa, replaced film, chemicals and enlargers with a Photoshop system of tools. This, of necessity due to the lack of darkroom supplies and equipment on the African continent. The black-and-white of previous endeavor blossomed into an appreciation of color in the natural environment.