One afternoon last winter, Nina Tisara, owner of Photography by Tisara Inc., in Alexandria, was walking along the nature trail in Huntley Meadows Park. The late afternoon sun streamed through a leafless grove of red maple and sweet gums, their bare vertical trunks intersected by curving grapevines producing dark shadows.
Tisara was awestruck. She felt she had stumbled upon an enchanted woods. She returned to that same spot in the fog, in the snow, in the spring. Because of her skill in photography, she was able to capture details like the individual scales of tree bark and the shades of grays in shadow detail.
These and other prints celebrating the qualities of light in this wetlands park can be found in a new photography show, "Sanctuary," to be shown at the Huntley Meadows Visitors Center.
DECADES OF EFFORT have honed Tisara's ability to use light. In "Sanctuary," she used her camera to investigate the intersection of lines and angles in the treescape. She remembered that majestic ancient forests inspired early cathedral builders.
The feelings of sacredness, of personal sanctuary, were a result of the play of sunlight upon the trees. Tisara, in shooting the same scene at different times of day and seasons of the year, used the physical characteristics of light to dramatize reality. Her photos show the enchanted woods with winter's direct sunlight producing hard linear shadows, and the same trees with their springtime leaves diffusing the sunlight. They show her woods in the snow and fog, appearing otherworldly and surreal.
"Sanctuary" provides an opportunity for the viewer to understand the art of photography. Shadows and patterns of light may become the heart of the composition in which solid objects are incidental and light is the theme.
An added bonus to this show is the opportunity to view, at an easy distance, the source of the inspiration. The viewer can see the trees and grapevines by walking a few hundred yards down the nature trail from the Visitor Center.
Nina Tisara will be at Huntley Meadows Park for an artist's reception this Sunday, July 13, from 2 to 4 p.m.