Previous Home Next

tolin

T. Ann Tolin

Snow Fence, 2011

digital image

image 12 x 18


My new work revolves around my 18 acres in St. Louis County, Missouri in an area referred to as Crescent. It is somewhat remote but only a few miles from the urban areas. The road is named after a relative of Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame, so I always feel akin to the historical perspective of life.

I have had the property certified as a "Wildlife Habitat" by the National Wildlife Federation which means there are numerous animals of all varieties: deer and turkeys (which come to get fed everyday), raccoons, groundhogs, coyotes, foxes and birds (including a pair of barred owls and a pair of red tailed hawks).

I have taught photography for 24 years at Webster University in St. Louis, MO and am constantly reminded how little people see of the world around them. So it is with a camera on my property that I try to explore those things that many would miss.

This image, Snow Fence, 2011 is an image taken earlier this Spring. The last vestige of winter is that beautiful snow which comes often as late as March and covers the early blooms to protect them from the cold.

The coldness of the steel and the cold of the snow seemed to interact so perfectly with what I am trying to say here. Here man-made and nature-made are interacting in a unique way.

It is my hope that this image reaches out to the viewer in a manner of surprise and reminiscence.