Harriet Blum's Live Oaks

The subject of the latest addition to our Oak Artist series is Harriet Blum, whose work straddles the media of photography and painting: her idiosyncratic technique involves infrared film photography and hand-coloring with transparent oils and pencils.

Harriet was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, grew up in Miami, Florida, and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, after college. It was here that she came across the ancient live oaks (Quercus virginiana) that would become one of her favorite subjects, along with other trees, landscapes, and waterscapes.

She describes herself as a self-taught photographer and became fascinated with the darkroom process while working as an electron microscopist for LSU Medical School in New Orleans. She later began using black-and-white infrared film and hand-tinting the photographs, creating a unique personal style.

Despite the important role the darkroom process plays in her work, for Harriet the key is in seeing the image and the moment she wants to capture. “Many artists create art from a blank canvas or a chunk of clay,” she says. “For me, the art is first in “seeing” something special, whether it is as mundane as rotting boards on a house, or as beautiful as the landscape in a swamp. After “seeing” that special something, I record it on film. Only then do I have an idea of where that “moment in time” will take me.”

Photographing large live oaks presents specific challenges. “Most of my experience photographing oaks is in Louisiana,” she says. “These Southern live oaks spread their branches out in many directions and it's impossible to get a good photograph of the whole tree without a wide angle lens, a very wide angle lens, unless you are far away. In most of the photographs I have taken of oaks, I have used black-and-white infrared film. This film gives the pictures a soft, dreamy, ethereal look. I then hand-tint the photograph using transparent oils. I have found with this film and other black-and-white films, it's best to shoot on a cloudy or overcast day as detail in the shadow areas will be more visible if they are not in harsh shadows. Of course, digital photography has changed everything and the problems with using infrared film are often less of a challenge or can be manipulated later in the computer. I still prefer the look of infrared film, but since I have moved and don't have my darkroom anymore, I am not using film like I used to.”

Harriet Blum’s photographs can be found in the collections of several museums in Louisiana and other cities in the United States, and her series Swaying Softly: Trees of the South was featured in a one-woman-show at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Mississippi. She has received numerous awards in competitions around the US (see her website at www.harrietblum.com for details). Prints of Harriet’s works are available in a variety of sizes, on paper, canvas, or murals. More information on her website or etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/HarrietBlum