The Big Cypress Bayou

About Georg Popp

Nature Plates Georg Popp is an ardent lover of nature. For several decades, he and his wife have collected a variety of natural objects – both during his travels as a photographer and in his homeland of Austria. In the forest, on the… Read more

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Work Info

In his Cypress Groves series, Georg Popp captures the fairytale-esque beauty of the swamps in southern United States. These precious ecosystems are difficult to access and, therefore, relatively unknown. Popp is an experienced landscape photographer who transforms the unique colors and shapes of his subjects into tangible atmospheres. Together with his wife, he has published six illustrated books.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Nature Plates


Georg Popp is an ardent lover of nature. For several decades, he and his wife have collected a variety of natural objects – both during his travels as a photographer and in his homeland of Austria. In the forest, on the beach, in the mountains; The photographers never fail to discover impressive evidence of nature’s diverse beauty. In his Nature Plates series, Popp thematically arranges his best finds to build impressive compositions.
In painstaking detail, the artist selects appropriate objects, prepares them for placement, then begins with a design. Throughout the process, he experiments with various combinations until he finds a perfect combination of shapes and colors. Production time for each work in the Nature Plates series requires several days. Individual objects are carefully arranged to achieve an overall harmony.
Each work takes on a unique energy and flair thanks to Popp's unparalleled photography skills. Staging, lighting, and technical execution are central to producing high-resolution photographs. The technique of Photo Staking allows the artist to clearly present object details, no matter how small, and to present them to the viewer in a natural way with a renewed artistic aesthetic.
Inspiration for this new series derived from the work of Ernst Haeckel, a physician, zoologist, philosopher and draftsman of the 19th and 20th centuries. Haeckel gained notoriety through his publication Art Forms of Nature; In this he illustrated various elements of nature - such as sea anemones, hummingbirds, corals, and radiolarians - in a remarkable, previously unseen style. His works combined art with scientific documentation to establish a new genre that would expose a wider audience to the diversity of nature. To this day, Haeckel's illustrations are a source of inspiration for artists around the world.



Cypress Forests

The mystical atmosphere and enchanting beauty in the works of art by Georg Popp fascinate the viewer immediately. The forests are like something out of a fairytale, they tell an imaginative story full of mystery. This exceptional charm is the product of the gifted landscape photographer’s patience and energy. His fine art captures extraordinary moments in familiar landscapes. His many years of experience and enormous enthusiasm for the Earth’s natural treasures enable him to make his vision a reality within his art.

The cypress forests are located in the deep south of the USA, in the swamps of Louisiana and Texas where snakes and alligators roam the waters, rarely disturbed by man. Slowly the special ecosystems formed there are being displaced, with little attention to the cause. These ecosystems are worthy of our protection, and Georg Popp’s art is bringing awareness to a larger public – the first step towards their protection. In his work, Popp illustrates the colors of autumn in the forest, which are accentuated by the dark tones of the water and wood. Popp captured these shots from his kayak. Many times, he would get out before sunrise and row through the murky waters to search for the best spots and best moments to shoot. Some days the morning mist was so dense that he could incorporate it into his works. Sometimes opportunities were lost because he couldn’t stabilize the tripod on the soft, unsteady ground. The work can be tedious, but he is always satisfied when he is finished because the pictures are very special, even for an experienced landscape photographer like himself. When he looks at them, he experiences the autumnal magic of the cypress forests, once again.

Georg Popp is a photographic artist and passionate globetrotter. He and his wife Verena have been traveling to beautiful and often unknown parts of the world since the 90s. They are always on the hunt for special moments and extraordinary landscapes that are difficult to find. The couple specialized in landscape photography early on in their careers, and always shot with analog cameras. They started their work in their native country, Austria. Together they have published six illustrated books and numerous works in magazines and publications.