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©2021 Daniel Sroka.
topic > my artistic intention
Airfoil – an abstraction of a shell
We found this broken shell on the beach during the last week of summer vacation. It’s not a “pretty” shell, by any definition, but it does have a strong presence and it demanded that I bring it home to my studio. My favorite characteristic of… read more
an abstract of a calla lily
My kids gave a bouquet of calla lilies to my wife on Mother’s Day, so I created this photograph to make their present last a little longer. This photograph celebrates the clean and simple shape of the lily, as well as its subtle shifts in… read more
Spectrum – an abstract of a leaf
This leaf is a tiny thing, no bigger than my thumbnail, and would have been very easy to overlook. But its vibrant colors caught my eye, in spite of its size. I wanted this photograph to celebrate this small but rich spectrum of color, glowing… read more
Possibilities from an ugly leaf
I collected this leaf while visiting the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx with my family last month. The leaf appears to have been blown about the garden for some time: it is dried, beat-up, and frankly, rather ugly. I didn’t hold out much… read more
abstraction of a maple seed
Today I’m working with a small stem containing several seed pods from a maple tree — what my kids call “helicopters”. I love the intensity of the vascular system of the seed, and how it conveys images of riverways or arteries and veins.
my favorite photographs of 2009
The end of the year, a time for reflection. Although it was a busy year, I managed to create a number of photographs I am very proud of. Photographs that remain pinned to my wall months after I have finished creating them. Furnace I (abstract… read more
A new abstract of a leaf: Dragon
I’ve been working on my art each day for the past couple weeks, working my way through a collection of leaves, seeds, and acorns from last fall, trying to find one that captured my imagination. While most days yielded little progress, I kept at it,… read more
Work in progress: more views of a sunflower
Today I continued my third day photographing this single sunflower. It’s amazing how deeply you can get drawn into such as simple object. The more I worked with it, the more I wanted to continue exploring. What surprised me most about this work was how… read more
Exploring a sunflower
Last weekend, my son and I found some sunflowers at Trader Joe’s. They looked so droopy I didn’t hold out much hope for them. But we bought them anyway, and were amazed at how much they bloomed once we got them in water. This photograph… read more
Work in progress: Glass slipper
This past week I’ve been working on a backlog of photographs I had taken throughout the year, but never got around to editing. One batch in particular was from a photo shoot I did of ice formations. We had just had several days of unstable… read more