Honeycomb Wilderness - From Photograph to Fine Art

In olden times back when animal power still dominated transportation, there was no safe or secure way to cross from the east of the Appalachian Mountains to the west because of a long mountain range full of endless ridges and valleys. 

Early colonial settlers considered these mountainous ridges the far Wild West and rarely ventured beyond them. Waterways such as the long and winding Tennessee River were the super highways of the day, taking tribesmen and traders down from the Smokey Mountains to the lower deltas.  

Eventually American pioneers such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett ventured through the mountainous passes, settling on the Cumberland Plateau near where Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia meet along the Tennessee River, west of Nickajack Lake which would be located about 30 miles to the left of this image. 

This is an image of Honeycomb Cove, part of Guntersville Lake on the Tennessee River in Northern Alabama, I lensed while exploring the wilderness areas south of the Pain Rock Valley alond the Tennessee River.

These lands are full of limestone caves and caverns, historical Native American sites and old pioneer homesteads and cabins. On the border of Tennessee and Alabama in the Cumberland Plateau lies the Paint Rock Valley. Flanked by steep mountains and threaded by a meandering river, this place is so remote the residents of some of the outlying communities lived in a state of isolation that is hard to envision, electricity did not reach the valley until 1949.

From Photograph to Fine Art Print

The process of creating a fine art photographic reproduction is a multi-step process. One must consider what the final product will be by evaluating where the image will be displayed and in what lighting conditions will it hang.

For this image I created for a friend of mine, I decided to go from the full color photograph (above) to a monochrome off-blue version which would be printed on a special type of stainless steel which gives a beautiful satin matte luster finish to the image. 

After prepping the image and printing a number of small artist proofs to get the color spectrum density calibration correct for this type of media, I printed a full version of the image.

This is the final image I prepared to be printed:

I then hand delivered the image and a number of other ones to my friends back east and we had a bit of a get together where I signed them all. I know a lot of artists that use auto-pens for their signature, but I prefer and even insist on hand signing them so that it is truly touched by me! Here is a film of me signing this image:

And here I am holding the final signed piece:

I love that people enjoy collecting my works! And I have many different fine art images available if any of you steemians are collectors. Get in touch if you are interested in any of my work and remember, I will take cryptocurrency.

This image is from my ongoing project in which I am trying to raise awareness of the 47% of the USA and 90% of Canada that remain unpopulated wilderness.

Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition is my personal mission to introduce people to these amazing locations that surround us.

If you like what you see here upvote then resteemit so that others may experience these wondrous places as well. And if you'd like these images to be part of your feed then follow me.

Yehaw!!