Impressionist photography?

The Daily Mail reports on a French-Canadian photographer who’s managed to imitate an Impressionist style in his photographs of water features.

These colourful images could masterpieces by the world’s greatest oil painters – but are in fact photographs of trees reflected in the ripples of a river.

Graphic designer Denis Collette, 63, evokes the spirit of works of artists such as Monet, Van Gogh and Turner with his photographic studies of a river and lake near his countryside cottage.

The reflections of the gold, red and green leaves have a blurry, ‘oil-painting’ effect, caused by ripples on the water.

His pictures also capture the reflection of the sky, clouds and sun.

Denis has taken thousands of photos on his morning and evening walks along the river and lake.

The results vary depending on the direction of the wind, the water level, position of the light and the seasons.

He said: ‘I like the creativity of the water and like to be surprised. I have taken thousands of photos of reflections and they are all unique.’

There’s more at the link.

I was fascinated by the photographs provided with the article, and did a quick Internet search for more information. Turns out M. Collette has a Flickr photostream with many examples of his work, not only these Impressionist-style pictures, but also others in different styles.

All the pictures in this blog post have been taken from his Flickr gallery. Highly recommended viewing for all those interested in photography and special effects. Prints of his work are also available.

Peter