The most perfect photograph imaginable is this Asclepias incarnata. It has many layers of perfect form combined with complexity and balance.

In nature photographs, it's almost impossible to get a high degree of complexity without flaws, but once in awhile you luck out. The amount of flawless complexity in this photo is stunning. It meets every criterion of perfect art.

One of its main features is stunning lines. All of the lines complement each other. Human designs get to about the third line and run into conflicts. Nature did about a hundred lines without conflict.

The value of this cluster of purple cone flowers is in the aesthetics and color. It grabs the eye from some distance. The degree of complexity is stunning—small yellow flowers among the foliage, reeds shrouding the lake, an elm branch added and a degree of blue to the water that normally does not occur in a photo. It frames well because of color contrasts.

Black Samsons have a wildness to them. They are so hard that they are still visible the next year, when they turn black. This photo captures the exotic appearance with an environment which enhances the colors and removes distractions.

Wildness results from whipping grass which strips leaves and flower petals. The response of Black Samson is leaves which are hard and close to the ground, and flowers which are elevated above the grass.

This tractor is a 1938 Farmall F-20. Much of the value of this image is historical. Such technology is long gone. It was a masterpiece of engineering art, while tractors seldom were. Then the rust color replacing the paint was a great improvement. I had to synthesize the front wheel, which was rusted away and shredded, but you expect that of antiques. You would rather see the spark plug wires broken off, and the sediment bowl missing, than every detail in its original condition. It shows the age. And yet there is not a scratch or dent; nothing added, and nothing removed, which is unheard of for old tractors. I drove it last in 1964. It was a jewel to drive, with a gearbox on the steering and cast iron steering wheel. You could just give it a spin to turn.

These wagon wheels have a lot of form, aesthetics and balance for randomly distributed remains of something that is mostly gone. The first thing that makes it art is that the colors are perfectly matched. There is something that time does for colors which paint can't do. Then there is the mystery of ancient technology which used a wooden axle with steel wheels. There is a different type of form in the rearrangement of pieces in a perfectly balanced way.
 

 
It's very difficult to produce photo art which is natural and free from enhancement effects. Most photo art relies upon the addition of colors to make scenery look eye-catching. It's like eating a sugar cube. It dissolves in a few seconds, and you would prefer something more complex. Humans cannot produce the degree of complexity that nature can. But finding art, ready to go, in nature is extremely difficult. There are always problems which you can't control with any subject. Only a very small percent of any shots will be free from flaws. Overcoming this problem requires two things. One is a lot of potential material. A good wildflower environment provides this. The other is living close enough to that environment to be there continuously, as conditions change. Even then, there are very few years which produce wildflowers like the ones photographed here.

Gary Novak