About Me - aknphoto

Anthony Nelson Photography


(323) 450-6076

About Me

I have been a commercial freelance photographer based in Los Angeles since 1980. Over that period of time I've worked with a diverse and eclectic group of clients. Past experience includes product photography for Robinson's, The Broadway and now E-commerce catalogs. I have also done facility and annual reports for numerous corporations, and environmental portraits for many editorial publications. Through working experience, provided a wide range of photographic skills and lighting styles as well as delivered with expertise the commissioned endeavor of creating beautiful, dynamic photographic images. Technical excellence and aesthetic sensibility are fundamental in my visceral creative process. Post production computer imagery has also become invaluable in producing the montage consignments and fine art prints. When not taking photographs, gardening and music provide inspiration to life and art.


I first shot weddings and events for friends, family and acquaintances through church. As opportunities became available I have learned not all weddings were alike and each was a personal experience endeared by the wedding party and their guests. Capturing the event’s character and spirit is always at the heart of my vision. The ability to shoot on location with the available light spontaneously and collaborating with a variety of personalities and life styles has been developed in my professional demeanor. Wedding photography requires not only technical competency but a inspiration which is anticipated in the industry. I am available and would enjoy speaking with you about your wedding plans and my rates.

Transparent Garden

The Transparent Garden is a body of work that emerged from a study of light patterns, symmetry, transparency and transformation. Patterns of light served as primary constituents in the creative discovery of the complex geometric designs. Utilizing digital imaging techniques, various filters of transparency were applied to distinguish the different qualities of color and contrast in the images of light. In doing so, the property of transmitting light through another specified medium of light or radiation is done digitally rather than electromagnetically. This is analogous to what is done in rendering the images of celestial galaxies, black holes, exploding nebulas and gravitational waves in astrophotography.

Initially, symmetric patterns of light were created through scaling, pairing, mirroring, rotation and translation of the patterns. As these images of light were layered, perspectives, distortions, and geometric transformations were done as compulsive manipulations in my creative process. In experience this was much like “doodling” as the formation of new transparent light patterns were created. Pervasive abstract symmetries inherent to the complex, layered ensemble were revealed through out the transfigurations from one visual context to the next. These emergent abstract shapes and designs that transpired at each integrative level were also often very familiar to kaleidoscopic, Islamic and Mandala images. Multiplying the source material increased the image size with transitional changes in the appearances of particle, waves and radiating visual forms of colored light transmission. It is interesting to realize our understanding of the universe and spirituality may indeed be imbedded in the properties of light and transparency. Also, keep in mind that in color perception, context is everything and one’s perceptions may be an illusion in reality. In other words, it is prudent not to believe everything you see.

For me, these geometric patterns created through this process of sequentially pairing, repeating, and transforming transparent layers of light triggers a larger awareness of our meditated relationship to the natural world and nature of being. In essence, this emergent visual behavior is some what synonymous to subatomic, biological and astronomical systems of life as we see them. For instance, the phenomenon of Life as studied in biology is commonly perceived as an emergent property of interacting molecules as studied in chemistry, whose phenomena reflect interactions among elementary particles, modeled in particle physics, that at such astronomical higher levels exhibit the behavior of matter, waves and radiation of energy. The emergent perception and perspective in what one believes to be real and true and what one thinks is probable and possible, progressively changes in time and size. When one examines the universe from the standpoint of contemporary science and finds that our universe is much stranger than we are capable of supposing and that assumptions such as a rock being solid and our bodies being the same throughout our life are incorrect, then we may stretch our perspective by thinking the improbable and believing the impossible.

As a Christian, I think about God all the time. While reading The Bible, I try to understand what is true. How was Christ transfigured and how am I spiritually transformed and enlighten with Gods Life? If Christ is the light, is God transparent? I am convinced that such an idea cannot be created or invented but can only be discovered within ourselves, and that it is, as it were, almost a law of our own nature. It is the most precious possession and the source of our innermost creative soul and joy. Why it should be that some people have this sort of text while others do not, and what 'meaning' it has, is not something which lends itself to argument. As an artist I do not decide how important it is for other people, but creatively embrace the value it has for myself by cultivating my own garden.

Powered by SmugMug Log In