About - Eric Busch

Thanks for having a look at my work. I’m full-time web developer and photographer living in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada.

Photography for me, above all else, is a meditative practice. It’s a practice which forces me to stop forcing, to let go and moves me to a place of deeper awareness. Only then will I start to notice the subtle changes all around and only then will I be able to create images which are personally satisfying.

Dead tree in a pool of lily pads near Lake Superior

Inspiration

The philosophy of “emptiness and absence” from classical Chinese poetry and landscape paintings inspires me. The formless aspects of an image can elevate it beyond the literal and it’s that quality that I try to capture through photography.

I’m currently inspired by the art of:

Beginnings

In the 90s my parents gave me my first DSLR and the holy trinity of lenses. Inspired by the work of Galen Rowell and David Muench, I ventured into the woods and Ozark mountains near St. Louis with my camera loaded with Kodachrome 64 or, when I could afford it, Fuji Velvia 50.

After completing university, I continued casually shooting while I was living and working in South Korea. However, around this time, film gave way to digital and I found myself struggling to enjoy the post-processing aspect of photography.

In 2021, I decided I wanted to get more serious about photography. I knew that would require learning some basic post-processing techniques. So I dove head-first into a few courses and quickly started to enjoy the art of processing raw images.

Process

These days, I never plan my shots. I go into nature and respond to what is. The primary result of this is a meditative state that rejuvenates and invigorates. The side-effect might be some images that I like.

Winter on the Sydenham River in Grey County

I typically spend my time practicing photography near my home. I find that there is so much to respond to if I remain open and receptive.

I enjoy creating mysterious images often times of ephemera. I prefer minimal compositions though I still try to retain the energy inherent in those scenes.

I perform relatively simple editing techniques on my images in Lightroom and occasionally Photoshop. I don’t swap out skies or inject external elements into my images via AI or other methods.

Publications:

Website

I custom designed this website to complement my images as best as possible. My goal was to build a site which was simple, minimal and provided the best viewing experience as possible.

Gear

What gear do you use? You either like or loathe that question. I don’t mind sharing as I actually do enjoy gear-talk. Some photographers avoid gear-talk like they avoid discussing personal finances. If that’s you, you can stop reading now.

If you’re still here, I recently switched from the full frame Canon R5 with a 24-105mm and 100-500mm system to the OM System OM-1 Mark II with the 8-25, 12-40 and 40-150 lenses. The smaller system suits my needs much better. It’s lighter therefore easier to carry around all day. It’s smaller so I can carry a smaller bag or more food and clothes in a larger bag. It has twice the depth of field as a full frame camera so less focus stacking. It’s also extremely waterproof so I can enjoy shooting in bad weather or from the canoe without having to worry about the elements. I also have some circular Kase ND filters.

Thanks for reading!
~Eric