Look at the World Differently: Artist Scott Radke

Artist Scott Radke is well-known in the art community for his incredible figural sculptures and instantly recognizable style. I started following his Facebook page about a year ago because I admired his incredible voice and imagination. But what I didn’t realize was what an eye he had for nature photography that captures the synchronicities and magics that quietly surround us every day. Over the course of the past six months or so especially, his page and profile have been among my favorites to see pop up in my feed on Facebook and Instagram, as each new photo takes my breath away and gives me that lift of joy that a moment of wonderment truly can. And by the way…This is just his photography. He also does short nature videos that are just as stunning. Running his phone camera through dewy grass at sunrise makes its own fantastical world.

With the breathtaking photos he takes, I somehow expected that he probably lived in Europe somewhere, or the Pacific Northwest. I was extremely surprised to find out that he lives in my own home state, Ohio. When I started this blog on my re-launched website, sharing his work and asking him some questions was at the top of my priority list. Come explore the images that have so awed me!

Grace Nuth: Were you always drawn toward the natural world, even in childhood? 

Scott Radke: Walking in the woods was probably my first favorite thing about being here.

GN: How often a week would you say you go out into nature? 

SR: Every day, sometimes several times. I don’t stay long I just pop in and out. Luckily I am close to what I need then I go home and work.

GN: What is your equipment you use for your nature photography? Any techniques or tools you’d want to share? 

SR: I use an iPhone 11 now and a Canon eos5d.  A macro attachment for your phone is a good investment and can make taking photos of dandelions more fun than the Grand Canyon.

GN: It looks like you have a beautiful garden. Can you describe it to us? 

SR: Thanks :) I have always planted sunflowers my entire front yard every year to where you can’t even see my house. The last few years I’ve started planting dahlias in the back. 

GN: Do you have favorite spots to go in nature? I’ve seen several photographs in a meadow. Is that a favorite? Any others?

SR: I have a few spots I frequent for photos. I do enjoy that meadow and how it changes with each season. I don’t have a favorite spot but using water and reflections is what I enjoy most.

GN: Have you ever lived anywhere but Ohio? As a fellow Ohioan (never lived elsewhere) I’ve noticed a lot of fantasy artists are based elsewhere and/or their art celebrates a non-Midwest aesthetic. But with your photography of your sculptures set in local nature, and especially with your nature photography celebrating small daily magics and synchronicities, you seem to embrace and celebrate nature here, where you are. Was it a struggle to find beauty in the local nature, did you ever yearn to move away to the coast, to the mountains, to more dramatic nature than Ohio’s beautiful but underrated countryside?

SR: I’ve always lived in and around Cleveland. I used Lake Erie when I lived near it. Very different then where I am just 20 minutes away now. What is most enjoyable where I am now is that my work has combined with my surroundings more so than any other time. I also started photographing and filming this or that that happens along the way. It’s like all that I would do and see as a kid, but now there is always a camera in my hand. That and having the sculpture meshed with it. I couldn’t ask for a better place to live. It’s not a huge forest by any stretch but it’s all I need.

GN: How would you describe your personal spirituality?

SR: I work on a lot of things every single day. Yoga and meditation. That, and being a father. Everything else is secondary.

“If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius

GN: Do you have to work hard to find the small cunning moments from your photos and videos? (Hearts in cobwebs, feathers dancing with the reflection of the crescent moon) or is this something that comes easily to you?

SR: The best things come easily but I wont say I don’t try too. Its really just a matter of always dipping my toes in it eventually something happens. I take way too many photos and videos.

GN: How do you determine where to explore in nature each day? Do you feel like you are drawn by a guide or muse to the places where you will find magical moments in nature? It depends on the season etc. 

SR: I have my usual spots, so I know what I can find at certain places at different times of the year or day. How the light is, the weather, etc. I can usually tell where I am going to photograph a sculpture before its finished; sometimes the idea of shooting it in a certain place comes before its even started.

GN: Your sculptures seem almost fey in a dark but non-harmful sense. Do you believe in the Faerie Realm, and fey beings? 

SR: I don’t not believe in it but no, it’s not something I think much about. I choose to try and not think much about where it comes from.

GN: Do you have any plans to formally share your nature photography, like an exhibition or a book? 

SR: I have a lot of images I would love to combine in a book, but that’s a big undertaking. I have all. I want from my art at the moment. Being able to create, survive, etc is all I could ask for. But a nice book is a selfish desire I have, for sure.