Heather Diane Rule (Adams)

The nature photographs of Heather Diane Rule (Adams) fall into two opposite categories: the extreme close-up of a single bud or branch, breathtaking in its intimacy and clarity; and the deeply receding seascape, which turns a body of water into an endless, perfectly still surface. In both types of image, the Canadian landscape seems to speak with its own personality, recalling aspects of both the Hudson River School of painting and Ansel Adams. Rule’s work is animated by her sophisticated handling of light, which makes the subtlest gradations of light and dark visible.

The Toronto-born photographer spent her childhood in the forests and lakes of Ontario and now resides in British Columbia. She continues to mine nature for inspiration, combining carefully calibrated color and light variations within a composition to define an atmosphere that can “create the feeling of being outdoors from within.” Rule’s photographs are not limited to any one subject — her camera captures a gull’s feathers, a peaking poppy, and a dusting of individual snow crystals with the same ease, charm and verve.