Signature Member Spotlight: Photographer Harry Starr

By: Kara Dicker

Upon viewing Harry Starr’s landscape photography, one is struck by the captured beauty within his work. “Fall Blanket” depicts a barn isolated within a field of early November snow. The colors are stark - red barn, white snow. And yet, there is a textural softness to the piece that pulls you in, revealing hints of autumn- leaves and sticks momentarily suspended, insulated by the sudden burst of weather. Among the plein air and other landscape portraits inside the Galleries of Heartland Art Club, Starr’s photography feels much like a painting.

Fall Blanket, by Harry Starr.

“I follow a lot more painters than I do photographers,” Starr said. “There is a heavy influence.”

Starr lives in Macoupin County, Illinois. It’s where he was born and raised. It’s where there is still a family farm. It’s where, for the last 16 years, he has been discovering a new appreciation for the barns, bales, and split rails of his upbringing. “If I’m driving down the road, the camera (Nikon D-800 or Nikon Z-7) is always with me in the truck,” he said.

It was along State Route 4, less than a hundred feet off the road, where Starr was struck recently by the sight of a giant, ancient oak. As a testimony to its size and age, the tree pushed against the side of a wooden outbuilding; its trunk bore an enormous knothole. “The tree oozes character,” Starr said. As he does with many of his scenes, Starr will revisit the tree over and again, considering how to best “pick out the part of interest that tells a story.”

Oak Tree, by Harry Star

Recording the natural landscape may seem like a sharp contrast to Starr’s early days as an action photographer when he followed his love for motorcycles to rallies and races around the country. Industry magazines featured his work. Then, in 2008, the recession hit the racing world particularly hard. Starr changed his course, soon recognizing the drama within the rural landscape was just as exciting as the adrenaline behind racing.

The key, Star discovered, is to understand weather and light. “I love fog,” he said, citing its ability to soften the feeling of a scene. “There’s just an emotional element to it.” He said Macoupin County is rich in natural, undisturbed woodlands, where morning ground fog emerges from its forest floors and ponds. “It adds dramatically to a photo; it can change everything.” He added that fog can serve as a natural editing tool, masking out the unwanted building in the background, for example.

Like a painter, Starr has developed skillful understanding for the effects of natural light. While he especially enjoys the gentle tones of morning and evening, he cannot resist the challenge of chasing a photo during nature’s unpredictable moments. He described the disappointment of not being able to photograph a barn as afternoon storm clouds passed over, illuminated by the sun. “There was no way I could get to it in time,” Starr said. “It was a big frustration. I hate missing out on those opportunities.”

Then, there was this: One recent afternoon a pop-up storm struck as the sky blackened. Starr was on the road heading home. He wanted a foreground element to photograph against the ominous sky. He pulled off the road near a church. He spotted an old tree covered in ivy. “It was cool because the storm was passing by, and the light broke through, and there was a bit of a rainbow just at the trunk of the tree,” he said. For Starr, it was one of those “there it is” moments that makes the art of photography especially satisfying.

Starr joined Heartland Art Club in 2018 and became a Signature Member in 2022. He said having his work juried by a national panel provides a special sense of validation. He recently participated in the Signature Members’ Showcase at Lindenwood University and had work selected for last year’s national Represensational show at HAC. Starr said he appreciates the warm encouragement he’s encountered being a member of Heartland Art Club. “Shawn Cornell, Marie Donato, Mary Drastal, Steve Morris, and Lisa Ober were my first contacts there,” Starr said. “They were so good to me and still are today, super kind and helpful. They make you feel like family.”

Untitled, by Harry Starr