Scott Reither – The Meditative Experience In Landscape Photography

Scott Reither has achieved more individual honours at the International Photography Awards than any other photographer – 40 at last count! He turned to BCreative to provide more context and meaning for his work. 

To become aware of the subtlety of nature you need to be alert. The moment you become alert you become still… thinking subsides. That is actually a higher state of consciousness than thinking. – Eckhart Tolle The conspicuous beauty in Scott Reither’s photographs is only the beginning of their alluring appeal to the senses. Reither has the deft ability to show more than what is initially observed. When considered carefully, Reither’s photographs can be transformative. It all depends on how you look at them and what you’re looking for. Consciousness matters as much as composition, color or the specific location of each scene. The work is meant as a meditative exercise on purity, on what it means to be present and aware. Reither’s more than 40 individual honors at the International Photography Awards – the Oscars for the camera crowd – certainly prove the value in the way he pays attention. But such recognition is the corollary and not the cause of the work – the reward for Reither is when his photographs move others to emotion and awareness. Reither came to his career as a fine art photographer by way of his love for exploration. Born in Carmel and raised in Monterey, Reither happily fell under the spell of Big Sur – the idyllic stretch of the California coast that once inspired Edward Weston in his photographic journey. In his late 20s, Reither set out for an extended ramble through southeast Asia with a camera as an afterthought. Once cracked open to experience, he learned to express through imagery what it means to be viscerally alive and to show with his camera what is true to his heart. The first photograph he ever sold was of a temple in Vietnam. His work has been spiritually grounded from the start. Reither has brought the same purposeful attention to his current home base of Hawaii – Maui has been his stomping grounds for the past 15 years and he has a keen eye for what makes it special. His photographs are like love poems to the raw beauty of these ancient islands. But as with all of his work, Reither strives to create something more holistically valuable in the way he sees a landscape. . His compositions are skillfully executed to be meditative more than contemplative – in a way, there is nothing to think here but everything to feel. Reither’s photographs are intended to bring the viewer into alignment with the power of the present moment. Their deceiving simplicity is part of their strength. The stillness, peacefulness and pure beauty in each photograph is calculated to provoke a more personally introspective consideration of what it means to be present and aware. Reither wants to set the mind at ease and alert the senses. His photographs are intuitive, lush and heartfelt. And Reither knows how to embrace beauty for all its worth. Now known internationally for the theatricality of his color photographs and the expressive clarity of his black-and-white work (he has won awards for both), Reither remains soft spoken and well-intentioned. Some years back, he lived for a month in a Zen monastery and surrendered to silence. He learned to be respectful of his surroundings and mindful of the value in every present moment. Doing without communication or technology or many of the daily expectations that govern a life – all those supposed “losses” – made Reither more alert, more awake to the fullness in every experience. His photographs do much the same thing – by accepting the simple purity in beauty, he allows us to marvel at its power.

© Barry Dumka