The story behind the photograph
In San Diego, downtown, near Tuna Harbor, on an afternoon shoot while visiting on business... spending so much time in Colorado around mountain wildlife its exciting to see marine life like this brown pelican!”
We Are Escaped · Psalm 124:7
“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
In Tom Bartel's words
“In San Diego, downtown, near Tuna Harbor, on an afternoon shoot while visiting on business...”
Read the story →
From the photograph Two Steps And Air by Tom Bartel, Colorado · View the original →
Picture
ArtPhotographVerse
Format
Crisp detail on archival fine-art paper, set behind glazing in a gallery frame.
Size
Holds a wall on its own, over a console or desk
31.5″ × 21.5″ on the wall, with the frame
Good detail. Made to be seen from a step or two back, as a piece this size usually is.
Above 24″, printed from an enlarged file
The piece was developed in our studio using digital and AI tools, and the same tools enlarged it for large-format printing. At these sizes fine detail is interpreted rather than photographed.
Frame: Black
- Printed to order and with you in about 5 to 10 business days.
- $33 shipping within the United States.
- Damaged in transit? We replace it free, within 30 days.
- Each piece is printed for you, so we can’t take back an undamaged one.
A brown pelican lifts from dark water, wings spread wide and feet trailing spray, photographed from above in black and white. Behind it, two bursts of foam mark where the bird ran across the surface before takeoff. Hard directional light picks out every primary feather and each scattered droplet against the near black water.
Why these words
The bird breaks free of the black water at the right of the frame while the disturbance it escaped writes itself in white across the left, an image of release rather than of flight for its own sake.
The photograph that inspired this piece
It begins with an original photograph by Tom Bartel of a real place. This version was developed from that photograph in our studio, using digital and AI tools guided by the original’s own composition, and these words set over the finished picture. How these are made.
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