This is artwork is installed in the corridor outside the main conference rooms at the Canon Corporate Headquarters in Melville, NY.

Elements used in this image:

Red Maples (Acer Rubrum): these maples were individually picked and photographed in the studio with a Canon Macro Lens EF 100mm 1:2.8 USM. They were then worked into a composition in Adobe Photoshop. This tree is part of the site planting plan at the new Canon USA headquarters in Melville. This is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of Eastern North America. The U.S. Forest service recognizes it as the most common variety of tree in America.

Evolutionary Tree (center right of artwork): this image is the great naturalist Darwin's first sketch of how species might evolve along branches of an imaginary tree, an idea that quickly came to symbolize the theory of evolution by natural selection. The branching structure of a tree or better still a tangled bank of wild flowers was the inspiration that helped to crystallize Darwin's vision.

Background: the background texture is based on a merging of paint and leaf textures.

All photography by Hugh O'Donnell

Natural Insight: About the Project

The digital artworks in this collection are inspired by the world of nature, and in particular the four seasons. They employ the use of Canon's photographic and printing technology together with the traditional tools of the fine art painter. Canon technology is helping us to see the micro and macro worlds previously unavailable to us. This has deepened our understanding of the holistic interdependent biosphere that we inhabit and its connection to the rest of the universe.

These conceptual artworks were created to provide an interrelationship of Hugh O'Donnell's traditional painting techniques, botanical imagery, and in particular plantings at the new Canon Americas headquarters, as well as imagery from the natural world, poetry, bio-mimicry, and scientific references. Canon optical innovations and Canon equipment, including the Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera and various lenses, were used throughout.

The artworks have been developed to exploit the capacity of high definition digital optics. To this end, the materials and photographs used in the works were captured and composed to allow for large scale fine art mural printing in high definition on Canon printers. Photographic elements, with some exceptions, were shot by Hugh O'Donnell.