It's hard to believe 2018 is nearly over already! It's certainly been a busy one. With so much going on I had to be a selective in the exhibitions I submitted to this year, but I still managed to exhibit 13 images in 6 galleries across 3 US States!
A highlight of the year was my vacation to Japan in the spring, and I've used some of my photos from that trip to create my 2019 calendar. As you may know, my annual calendar has become something of a tradition over the years. I usually pick a theme that is somewhat abstract so it should be no surprise that Impressions of Japan is not a simple travel calendar - each image reflects an aspect of Japanese culture as I experienced it. These are now available to everyone via Magcloud for the ridiculously low price of just $10. Click below if you'd like to check it out.
Art Photography Calendars by Nick Winkworth: 2019 Calendar - Impressions of Japan
2019 Calendar featuring 14 images of Japan.
My final exhibition of the year is "Surreal" which opens on December 20th ( and runs through January 27, 2019) at the Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, Vermont. My image "Breath of God" was selected by the juror/curator of this exhibition, photographer Ralph Hassenpflug. This picture (it's natural - no trickery!) was taken while on a visit to Prague last year. I noticed this strange effect (caused by the wind creating a low pressure outside the building, I think) as I walked past, so I hung out and waited for it to happen again ...and waited ...and waited. With much patience I eventually got lucky -- the wind blew again and I got the shot!
Breath of God
Other exhibitions I participated in this year are shown below and in many cases exhibition catalogs are available from the respective galleries. In addition, the Bay Area Photographers Collective (BAPC) - a community of about 25 local photographers here in the San Francisco Bay Area - of which I am one - has published its 2018 yearbook including several of my images. (available from Blurb):
Do check out the calendar and catalogs (you can browse online - no need to buy!)
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season! Here's to a creative 2019!
Nick
| Summary of the exhibitions I participated in this year: |
January-February: ARC Gallery, San Fransisco, California "Anthroposcene"
Exit By Numbers, "Air, Land and Sea", "The Sea, The Sky", "Jurassic Shore", "Bus Stop", "Inside Out", "Ugly"
February-March: A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas "Chair"
"Clean Area", "A Disreputable Past"
June-July: Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, Vermont "Personal Perspective"
Street Seen
July-August: Cordon-Potts Gallery, San Francisco CA "Tipping Point"
Untitled
September-October: Berkeley Arts Center, Berkeley, California "Of Dreams and Reality"
Gateway
December-January: Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, Vermont "Surreal"
Breath Of God
If so, you can now follow me on Instagram - I'll be trying to put something new out there every couple of days or so.
I really wasn't sure what sort of thing to post at first. Some artists post finished work. Some post photos of their cat. In the end I finally decided to just go my own way! "Miscellaneous" is the theme. Enjoy!
Click the link below to get started!
https://www.instagram.com/absoluteblank/
]]>
The BAPC exhibition "AnthropoScene" just closed after a successful run at the ARC Gallery in San Francisco. 14 of us had images in the show, which looked great and got some good foot traffic in the South-of-Market area of the city.
I'm thrilled to have work in another show at the A Smith gallery in Johnson City Texas. The latest exhibition is "Chair", juried by S Gayle Stevens. Two of my images "Clean Area" and "A Disreputable History" have been accepted into the show.
Clean Area |
A Disreputable History |
For those visiting Texas:
LOCATION: 105 N Nugent Ave, Johnson City, TX 78636
DATES: February 16, 2018 - March 25, 2018
HOURS: Friday/Saturday noon to 6pm, Sunday noon to 3pm and by appointment.
RECEPTION: February 24, 2018 4 to 8pm.
The Darkroom Gallery in Vermont re-opens after a break, and starts a new year, with its 100th exhibition "Open 2018". The full exhibition can be seen online here. I have two images, "Vanishing Point #1" and "Above and Behind", in the show.
Vanishing Point #1 |
Above and Behind |
For those visiting Vermont:
LOCATION: 12 Main St., Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
DATES: February 15 - March 18, 2018
HOURS: Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt. (802) 777-FOTO (3686)
For more timely info - sign up for my Newsletter!
Cheers!
Nick
]]>In Vermont one of my mannequin pictures from 2009 is finally in an exhibition! It just goes to show that it's never too late. The juror was William Albert Allard, National Geographic photographer. My image "Models" is in the exhibition "Multiples" which runs until October 22 (and may be extended further) at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont.
The catalog is available here: A really fun mix of work.
In Texas, one of my crazy minimalist pictures from Iceland has been juried into the show "Vistas" at the A Smith gallery in Johnson City, TX (just outside Austin). My image is titled "Moons of Jupiter" (I'm a space fan - and was inspired by the end of the amazing Cassini mission to Saturn). If you wonder what this is (spoiler alert!) - it's just a roadside puddle with some rocks and a reflection!
Moons Of Jupiter
Last Chance To See: "Places of Change" at the Pina Zangaro gallery in San Francisco runs through October 19th (ring the bell to be let in in if the door is closed!).
Opening Soon: The traveling exhibition "TPS:26 The International" will be The Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, TX, November 22, 2017, through January 27, 2018
Nick
]]>What's up this month?
1) I have 2 pieces in a new exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery in Vermont (details below).
2) Last chance to see: "Historic Gardens of the World" at Filoli house in Woodside CA. The exhibition is up until Sunday August 6th. It's a mixed media exhibition in the Filoli visitor and information center. (Note that you don't need to purchase admission to the house, just to see the exhibition) (I have 3 images in the show. Details in earlier posts)
3) The show "Reflect and Engage" at The Image Flow in Mill Valley, CA. is still on until August 25th. (Including one image of mine. See details in earlier posts)
4) The exhibition "TPS 26 - The International Competition" was extended through July 30 at the Wayne Stark Galleries in College Station, TX. Now the show moves on to Precision Camera & Video in Austin, TX—where it will hang in their gallery from August 14 through September 29, 2017. Next on the traveling circuit will be The Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, TX, November 22, 2017, through January 27, 2018, followed by Options Gallery at Odessa College in Odessa, TX, where it concludes in spring 2018. (I have 2 images in this show)
I hope your summer is going well!
Cheers!
Nick
NEW: "Portals" at PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
A portal can be an architectural feature: a gate, a doorway, a window, a mirror, or a tunnel, that frames or isolates or adds a new dimension to the image. In a fictional sense, a portal is also a magical doorway that connects two locations in space or time. This new exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery explores all those aspects. I have two images in the show: One in the gallery, and one in the online annexe. The show runs from August 16, 2017 - September 9, 2017.
The full exhibition can be seen online here: https://photoplacegallery.com/portals/
A full color catalog is available from Blurb books:
For those visiting Vermont:
LOCATION: 3 Park St., Middlebury., VT 05753
DATES: August 16, 2017 - September 9, 2017
HOURS: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1
RECEPTION: July 8, 2017
I hope your summer is off to a good start and you are keeping cool.
DON"T FORGET: If you live in the Bay Area, the exhibitions at Filoli House and The Image Flow are now open, and TPS 26 is open in Texas for another week, before it moves to a new location.
In addition, I have new work in exhibitions opening in Vermont and Los Angeles.
Have a great June everyone!
Nick
OPEN NOW: "Historic Gardens of the World" at Filoli House, Woodside, CA
Info: https://filoli.org/exhibits/
LOCATION: Filoli Visitor and Education Center, 86 Canada Road, Woodside, CA 94062
DATES: June 6, 2017 - August 6, 2017
HOURS: Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00am-3:30pm, Sunday: 11:00am-3:30pm
OPENING RECEPTION: "Meet The Artists Weekend" July 8 and 9
OPEN NOW: "Reflect and Engage" at The Image Flow Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
Info: http://www.theimageflow.com/gallery/
LOCATION: 401 MILLER AVE, SUITE A, MILL VALLEY, CA 94941 415.388.3569
DATES: June 2, 2017 - August 25, 2017
HOURS: Monday-Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm
RECEPTION: Saturday, June 3, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
OPEN NOW: "TPS 26: The International Competition"
Open Near Houston TX until June 16. Info: http://uart.tamu.edu/tps-26-the-international-competition/
LOCATION: J. Wayne Stark Gallery at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas
DATES: May 18, 2017 - June 16, 2017
(Moving to the Center For Contemporary Arts in Abeline, Texas during the fall of 2017 and then Options Gallery at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas, in early 2018.)
NEW: "Abstraction" at The Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, VT
Abstraction in art and photography is defined as the use of a visual language of color, shape, form, and line to create an image that may exist with an independence from visual references in the real world. Images for this exhibition were selected by Blue Mitchell, an independent publisher, curator, educator, and photographer, Based in Portland, OR. As usual, artists featured in the exhibition come from around the world. The Darkroom Gallery is in Essex Junction, Vermont, and I am currently a member of their Gallery Masters program.
The full exhibition can be seen online here: http://www.darkroomgallery.com/ex96
For those visiting Vermont:
LOCATION: 12 Main St., Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
DATES: June 22, 2017 - July 16, 2017
HOURS: Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt. (802) 777-FOTO (3686)
RECEPTION: July 8, 2017
NEW: "It's a Sign" at The 1650 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what happens when it's actually a picture of words? This month 1650 tackles the medium of messaging, with a juried photo competition of the world of signs, words and messages.
Consume
View the exhibition here: http://1650gallery.com/signs2017_exhibition.php
LOCATION: 1650 Echo Park Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90026
DATES: June 24, 2017 - July 22, 2017
HOURS: Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment ([email protected])
RECEPTION: Opening Night Party, Saturday June 22, 2017, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Chiaroscuro [kee-ahr-uh-skyoo-roh] is defined as "the distribution of light and shadow in an image" or " the use of deep variations and subtle gradations of light and shade, especially to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic purposes". It is also the name of the latest exhibition at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. (I am proud to say that I am a member of their Gallery Masters program, having had my work repeatedly selected by different jurors and curators). It's the first time one of my concert photographs has been selected for a show.
The full exhibition can be seen online here: http://www.darkroomgallery.com/ex94
For those visiting Vermont:
LOCATION
12 Main St., Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
DATES
April 21, 2017 - May 21, 2017
HOURS
Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt. (802) 777-FOTO (3686)
RECEPTION
May 13, 2017
"Historic Gardens of the World" at Filoli House, Woodside, CA
LOCATION
The exhibition is in the Filoli Visitor and Education Center
86 Canada Road, Woodside, CA 94062 Ph: (650) 364-8300x233
DATES
June 6, 2017 - August 6, 2017
HOURS
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00am-3:30pm, Sunday: 11:00am-3:30pm
OPENING RECEPTION
"Meet The Artists Weekend" July 8 and 9
"Reflect and Engage" at The Image Flow Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
Reflect and Engage is group exhibition at TheImageFlow Gallery in Mill Valley that examines themes of identity and engagement. It explores the connection between ourselves, our immediate communities, and our larger global society. Juried by: Linda Connor, Henrik Kam, Jeff Breidenbach, & The Image Flow.
My image Disobedience is included.
If you live in the Bay Area, don't miss this exhibition. The gallery is open every weekday, 10am-6pm.
LOCATION
401 MILLER AVE, SUITE A, MILL VALLEY, CA 94941 415.388.3569
DATES
June 2, 2017 - August 25, 2017
HOURS
Monday-Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm
RECEPTION
Saturday, June 3, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
In case you are wondering, this is a view from a cell at Alcatraz prison, shot through one of the glass bricks that serve as a window.
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Check out the show WINDOWS AND DOORS
The show opened on Saturday March 25th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 25th, but show will be up until April 28th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
"Exit By Numbers" is on display both at the A Smith gallery in Johnson City (near Austin, Texas) as part of the exhibition "Elsewhere", and at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA as part of the "2017 Statewide 2D Salon", where it was awarded an "Honorable Mention".
A Smith Gallery
103 N Nugent Ave
asmithgallery.com
March 17, 2017 - April 30, 2017
HOURS
Friday/Saturday noon to 6pm, Sunday noon to 3pm and by appointment.
RECEPTIONS
March 25 and April 29, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
"2017 Statewide 2D Salon" at The Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
This year’s Statewide 2D Competition & Exhibition was juried by Bob Nugent, artist, art educator, and curator of the Imagery Winery art collection. More than 1,200 entries were received this year, including all types of 2d art (painting, drawing, printmaking) as well as photography, from across California, and approximately 95 works were selected for inclusion in the exhibition. Exit By Numbers was awarded an Honorable Mention. These images are from the opening reception:
LOCATION
Triton Museum of Art
1505 Warburton Ave.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
www.tritonmuseum.org (408) 247-2438
DATES
March 11, 2017 - April 23, 2017
HOURS
Tuesday - Sunday: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Closed Mondays)
The Museum provides free admission, and free parking.
OPENING RECEPTION
Sunday March 12, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Last chance to see!
|
|
If you live in the Bay Area, don't miss the exhibition Into The Light at the Gray Loft gallery, Oakland. The exhibition closes this Saturday, March 18th with a wine tasting event at the gallery. My image Dune is included in the exhibition. LOCATION |
On THURSDAY Feb 23rd, I will be at Faction Brewing 2501 Monarch Street, Alameda, CA from 6-8pm, at the artists reception for the show "A Point Of Transition". (I have three images in the exhibition). There will be hors d'oeuvres and a no-host bar.
|
|
"A Point Of Transition" is a group show by members of the Bay Area Photographers Collective (BAPC), and the Alameda Photographers featuring photographs taken in and around the abandoned buildings on Alameda Point's former military base which will soon be demolished as part of the area's redevelopment plan. The selected Photographers were granted special access to the buildings in July 2016, giving them a unique opportunity to document a facility that is usually sealed to the public, and will soon be lost to history. Regular Viewing Hours: |
On SATURDAY Feb 25th, I will be at the 1650 Gallery in the arty Echo Park district of Los Angeles from 7:30 to 10:30pm at the artists reception for "Abstracts: The Alternative Eye". (I have one photograph in the show, and my photo "Up To The Edge" was used for the call-for-entry and marketing image for the show).
Window Treatment, 2016 |
The 1650 Gallery is a small basement gallery hidden in a trendy residential neighborhood. It's hard to figure out when it's open, so your best bet to see the show is to come along to the opening reception! The address is 1650 Echo Park Ave (North of Sunset Blvd), Los Angeles, California 90026 This image is another from the Alameda Point shoot. |
More receptions coming up:
FRIDAY March 10th: "Into The Light" is part of the 2nd Friday festivites in the fun arty neighborhood of Jingletown, Oakland. Loads to do and see!
SUNDAY March 12th, 2-4pm is the artists reception for the 2017 Statewide 2D Exhibition at the Trident Museum of Art, Santa Clara
SUNDAY March 18th: The Gray Loft Gallery closes "Into The Light" with a wine tasting event.
]]>
Nick
"Le Paysage" at The Darkroom Gallery, Vermont
The Blue Book (2015)
Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer. - Ansel Adams
The full exhibition can be seen online here: http://www.darkroomgallery.com/ex91
For those visiting Vermont:
LOCATION
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
DATES
February 2, 2017 - February 26, 2017
HOURS
Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt. (802) 777-FOTO (3686)
RECEPTION
February 11, 2017
"Into The Light" at The Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland CA
The Gray Loft Gallery was voted Best Art Gallery in the 2016 Oakland Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards, and has been referred to as a hidden gem in Jingletown.
LOCATION
Gray Loft Gallery
2889 Ford Street, 3rd Floor
Oakland, CA 94601
grayloftgallery.com (510) 499 3445
DATES
February 11, 2017 - March 18, 2017
HOURS
Saturdays, 1:00 to 5:00 pm, Sundays by appointment
RECEPTIONS
Opening Reception, Saturday, February 11, 4 - 7pm
2nd Friday Reception*, March 10 11, 6 – 9 pm
Closing Reception and wine tasting: Saturday, March 18, 3:00 – 5:30 pm
*This is part of Jingletown's regular "2nd Friday" open studios. A great time to explore this fun neighborhood, as many galleries and studios will be open.
"A Point Of Transition" at Faction Brewing, Alameda CA
Interior, Building #3 (2016)This exhibit features photographs shot in and around several abandoned buildings on Alameda Point's former military base which will soon be demolished as part of the area's redevelopment plan. The participating Photographers were granted special access to the buildings in July 2016, giving them a unique opportunity to document a facility that is usually sealed to the public, and will soon be lost to history.
Several images from each photographer will be shown
More information on the BAPC can be found here: bapc.photo
LOCATION
Faction Brewing, 2501 Monarch Street, Alameda CA
factionbrewing.com
DATES
February 23, 2017 - March 5, 2017
HOURS
Wednesdays – Saturdays, Noon–8pm and Sundays, Noon to 6pm
OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday February 23, 6-8pm
"2017 Statewide 2D Salon" at The Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara
(This is another image from Alameda Point Naval Air Station featured in the show "A Point Of Transition" above. The markings on the wall are unexplained, but likely related to the evacuation and clearout of the facility.)
This year’s Statewide 2D Competition & Exhibition was juried by Bob Nugent, artist, art educator, and Curator of the Imagery Winery Art Collection. More than 1,200 entries were received this year, including all types of 2d art (painting, drawing, printmaking) as well as photography, from across California, and approximately 95 works were ultimately selected for inclusion in the exhibition.
LOCATION
The Triton Museum of Art
1505 Warburton Ave.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
www.tritonmuseum.org (408) 247-2438
DATES
March 11, 2017 - April 23, 2017
HOURS
Tuesday - Sunday: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Closed Mondays)
The Museum provides free admission, and free parking.
OPENING RECEPTION
Sunday March 12, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
In July, I had two pieces accepted for the show A Sense of Place - a juried group exhibition at Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, Vermont. Work was selected by Jane Fulton Alt, award winning photographer, winner of the 2007 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award, and multiple Ragdale Foundation Fellowships. My image "The Patient Spirit" was picked for the Gallery, and "Here Comes The Sun" was selected for the On-Line Annexe.
The Patient Spirit
The Catalog for this exhibition (click below to view it and see all the images) is available from Blurb:
Catalog: A Sense of Place
In August, My image "Night Storm" was selected for the exhibition The Sea: Above and Below at the 1650 Gallery in Los Angeles' Echo Park neighborhood. This image was actually taken while on a recent vacation in Greece and shows lightning at night over the Mediterranean.
This month (October) I am back at Photoplace Gallery again in the exhibition Man In The Landscape - a group exhibition juried by international award-winning photographer, Brett Erickson. My image: "Forest" was selected for the Gallery. The exhibition is on until October 18th.
Pictures from the gallery, showing all the pictures in the exhibition, are posted on Facebook, here.
The Catalog for the exhibition is available from Blurb:
Catalog: Man in The Landscape
Also in September, the Bay Area Photographers Collective (BAPC) held their annual All Members Exhibition Vanishing Point at Mullen Brothers Gallery, San Francisco, California USA.
Images were selected by the BAPC Exhibitions Committee. My images "Vanishing Point #1" and "Vanishing Point #3" were shown in the exhibition.
Vanishing Point #3
Vanishing Point #1 is one of four of my images in the 2016 BAPC Yearbook. This is also available from Blurb:
BAPC Yearbook 2016
OK. Onwards to 2017... Promise I'll post more pictures soon!
]]>
Images from the main gallery and the online "annex" are available online.
Dive In
.
Concrete Steel and Light
The Images for this exhibition were selected by Prudence Roberts, a local Portland based photographer and educator.
The exhibition will run from April 1st through April 20th, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday April 1, 6-8:00 pm (part of the Portland East Side Arts Walk)
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
Check out the gallery show online HERE. And the online annex HERE
]]>
Refuge
Very unusually (for me) this was taken on my phone! (an LG G4, if you care)
]]>
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Check out the show REFLECTIONS: The Visual Echo
The show opens Saturday February 20th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 20th, but show will be up until March 28th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
The Last Wave
]]>
This is something I do every year for friends and family, but if you would like one too - you can order one directly from MagCloud for just $9.99!
There it is. Happy (belated) New Year!
]]>
Urban Jungle
]]>
Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jennifer serves as the director of PhotoNOLA and her photographs have been featured in B&W, American Photo, Shots, Light Leaks, The Sun, and Oxford American magazines, as well as online publications. Her work is exhibited widely and held in collections, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Exhibition dates | January 8 to February 14, 2016
Reception | January 30, 2016, 4 to 7pm
Address | A Smith Gallery, 103 N Nugent Ave, Johnson City, TX 78636.
Email | [email protected]
Hours | Friday/Saturday noon to 6pm, Sunday noon to 3pm and by appointment.
Lines of Communication
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
The show opens Saturday December 12th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 12th, but show will be up until January 28th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
]]>
Gary is an environmental photojournalist and writer who's work has been published by Time, LIFE, New York Times Magazine, Discover, Smithsonian, National Geographic and Scientific American among many others. He received the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra Club and in 2010 he was named as one of the Forty Most Influential Nature Photographers by Outdoor Photography magazine.
The exhibition runs from December 10th through January 16th 2016.
I'm very lucky to have TWO of my images "Shore Line", and "Playing on the Edge of the World" selected for the show. Both images will be on display in the gallery:
Shore Line
Playing On The Edge of the World
Darkroom Gallery
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
Open Every Day (11:00-16:00) Exhibition: December 10th through January 16th 2016
Artists' Reception scheduled for December 18th, 2015, 5pm -7pm
Exhibition images can be seen online here:
The Exhibition Catalog for the show will be available soon.
]]>
Bubbles #1
Science!
]]>
My image is a triptych of photographs taken at a derelict tennis court in an old Naval shipyard - obviously no tennis will be happening here anytime soon. Hence the title.
Each of the three images is raised above the black background to give the whole piece a 3D look:
Love-Love
This year's juror was Julie Saul, owner of the Julie Saul Gallery in New York (in Chelsea for a decade following 15 years in Soho), Julie has taught and lectured at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York University, Christies, Sotheby's, and the School of Visual Arts. The selection process for PHOTOcentric is "blind" (ie. jurors are not given the names of the artists) and submissions come from amateur and professional photographers across the world.
Garrison Art Center
23 Garrison’s Landing, P.O. Box 4
Garrison, NY 10524
845.424.3960
Rather, the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction Vermont has just listed me among their "Darkroom Gallery Masters"!
|
This is in recognition of being selected for at least six exhibitions at the Darkroon Gallery in Essex Junction Vermont over the past three years. "Darkroom Gallery Masters" are photographers who create works that jurors repeatedly select due to content, concept, mastery of formal photographic elements and creative approach. - See more here. Different outside curators, or jurors, are chosen to select works for each exhibition. These are typically well known photographers, educators or gallerists. Entries for each show are submitted to the Juror for that exhibit anonymously. The juror does not know the name of the photographer or if two photos were taken by the same photographer and has sole discretion as to their selections. I have two images in the current gallery exhibition at Darkroom, Oddity, and I will also have two in the next exhibition, H2O, coming up in December. |
Thanks Darkroom!
all entries are submitted to the Juror for that exhibit anonymously. The juror will not know the name of the photographer or if two photos were taken by the same photographer. Jurors are charged with selecting about 45 entries for display in the Darkroom Gallery, in Essex Jct. Vermont. Jurors have sole discretion as to their selections. - See more at: http://www.darkroomgallery.com/submissions/selection#sthash.iD8lJVEN.dpuf
The exhibition runs from November 12th through December 6th 2015.
I'm very lucky to have TWO of my images "Outer Peace", and "Rainbow Over San Jose Airport" selected for the show. Both images will be on display in the gallery:
Outer Peace
Rainbow Over San Jose Airport
Darkroom Gallery
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
Open Every Day (11:00-16:00) Exhibition: November 12th through December 6th, 2015
Artists' Reception scheduled for November 22nd, 2015, 5pm -7pm
Exhibition images can be seen online here:
The Exhibition Catalog for the show will be available soon.
]]>
Show dates: November 13 to December 11, 2015
Opening reception: 2nd Friday, November 13, 6 – 9 pm
Closing reception: 2nd Friday ArtWalk: December 11, 6 – 9 pm
Open during the 10th Annual Jingletown Winter Artwalk, Dec. 5 & 6, 11-6 pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays, 1:00 to 5:00 pm, Sundays by appointment
Gallery address: 2889 Ford Street, third floor, Oakland, CA 94601 510.499.3445
Gray Loft Gallery is very pleased to present NATURE (re)DEFINED, a group show of photography inspired by nature. The photographs in the exhibit offer a wide range of styles, including alternative processes, as well as classic nature photography of landscapes and plant life as they are found in their natural environment. Traditional black and white images, color photography and mixed media works will be on view by a group of exceptional photographers.
About the Gray Loft Gallery
Gray Loft Gallery has been referred to as a hidden gem in Jingletown, and noted by Kenneth Baker, SF Chronicle, in his Visual Arts Don’t Miss Column as “…A space gaining prominence in the Bay Area…” The mission of the gallery is to provide exhibition opportunities for artists in a setting that is an alternative to the traditional gallery model. We hope to inspire, engage and celebrate artists in our community and beyond. We acknowledge the achievements of emerging, mid-career and established artists – with an emphasis on those who live and work in the Bay Area, in a non-traditional art space.
Three of my images were selected:
Forest
Hope to see you there!
]]>
As I blogged earlier, this is the large format wheat pasting project that involved posting "iconic" images (including one of mine), around the Texas town of Johnson City.
The catalog contains all the images involved as well as pictures of the event and the story behind it.
You can see the full book online by clicking on the image, and even buy a copy if you like it that much!
]]>
Broken Dreams
The Images for this exhibition were selected by Ethan Jackson, a visual artist and designer working with light, optics, and images. His projects include immersive optical installations in architecture, still and moving imagery about place and perception, interactive & generative digital works, photography, and video.
The exhibition will run from November 1st through November 20th, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday November 6, 6-8:00 pm (part of the Portland East Side Arts Walk)
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
Check out the show online HERE.
]]>
A Hard Place
]]>
Who Ya Gonna Call?
]]>
]]>
My image "That's Entertainment!" was one of those chosen.
That's Entertainment!
All the images can be seen at the bottom of this page.
The actual wheat pasting took place on June 26/27th, 2015. The images will remain until the forces of nature, sun and rain remove them. The book will come later (and include pictures of the decaying images on the wall.
The Gallery just released this slideshow of the wheat pasting in action. See if you can spot my picture:
Pro tip: The MUSIC OFF button is in the lower left corner of the player screen. Don't say I didn't warn you!
]]>
Playing By The Edge Of The World
]]>The theme of the exhibition is "LANDSCAPE: EARTH AND SKY" and images for the show were selected by Jacob and Alissa Hessler. Jacob is a fine art photographer specializing in large-scale landscapes. He teaches landscape photography with his wife Alissa at Maine Media Workshops, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Sedona PhotoFest and Photo Field Trip.
The image they selected, "bubbles", (one that some of you may have seen before) is not exactly a traditional landscape! The brief was to look at landscape with a fresh perspective and unique eye, and indeed it's fascinating to see this alongside more traditional interpretations of landscape.
The Exhibition runs from October 16th to November 20th, 2015.
(Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
Image:
An exhibition catalog will be available soon from Blurb books.
]]>
The Wind Before the Storm
]]>After a busy summer I finally decided it was time to update my online presence, which was starting to look a little tired. The site now has a modern new look and can adapt to any device or window size. There's a new logo too!
Here's my new Home page (featuring a full screen slideshow):
Cleaning up the content is still a work in progress. I'm reorganizing a few things, removing some of the "meh" stuff and adding new work. Some is done, but look out for more changes in the coming weeks.
You may also notice that the monthly "Featured Image" is gone. Instead I'll be posting photos to the blog on a much more frequent basis, the idea is for this to become more of a photo blog (there will be news too!).
Check back often, share, and let me know how you like it!
]]>
Apparently some people consider these things ominous...
Bad Omen? (Lunar Eclipse, Sep 27, 2015)
This picture is from last year - nothing bad happened after that one, right?
"Blood Moon", (Lunar eclipse, Oct 2014)
The current exhibition at the Dark Room gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont tries to embrace it all. From the smallest anatomical detail to the vastness of space, it's all fair game. That gives artists a lot of scope of course, and the quality of the work shows that.
I'm very lucky to have one of my images "Complexus" selected for the show, which is on display in the gallery from June 25th through July 19th
Complexus
View the image in the Absoluteblank gallery:
Images were selected by juror Dan Burkholder - one of the first photographic artists to embrace digital technology in the early 1990’s. 
Originating the digital-negative process in 1992, Burkholder helped open doors for black and white photographers interested in moving into the new electronic technologies. His award-winning book, Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, is regarded as the most authoritative work in the field. Dan has taught classes and workshops at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the lnternational Center of Photography in New York, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and others.
Darkroom Gallery
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
Open Every Day (11:00-16:00) Exhibition: June 25th through July 19th
Artists' Reception scheduled for July 17th, 2015
The Exhibition Catalog for the show is available now, and can be viewed online to review all the work in the show (and can be purchased) here:
]]>
From June 16th through August 23rd, Filoli will host a photographic exhibition "Angles, Lines and Curves - Architecture of the World".
My image "Full Sail" (showing the Four Seasons hotel in East Palo Alto) from the series "A Touch of Blue", is one of the photographs selected for the show.
The exhibition is in the Filoli Visitor and Education Center (VEC)
86 Canada Road, Woodside, CA 94062 Ph: (650) 364-8300x233
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00am-3:30pm, Sunday: 11:00am-3:30pm
Full Sail
See this image in the Gallery.
As well as their organic aesthetic and a sense of time suggested by wear and repair, I loved the way these steps show a pragmatic approach to construction. The big steps and small steps don't line up. The spacing changes to get round the curve. And yet it all works somehow. Rather than being based on a careful plan, these steps appear to have been created spontaneously in response to some immediate need - almost like they grew naturally out of the ground, shaped by their environment and needs of practical use.
Then there's the question of why someone needed two types of steps going to the same place. A story there for sure.
]]>
Inside out
The secret here is the curved glass of a tall window where two buildings join at the end of a deep urban canyon. This makes it appear that the viewer in looking in to an outside space, while reflections of florescent lights dance and twist, and the reflection of a TV screen hangs in space.
The location clearly makes the window difficult to clean, and a patina of dirt spots adds to the surreal effect, while the layout of the buildings and the position of the camera allows the viewer to glimpse a thin sliver of both worlds, right and left.
Keep an eye out for shots like this. You'd be surprised what you'll find once you start looking.
However, "six before breakfast" should be left to the professionals!
]]>
This month's image was taken inside one of the buildings where Weiwei's work is installed, where I was drawn to the dilapidation and decay of the building, and in particular, to the panels of broken windows that divide the space.
Weiwei's artwork is about the fate of current political prisoners but it's set in the decaying shell of a prison which last held prisoners decades ago ...the past tied to the present. I felt that this symbol of the crumbling architecture juxtaposed with modern tourists and bright colors of the art, told the story. The knotted rope was a nice bonus.
]]>
What does all this have to do with my featured image for March? ...Nothing at all!
Security
There's something apparently ineffectual, but yet brilliant about using an electrical cord to secure your street furniture. Sure, someone could easily just cut it and steal your plastic chair or wobbly table, but ...what if the cord was plugged in? Would they risk it if they weren't sure? I'm also very taken with the mirrored red and green chairs ...and the whole not-quite-straight-ness of everything.
To me this picture combines graphic simplicity with a little mystery and the hint of a story (Who did this? Was someone taking his or her chairs? Who was that, and why? ). Having participated in SPARK a few times, I think I can feel a short story coming on!
]]>Show: "ABSTRACTS", 1650 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
My image "Up to the Edge" from my "Off the Wall" series was selected by juror/curator Andrew Overtoom for gallery exhibition:
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Check out the show ABSTRACTS
The show opens TONIGHT Saturday February 28th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is tonight on the 28th, but show will be up until March 28th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
HERE are some photos of the opening reception for the "Windows and Doors" show at the 1650 (my image "Diamonds" was included - can you find it?).
]]>
Following last month's warm tones, Surf Rider is another coastal landscape, but with a very different character and tone to January's image - despite being taken on the same trip to Oregon. It shows one daring soul emerging from the maelstrom having (apparently) tamed the waves. Unfortunately I didn't see him actually surfing. I arrived just in time to take this.
And that's the question behind the image of course ...did he really do it?
Next up is a show at the Dark Room Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. The theme is "Lines" and the exhibition is curated by Rebecca Senf, from the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona and the Phoenix Art Museum. Selected images come from around the world including the UK, Canada, Italy, Germany and Greece, as well as the USA.
This is one of my many contrail images. The title, in case you didn't get it, is a reference to "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun", a song by British psychedelic band Pink Floyd. The viewers' perspective is from someone trapped in a dark remote place looking up the plane, far away and beyond reach - heading towards the sun.
The exhibit opens on February 26th, 2015, and runs through March 22nd, 2015.
An artists' Reception is scheduled for March 22nd, 2015 - See more HERE
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
Hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt.
(802) 777-FOTO (3686)
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
I witnessed this amazing sunset on a quiet beach in Southern Oregon just a few short weeks ago. Although no-one could have guessed how it would turn out even a few minutes earlier, there happened to be several photographers and would-be photographers on the beach that day. I for one, was running around like a lunatic, trying to find different vantage points and compositions as the light changed from second to second.
This particular shot was taken quite early in the sequence of photos, when the sun was still just above the horizon and yes, I know sunsets are a bit of a cliche, and to be avoided as serious artistic subjects, but I feel this sunset is a little special and this shot is made "OK" by the presence of another photographer who provides a human focal point and helps give the picture a sense of scale.
Wishing you all a healthy and happy 2015.
]]>Each round of the SPARK project starts when the visual artist provides a piece of work as an inspiration for their partnered writer – who in turn provides an inspirational piece of writing – typically fiction or poetry. Each partner then has ten days to respond in their chosen medium, and the results are shared on the web.
This round my SPARK partner was poet Anthony Valade.
My inspiration piece for Anthony was this:
The Collector
You can read the poem Anthony created in response here.
Anthony shared a poem as an inspiration for me, and I created this photograph in response:
Promised Land
Anthony's inspiration poem From Nowhere (Comfort Zone) and my photo can be found together here.
This image shows a rainbow fragment that appeared over San Jose airport (those are the buildings you can see - the runway is hidden behind the earth bank). Photography is all about luck ...and being ready when that lucky moment happens!
As usual, ALL the work is amazing and fascinating: I highly recommend you to check it out and browse around.
]]>What's a little different - and the reason I wanted to include it as a featured image for December - is that it's an example of a new approach I'm experimenting with. In contrast to my usual graphic style, this image has a lot going on with many stories seeming to unfold simultaneously around the picture. Each little group adds their own narrative to the bigger one. Here it is: a day at the beach.
Another characteristic feature is that it's taken from above (a cliff top in this case). I plan to slowly add to this series over time.
Those of you on the snowy East coast (or freezing England), may like to know that this was taken just a few of weeks ago in Capitola, just South of Santa Cruz. Ah yes, November on the beach!
Let me know what you think!
]]>You know that it's getting close to the holidays when you start having to think about calendars for the following year! As many of you know, I create a calendar for friends and family every year, and for a couple of years now I have made it available for everyone to purchase, via MagCloud (now part of Blurb books).
This year I'm sharing one of my strange obsessions: shop window dummies, or mannequins. I know I'm not alone in attributing thoughts and feelings to these inanimate objects, so I hope you'll appreciate it too. The calender runs January 2015 to January 2016, includes 14 images, and shows US and UK holidays
You can order calenders directly from MagCloud (link below) for $9.99.
2015 Fine Art Photography calendar featuring 14 original images by Nick Winkworth. The theme is "Uncanny" - an exploration of the lives of store mannequins.
Art Prints
Just use CODE: XMAS14 when you checkout on www.absoluteblank.com.
Show Added in Portland
For those of you in the rainy North West, starting Monday December 1st, and running through the 20th, I will have an image on display at the Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon as part of the juried exhibition: "Poetics of Light". This means I'll have work in four galleries during December - adding this one to galleries in Los Angeles, Oakland, CA and Middlebury, Vermont.
The Images for this exhibition were selected by Tricia Hoffman, Executive Director of Newspace Center for Photography in Portland.
The exhibition will run from December 1st through December 20th, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday December 5, 5-8:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
Check out the show HERE (Link will be added later)
Finally, it's not too late to catch the "Illuminations" exhibition at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, just North of San Diego, which runs through November 25th.
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Address:
Poway Center for the Performing Arts
15498 Espola Rd.
Poway
CA 92064.
Those of you who celebrate it, have a wonderful Turkey Day!
]]>
Auralite
See this image in the gallery.
THIS WEEKEND!
Show Opening: "Windows and Doors", 1650 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
The theme of this show is Windows and Doors. My image "Diamonds" was selected for gallery exhibition and my images "Dog, Bird, Squirrel" and "Keeping Secrets" were selected for the online annexe by juror/curator Andrew Overtoom.
Diamonds
Dog, Bird, Squirrel
Keeping Secrets
Check out the show WINDOWS AND DOORS and also the Annexe
The show opens on Saturday November 15th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 15th, but show will be up until December 12th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
Work was selected by Alessandra Moctezuma, Gallery Director/Professor at San Diego Mesa College.
The exhibition will take place from October 31st to November 25th, 2014 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, just North of San Diego:
Exhibition Dates:
October 31st to November 25th
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Address:
Poway Center for the Performing Arts
15498 Espola Rd.
Poway
CA 92064.
Reception is Saturday November 1st, 5-7pm
Click to see the image in the gallery.
This one was the result of one of those right-place, right-time moments. In a dimly lit section of a museum I was visiting, I noticed these kids interacting with images projected onto a table from above. I already had my camera (just a small point and shoot) out and ready, and by resting my camera on the table I was able to steady it enough to capture this photo illuminated only by the light reflected from the table.
The full exhibition may be seen online here.
]]>
As with other images in this series, I'm drawn to the fact that we just can't help projecting human thoughts and feelings onto the dummies. Even though we know they are only plastic, we still interpret their expressions, and voice the thoughts in their heads - I guess we are just wired that way. I won't tell you my interpretation but I'm going to leave it to you to come up with your own. (...but feel free to share in the comments!)
]]>
Opening reception is this Thursday, Oct 9th, 5pm-7pm.
This exhibition started life as an experiment. First, one photograph was chosen to start the conversation, then visual responses to this were requested and the first received (without curation) became the next "statement" in the conversation and the trigger for the next one.
Eventually 25 images from 25 different photographers made up the "conversation" which can now be seen at Bucci's, as well as in a book, available from BAPC.
In the words of contributor and book creator, Barbara Kyne:
"Like all conversations, this one moved in many directions, at times circuitous, at times repetitious, emotionally
moving, humorous and sometimes inexplicably, with juxtapositions being visual, conceptual, literal, metaphorical or transformative. The expressiveness was just as much in the connections made as the images themselves – making for a rich, challenging and provocative viewing experience.
Ultimately the conversation evokes the mystery of beings going about their lives with every day simplicity and complexity, with thrills, danger, joy and hard work, in our vast ancient landscapes at once awe-inspiring and alienating, in our societal cultures both isolating and life-sustaining – a sort of inner/outer, public/private, Eastern/Western conversation from our diverse membership. Yes. Without words, we have a deeply complex and satisfying conversation."
My image in the conversation, is this one:
Jump!
If you are in the Bay Area, I hope you can make it to the restaurant!
]]>The gallery is the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas - just outside Austin.
The exhibition theme is "Forgotten" and has some absolutely wonderful work in it, selected by juror, Blue Mitchell, an independent publisher, curator, educator, and photographer based in Portland, Oregon.
You can view the selected work here.
My image, "Time Out", was actually taken at the Tate Modern Gallery in London earlier this year.
Time Out
Exhibition dates | September 19 to November 2, 2014
Reception | September 27 & October 25, 2014 both 4 to 7pm
Address | A Smith Gallery, 105 N Nugent Ave, Johnson City, TX 78636.
Email | [email protected]
Hours | Friday/Saturday noon to 6pm, Sunday noon to 3pm and by appointment.
]]>
I have two pictures selected for the show, "WATER: ELEMENTAL AND FUNDAMENAL" - one in the gallery, and another online. The juror for this show is Laura Moya, the Director of Photolucida for over eight years. Laura has been a juror/curator for many prestigious prestigious photographic exhibitions and galleries, including the annual "Critical Mass" event.
The two images selected are "Galaxies" (a night shot of coins in a fountain), and "Natural" (a drainage pipe in Tamalpias State Park with the inside of the pipe illuminated by flash.)
The Exhibition runs from September 23rd to October 17th, 2014. Arts Walk Reception: Friday, October 10th, 5:30-7:00 pm
(Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
Images:
Galaxies
Natural
An exhibition catalog is available from Blurb books, click on the cover below to view.
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
Who has three identical pictures of the same thing? And if they did, why would they hang them all together? Perhaps it was a bulk purchase!
The repetition seems a way of underlining a point. Just to be completely sure. It reminded me of a film I saw once about the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in which he is walking through an orchard, saying "that's a tree, and that's a tree, and that's a tree ....". Hence my title!
Comments and thoughts welcome as ever.
]]>
The trapped bubbles in the window film, and the swirled scratches provide a unique foreground to the multiple layers of depth that's characteristic of these reflection images. I love the ambiguity and mystery that every one of these reflection pictures seems to bring.
So why "Jazz"? Well, I've been doing a lot of concert photography recently (check some of it out HERE), and something about the image reminds me of the angularity, interplay and complex structure of Jazz ...and, if you look closely, you'll see the word is (almost) in there!
]]>Show: " IN MOTION", 1650 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
As you can see, the theme of this show is motion. My images "Christmas in Monterey" and "Carousel" were selected by juror/curator Andrew Overtoom for gallery exhibition:
Christmas in Monterey
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Carousel
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Check out the show IN MOTION
The show opens on Saturday August 9th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 9th, but show will be up until August 30th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
Just for grins, HERE are some photos of the opening reception for the previous show at the 1650 (my image "San Fransisco from the South" was in it - because of the awkward shape, I decided to let them print and frame that one. This time, I'm printing and matting!)
]]>
The idea is that a dentist setting up a new office will want to smarten up the place with some artwork, and might just be tempted to add a print or two to the shopping cart along with the laughing gas and a couple of sterilizers. We shall see...
Here's what some of the installations look like:
Next time you are at the dentist, feel free to drop a subtle hint!
]]>
The significance of this was not lost on the local dignitaries in 1938 who, when the aqueduct was completed, constructed a faux-Greek temple, complete with reflecting pool - the Pulgas Water Temple - at the end point of the aqueduct. The words "I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people " [from Isaiah 43:20] are inscribed on the masonry.
This month's image is of that reflecting pool. The place is just a little odd, being surrounded by trees, just a few inches deep, and located in a rather out of the way place, but the shadows and reflections really appealed to me. Hope you like it too.
]]>
The photo in question is The Golden Path (a recent featured image) and will be part of the gallery exhibition FINDING THE LIGHT, which runs from July 1st to July 25th, 2014. (Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
The Golden Path
A catalog is available from Blurb books, click on the cover below to view.
Show: "Landscape: The Big Country", 1650 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
My image "San Francisco from the South" was selected for gallery exhibition:
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Yes, my portfolio includes landscapes too... You'll be able to see this one at the 1650 gallery in the trendy Echo Park neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Check out the show Landscape: The Big Country
The show opens on Saturday June 28th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 28th, but show will be up until July 21st. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
]]>
I'm pleased to say that my image "Dark House" was one of these, and is featured in the series "Nine Peaked Roofs":
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
From high atop even one of the areas more modest peaks, one can see a long way. Here the layers of receding mountains are punctuated by a forest of wind turbines in the distance. (You'll need to click to bring up the larger image, in order to see it). Still, it does lend interest to the photo!
In case you are wondering, that's a dry stone wall that runs along the base of the nearest hill - one of the underappreciated wonders of the British countryside. http://www.absoluteblank.com/landscape#h2f26315
]]>
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
The clocks have "sprung" forward, it's finally warming up and light has acquired that wonderful golden quality that comes only in the months just before the summer heat. That's the light I see in this picture. In the past I might have called this an abstract, but after many conversations on the subject I think it's more accurately "a semi-abstract".
Sure, this image is certainly all about pure shape, color and composition, but it's still identifiable as a real place. There's a path. There's a shadow. The illuminated side of the path looks warm, comfortable and inviting, and yet the path curves inexorably into a deep shadow where details are hard to discern and anything might be lurking.
Hm. I think I might just have convinced myself that this one is about life and death... What do you think?
]]>Show: "Stormy Weather", 1650 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
My image "Dark House" was selected for gallery exhibition:
Some of you might recognize this image as one of my early ones (from Colorado, actually). The gallery is in the trendy Echo Park neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Check out the show Stormy Weather
The show opens on Saturday April 12th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm.
Gallery Hours: The main event is on the 12th, but show will be up until May 3rd. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
Address:
1650 Echo Park Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
Show: "Greyscale", Black Box Gallery (Portland, Oregon)
My image "Point Arena Vista" was selected for inclusion in the online gallery.
Even though I don't do much black and white photography, I've had several black and white images accepted into shows recently. Maybe it's a sign I need to do more!
The exhibition runs from April 1st through April 20th, 2014 with an opening reception on Friday April 4th, 5-8:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
Check out the show Greyscale.
]]>
It's amazing what you can find in antique shops! There's also the interesting question of how objects unintentionally relate to each other.
In this case, I happened to come across this pair of busts (I wonder what they were originally used for) in the back of a small place in Santa Cruz, sporting some vintage military headwear. It wasn't until I looked at the image at home that I noticed the rather disturbing picture behind the pair.
I don't know about you, but the juxtaposition brings so many ideas to mind. I don't want to contaminate your ideas with mine - I'd rather you found in it what you will - but I think the title is enough of a clue.
Let me know in the comments, if you like
With warm greetings from the California unWinter.
]]>
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
At first sight, this image is all about composition and geometry: The shadow on the building mirrors the slope of the the thin contrail. We can see how the trails diffuse over time - first thin, then medium and finally very diffuse - and as they cross they echo the grid of panels on the building wall. There's even an echo of the empty sky in the empty street below.
However the title refers not only to the diverging angles in the image, but also to the contrast between the world of earth and the world of air. The streaking plane is directly over a bicycle. The lines of the building are straight and geometric while the lines of the vapor trails are vague and imprecise, and in the process of becoming more so, ...and eventually dissolving completely.
Wishing you all a great start to 2014.
]]>
"Five Elements", Darkroom Gallery (Essex Jct., Vermont)
My image "The Sea, the Sky" was selected for gallery exhibition and awarded an Honorable Mention.
The Sea, The Sky
This show includes images by photographers from the US, Canada, The Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Brazil, Italy and the UK selected by photographer, writer and teacher, Eddie Soloway. Photo District News named Eddie one of the country's top photographic workshop instructors and today he divides his time between making fine-art prints, teaching, speaking on creativity and the photographic life, and photographic publishing projects.
Check out the show HERE.
The exhibition will run from January 9th through February 2nd, 2014
Gallery Hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00-4:00 and by appt.
Address:
12 Main St.
Essex Jct., VT 05452-3132
(802) 777-FOTO (3686)
"New Color Photography", Black Box Gallery (Portland, Oregon)
My image "Diamonds" was selected for inclusion in the online gallery.
Diamonds
The images for this exhibition were selected by Kelli Pennington, an instructor of photography in Portland, Oregon, who received her MFA in photography from Syracuse University and has been exhibited and written about nationally and she has won fellowships and awards.
The exhibition will run from January 1st through January 20th, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday January 3, 5-8:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
Check out the show HERE (Link will be added later)
]]>As in previous years I have a calendar, some random stuff, and a holiday discount on artist prints.
2014 Calendars
Friends and family who regularly receive calendars from me will continue to do so, of course, but now everyone can have one! (And if you are already getting one, buy more as gifts!) Just click on the link below!
These calendars are saddle stitched, printed on heavyweight paper, just like calendars you typically see in stores.
The theme this year is “Water” and includes 14 brand new images, covering 13 months plus the front cover, with both US and UK holidays marked.
The 2014 calendars are available now directly from Magcloud for just $9.99 plus shipping. You can browse through the calendar and order your copy here:
2014 calender featuring art photography by nationally exhibited photographer Nick Winkworth on the theme "Water".
Notecards
Yes, still a few left! Packs of six notecards. (Six different images, 5"x7", $15+$3 shipping). Order here.
Get them before they're all gone!
Postcards
I still have a few exhibition postcards left from some of my early shows. Get 'em before they're gone! Just $2.50 for three different postcards including postage.
Click here for more information.
Holiday Offer – 30% off any Artist Print
A secret code, just for you:
To celebrate 2013 – a year which saw no less than 12 of my images selected for juried exhibitions across the country, I want to close the year with a special offer for anyone who would like an exhibition quality print of their own.
Artist prints are hand made by me in my studio, signed and matted using 100% archival quality materials, ready for you to frame. The larger sizes are offered as limited editions of 15 or 25.
Just choose an image from absoluteblank.com and enter the code APRINT30 at checkout. (But don’t procrastinate too long – this code expires on Jan 13, 2014!)
Enjoy the holiday season!
]]>
I've long had a slight obsession with the ability of glass - and especially windows - to show multiple levels of depth simultaneously: the the view through the glass, the reflection behind the viewer and the glass surface itself. This recent image is an example of exactly that.
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
The subject here is an exotic flower in a greenhouse, framed behind a dirty glass window pane. The flower seems to intrude into the world of the reflected landscape behind the viewer - we see a blue sky, what may be palm fronds or tree branches, the vague impression of buildings. These three planes of existence are combined in the image -- three dimensions into one!
]]>The Collective provides a "home base for Bay Area photographers to promote and encourage independence, experimentation, cooperation, and creativity" and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of their collective expertise in peer reviews of future projects and in exhibiting with the group at shows throughout the year.
You can see my page on the BAPC website, here:
Don't forget to check out the work of all the BAPC members. Just about every photographic style and technique is represented.
]]>
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
From time to time we are witness to strange or unusual phenomena - those fleeting and elusive events that defy explanation. When this happens our minds tend to look for patterns, connections and causality. We ask "what does this mean?", or "why did that happen"? As if nature owed us an explanation.
Here, ridge-top clouds parted for a a split-second to reveal a sunlit hillside that almost jumped out of the shadowed landscape, topped by a miraculous single glowing cloud. In the foreground, the cloud is mirrored in miniature by a small scrap of discarded paper.
The symbolism doesn't have to be meaningful - it's enough that it's mysterious. We impose our own meaning. With hindsight, some might connect these phenomena with subsequent events and see the moment as one of mystical foreshadowing. Actually of course, this "meaning" may just be the unconscious mind trying to tell conscious one that it's doing something really stupid that will have (as yet) unforeseen consequences.
Either way, you can make up your own mind. A simple natural phenomenon, or a warning sign...?
]]>I'm pleased to announce that my image "Diamonds" is included in the show -- and is an award-winner in the architectural category!
This year's jurors Cig Harvey and Robin Rice wrote "After five years of Garrison Art Center’s annual photography show, we have learned not to be surprised by the talent of the artists submitting work for consideration. This year’s PHOTOcentric once again represents a vast array of honed observations--from the most ethereal capturing of a misty night to the sensitive documentation of a rare fossil, from the nonobjective abstraction of an architectural element to the haunting dematerialization of a living being. We are fortunate indeed to have human beings in our midst who are intent upon presenting for all to see their creative interpretations of the world around them and inside them."
My image:
Hours, directions and visitor information is available from the gallery here:
Garrison Art Center
23 Garrison’s Landing,
P.O. Box 4 Garrison,
NY 10524
845.424.3960
garrisonartcenter.org
An exhibition catalog including all works in the show will be available for purchase.
]]>
This show, MOUNTAINS AND SEA, runs from September 10th to October 4th, 2013 – both in the gallery and online. (Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
My image which was selected for online gallery exhibition, is: “Open Water II”
A catalog is available from Blurb books, click on the cover below to view.
My inspiration piece conjured images of old people, and things related to the end of life, but I just couldn't find a suitable subject. As the time limit approached, I created a collage of some things I'd found which related to the poem, and tried to evoke the feeling of the words. The result is very different from my usual style!
SPARK 19 Response Piece (Untitled)
Here's my inspiration piece:
Hospice
When she’s rocking in a chair of silence,
swaying between now and then,
her world may not be silent
as she drifts into the distant past-
To listen.
Her senses focused inward
on voices near and far –
those melodies from long ago: a child’s laughter, a lover’s song,
the winds that moved her life along- and blew the echoes
Into the stillness.
The rush of youth just slipped away
leaving wordless images that make her smile
and so much empty time to fill -
to fill with thoughts, and thoughts, and thoughts
While waiting.
No words can set today apart when today comes once again,
yet ticking moments in these precious weeks
are gifts that some receive
to have that time to listen, remember, and reflect –
In peace.
Donna Kendall, 2013
The official SPARK pairing page is here:
----------
Here's the Image I provided to Donna:
I Nexus
Here is Donna's response:
Durus
He whispers - that the leopard still has spots
and the lion has its mane
but the she-wolf can be found no more
among all who are the same.
Alone - that poet stands upon the precipice
of verse that plunged us all
past reefs of frozen currents
where all alike may dwell.
Obscured by unbelief, his shadow pines away
where night and day have all but gone.
In the city that no longer weeps
lie the cold-sober shades of self-pardon.
Yet, his song still haunts our foolish games
while fog enshrouds the wrong
and pop-lit fantasies
have tainted epic songs.
Scheming hunters and their gatherers
have grown eyes instead of hands
and hearts which reached for others
withdrew within again.
Yet he whispers - that the leopard still has spots
and the lion has its mane,
but the she-wolf can be found no more
among all who are the same.
Donna Kendall, 2013
]]>This image was created as a response to a story by Lisa Eldridge in SPARK (the internet project that pairs writers and artists). The original image and story can be seen here.
After All These Years
See the full exhibition online, here.
This show, Eye on The Street, opened on September 4th, with an opening reception on September 6th, and runs until September 28.
The catalog is available from Blurb books here.
Eye On The Street: Catalog
The Gallery is open 11:00am-5:00pm, Wednesday to Saturday - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
THE KIERNAN GALLERY
23B West Washington St.
Lexington, VA 24450
Contact: [email protected]
]]>
Click to see the image in the gallery.
Today is the LAST DAY for Portlanders to see the exhibition, COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY NOW, at the Black Box Gallery, which has run from August 1st to August 20th. My image “White Angle” was chosen to be in the online annexe for the juried exhibition which you can continue to see here (even after the physical exhibition has closed).
Juror: Todd Johnson, photographer, gallerist and educator.
Exhibition Dates: August 1st-20th, 2013
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
Like most photographers, I have certain obsessions that I tend to return to, over and over again. Over time I am building bodies of work that reflect these themes. (I'll be adding these to my online gallery under "Other Work" so you can watch as these portfolios grow and change).
Naturally, it will occur sometimes that themes occasionally overlap. Then it's hard to know which group to put the work in!
This is one such case. Shadows, reflections and seeing through to something beyond or behind, all come together in this image.
Geo/Spatial I
Click to view the image in the gallery.
As so often in my work, the strong compositional and graphic aspect tends to dominate: "Geo" of course refers to "geometric" and "spatial" to the illusion of depth created by the beams (in front) and the view to the scene (apparently) behind.
Enjoy the summer!
]]>Here are a couple that show my images "in situ":
Both images are from my series "A Touch of Blue", which explores the impression of light and architecture for someone coming from grey England to the sunny West Coast of the USA.
1650 Gallery Images: Bubbles (Left), Full Sail (Right)
See the full exhibition online, here.
This show, Urban Landscape 2013, opens on Saturday July 20th, with an opening reception from 7:30-10:30pm. Come and see me there!
The main event is the 20th, but show will be up until August 11th. Open Sundays 12:00-4:00pm - or anytime by appointment (gallery email below).
1650 GALLERY
1650 Echo Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Contact: [email protected]
The image chosen is "Sky High", named after the short story it inspired as part of a 2011 SPARK pairing. You can read the story here.
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
This show, CITY, runs from July 25th to August 18th, 2013 – with an opening reception on August 2nd.
DARKROOM GALLERY
12 Main Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
(802) 777-FOTO (3686)
Gallery hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00am-4:00pm and by appt.
This image was made at the De Young museum in San Francisco, and was one of the first pictures I took with my new little FujiFilm X20 camera, This little thing is (just about) pocketable, has a large sensor and as you can see, pretty decent low light ability. I like that it is not compromised by a misplaced desire to shoot video, like so many are these days - this is a still photographers' camera. The thing I like most about it, however, is that it has a real optical viewfinder (rather than the electronic type, or - more commonly these days - none at all). There's just something that feels right holding a camera up to your eye, not to mention the added stability it gives.
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
I like this image anyway, but the figure at the window gives it the extra spark that makes it a keeper. I think this is one for my "Ghosts" series. What do you think?
]]>
The catalog can be viewed (and ordered) directly from Blurb Books (here).
You can also check out the catalog for Black Box's exhibition "Color: The Revolution" (here) which features my image LoveLoveLove
]]>
I had a great time chatting with the other photographers and met some lovely people. I hope I'll get to meet many of you again!
It's a small gallery, and a nice well curated selection of images. If you missed the reception, don't worry. The gallery is open every day from noon to 6pm, and the show is on until July 27th. The area is fun to explore too (no doubt I'll be back with a camera at some point!)
]]>To mark this occasion, the 4x5 Gallery in San Francisco, CA is holding an exhibition of images of San Francisco's second most iconic bridge. My image, "Iron and Light" is one of those selected for the show, which runs from June 17th through July 21st.
Iron and Light
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
To create this image I had to drive back and forth over the bridge at sunset holding my camera out of the sunroof! It took a few attempts over a couple of nights, but I finally got what I wanted!
The 4x5 Gallery is a new small photographic gallery located in San Francisco's trendy Lower Haight, at 442 Haight St., San Francisco.
The opening reception will be held THIS SATURDAY June 22nd, 4-7pm. I will be there and hope to see you at the gallery!
Here's your invitation:
If you happen to be in the neighborhood, check out the Black Box Gallery (811 E Burnside St.) where I have a photograph in the group show “Field Notes: Landscape and Architecture”. The opening reception is tonight so you might get a glass of wine if you play your cards right. (Just tell them I sent you!)
The print on exhibition was made by the gallery (not me), so I'm curious to see how that turned out!
Dark House
Have fun!
]]>Click here to view the image in the gallery.
Obviously the first thing that appealed to me was the symmetry of that central cloud with it's reflection neatly bracketing the "island" (technically a headland, I think).
The other aspect is the color. As you can see, the photo is split horizontally with the top half being more influenced by the blues of the sky while the lower part shows a warm beige tint from the sand which lies just inches below the surface of the water. The waters' edge is just out of shot, but you know it's there - the boundary of land and sea is implied.
By giving the viewer both this (implied) near and far (island) reference points - the distance is made to seem unimaginatively vast - and that far land becomes an exotic, desirable, but ultimately out-of-reach destination.
Hmm. Maybe it IS all about land after all...
]]>Images for this exhibition were selected by Tricia Hoffman, photographer and currently Executive Director of Newspace Center for Photography.
The image is Dark House:
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
It's great to finally have this particular image on exhibition -- and amongst such great company, too! It was taken in Colorado a few years ago and was one of the photographs that encouraged me to pursue photography seriously. If you are in (or near) Portland next month, please drop by and take a look.
The Black Box Gallery is located at 811 East Burnside St. Suite 212, Portland Oregon 97214. Tel: (503) 804-5032
(Note: Once the exhibition is open, all the selected images will be available to view on the Black Box Gallery website. There will also be a Blurb books catalog available for purchase.)
The opening reception will be held on Friday June 7, 5:00-8:30 pm as part of the "First Friday Arts Walk".
In person or online, I hope you enjoy the show!
]]>
After weeks of troubleshooting - ruling out all my personal computers and routers - I figured out that some malware must have got into my remotely hosted Wordpress site. The blog URL would regularly bring up a spam site claiming to be absoluteblog.net instead of my real blog! It was very frustrating and felt like a personal attack. (It seems the virus was poisoning the DNS translation tables, for all you techies out there).
I have taken the opportunity to move the whole thing to a new platform which is completely integrated with my website and online gallery. Everything is now in one place! Yay! I think it looks a little nicer, and is easier to read, too. You may be reading it right now! :) You don't need to change your bookmarks (absoluteblog.net or absoluteblank.com/blog - same thing! - or just go to the website and click on "blog"). Let me know what you think.
Lastly, if any email to me bounced recently, it's because a spammer was apparently using a server that hosts one of my mail accounts, so everyone who's email was on that server got blocked when the entire server was blacklisted. I believe it's fixed now, but just in case, I'm routing my mail a different way - so hopefully no more bounces.
May the technology gods be always on your side...
]]>
Clearing
Click here to see this image in the gallery:
This is another of those images. All those ideas of the lives passing overhead are juxtaposed with the bleak ordinariness of the scene on the ground. As I took this photograph it reminded me a little of an urban version of a jungle clearing. A small opening in the forest where one can see the sky.
And in this case, the sky is looking back.
]]>They also did a fantastic job of the catalog, click on the cover below to view.
This show, MYSTERIOUS VISIONS: Dreams, Fantasies and Mirages, runs from April 23rd to May 18th, 2013 – both in the gallery and online. (Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
My image, which was selected for gallery exhibition, as well as online, is: “The Patient Spirit”
The Patient Spirit
Click here to see the image in my gallery.
The exhibition catalog is available from Blurb, and can be seen here (…and as always, you can order your own copy, if you like the show!):
Mysterious Visions: Exhibition Catalog
If you love photography as art, this one is not to be missed. Please take a look.
]]>
Evening. Winter. San Francisco.
See this image in the Gallery.
It’s interesting to look at the featured image for April (made on the roof of SMOMA a few weeks ago) with time in mind..
Naturally, a photograph freezes a moment in time, and most photographers are familiar with Cartier-Bresson’s aphorism, “the decisive moment”. In this image, however, the signs of time are less precise – evoking a general feeling rather than capturing split-second action.
The shadow is high on the wall, the light is warm and the tree branches are clearly without leaves. That doesn’t tell you everything, but those clues do work in your subconscious to give a sense of when the picture was taken and what it might have felt like to be there on that day – even though what you are looking at is – after all – just a picture of a blank wall!
(And in case you wondered, the person who’s shadow you can see is not the photographer …the original image was actually taken at an oblique angle and “corrected” in post-processing to appear face-on.)
Feedback and comments welcome, as always.
]]>In this image, a winter sky and leafless foliage cast a uniform grey light over a gradually thawing frozen lake. The revealed water has become a mirror whose reflections merge seamlessly with those inside the waterlogged canoe.
For me, black-and-white seems to better capture that end-of-winter feeling which sees the first signs of victory in the battle against the frost before the real arrival of spring.
Ice, Receding
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
This is my featured image for March. Hope you like it!
]]>This show, THE MAGIC OF LIGHT, runs from March 1st to March 27th, 2013 – both in the gallery and online. (Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
Here’s my image that was selected: “Gantry”
Gantry
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
The exhibition catalog is available from Blurb, and can be seen here (…and as always, you can order your own copy, if you like the show!):
Magic of Light: Exhibition Catalog
I think this a particularly strong collection. Please take a look.
]]>
Evidence of Light
Click here to see the image in the Gallery.
I was attracted to this interesting old building here in my home town, now used for local government offices, because of its interesting nooks and crannies and the opportunity it offers for clean geometry.
However what makes this image jump out is the quality of light – a few minutes before sunset – reflected off the white paint, and the intricate shapes in the shadow detail across the balusters (not “banisters” btw – that’s the handrail!).
The combination of this warm glow with the cool blue reflection of sky and trees in the window was irresistible, but it still took many tries to find a composition I liked.
I hope you like it too!
]]>
This show, LINES: CROSSED AND WALKED AND OTHERWISE, runs from January 29th to February 13rd, 2013 – both in the gallery and online. (Online exhibition, gallery details and hours here).
PHOTOPLACE GALLERY
3 Park Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 989 2359
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1.
The images for this show were selected by Kirsten Rian a Portland-based artist, photographer, writer and teacher.
Wet/Dry
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
“Wet/Dry”, shows the fine lines outlining paving and channels carrying water to the edge of a fountain area where children play in summer. At the top of the image the surface transitions to dry as people cross the boundary.
The exhibition catalog is available from Blurb, and can be seen here (…and ordered, if you like the show!):
Lines: Walked and Crossed and Otherwise: Exhibition Catalog
There’s some great work here. Please take a look.
]]>
Cutting Iron
Click here to see the image in the Gallery.
During the holiday break I came across this pile of old saw blades that had been recycled as raw material for metalwork and sculpture. As well as the abstract qualities of the image – composition, texture and color – I was attracted by the idea that these blades, which were obviously made for cutting, had themselves been cut up. In fact I was this close to naming the image “irony” (- but I thought better of it just in time! )
]]>
It was all in my newsletter (Read it here) (Sign up here)
2013 Calendar
Now available for all!
This year I’ve switched to a new online service so everyone who wants one can get one (or order more, if you already have one!). Unlike previous calenders, these are saddle stitched, rather than ring bound, printed on heavyweight paper, rather than thick cardstock – similar to calendars you typically see in stores.
The theme this year is “Lines and Squares” – inspired by the poem of the same name by A.A. Milne. There are 14 brand new images, covering 13 months (plus the front cover) with both US and UK holidays marked.
The 2013 calendars are available now directly from Magcloud for just $9.99 plus shipping. You can browse through the calendar and order your copy Here.
Holiday Offer – 30% off any Artist Print
A secret code, just for you:
To celebrate 2012 – a year which saw no fewer than 6 of my images selected for juried exhibitions across the country, I want to close the year with a special offer for anyone who would like an exhibition quality print of their own.
Artist prints are hand made by me in my studio, signed and matted using 100% archival quality materials, ready for you to frame. The larger sizes are offered as limited editions of 15 or 25.
Just choose an image from absoluteblank.com and enter the code EXPOSE30 at checkout. (But don’t procrastinate too long – this code expires on Dec 31!)
]]>My start point this time around was the poem “In This Kitchen” by writer Cynthia Grady. The poem evokes the feeling of a warm active kitchen, and in particular, revolves around the baking of bread. It started me thinking about the emotional associations of bread, especially that fresh-baked smell that real estate agents believe helps sell houses, which evokes warm comforting feelings and a sense of well being.
The vision in my mind’s eye was a simple image that focused just on the bread itself – obviously warm and fresh from the oven. I wanted to keep the picture clean and uncluttered – a geometric division of space between bread and air, with the essence of the bread moving into the air.
Here’s the image and the poem (linked to the SPARK site):
The Poetry of Baking
In This Kitchen
By Cynthia Grady
The kitchen is where
my ambitions stir. Hopes
rise like bread dough
atop the fridge
in cornered warmth
(punch it down,
it doubles in size).
Tomatoes on the sill
ripen into dreams.
In the morning’s glow,
echoes of my father’s voice
swirl like flour dust.
His ghost rests on the stool
sifting, sifting, sifting,
the morning light shifting.
Here in this kitchen,
soups never lack spice.
Neither bakers nor poets go mad.
Here, poems feed the world.
Here’s where I’ll let you into a secret (SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read this bit if you just want to enjoy the image for what it is): hot bread photographs exactly the same as cold bread! Try it! I needed a way to make it look warm. The answer? Add steam! Because the bread wouldn’t do it by itself, my approach was to photograph the steam separately using a bread “stunt-double” made from a rolling pin wrapped in kitchen towel(!). I cooled the room by opening the windows, and soaked my bread substitute in hot water. Then, using the focused light from a flash, I froze the curls and shapes of the rising steam. Of my many steam shots (often quite beautiful) I chose this one to add warmth and vitality to my loaf.
At the same time, I provided this image as an inspiration for Cynthia. She created the beautiful poem “Lingering Light” in response, below.
Beneath the Balcony
Lingering Light
By Cynthia Grady
I remember the sun-baked warmth of an afternoon,
where no birdsong could be heard,
not a winged-creature buzzed,
I stood becalmed, relaxed, redeemed
Inside a honeyed silence.
Sunlight, like snowfall and love, transforms everything it touches.
I want the steadiness of the sun,
to look long enough to recognize everyone I meet.
I want the radiance of the sun,
to shine brightly enough to love everyone I know.
I want the sun’s flaming reach, the sun’s restorative ways.
I want to wrap a shawl of lacy shadows
around the shoulders of any stony façade.
I want the love that lingering light leaves with us.
Poets, have your moons– I want the sun.
You can find more about Cynthia and her work here.
Enjoy!
]]>
Natural Objects
Click here to see the image in the gallery,
I have long been fascinated by the shapes and textures of the metamorphic rocks that make up this part of the coast (created by the pulverizing action of the San Andreas fault), but abstract images based on rock surfaces didn’t offer the complexity I was looking for.
With this image, the foreground elements add mystery and narrative and help bridge the abstract with the natural forms and landscape qualities. I find am still drawn to the colors and folds of the rock surface, but is now this is just one layer among many.
Enjoy!
]]>
Exhibition: COLOR: THE REVOLUTION
I am pleased to announce that my image “LoveLoveLove” was chosen to be in the juried exhibition COLOR: THE REVOLUTION at the Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon, opening this weekend. The opening reception will be held to coincide with the First Friday Art Walk in East Side on Dec 7th.
Juror Katherine Ware, Curator of photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art, chose just twenty photographs for this gallery exhibition.
Opening Reception: Friday, December 7th, 2012, 5-8:30pm
Exhibition Dates: December 1st-22nd, 2012
Gallery Hours: Thurs-Fri 12am-5pm, and by appointment.
Gallery address:
811 East Burnside Street, Suite 212
Portland, Oregon
OR 97214
http://www.blackboxgallery.com
You can still subscribe to my blog of course, or follow my blog posts via Facebook, but Newsletters will be less frequent, require no effort on your part …and may contain some unique content or special offers!
Now, I’m sure some of the email addresses on my old (manual) mailing list were outdated or just plain wrong, so if you didn’t get one and would like to, just click on the picture or link below to go to my signup page. (And if you know someone else who might be interested please forward the link to them.)
Thanks!
The First Newsletter!
You can see it here:
Unfortunately I only get to include a handful of pictures, so I have had to be very selective. If there’s a favorite you think I should include, please let me know (…and also which image it should replace!)
Go ahead and share the link if you’d like! 
]]>
The Empty Room
Click here to view the image in my online gallery.
A recent photography workshop allowed me access to an old historic house that is in the midst of being renovated. A few rooms were staged for a Halloween haunted house tour — while others (like this one) were simply unused, in the midst of redecoration. It was great to have free reign to open some of those closed doors and poke around places where you felt you probably shouldn’t be. Opening one door I found that someone had used this dusty attic room to dump this large flag out of the way. The emptiness and confined space of the room – without even paint on the walls – gave the space a desolate atmosphere that I really wanted to capture.
No doubt there is any amount of possible symbolism here, but any interpretation you make is entirely your own.
Hope you like it!
]]>The images for this show were selected by Elizabeth Corden and Jan Potts from the Corden/Potts Gallery in San Francisco – known and respected in the photo world as teachers and reviewers as well as gallerists.
My image “Texas Time”, was selected for the online gallery and the exhibition catalog. This image was taken (surprise) in Houston Texas through the window of a store selling neon light art – an open door inside the store reveals an open courtyard beyond, and the street scene behind is reflected in the window glass. There’s no manipulation or double exposure here. That’s as it came from the camera.
Texas Time
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
The exhibition catalog is available from Blurb, and can be seen here (…and ordered, if you like the show!):
Windows and Mirrors: Exhibition Catalog
There’s some great work here. Please take a look.
]]>
Click here to see the Gallery Exhibition.
Click here to see the Online Annex.
These are the images which were selected. Click on each to see a larger version on my website.
Guggenheim
IO CLAY
The exhibition runs from October 13th until Nov 2nd. So hurry!
]]>
The salt ponds that surround San Francisco Bay create a surreal landscape of shallow featureless wetlands, divided by low dykes that separate the areas of increasing salinity. Although salt discourages vegetation, it does support a rich fauna of brine shrimp and algae — and that acts as a magnet for a host of wetland birds such as these egrets I spotted lined up along one of the decaying wooden walkways that criss-cross the area.
Birdline
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
This is a landscape dominated by horizontal lines – the horizon, bridges, power lines etc. – so the evenly spaced line of birds fits perfectly with the aesthetic of the local surroundings.
By the way, this is another of those images which looks as if it’s black-and-white …but it’s not. The haze has filtered out most of the color, but not all. This is exactly as it came from the camera! You might not notice it unless you compared it with a true monochrome version, but then you’d see that the “color” version has a certain “spark” of energy which is lost with the removal of the subtle color.
]]>The Bay Area was one of the lucky places on the route of the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour – piggy backed on a a specially modified 747 – as it made it’s way from Edwards Air Force base to a museum in Los Angeles, where it will reside permanently. On the way it passed low over the Golden Gate bridge and then headed down to NASA’s Ames research center at Moffat Field where many of the wind tunnel work in its design was done.
This historic journey was the last time the shuttle will ever be in the air, so I was one of many waiting for the shuttle and it’s fighter escort to pass overhead. Naturally I had my camera ready!
Enjoy!
Space Shuttle Endeavour's Last Journey
Click here to see more images.
]]>
The exhibition was juried and curated by Connie Imboden, a photographer and educator who’s work can be seen in the permanent collections of major art galleries across the world, including New York, San Fransisco, Paris and Cologne.
To quote the gallery; “The PhotoPlace Gallery exhibition WATER features photographs that capture water in all of its myriad physical and metaphorical forms. We are born from it. We cannot live without it. Its beauty captivates us. Its floods devastate us.”
My selected image is “Shore Line”: a semi-abstract contrasting the still, flat surface of an estuary outflow with the turbulence of the crashing ocean, separated only by a slim sand bar. This image is another example of my obsession with abstracting reality into lines, shapes, textures and colors, and although the image shown is in it’s “natural” orientation, I was very tempted to suggest it be hung on-end, or even upside-down! (It’s hard with a monitor, but try turning your head!). Cool, huh?
Shore Line
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
The exhibition catalog is available from Blurb, and can be seen here (…and ordered, if you like the show!):
Water: Exhibition Catalog
There’s some great work here. Please take a look.
]]>This month’s featured image was made in 2009 – not so long ago – but it’s interesting to compare with my featured image last month (which was shot earlier this year).
Egypt Examined
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
Like last month’s image, this one is also an exploration of an architectural detail, with a focus on shadow, light, texture and geometric form.
What makes the image work for me is its extraction from environment and context, giving the viewer no reference as to scale or location, forcing an examination of pure form and surface. Even then it’s NOT a pure abstract – my images always contain a clue that this is a photograph – and therefore a scene from life: something that can be seen in the real world. The link between abstract art and urban landscape is one of my consistent themes.
This suggests a possible alternative definition for “evolution”: rather than getting better at capturing images, perhaps what has developed is simply my selection process!
Hope you like it (…and please do share your comments!)
]]>
Up to the Edge
Click here to see the image in the online gallery.
In reality, of course, this architectural study is overflowing with detail. Sure, it’s all about composition, light and subtle color (I especially love images which first appear at first sight to be black-and-white, but aren’t), but look closer.
On further study, surface textures and patterns jump out, and the straight lines are neither simple nor straight. The play of light and shade makes the image three-dimensional and solid. But that’s reality for you.
Finally, I like the ambiguity of scale, There’s no clue in the image to help the viewer judge how big it is, or what may lie outside the frame. That’s the photographer for you!
]]>
Greenland
Click here to see this in my online gallery.
The Exhibition is titled ALTERNATIVE REALITIES, and seeks to bring together photographs that broaden the definition of realism in photography to encompass subjects that seem imaginary, mysterious, fictional, magical, or even mystical. You can see the online exhibition here.
The exhibition is on display at the gallery from today, Aug. 7 thru Sept. 1, 2012. Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-1. and by appointment only on Sundays and Mondays. (Address is on the PhotoPlace website.)
The catalog is available from Blurb Books and may be seen (and purchased at reasonable cost!) here:
ALTERNATIVE REALITIES catalog
Please DO take a look at the exhibition – there is so much fascinating work – it’s well worth your time. Promise.
]]>
The Last Outpost
Click here to see this image in the gallery.
The first piece of luck was being able to pull onto a barely used frontage road sandwiched between a busy freeway and the railway tracks. I had noticed the fast-moving clouds dragged their shadows across the dry hills as they raced by, constantly changing the scene in a mesmerizing game of “what will the spotlight shine on next”. Once set up, my ultra-wide-angle lens allowed me to include both the sky and the foreground in a nice dramatic way (it does distort quite a lot, but you’d never realize it unless you knew the railroad sign was really vertical!).
With the unpredictable light changing so rapidly, the perfect shot needed more than a little luck. My approach was just to keep shooting, in the hope that one of those shots would catch that magical moment with exactly the right play of light and shade. Most of the time, the scene was either all sunny or all overcast – really quite dull – but for one fleeting moment the simultaneous light on the rusty sign and the distant tree pulled it out of the ordinary and made it a keeper.
Good thing I saw that tree and pulled over!
]]>
Skyfire 2012
July 4th – the day for fireworks in the USA – and everyone has their camera out.
The problem for a photographer is that no matter how great your photos turn out, every shot you have has been done before and there’ll always be a better photo than yours.
So this year, despite attending one of the most spectacular firework displays in the country, I decided to turn the camera around and focus on the watchers and other elements of the scene that were transformed by the fireworks.
The one element I never anticipated? Pouring rain!
As the show drew to a close I decided to beat the crowds and head for the train station. As I walked away the finale exploded behind me and I turned and took this image of the amazing light-filled sky reflected in the rain-pocked puddle.
]]>
The Boy in the Pink Shirt
See this image in the Gallery.
I was looking for images that might be suitable for an exhibition entitled “Alternative Realities” which, although mainly seeking images created using alternative photographic processes, professed to be open to other interpretations of the title. We’ll see!
Of all the possible candidates I found, this one caught my eye and stuck in my head like one of those musical earworms – probably because of the strange surrealistic quality it possesses. I honestly don’t know whether or not it’s a good picture, but I DO know it’s one I can’t forget – so it probably has some deeper meaning that I’m not consciously aware of.
In case you were wondering, this is NOT a double exposure or a computer trick – just a regular picture taken as I (and the boy in the pink shirt) chased a flashing neon robot shark around a darkened warehouse… each for our own arcane reasons. The strange astronomical vortex they appear to be running towards is simply a light pattern projected onto the floor as part of another Maker exhibit.
So is it just me? What do you think?
]]>This time (SPARK 16), the wonderful poem from Lisa Nielsen, “The Vaguery of Us”, took me to a more familiar venue. The Coffee Shop.
The image that first came to me was actually the opposite of the one I ended up with. In my mind’s eye I saw a couple in still, sharp, detail surrounded by the swirling and indistinct blur of people in motion. Where to find bustling activity on a holiday weekend? Why a shopping mall, of course!
Two shopping malls later I knew this idea was not going to work. Even in a busy place like a mall food court, most people are just sitting and eating at tables. People eating actually move a lot less than you might think – even with an eight stop neutral density filter pushing my exposure time to 20 or 30 seconds, all I got was a bunch blurred people at tables. Not what I wanted — and the neon restaurant signs in the background didn’t fit the ambiance of the poem at all.
Plan B: (Plan B is always the best plan!) Now I’m looking for an actual coffee shop …with a couple …at a table …who I can covertly photograph from a close distance(!). My new idea is that the couple is motion-blurred and the surroundings are in sharp focus.
Naturally this was not as simple as it may sound either, and I was soon cursing the people who put free wifi in coffee shops. It seems every coffee place in Silicon Valley has been taken over by students and the new work-from-anywhere generation who sit there for hours, alone with their laptops. How these places make any money is beyond me.
Several latte’s later I was starting to give up hope. What I needed was a place I could reliably find non-techie people who actually wanted to talk to each other.
The answer: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) …or their cafe, anyway!
Just for once, luck was on my side. The place was spacious and airy, not too busy, and there were a few couples, of various gender pairings, in animated conversation. …and next to one was an empty table against a wall!
Now for a covert picture… Bear in mind that I’m not using a little hideable point-n-shoot or a camera-phone here. I have a full size professional SLR camera with a lens the size of a couple of fat coffee mugs! I attached a remote shutter cable, and my neutral-density filter (it’s black and opaque – looking a bit like a shiny lens cap) and set the camera on the table (pointing toward the couple) amongst a bunch of my other photo junk. Then I studiously ignored them, read a book and drank my latte. (…all while taking shot after shot with the remote.). Eventually they finished and left. As did I.
I couldn’t be sure what I had until I got home and feared that I might have to repeat the exercise, but this picture seemed, miraculously, to capture the poem perfectly. After a little experimentation, I discovered that removing color made the image stronger, emphasizing the contrast between the sharpness of the objects on the table and the couple, blurred by their movements as they talked. As a result, this is one of my rare black-and-white images.
The Speed of Love
The Vaguery of Us
By Lisa Nielsen
There is constant motion
There is the speed at which you think you know me
There are sinkholes
That turn into minefields
Then there’s us
Cornered in a café
A conversation ambling
And dissipating
Into the piles of china and silverware
And the squish of restless shoes
Waiting
Fingers form steeples
Mouthing a whisper
If these lips could talk
They’d want an answer
At the same time, I provided this image as an inspiration for Lisa. Her wonderful poem in response, is below.
The Prospect of News
The Jagged Key
By Lisa Nielsen
The jagged key’s anxious dance
I want a moratorium declared
on the loitering of information
and the morgue of offerings
that mock my life.
Have I become so desperate
that I’ll consider
jumping out of planes (despite my fear of gravity),
cruises (despite my fear of the ocean) and
sushi (despite my fear of mercury poisoning)?
Yet, a wish is made that I will open
the portal into my own private universe
and see the bidding
as more than a handful of paper.
]]>
This week, one of my prior SPARK collaborators, writer and novelist Mary L. Tabor, noticed my post about the exhibition in Vermont, and suggested I write an essay for her blog.
An essay? Why anyone would even think of suggesting I write is beyond me. I’ve never written anything before (other than here!) but I’ve often toyed with the idea – like many of us I suppose – of writing a book (in my case, young adult fiction — topic for another day.). I figured an essay is short enough, and decided to take a shot. It took me a couple of hours to write (probably helped by the fact that I was at work and had something much more important I should have been doing!), followed by a couple of days of obsessive tinkering with vocabulary and punctuation, which really didn’t change that much.
In fact, the hardest part was that Mary asked for a picture to go with my bio! As you may imagine, these are as rare as hen’s teeth, as I usually manage to be behind the camera and thus avoid the indignity. Thanks to the wonders of digital technology. however, I was able to cut myself out of a group picture from a few years ago and satisfy the request.
Anyway, the result is now available for all to see on Mary’s blog here.
If you haven’t discovered Mary’s work yet, click over to her blog and check out her current work (it’s all available from Amazon – including for your Kindle!). Mary was a senior executive in corporate America before going back to college to study creative writing and publishing her first book at age 60. Mary’s deeply personal writing reveals intimate stories of life, sex and love – including her own very personal story of loss and ultimate self-discovery which started life as a live blog, documenting her experiences and feelings as events unfolded. She has also had many essays and stories published in journals, reviews and anthologies.
Mary’s third book, a novel, will be published soon. I’m excited!
]]>
Exhibition dates: May 15th – June 9th, 2012
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-2.
By appointment only on Sundays and Mondays.
Reception: June 8th, 5:30-7:00 (The reception will be part of the town of Middlebury June ArtsWalk)
PhotoPlace Gallery “Abstract Expressions” Exhibition
Dividing Line
“Dividing Line” is one of 40 photographs which were selected for the gallery from over 1400 submitted from around the world!
If you enjoy the whole show you can even buy a book! Here:
Abstract Expressions Book
I’m on page 39!
]]>
Eye-to-eye
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
Contrails are created at high altitude (they are actually made of ice) where planes are usually flying straight, so the curve of this particular contrail around the dome is a rarity that really makes the composition.
]]>There is none bigger than Fotofest, which takes place every two years in Houston, Texas. Fotofest is a truly international affair held over four four-day sessions in April. Most photographers attend just one of the sessions, but a few attend multiple sessions, as do some reviewers. This year I paid my fee and attended the first session of the Houston event — and quite the eye-opener it was, too!
Fotofest Houston, Review Room
Compared to the PhotoAlliance event I attended in San Francisco a couple of years ago, Fotofest was much more focused on “Art” than photography in “fine art photography” – reviewers were more interested in originality and concept than classic photographic or aesthetic qualities. The majority of attendees (so it seemed to me) were art school educated and had a language and world view that took a while to tune into. By the fourth day I was getting it and was able to approach my work – and others – with a new eye.
It was great to meet the other photographers, too. I look forward to meeting many them again soon.
In general, the reaction to my work was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone appreciated my use of composition, form and color, but the next question was always “what is this work about?” or “what are you trying to say?”. Several reviewers drew comparisons to work of other well known (although not known to me) photographers, but in the sense of “this type of work has already been done”, rather than as a complement! A couple of reviewers did express more interest though, so I’ll have to see where that leads (if anywhere).
The big take-away for me from the four day event was inspiration. Seeing the wide variety and high standard of work got me thinking about all kinds of new projects I would like to tackle over the next couple of years. Sure, I will have to acquire some new equipment and learn some new skills – but isn’t that the fun part?
Here are a few of the photos I took while I was there (click to embiggen):
Park on top
Texas Time
Catching the Rain
Taking a Break
Curb
Dreaming of Rothko
Light and Shade
]]>
Ghost House
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
Images like this always suggest questions which are start point for stories. Who might have lived here? Why has this space been left empty? …
I’d love to hear some of your stories?
]]>
The Deep End
Click here to see the image in the Gallery.
This image was made on New Year’s Day 2012 and explores the curves, shadows and colors of the pool under the cool winter sun.
]]>The inspiration piece I responded to was a short story written by Hildie S Block entitled “The Box”. Here’s my response:
Remains
Click here to see the image and read the story in the SPARK website.
Typically, when I’m trying to come up with an image for a piece of writing, I’ll skim it quickly, just to see what image “sticks” after I’ve finished. For this piece, the image I couldn’t get out of my head was one of a crematorium urn containing a mixture of human – and paper – ashes. Of course the challenge then was to figure out what’s possible to photograph (unfortunately, I can’t make a picture of whatever I imagine — I have to go out and find my image in the real world!)
My first approach was to focus on the process of destruction – in this case, the transition from valuable document to worthless ash (- and by analogy, cremation of the human body, also). The idea was to capture a sequence of images to illustrate the progress of the dissolution of the material over time.
Burning stuff has to be done outside, of course, and at night I don’t need to worry about distracting backgrounds, and the flames clearly stand out. At least it was dry and not windy – it was December however and darned cold!
That resulted in the grid picture you can see a little further down. (I added a larger image of the final square so you can see it better — so many colors!). I also have some nice close-ups of the burning paper.
Having done all that, however, it was the image of the papers after the burning which seemed to fit the mood of the story best, and in case you think this is a black-and-white picture, it’s not, this is in full color! True, the color is very subtle, but it’s critical to the final image (changing it to black-and-white ruins it!). This was taken outside at night, illuminated by just a single bulb, using a long exposure.
I like the contrast between the shapeless flakes and the sheets that curve up through the core of the picture – and also the faint evidence of writing that still persists, but which is so fragile it will just crumble and blow away in the wind…
Here’s the burning image that I rejected (click on the thumbnail to embiggen):
Transformation
And the detail of the final square (check out the amazing colors!):
Burning
-~-
As well as creating work from writing I provided images for writers to respond to. You can see the results in the SPARK site by clicking on the images here:
SPARK Inspiration #1 (Story: Sky High)
SPARK Inspiration #2 (Story: When The Celebration Ends)
Don’t forget to explore the rest of the SPARK site – and leave comments if you like what you see!
Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!
]]>
Shore Line
Click here to see the image in the gallery:
This image was made during the same trip as last month’s contrail image …a journey of obsessions, I guess!
Here, a sand bar provides a fragile barrier between the crashing breakers of the Pacific Ocean and the flat calm of a river delta, which (just to the right of this image), reaches it’s end and merges with the sea. I love the impression of layers: ocean/breakers/sand/river. The perspective seems to compress the transition and emphasize the the clean linear composition.
Look for more in this series in 2012.
]]>
Affinity
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
So ..why am I obsessed by contrails? First, even as someone who studied science, there is still something counter-intuitive, even absurd, about the fact that several hundred people can ride through the air inside a large metal can. This sense of visceral disbelief contradicted by my knowledge of the basic physics has always made planes an object of fascination for me. (Mind you, this is coming from someone who can’t understand why every cyclist in the world doesn’t just topple over!).
From inside the plane, looking down on the landscape, I know there are people on the ground, even though I can’t see them. Perhaps they don’t speak my language, or may be shocked by my culture or values – but I’m right there over their heads, invisible to them – just seconds away if the plane were to suddenly drop from the sky – but yet separated by an infinite chasm of distance and impossibilities.
From the ground we rarely notice those high flying crowds of people from many lands, or even spare a thought that someone may be up there, right now, looking down on us. It’s only when conditions are just right, and the stratospheric air is moist but still sub-zero, that jet exhaust provides the nuclei for ice crystals to form and the plane leaves a white trail in the sky … that long thin cloud of frost we call a contrail.
When I see those contrails I am always reminded of the divide between “them up there”, and “us down here”, which - depending an where you’re looking from – may juxtapose anything from pristine nature to urban squallor with that symbol of technology and affluence – quite possibly both at the same time (from different vantage points).
This image was taken in the middle of nowhere – a small Northern California town many hours from the nearest airport. This unmistakeable evidence of technology, sophistication and wealth is even there – ironically mirrored in the boarded up house that sits abandoned in a field.
Comments welcome as always.
]]>Here’s one of the many images I brought back from a visit to the East coast city of Boston last week.
Looking at You
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
September is a time of clear, sunny and cool weather, and shooting around the middle of the day (not usually the time of day that appeals to photographers) allowed the strong directional sunlight to cast shadows of these street lamps onto a rough concrete wall, with the prismatic effect of the textured glass splaying and twisting the light into the shadows.
]]>Here on the West Coast of the US, it’s been cooler than usual, but still sunny. Taking a stroll near the Bay one lunchtime I came across this strangely abandoned and sun-bleached chair and noticed the lonely little cloud that seemed to be the focus of it’s eyeless gaze.
Cloud One
Click here to view the image in the gallery.
The humorously anticlimactic title sprang to my mind immediately, and seems to fit the image perfectly.
The image works on many levels however. The more I look at this image, the more nuances I see. There’s an implied yearning; a wistful – or perhaps lonely – quality. The cloud may represent something unfulfilling or disappointing. The non-existent chair occupant was expecting more, waiting for something bigger – but this was it. THIS little thing!
Or maybe its just a sign there’s something bigger to come…
What do you think when you see it? Let me know.
]]>
Scream!
Fashionistas!
Click here to see the new “Performance!” section.
The section is called “Performance!” and includes a selection of my favorite images from the student plays and fashion shows I have been photographing in the last few months, as well as some older images and also the recent “Firedance” series that was mentioned in this blog a few weeks ago.
The majority of these images are for my portfolio only (i.e. they are not for sale), but if you have an event coming up and want a photographer – by all means get in touch!
]]>
Worinished
Click here to view this image in the gallery.
I spotted these in the window of an old shoe repair store while walking around San Fransisco recently. They were stacked against the glass as if quickly placed aside to make space for another task. Their obvious wear suggests a long life of use and probably and older – possibly soon-to-retire – owner. The title is intended to combine both a short term and long term meaning.
]]>
Blackheart Vent
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
What did I see in this that made me stop and take a photograph? At first sight it’s all about the juxtaposition of the metallic, angular vent and the organic flowy-dripping graffiti. I love that the image is almost monochromatic except for the blue ledge which seems to underline the image while also catching and containing the dripping paint.
The vent is not rigid mechanical perfection, however. Decay, rust and vandalism have tainted it and distorted it’s shape and symmetry. Look around and you’ll also notice the wood grain weathering through the paint.
In these geometric and simplified compositions that mimic modern art, I find that old and decaying subjects not only add interest but also play a similar role to the texture of paint on a canvas – giving the image depth and character.
Comments encouraged as always …
]]>
Firedance #5
Firedance #3
Hope you enjoy — let me know what you think!
]]>
Firedance
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
This was taken at a performance of fire dancing, held around dusk in Union Square in San Francisco. I wanted to capture a sense of the motion, but also the flow and the grace of the performers. I was positioned at the back of the crowd, without a tripod, but by varying the shutter speed and exposure I was able to get several evocative images – including this one, which is one of my favorites.
Despite the motion blur, the performers’ face is captured at one instant (I wonder if someone tried to take a flash picture at that moment!), giving a sense of the performers’ identity in the midst of the movement and graceful sweep of the flames.
]]>
Dividing Line
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
This photograph was taken just last weekend and I believe it may be a candidate for my “off the wall” series – what do you think? It’s another example of my attraction to simplicity – at least on the surface – but with a wealth of detail in the textures.
In fact it was the knot-plugs (or whatever you call them) in the white painted board that first caught my eye, and then the cracks in the wall. The other aspects of the composition were almost subconscious and only really came to the fore (for me) while processing the images.
Anyway, I’m certainly liking it right now. I hope you like it too.
If I feel the same way next month, perhaps I’ll add it to the portfolio.
]]>absoluteblank.com is now revamped, refreshed and rehosted.
absoluteblank.com
As well as rebuilding the site on a new platform to make it much easier to update and maintain, I have reorganized the work to showcase specific art portfolios and keep other work in a separate area. The whole shopping cart process is new, too, and will allow me to offer promotions and extend the range of products I can sell in the future (in addition to the prints I make myself).
The site experience is super-cool with features like “dim-the-lights”, sharing via Facebook and Twitter, visitor favorites collections, and much more!
Take a look and let me know what you think.
If THAT weren’t enough, this very blog has been rehosted and now has it’s very own domain, absoluteblog.net. Update those bookmarks now!
To celebrate the new look (and to reward you for finding this blog at it’s new address) I’m offering 30% off the price of any Artist Print when you use the code SNARK11 at the checkout, (valid until the end of March 2011).
]]>It works like this: Artists, musicians and photographers provide a piece of work as in inspiration for their partnered writer – who in turn provides an inspirational piece of writing – typically fiction or poetry. Each person then has ten days to respond in their chosen medium, and the results are shared on the web.
This round my partner was writer Greg Adkins.
My inspiration piece for Greg was this:
Investigation
You can read his response here.
My photograph in response to his inspiration story was this:
My Friend Across The Street
Both the story and my photo can be found here.
This image was made at the disused Naval shipyard at Mare Island – an amazing area of abandoned buildings where I hoped I’d find something to fit Greg’s apocalyptic storyline.
As I walked past one of the buildings I noticed that a side door had been broken open. I squeezed through and found a huge open space surrounded by offices – presumably belonging to the clerks and supervisors who’d worked there. There was much less vandalism than you might expect, just a few broken windows, and as the late afternoon light shone through the high windows it caught these shards of broken glass and I took this photograph from inside one of the offices. I have many other images from that day that would have worked, but even as I pressed the shutter, I was reminded of the last line of the story and knew this was the one.
As usual, ALL the work is amazing and fascinating: I highly recommend you to check it out and browse around.
]]>I have been so busy creating my new website – and shooting and processing photos for a high school event – that this got pushed to the back of the queue, but finally, here it is:
Rewind
See the image in the gallery here.
This image is another candidate for my “Off The Wall” series – where I look for “found” art in “blank” walls and other surfaces which is reminiscent of modern abstract paintings.
This is an image of wood panels that were clearly painted at one time, but have been weathered to the extent that the original grain is exposed. This weathering has also revealed evidence of the process of painting, as paint has been removed over time layer by layer. I love how a few ephemeral straight lines and right angles contrast the natural curves of the now predominant wood grain.
]]>This month’s image, turns that technical limitation into a benefit. Here, the limitations of the camera are exploited for artistic effect to create an image intentionally different to what you would have seen with the naked eye.
Entrance
Click here to see this image in the gallery.
By exposing only for the light streaming through the doors and windows, those features become isolated in a sea of darkness and all the distracting details disappear — turning an otherwise ordinary scene into an abstract composition.
The pattern on the floor becomes a lifeline for the eye which enables the viewer to link the islands of light and re-create the missing scene from the disjointed fragments. I particularly like how the details seen through the windows are transformed into little framed works of art.
If you had been standing next to me as I took this picture you would have had little idea of what I was doing … unless you glanced at my camera screen. Sometimes in photography, as in life, embracing limitations allows you to go beyond what is expected, and create something extraordinary.
]]>
Year of the Fish
Click here to view this image in the gallery.
For me, this image works on many levels – for one thing, I enjoy looking at exactly how the areas fit together, how it was made, the fill material, the areas darkened by water. There is also the composition – shapes and colors. But beyond this physical and material dimension I sense a deeper story: there’s an amazing sense of movement in the image as the fish jumps lithely from one paving stone to the next – as if jumping from one year to another.
As he does this, his mouth is open and something seems to be issuing from it. I imagine words, or a magical incantation of protection from the dangers and challenges to be found in the new stone (or, in my allegorical interpretation, the new year) .
As we start this new year we are all leaping into the unknown. After the rollercoaster of the last year, it is impossible to even imagine what it may bring. Surely, a few words of magical protection – even from a shamanic fish – couldn’t help.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and successful 2011!
]]>
Dreaming of Better Times
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
The image is one of obvious decay. Blue paper intended to cover a window in a disused building is flaking and peeling to reveal some sort of wood (shelves?) behind. In the midst of this neglect, a ghostly image of a modern and clearly well kept building is reflected like a dream of what might have been (or might be in the future). (This image is pretty much straight out of the camera, BTW – in case you thought it might have been a combination of images in Photoshop)
Is it just me, or do you see a sleeping face in the center?
Happy holidays everyone!
]]>Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Super-Secret “Black Friday” sale!
Everyone’s doing it …so I’ve decided to join in!
If you’ve always wanted an artist-signed limited-edition print, but were afraid to ask, now’s the time. My website is too primitive to take discount codes (that’s another story… watch this space!) so until midnight on December 3rd you’ll be able to find a special secret copy of my website where all the prices are 33% less – that’s right, 1/3rd off the usual prices for signed, limited edition art! That includes every image on the site!
All you need to find this strange alternative universe is the special URL:
http://absoluteblank.com/secret-sale/gallery.html
It’s a secret, but feel free to pass it on …only to people you deem worthy of a special deal, of course!
As ever, all prints are made using Epson K3 archival quality pigment inks and 100% cotton rag acid free papers from Hahnemule. Every print is made, signed and numbered by me – larger sizes are in limited editions (see the site for details). The price includes a professional quality mat (all mat materials used are also 100% acid free and archival quality). Framing is up to you (ie not included), although I can also help with that if you need – just ask,
Ordering is handled by PayPal’s shopping cart so it’s 100% safe and you can use credit cards if you prefer.
Email me if you have questions or experience any problem.
Notecards:
Did you miss out on notecards last year? Fear not – they’re back! Six art quality notecards with envelopes for just $15! Woo hoo!
All the details here: http://absoluteblank.com/notecards/
Calendars:
As some of you know, I make a limited edition calendar every year for my family and a few friends, with images that represent a new body of work each year. (If you are one of the people who usually get one, don’t worry, it’s on the way!)
For the rest of you, you too have a chance to own one this year! Due to the small quantities I print, the price is higher than a commercial calendar (although it should be less than $20, depending on volume). Just let me know your interest ASAP (in the next week or so), so I have numbers before I place my order with the printer. I’ll let you know the final price at that time.
My 2011 calendar will feature a series of images of wall surfaces which (to me) seem to be contemporary abstract paintings. I like them a lot and hope you will too. (Examples:)
Blog
I continue to post regularly to this blog, so PLEASE subscribe ( you can specify “news only” if you like). I don’t post often, so you won’t be spammed! For those who live on Facebook, everything on my blog gets copied over to my Facebook page. You just have to be my “fan”, to follow what I’m up to. (you can link to it directly from the logo on the right.).
Have a wonderful, safe holiday season!
]]>Engineering:
I know I shouldn’t care as long as it does the job, but build quality and engineering design DO matter. It puts a smile on my face every time I use it. This thing is simply light years ahead of the typical PC and gives me confidence that it’s not going to break (although, of course, it’s still “just a computer”!)
The Best Platform for Windows:
Here’s a surprise: A Mac with VMware Fusion is the best platform to run Windows! Virtual machines let you snapshot your “machine” at any time, so you can easily go back to an earlier state to recover from problems, viruses (or programs you wish you hadn’t installed!). You can even use snapshots to create separate configurations dedicated to specific applications. Initially I thought I’d have to keep the PC around, but it look like I’ll be able to do everything I need using VMs.
Making Spaces:
A common problem these days is the proliferation of open windows on your computer desktop. It can get quite messy! Apple addresses this with a tool called “Spaces” – essentially you have not one, but multiple desktops which you can switch between. I love being able to quickly check email and flick back to exactly where I was in an instant.
Mouse Trouble:
Not everything Mac is perfect. The Apple “Magic Mouse” – a sort of cross between a mouse and a trackpad – was a disappointment. It’s looks cool, has clever engineering, and is a great idea …but it’s triumph of form over function – a bit like those “modern” 1960s chairs that looked great but were hell to actually sit on. I eventually reverted to my old Logitech mouse. It fits my hand and is easier to control fine movements for photo editing.
Integration:
Another thing Macs do better than PCs is work together. Sharing files, sharing screens. I just got a Mac Laptop for work and love being able to sit in the lounge in front of the TV and work with my Mac Pro in the study as if I was right in front of it.
PhotoShop Differences :
Photoshop CS5 brings many changes – mostly common to both platforms. However one “feature” is simply a long standing Mac/PC difference – and one I’m having trouble getting used to: The application background in the Mac version is transparent (you see the desktop and any other windows behind what you are working on), so accidentally clicking outside the image takes you out of Photoshop …sometimes to another application. Hopefully I’ll get used to it.
Sleepy Time:
My favorite thing? No more reboots! Starting my PC used to be a case of “press the button and go make coffee”. Remembering something I wanted JUST after I’d shut down was a frequent source of frustration (and occasional swearing!) – and that’s if the darned thing shut down properly. Now, I just put my system to sleep and when I need it, it wakes up in seconds. What’s more, everything is there just as I last used it. Brilliant!
]]>
Origins
Round 10 just finished, with 91 participants from around the world and again, the resulting stories, poems and artwork are truly amazing. My partner this time around was Lisa Marie Basile, a writer and poet from New York City. Unfortunately, because of a misunderstanding about the process, I did not get Lisa’s inspiration piece in time to create my response, but her response to my inspiration photo was truly wonderful, and I encourage you to read it here.
My inspiration photo was taken by the salt evaporation ponds that ring San Francisco Bay.
]]>
Las Vegas - Day ... Las Vegas - Night
Click here to view the images in the Gallery.
The challenge, of course, in a town full of tourists with cameras, is to find an image that is not obvious and over used – and which is also recognizably my style. The geometric composition of textures, shapes and sky (left) is an example of my attempt do do this. It shows the always renewed and modern angular skyline dominated by the clear blue desert sky.
Las Vegas, however, is known mostly for it’s appearance by night. There are lots of opportunities for great night photography, with bustling sidewalks, neon, and party people everywhere, but my other LV image (right) was the result of accident! While walking down the strip, with the camera set for long exposure, I inadvertently pressed the shutter and captured this fascinating impression of the movement, color and vibrancy of the experience.
So, the secret of photography? Always carry a camera, be there, …and trust to luck!
]]>Instead of the usual flimsy sheet metal and plastic and a bird’s nest of wires, the Mac has an almost cable-less design, using connectors directly on the system board and an all-aluminum chassis. An ingenious latch flips to allow removal of the side panel to reveal an interior which is clean and simple with modular aluminum clad sections. Hard drives slide on metal carriers which include captive screws (Nice. No parts to lose). Memory slots are easily accessible. IO slots are accessed by removal of a metal bar secured with thumbscrews.
Before - PC
After - Mac Pro
I mounted my SSD in an unused CD drive bay, which is contained in separate module which slides out as a unit – the empty bay even includes the four mounting screws ready to install your drive! All I needed was a 2.5-to-5.25 bracket – the SATA connector was already in place. Same thing with the hard drives: screw them to one of the slide-in brackets, insert and go. The last thing was to replace the memory DIMMs with the 4GB modules – very straightforward.
The Drobo external disk array was just as easy to set up. I added the eSATA card into the Mac Pro (no tools needed) , slid the drives into the Drobo chassis, connected the cable and turned it on. That’s it. The Drobo recognizes and configures the drives automatically and the control software on the Mac can change the configuration – I set mine up to be able to survive up to two disk failures (this reduces available capacity, but I can always change it if I start running out of space).
Before - PC
After - Mac Pro plus Drobo
Data transfer from the PC was simply a case of mounting the old drives (taken out of the PC) to one of the Mac brackets, sliding it into the Mac, and then copying – either to the internal drives (set as a RAID 1 pair) or to the Drobo. Copying the external USB drives data across was just as simple – if a little slower.
I used a free utility (Carbon Copy) to clone the OS the SSD and make it my boot drive, installed the applications (primarily Photoshop and Lightroom) and setup my email using the email folders copied from the PC. Finally I installed VMware Fusion, with Windows XP and then Qimage.
All-in-all it was an incredibly smooth process. The hardest part was recreating all my old settings and preferences.
The Aftermath
]]>
Macs are available with various combinations of CPU cores and speeds – but what is the best configuration for my use? I’ve learned that it is best to get the fastest you can afford without paying a premium for the bleeding edge – upgrades rarely happen in practice, and you want to extend the lifespan before advancing technology makes it obsolete. However I still don’t want to pay for capabilities that my programs can’t make use of.
Fortunately there is a great resource on the web, explicitly for photographers with Macs! It contains all the benchmarks and advice you need to configure your ideal system.
It turns out that those Adobe applications are unable to make much use of greater than four CPU cores, but having large memory capacity and fast disks really makes a difference. A faster CPU speed does benefit many photo tasks though it’s not worth paying the huge premium for the very fastest. The middle of the range Mac Pro offers 15% more speed for 15% more money, so is a reasonable option, but not essential. Given all this, and the need to support my existing high gamut monitor (Mac displays look nice, but they are not the best for pro photo work) also ruled out laptops and iMacs. …I was definitely looking at a Mac Pro.
What about memory? It seems there’s no such thing as “too much” for Photoshop! Apple memory is very expensive, but Kingston (a well known and reputable memory manufacturer) offers Mac Pro compatible memory for a third of the cost – so I decided to go for 16GB – Apple’s limit for the four core model. (It’s possible to go beyond that, up to 32GB, with third party memory. There’s a high premium though, and the benefit is limited.)
For disk, I decided on a three tiered strategy: A fast SSD for boot and loading applications, a pair of 7200rpm SATA drives in RAID 1 (mirrored) for my main working storage (With another drive for “Time Machine” backup internally) and a “Drobo” RAID enclosure to give me secure external backup (up to two of the Drobo’s five drives can fail without data loss.)
So with that decided, I placed my order…
NEXT: Making the Move.
]]>My main “digital darkroom” system just passed it’s 5th birthday (quite a milestone for a PC!) and was overdue for replacement. Not only that, but the main application programs I use were old and needed upgrading to the latest versions – not a small expense just for that.
Windows had become increasingly annoying – systems need to be re-built every year or two as they become clogged up with unused files and settings and slow down. Because of the stupid Windows registry (urgh!), this means re-installing all your software from the original media and re-applying all the patches and settings. The final straw was when my system refused to shut down, and I discovered there is no way to debug the problem. Windows 7 is an improvement, but all the core problems are just the same.
So, what about the usual objections?
1) The “Mac Tax”. It’s true you can buy (or build) a Windows desktop PC for very little money compared to a Mac tower (that’s the “Mac Pro” line), but investigate a little and you’ll find prices are not as different as they may appear. Dell lists a desktop PC for less than a third of the price of the cheapest Mac Pro, for example – but configure it to match the Mac, and you are soon very close on price. The Mac Pro is definitely a high end box – but if that’s what you need, then the price is not out of line for what you get.
(Another reason brand-name PCs are cheaper is all the “crapware” that come loaded on them to help defray the cost. Something Mac owners don’t have to put up with – that’s gotta be worth something!)
2) Choice. PC builders like me have long enjoyed being able to choose the “best” component for each part of the system: motherboard, power supply, memory, etc. This makes sense compared to brand name PCs designed to minimize cost by using the cheapest commodity parts, but the Mac uses many custom engineered parts and is designed from the ground up as high end system. I can still choose third party discs, memory and add-on cards but since the Mac unique parts are engineered to a higher standard than most PCs, the choice concern is really moot.
3) Software lock-in. Switching platforms usually means re-buying expensive software packages – if they exist at all on the other platform. In fact, in my case, my software probably cost more than the hardware! A unique ability of the Mac, however, is its ability to run Windows programs seamlessly alongside native Mac programs using software such as Parallels or Fusion. Although I can buy Mac versions of most applications, one of my key programs, Qimage, runs only on Windows and I wouldn’t leave it behind. On the Mac I don’t have to.
OK Then. It was now or never … time to go Mac.
(NEXT: What to get.)
]]>For those of you who don’t know, SPARK is an Internet project which pairs writers with visual artists of all kinds for mutual inspiration.
You can see ALL the work here.
This time around I was paired with writer Kristen Luft – here’s the inspiration piece I sent to her:
The Great Affair
Read Kristen Luft’s response: The Cost: A History.
I chose that particular image because I felt it asked so many questions that could lead to stories. Who’s vehicle is this and what are they like? What happened in San Francisco to make them paint their van …or is it about something in the future? As always, the most interesting part of the project is to see what other people make of it - Sci-Fi monsters and nuclear Armageddon were not exactly the first things that came to my mind! Obviously I think too literally!
I tried hard to not be literal with my response to Kristen’s inspiration piece. The imagery certainly drew me to water, but I wanted to illustrate the mood or emotional center, rather than just one of the scenes in the story. My title, “This Day Of Ideal Weather” is a phrase from the story, although the “ideal weather” is only visible in the very farthest periphery, reflected in the water. The focus of the viewer is not directed at the obvious subject (the boat) either, but rather into the rather gloomy ambiguity of reflection and shadow at the water’s surface. It’s as if the observer is turning her gaze from the blue sky and pretty boat to something darker and deeper – perhaps more introspective – that matches her thoughts. Anyway, that’s my interpretation…! (Of course, I liked the symmetry and reflections too!)
Here’s the image:
This Day Of Ideal Weather
Read Kristen Luft’s inspiration piece: Annals of an Arctic Tern.
Anyone interested in participating can simply sign up at the SPARK website – see you in Round 10!
]]>As I explored the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, looking for interesting compositions and angles, I passed a laundromat where people were waiting for their washing to finish. Being SF, the ambiance was funky with books and magazines lying around, and, typical of an older building in earthquake country, a crack. For some reason my brain made an instant connection with the long haired princess of fairy tale fame when I saw how this crack on the wall visually linked with the hair of the woman waiting for her laundry. That’s what I saw anyway.
Rapunzel
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
One of the goals of photography, as I see it, is to allow others to see the world through another pair of eyes (mine, in this case!). Would you have made the same connection? If you had been walking down this same street, would you have given this scene a second glance, or, if you had decided to take a picture, how would you have arranged the composition? (Perhaps next time you are out you will spare a second look at the places you pass!)
As ever, comments and arguments are welcome.
]]>
Into The Woods
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
There was just one problem: The scene – as my eyes and brain saw it – was impossible for my camera (in fact ANY camera) to record. This is because the “dynamic range” (the difference between the light and dark parts of the image) was simply too much for the technology to cope with.
One way around this problem is to take multiple exposures using different settings and later combine them digitally in a computer – a technique called HDR (for High Dynamic Range). Unfortunately, HDR has developed a bad reputation in the photo world recently because it has become overused and synonymous with a certain effect, or look, which is unnatural or “hyper-real”.
However if HDR is used carefully and subtly, it can instead be used to overcome the limits of our technology and convey what our eyes really see – and to share that magic with others – as I have tried to do here.
Click to see the larger image and look deep into the shadows. All the detail is there and you can enjoy following the winding pathways back into the darkness and becoming lost in the wood.
As always, comments welcome!
]]>
In The Library (#1)
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
I love to explore how the everyday is made ambiguous and hard to interpret when removed from its context. This is one of a series shot inside the library and this particular image was taken through at least two internal windows so that the shadows – and reflections of the shadows – create an interesting multilayered effect, while the cool natural light from outside contrasts with the warm internal light, adding interest and further separating the layers.
There is no manipulation in this image, BTW. This is exactly “as shot”.
As always I’d love to hear your thoughts.
]]>Tourists and families tend to choose midday when the light is brightest, colors are boldest and when their automatic point-n-shoots can catch the action without blurring. Pros and serious amateurs pick “the golden hour” — that magical time just before sunset when the quality of light is at it’s most magical and colors glow. Nutcases and artists (synonymous?), on the other hand, choose to do their photography in the middle of the night!
Palace-Night
Click here to see the image in the gallery.
This month’s image was made at Chrissy Field in San Fransisco, down by the Bay, looking back at the top Palace of Fine Arts behind a line of houses mostly obscured by a row of trees. The time is just before midnight. So, no, it’s not really a UFO. Sorry.
The lights from the city and the floodlights on the monument illuminate the haze in the air, giving the scene an orange glow, and although the sky is clear, only a couple of the brightest stars can be seen. The silhouetted trees isolate the dome of the palace while preventing the viewer from seeing why the base is not visible (just the bottoms of the intervening houses). All-in-all, a very “Close Encounters” sort of image!
Have a great 4th! …and enjoy the summer.
]]>
This book (Mary’s second) actually started life as a blog, which was discovered by publisher Kelly Abbott. (Her previous book, “The Woman Who Never Cooked”, can be found here.)
You can read more on Mary’s blog here where you will find a pre-publication review, an interview with Mary and a link to the publisher.
]]>
LoveLoveLove
As you can tell by the title, I was drawn not only to the Mondrianesque lines, shapes and colors, but also to the ironic heart shapes made by the barbed wire, which – given their location (fixed to a wall) – seem otherwise without purpose.
This series is all about looking — and seeing — art in the everyday world around us. Next time you are out and about, wherever you are, remember to keep your eyes open!
]]>There is some fantastic work. Check it out!
It’s been well over a month since I made these images, but I didn’t want to pre-empt the official site.
I participated in two pairings this round (round 7) – the first with writer D. Quentin Paquette and the second with poet Amy Moffitt. If you have been following this blog you will remember that in SPARK, each participant first sends a piece of work to the other, who creates new work in their own medium using their partners’ piece as inspiration. This is a little difficult for photographers, of course, as we have to go out and find our pictures, rather than create them from scratch. Having said that, I did break my own rule and set something up for my response piece for Quentin:
Quentin’s inspiration piece for me was a story called “At The Still Point” which you can read on the SPARK website here. This is my response:
At The Still Point (Response to QP's story)
The ideas of physics, gravity, falling and an “endless moment” in the story speak of the apogee of an object’s trajectory when, between rising and falling, it is momentarily still.
I also wanted something ephemeral, something that would look out of place suspended in mid-air, and also something that spoke to the idea of love and relationships.
My initial idea was a single red rose, but as you see, I found a slightly more unusual specimen (it’s a red sunflower!).
As you can imagine, I got some interesting looks as I stood in the park throwing flowers into the air!
Quentin shared one of his inspirations with me, which also fits this picture to a “T” – a passage from Burnt Norton by TS Eliott:
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.
The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering, release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving,
Erhebung without motion, concentration
Without elimination, both a new world
And the old made explicit, understood
In the completion of its partial ecstasy,
The resolution of its partial horror.”
-T.S. Eliot
Quentin wrote a response piece to my picture, “No Place Like Home”. You can read his story, “Bedford, Take Two” here.
No Place Like Home (My inspiration for QP)
-
My second collaboration was with writer and poet Amy Moffitt. Here’s my response to her poem “Para-D”:
No Certain Place (Inspired by Amy's Poem)
The SPARK page with Amy’s poem is here.
Amy tells me the man in the picture actually looks like the subject of her poem and the title of the photograph “No Certain Place” perfectly describes his itinerant nature.
She finished her email to me with the phrase “Your picture is so spot on, Nick. I am sitting here with my mouth open and I have chills.”!
The picture itself is one of those lucky accidents. I had a very clear image in my mind after I read Amy’s poem, and set out to find it. It needed to be dark and brooding and have a figure silhouetted against the light from a door. I started driving around the neighborhood at night with a telephoto lens …very suspicious! But it was soon clear that the only places that I could reasonably expect to find people coming and going were hotels or apartment buildings.
I eventually found a suitable subject, and this image was the very first one I took that night and it captured my mental image perfectly!
-
Finally Amy wrote an amazing poem in response to my picture “The Mechanics of Light” (I did not share the title when I sent it to Amy, in case it influenced her ideas.) Here’s the picture:
The Mechanics of Light (Inspiration for Amy)
Rather than focus on the playful qualities of the carousel lights, Amy noticed that some of them were off – possibly burned out), and her poem took an unexpected turn. You can read Amy’s Poem “Carnival” here. …and here:
Carnival (by Amy Moffitt)
There’s a promise in every set
of flashing, twinkling, colorful lights.
There’s someone saying: “Follow me”,
past the flickering shapes, through the haloed glow.
There’s another world, waiting.
You lied to me with your city’s colors,
lights, and shadows. You said
I would find my future, myself,
and fulfill my dreams. You lied to me with that
wide, sparkling river, with the allure of a foreign land.
The boldest lies are told
with a simple look in the eyes,
mistranslated.
Flickering city, I didn’t see you
covered in coal dust, didn’t see the lives
and backs broken from labor in the effort
to power your high voltage allure.
I didn’t see all the broken down,
burned out light bulbs. Didn’t see
the whole glittering machine, decaying
and being destroyed, even as it destroys.
The boldest lies are those being told
through broken teeth and splitting lips,
capped, masked, covered in makeup
and decaying.
Within
(Click here to see the image in the gallery.)
This mysterious image was taken as I wandered around a deserted industrial area of San Fransisco one Sunday afternoon. It’s simply a dirty window with junk piled up against it on the inside and the reflection of a tree and a car which are in the street behind me.
I love the ambiguity generated when you isolate an image from its context – like all my pictures, it’s an abstract first – the subject is just a means to an end. You can always find hidden meaning though. In this case the dirt and paint drips on the plane of the window obscure both the vague and undefined world inside the building and also the “real” world where the viewer is standing.
Did you notice that you can’t see the photographer’s reflection? Spooky, eh…
]]>
Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol
According to the blog Householdname.com the answer is six months!
Photographer Justin Quinnell strapped a pinhole camera made from an empty drinks can to a telephone pole between December 19, 2007 and June 21, 2008 (A 15,552,000 second exposure!) to capture this image of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, UK.
‘Solargraph’ shows six months of the sun’s luminescent trails and its subtle change of course caused by the earth’s movement in orbit. The lowest arc being the first day of exposure on the Winter solstice, while the top curves were captured mid-Summer.
(Dotted lines of light are the result of overcast days when the sun struggled to penetrate the cloud.)
The original post is here.
More pinhole photographs by Justin can be found here.
EXTRA CREDIT: Here’s how to make your own!
]]>
Macroverse
… before my 40D broke last Saturday.
I thought it was fitting that it should be my picture of the month for April not only for this reason, but because it’s representative of the sort of abstracts I have been taking recently: almost monochrome, with a mix of man made and organic elements.
Here the weather staining is the organic component, the squares and circles provide the man-made part. I love those repeated elements and the fact that there is very little to provide a reference to scale (actually this is a two-story tall wall!).
As for the camera – I’ll see what Canon has to say, but I imagine I’ll be shipping it off to be repaired. Judging by the symptoms I’d guess the shutter mechanism has failed. It’s long out of warranty of course…
Click the thumbnail or here to see the image in the gallery.
]]>
An exhausted photographer ...
Exhausted. Drained. Brains scrambled
My first portfolio review was an intense experience. Ten twenty-minute review sessions over the course of a weekend may not sound like much, but trust me it is. I’d compare it to a weekend full of job interviews.
The PhotoAlliance review has a sort of hand-made feel to it. It’s well organized, but still manages to feel a little impromptu, as if everything is about to go off the rails, but somehow finds a way to hold it together. Everyone gets to their allotted place, volunteers ring their little Tibetan bells to signal the changeovers and everyone massages their schedules to make it all work.
Food is volunteer-provided and often home-made.
The San Fransisco Art Institute (SFAI) has a spectacular location in a residential area just a few blocks from the tourist Mecca of Fisherman’s Wharf, with panoramic views across the Bay to Alcatraz and beyond. The weather was spectacular too – with bright blue skies and several surprise sunburns on Sunday!
The building itself is a fascinating labyrinth of studios, open courtyards and corridors – feeling like something between a mansion and a warehouse. The style is a strange mixture of mission and modern (though it contains a wonderful original 1931 Diego Rivera mural) and because the entire thing is concrete, it has a habit of constantly surprising. I did have a small camera with me, and although I found the SFAI full of inspiring surfaces and compositions, I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I could have.
Perhaps the most enlightening aspect was seeing all the other photographers’ work – as varied a collection as you can imagine. I tried to glean what kind of things the reviewers were saying to them but most were (understandably) a little coy – or perhaps, like me, a little shell-shocked. Quite a few of us were there for our first portfolio review.
It was also fascinating to see the mix of photographers themselves. For example, you could distinguish in a nanosecond, the art school educated types from those who came to photography from other backgrounds. I’ve decided art school must involve alien abduction and reprogramming. They seem to speak another language and some have extraordinary aspirations for what seems (to me) relatively unremarkable work. Some of the most inspiring and moving pictures I saw actually came from those who fell into photography almost by accident, driven by an esoteric obsession or unique access to an unusual subject.
Ultimately, for me, it was a great experience and one I will gladly repeat (…although not quite immediately!). I came away encouraged that the next step is within my reach and with some very specific ideas about what I need to do next, both from a creative perspective, and in terms of how to package and present my work.
A huge thanks to all the organizers, volunteers and participants for a wonderful weekend!
_
Review with a View
]]>
(l to r) Bruce McKenzie and Kate Eastwood Norris star in the world premiere of Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West at Berkeley Rep. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com
“Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West” is a new play by Naomi Iizuka which is currently enjoying it’s world premier on the stage of Berkeley Repertory Theater.
It merits a mention here, not because it is a wonderful play and an enjoyable evening (which it certainly is), but because the “strange device” of the title is, in fact, the camera.
The name is taken from an ancient Japanese document which, for the first time, unlocked the secrets of photography and enabled the Japanese themselves to make use of this mysterious technology which was until then was used exclusively by westerners to create an image of Japan for their home countries that met expectations, rather than reflected reality.
The action starts in 19th Century Japan, where a foreigner with a large wooden wet-plate camera is capturing interesting characters and scenes of local life to sell to western tourists. His subjects pose for money and play their parts as directed and we learn of the impact these images have on travelers who, perhaps, don’t find quite what they expect when they arrive.
We are then transported to the present day, where a collector of these old photographs – together with a couple of forgers – play out another story. The forgeries take on an slightly ironic aspect, after the revelations of the previous act, and we are forced to think about what we might really be seeing when we look at a photograph.
The introduction of the camera is presented as a pivot point between old isolationist Japan, and modern technological Japan. It is also a commentary on how photographs are used and what they do, and do not, represent.
The show is a technical marvel with slick scene changes, clever lighting and projections of Meiji images and modern skylines. Berkeley Rep’s production of Strange Devices captures a hint of the awe that the Japanese must have experienced when the curious camera was introduced. It’s interesting to observe who dominates the world of the camera today…
]]>
Just passing on some good news… I’m one of 50 photographers from around the country selected to take part in the PhotoAlliance “Our World” portfolio review in San Francisco next month.
This three day weekend is a chance for photographers to get their work seen by top book and magazine publishers, editors, museum curators, gallery directors, as well as leading educators and professional photographers from all around the U.S.
Of course I’m excited that my portfolio was one of those chosen, but it’s also a little nerve wracking to think I’m about to be critiqued by the good and the great.
Now I have to get printing and preparing. Lots to do…!
]]>Last month I gave you a landscape, and this time I bring you another, but with a brown palette instead of blue. The winter here in the Bay Area is cool and wet and the Baylands turn brown with mud and a heavy mist from the marshes clings to the ground – even, as in this image, at the end of the day.
Heading Home
(Click here to see the image in the gallery)
I don’t really know what this gentleman was doing riding out into the mud at 5pm, but as it was about to get dark very soon I’m pretty sure he was, indeed, heading home (even if indirectly!).
As always I’d love to hear what you think. If you like my pictures please share them and encourage others to subscribe to the blog, or “fan” me on Facebook.
]]>
New Year's Day
(Click the thumbnail to see the image in the gallery)
This was the scene as huge Pacific Ocean waves crashed into the Monterey coast of California to see in 2010, as witnessed by one brave soul who has clambered out onto the adjoining rocky outcrop from the one I’m taking this picture from.
The waves were enormous and I have many spectacular pictures with towering mountains of sea and violent explosions of foam over rock, but the relative calm in his image seemed to convey the feeling of place and light best. (Although you can still see the water is turbulent – almost boiling!)
It just would not be New Year for me without the sight and sound of the ocean. I hope 2010 will be a healthy and prosperous one for you.
]]>Well, I really wanted to have these available earlier, but it proved quite a challenge to find a printer who could produce the art quality I wanted at a reasonable cost. I have finally found a source and ironed out the kinks, so here, better late than never – they are:
Notecards
There are six high quality cards in each package (six different images), blank inside, glossy outside. Envelopes provided. Click on the image above to order.
]]>
As Above ... (#2)
So we go from a shadow last month, to a reflection. Here we see two worlds in one.
The world above – an arching Victorian glasshouse – is reflected in the surface of a pond, but beneath the surface lies another world. Only where the reflection is broken by the shadow of the overhanging foliage, do we get a glimpse of what lies behind the mirror.
(This was taken in the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, San Fransisco, in case you were wondering)
If you like it, leave a comment.
]]>SPARK is always an adventure, and this time was no different. As with round 5, more writers than artists signed up, so I agreed to work with two partners.
*
My first inspiration piece came from writer Mary L Tabor – an excerpt from her story “The Burglar” (from her book “The Woman Who Never Cooked“). Even though it is just an excerpt, the piece is choc full of so many different images and ideas that it was almost overwhelming. Of course, the point of SPARK is not to illustrate the writing but to be inspired by it. Mary’s work is very personal and emotional, but my images tend to be fairly abstract, and I think in simple shapes, so the challenge was how to marry those two styles. I decided that the best way was to not overthink it, but just run with the first image that came to my mind’s eye after reading the story: A simple white triangle on a black background …the beam of a flashlight in a darkened room.
But how to realize that in a photograph?
Normally I would go out to “find” my image, but that was clearly not going to work this time. Without a proper studio and lights I knew I was going to have to improvise.
A makeshift “studio” was set up in my laundry room and I started experimenting. The flashlight beam was harder to capture than I imagined. I thought blowing talcum powder into the air might do the trick, but all I did was make a big mess! The answer eventually came from the season – Halloween! I had a Halloween fog machine stashed in the attic, and the fog turned out to be just enough to catch the beam without obscuring the rest of the scene.
That got the flashlight problem solved, but the image as I’d imagined it was simply not interesting enough as a picture. I needed more.
The final image came through much experimentation, trial and error, and many failures. I eventually decided to become the burglar myself! The darkness and fog allowed my few props to stand out, and the lack of proper photographic lighting (plus the fog!) was a handicap that turned into an advantage, as it gave the image a unique painterly look. The “lighting” was created using just three flashlights, one in my hand, one suspended from the ceiling and one duct-taped to a microphone stand! (The camera remote is in my hand, hidden behind the flashlight!). Here is the final image:
The Burglar
(Click here to see the SPARK6 page)
*
My second challenge was to create an image inspired by Meghan Hunt‘s story “The Old Man” – a reminiscence of her late grandfather. The story starts with a memory of him teaching her to play poker at the age of six, and follows her memories of him, in episodes, until his death. The sense I got from the story was one of loss – of a space where a person used to be, and a sense of how we experience time.
Once again, I had a vivid mental image in mind after reading the story – an old antique bed, empty, in an empty room. It could be either an old photograph, or a modern photograph of old things …or both.
My first job was to find that exact scene in real life …and one that I could photograph.
As a result of this particular SPARK challenge I think have now visited most of the historic houses in the area and learned more local history that I ever wanted to know! Most of the lesser known historic houses are only open one or two days a week and staffed by volunteers who are typically retired teachers, exclusively female, and sometimes even in period costume. Since only a few people can figure out the odd hours they are open, they don’t get many visitors, so when someone shows up the docents are keen to talk and share ALL the information they have!
After four or five houses, I discovered the scene I was looking for. This was one of the few houses with a bedroom, and also one of the few that was not set up like a museum. It also had the advantage of being an upstairs room in a house staffed by volunteers for whom stairs were difficult …so I pretty much had the run of the place and could take my time. It also made it easy to place my playing cards on the end of the bed without having to explain myself (you can read the story to see how these fit in).
The theme of the story is time and memory. Objects and places exist both in the past and the present. When we see them today, we experience them both as they really are, and as we remember them. Our memories are imperfect, like old photographs, but have deeper meaning. By “aging” the image I wanted to create ambiguity as to whether the picture represents an old photograph – the past as it really was – or a scene in the present day in which someone is reminded of the past and remembering what used to be. Here it is:
Not Forgotten
( Click here to see the SPARK6 page)
As always, I’d love to hear your comments…
]]>
London Eye
So… what is it? This (as the title suggests) is the shadow of one of the gondolas of the London Eye – a giant Ferris wheel erected on the bank of the Thames for London’s Millennium celebration. It’s a major London landmark and has, no doubt, been photographed from about every angle and viewpoint possible, so to get a unique viewpoint of the monument is pretty hard, and as so often the case, it was pure luck that I was able to capture the image you see here.
Rides on the “Eye” must be scheduled, and popular tourist times during the day get booked up very quickly. The only time I was able to schedule was at sunset and, with the sun almost at the horizon, my eye was immediately drawn to the shadow of the wheel cast on the adjacent historic buildings.
So why did I take this photograph, and why does it look the way it does? As well as indulging my passion for indirect observation, I was struck by the juxtaposition of old and new. The ultramodern wheel and the old stone building on which it’s shadow was cast. The warm glow of the sunset light was very appealing, and I also liked the way the light shining through the glass gondola is focused inside it’s shadow. Finally, I was interested by the way the thick glass of the gondola through which the photo was taken subtly distorts the image.
This image shows that it’s possible to find a new angle in even the most photographed of tourist attractions!
]]>
Behind The wall
A beautiful garden with rich green foliage and a mysterious red flower is tantalizingly inaccessible behind an ornate screen in a bland white wall. Even the shadows are stopped by the wall and prevented from entering the garden. A sliver of blue sky beyond heightens the sense of being shut out.
For me this image is a metaphor for people who present a protective exterior – keeping others out of their inner or private lives.
Check it out, and send me a comment.
]]>
Paper Lantern
Click the thumbnail to go to the gallery page.
This paper lantern was one of many that were hanging from wires strung between trees. I’d guess there had recently been a party or celebration.
I was struck by the way the shadow of the bulb holder is cast on the paper, and how the shadow of the top opening is so perfectly circular despite the light coming in at an angle (mathematicians among you will figure it out, but I’m guessing it’s because the side of the lantern is curved). It almost creates a mini-sun in the image.
This is one picture that wouldn’t have worked if the sky had been clear blue (so often the case here in California) , but the clouds do seem to have a life of their own. Mostly when I look at them they are just clouds, but every now and again they catch me out and I see a sphere of some soluble material like chalk that is slowly dissolving into the ether.
I just love the way this image is both ordinary and mysterious at the same time,
]]>From now on, at random times (i.e. whenever I feel like it) I plan to single out an image and tell you something about it, why I like it and how I made it.
Here’s one to start with: it’s an image I recently added to my “shadow” series:
Mobile (click to view in gallery)
What is it actually of, and why is it called “Mobile”?
Well, this was taken this spring outside the LA Museum of Modern Art. The subject is a work by Alexander Calder, who is best known for inventing a type of kinetic sculpture made of many carefully balanced pieces which can move relative to each other (in the breeze), creating a constantly changing form – he dubbed this a “Mobile“. This particular piece sits in a pond outside the gallery and is kept in motion by the random interplay of water fountains and wind.
As you might guess by the large number of images involving shadows and reflections, I am fascinated by indirect observation. What can we tell – or not tell – about something by its shadow? Here you see the seemingly solid shapes of the sculpture’s shadow contrasted with the ethereal, although directly viewed, water spray. The shadows seem to pop out as if they are suspended above the water (as the real sculpture is), while the water creates a shimmering background texture. The dark shapes seem simple, flat and two dimensional, but what do they really tell us about the things casting them? Nothing in the picture gives us a clue to the direction of the light, so we can’t tell their real shape or size, nor where the objects casting the shadows are are relative to the frame. This isolation enhances the abstract quality of the image and forces the eye to appreciate the spacial composition, and contrast of textures. The underlying tile grid gives the image a mathematical feel – like an equation plotted on graph paper, which echoes the precision of the perfectly calculated equilibrium in Calder’s piece.
I took this shot from a walkway above the pond so I could look down and isolate the elements I wanted (no distracting people, trees or buildings). The sculpture (and its shadow) was moving rapidly and I needed to freeze its motion, but since it was a sunny day I just set exposure compensation at -2/3 stop to tame the reflections and let the camera do its thing, leaving me to concentrate on the composition, which was constantly changing as the wind and water spun the parts of the sculpture around.
Of all the shots I took this one best captured what I was after. It required very little work to create the finished image.
If you found that interesting let me know – if there’s a picture in the gallery you are curious about, drop me a note – maybe I’ll pick it next time!
]]>Usually this is not a problem. Other than “quick set up”, I can think of few occasions when I have actually cracked open a manual anyway – I prefer to learn by doing. Even with something complex and deep like Photoshop, I was able to get started and figure out the basics without much trouble. Sure, understanding the myriad of features and techniques available takes time and experimentation (not to mention textbooks and the internet), but at least I could get started and look for answers when I got stuck.
The same rules don’t hold for Adobe Lightroom, however.
Lightroom is promoted as a tool designed specifically for photographers (unlike Photoshop, which is the Swiss Army knife of image processing). Many professional photographers and serious amateurs sing its praises and claim that they rarely touch Photoshop any more. So when, a year or so ago, the time came to upgrade to Photoshop CS3 I jumped at the offer of a package bundled with Lightroom version 1 for just a few dollars more.
Unfortunately Adobe failed to adequately explain what Lightroom actually WAS, and for people like me, who had established a way of working (or “workflow”) based around Photoshop, this new product made no sense. I couldn’t figure out how to duplicate what I had learned to do in Photoshop. I didn’t understand what the program was doing, or why it needed information I wasn’t used to worrying about. After a short period of experimentation, I decided that it was easier to just keep doing things the way I was, and I gave up.
The praise for Lightroom continued, however, and this year version 2.0 was announced with much fanfare. I decided to give it another shot.
I tried to “get it” – I really did – but when faced with a real life task, it was quicker and easier to fall back to the old tried and trusted Photoshop.
Then I learned that fellow photographer and Fotonova19 participant, Godfrey DiGiorgi, would be running a class at Mountain View’s Media Center entitled “Lightroom: Starting in the Middle“, expressly for folks like me who were entrenched in an existing way of working and who wanted to transition.
For me at least, the class did its job and finally helped me to understand what this darned thing is all about, and why its advocates are so excited about it. The key is that Lightroom represents a complete change of approach to managing and processing photographs – not just another tool. It is absolutely critical to understand this before you even start the program for the first time, and requires quite a bit of thought and preparation before you can start using it in earnest. It is not a program that you can learn by trial and error.
Once I understood what was going on “under the hood”, the pieces started to fall into place and the benefits became clear. The class did not have time to get into much functional detail, but it got me to the point where I can start experimenting and leveraging some of the abundant resources available online.
It’s going to take me a while to make the transition, but I can now understand not only how, but more importantly why, I will move my workflow to Lightroom.
Thanks Godfrey!
]]>
Protecting Mexico
As you can see, the kids were great, really getting into it. At one point, as I was taking pictures, there was a brief shower and the kids rushed to protect their work…
]]>You can see the whole site here, or you can jump directly to either of my two contributions (yes, I did two this round – each very different.)
Here is the result of my collaboration with Lisa Eldridge:
After All These Years (click for page)
…and here is my collaboration with Nick Piche:
The Last Thing (Click for page)
To see my previous SPARK effort, click here – or to read about my adventure last time, here.
]]>
Flight of Imagination
This month I have chosen one of the images I made for the current round of SPARK (the project that pairs writers and visual artists for mutual inspiration. You can find a better description – and my contribution to the last round – in the archive).
To get this image, I staked out a local office building where I noticed a gang of crows (“flock” seems inadequate) were circling late one afternoon. I liked the way the angle of the sun cast the birds shadows on the building as they circled, but naturally, as soon as I set up they moved on! I waited, and they eventually returned, but even then it took several attempts to get a picture that worked (they fly fast!). The bird on the roof is watching the one who’s shadow you can see, fly past out of frame.
This was the image I sent to one of my writer-collaborators, to see what prose it might inspire. That process is finished now, but you’ll have to wait until the next SPARK! website is online before you can see the fruits of all our labors. In the meantime, why don’t you see if you can come up with some ideas yourself based on this image?
(Click the thumbnail to see the larger image in the gallery)
]]>This terrific new blog will give you some insight into their world. Five photographers with different areas of expertise share their experiences of business, photography and life. You don’t need to be a pro (…or even a photographer!) to find useful advice and great ideas.
Check it out:
]]>
The Geometry of Summer
Imagine an August midday in California. The sun is at its highest and shadows are harsh. The worst possible conditions for photography.
After walking all morning, you just want a place to rest in the cool shade for a while, but the only option is some black metal furniture baking in the direct sun, on which you could probably barbecue a steak.
However, as you approach the chair and table, you notice that the curves and circles of shadow seem to dance and whirl – teasing the lines and squares of pavement as if it were simply too hot and tired to do more than grumble at the indignity.
In a few weeks these spirals and curves will move their equations and formulae back to the school classrooms. But for now, you realize, this is the geometry of Summer.
]]>The new Picture of the Month for July is finally up!
In case you don’t know, I usually showcase one new image each month, which may (or may not) make it into the permanent gallery, and while it is featured, it is offered at a special price.
I picked this month’s image, “Cleaner”, because it includes several of the themes that you may be familiar with in my other portfolios. The simple geometric zigzag that divides the picture might put it into the “angles” set, especially with the familiar azure blue California sky above. The perfect triangle of light framed by shadow, might classify it as a “shadow” picture, and at the same time it is also an unusual environmental portrait that might fit my “people” portfolio.
Cleaner
If you are curious, the guy is cleaning the roof of the El Camino hospital in Mountain View; the picture was taken about a week ago.
]]>I learned my minimal HTML skills back in the day when “frames” were considered cool. Now, not so much. The main problem is that frames surround the page with a “wrapper” that makes it difficult to link to specific content. In the past, if you tried to bookmark a particular photo on absoluteblank, or send a link to a friend, all you’d get was the index page! Frustrating…
All that is now a thing of the past. Not only did I rewrite things so I don’t have to use frames in the gallery pages anymore, but I also upgraded to the newest fastest version of JAlbum (the free program I use to generate my gallery pages). So you should find the site zippier and more pleasant to use, too.
If that were not enough, I have also automated my process for adding new images. Since it is now less of a chore, you should expect to see new material more often.
The main thing is that you can finally bookmark those photos you like, and send links to your all your friends!
Here’s the link.
Hope you like the changes!
]]>
Over The Bay © Nick Winkworth
The Stake Out
The first secret to great fireworks shots is position. It doesn’t have to be at a famous location – you can get great pictures at even a modest neighborhood show, but if you know exactly where the action is going to be, and what is around you, you stand a much better chance of getting some interesting shots. That means getting to the location early …and in daylight! See where the launch location is. Look for spots to set up where your view will not be obstructed, and where you won’t be yelled because you or your camera are obstructing someone else’s view.
Notice your surroundings – what will the fireworks illuminate? Look for interesting architecture that may be illuminated or silhouetted – or water that will provide reflections. If you are in the wrong place to take advantage of this once the show has started, it will be too late! Look too for unusual vantage points, looking down from a hill, or through the branches of a tree.
Note which way is the wind is blowing. Fireworks make lots of smoke. That could cramp your style (and affect your pictures) if you are downwind!
The Set Up
Get your gear set up while it’s light. It’s sooo much easier.
Lens: You will want to use a wide or medium wide angle lens to include the whole scene. DON’T just focus on the lights in the sky – try to include the surroundings to give your pictures some context. Switch to manual focus – auto focus will have nothing to latch on to and the camera may refuse to fire. If you are only interested in the fireworks themselves, set focus to infinity. If there’s foreground interest that you want to include you can use a chart to calculate the hyperfocal distance, and set it at that.
ISO: Use the lowest ISO to minimize digital noise. This means ISO100 on most cameras. You can also use ISO to adjust exposure while you are shooting, but make sure you don’t go above ISO400.
Aperture: You will use this, not the shutter speed, to determine exposure. This will require a little experimentation. Fireworks are very bright, so you will likely be using something between f8 and f16. Start with f8 and go up or down (in combination with ISO) to get the right mix of black sky and illuminated foreground and reflections.
Remote Shutter Release: Together with the tripod, this is the most essential tool. Set the shutter to “B” or “bulb” and use the remote release to open and close the shutter as you watch the show (it’s no fun trying to watch through a viewfinder!)
Tripod: You will take the best shots when the camera is rock steady – critical when exposures may be several seconds at a time. Start with a solid tripod and weight it down. If the legs are not fully extended (and you are not using the extension) it will be even more stable. In addition to the remote release (which prevents you inadvertently shaking the camera by touching it), you can use your camera’s “mirror lock” or “live view” function to prevent the “mirror-slap” from shaking the camera as each picture is taken.
The Sting
It’s showtime! You have the ideal spot. You are all set up and ready to go. Now what? Do NOT watch the show through the viewfinder or touch the camera unless you need to adjust the framing or ISO. Instead, stand a little back holding the remote and watch the sky. As soon as you see (or hear) a rocket launching, press and hold open the shutter with the release. When that particular firework is done exploding, release the shutter. You can experiment keeping it open through several volleys, if you like, to see what it looks like as they are recorded on top of each other (a bit like a double exposure).
Remember that the smoke will build up over the course of the show. The sky will only be clear for the first few volleys. Be ready to take advantage of the dramatic effect as the smoke is illuminated in the air and on the ground.
Display over Boulder, CO © Nick Winkworth
Good Luck – and don’t forget to share!
]]>I’m reproducing a post here that I wrote elsewhere:
No, momma can take my Kodachrome away and I won’t care.
I was a Fujichrome boy back in the day, and B&W before that, but it was always a huge hassle. My enlarger and trays made it from the UK to California twenty years ago, but never made it out of the attic.
It wasn’t until digital really became viable that I started to get interested in photography again. The freedom and flexibility of the medium (and tools like Lightroom and Photoshop) have made it possible to finally realize the vision I always had. Even the simplest things like straightening and cropping were nightmares when you were trying to get a lab to make a Cibachrome print from a slide. Now there is no limit to where you can take a digital negative. And I can make the highest possible quality prints at home.
So no, I won’t shed a tear. No regrets. The future is better, brighter and in Color.
]]>PhotoCentral is a community oriented resource located in what was once the boiler room of the Hayward Area Recreation and Parks District. Started by Geir and Kate Jordahl back in 1983, PhotoCentral provides public darkroom and digital printing facilities, as well as classes and exhibition space.
I was there for the first time last night to check out an exhibition by 25 local photographers who recently completed a class at Foothill College. The show – called 25 views – is a little like the one resulting from the Stanford/Modernbook class I participated in earlier this year in that there is a huge variety of styles and subject matter on display. There really is “something for everyone”.
The space itself can best be described as “funky”, with interesting nooks and crannies and pictures taking up every precious inch of wall space including the work areas as well as corridors and public spaces (it takes a lot to accommodate over 100 pictures!).
The overall standard of work is very high, with plenty of unusual and imaginative work to maintain the viewers interest. I won’t single out any one artist here, for fear of offending someone, but it was great to see work by several friends and photo acquaintances on display.
The only downside is that the exhibition is only open on Monday nights from 6:30-10:00pm (or by appointment). The show runs until August 29th.
Sneak peak of the show: http://photocentral.org/25Views/
Definitely worth a look if you are nearby.
]]>If you are a Facebook user, you can now become a “fan”! Just go to my Facebook “page” here: My facebook page.
I’ll keep this page updated with news, just like my blog, and “fans” will (automatically, I assume) be alerted when new items are posted.
Of course, if you are “old school” like me, you can still get regular email alerts by simply subscribing to the blog. Just click one of the buttons in the top right corner. Choose either “everything” or “just news”.
]]>Do yourself a favor and take a look - there is some absolutely wonderful work. In addition to writing and photography there is painting, sculpture, collage and more. Even music!
http://artspark4.wordpress.com/
(Again, you can read the story behind my small contribution here.)
]]>Loads of new content in the gallery – and a little reorganization to go with it.
There are over 35 brand new images — many taken this year — and a few of the old ones have been shuffled around to define new bodies of work, which I will be adding more to over time.
You can see them all in the gallery.
I suppose I should start writing artist statements for these series now! Watch this space…
Let me know what you think!
]]>Pairs are randomly assigned and start by exchanging a piece of work to act as inspiration. Each then responds in their own medium, be it writing, painting, sculpture …or photography, using the inspiration piece in any way they see fit.
The project was both challenging and fun. So much in fact, that I decided to document my experience on a page here. You can read my “inspiration piece”, see the photograph that resulted and find out what I went through to get it.
I’m looking forward to doing this again!
]]>Finally here is the new “Picture of the month” for June!
“Constellation No 9″ is part of a new series I am (thinking of) working on, which incorporates text fragments or numbers into the image. The idea is to divorce the characters from any sense of meaning so that they become simply an abstract part of the picture.
The old nail heads remind me of a stellar constellation (hence the title). Fortunately they do not resemble any actual constellation (…and there are not nine of them!). I love the utilitarian effect of the stencil and the additional modern screws that also speak to the effects of age.
Over the next few days I will be adding about 30 new images to the gallery. This will mean additions to nearly every category including curve, shadows, and touch series. I anticipate that some of these images will eventually become new series of their own (two in particular, tentatively called “View Through” and Secret Places”). Keep checking!
Hope you like.
]]>I have memories (though sadly not the pictures) of taking my first Kodak Instamatic to Windsor Castle and London Zoo at the age of six or seven. What I remember most, however, are not the perfect shots but the happy accidents. Interesting double exposures and pictures taken when I didn’t mean to. (I remember a great picture of a guardsman, tilted at about 30 degrees, taken from waist height, probably as I was fumbling to take the camera out of its case).
Clearly I am not the only person to have these memories. The Russian (or is it Chinese?) “Holga” has been popular with the photo crowd for some time, and the image distorting “Lens Baby” lenses, which can make real life seem like toyland, have been a huge hit.
Now comes another entrant to the lo-fi genre.
Hideki Ohmori’s “Blackbird Fly” is a strange beast almost 15 years in the making. Ohmori started in 1995 with a light-leaking, plastic 35-mm camera he portrayed simply as “a box with a secret inside that converts every view with affection.”
This new model, however, is not a remaking of an old design, but a brand new camera made exclusively for the burgeoning lo-fo market. With a price tag of $125 — kinda steep for a toy.
The idea is to bring back the warmth and unpredictability of the old days, when a photograph was not a faithful representation of reality, but a surprising and quirky take on the world that made us re-think, re-assess and see things in a whole new way.
(From Wired: here.)
]]>On the face of it, this is a simple photo essay by photographer Philip Toledano documenting the last days of his father’s life. His father was 98 and had completely lost his short term memory.
The frank unblinking honesty in both the text and the photographs transforms what could have been sentimental fluff into something with a much deeper meaning for all of us.
You can’t help wincing slightly when Philip writes, “He says its time for him to go, that he’s been around too long. It’s odd, because part of me wants him to go too”, and as he described his father’s inability to comprehend his wife’s death I was reminded of my own father when he awoke from heart surgery, having suffered a massive stroke during the operation. When he asked for my mother and was told that she had died several years ago he responded simply, “Oh, bugger!”.
Please take a look – I hope you find it as moving as I did.
]]>The location is a strange one. I’m certainly glad I had my GPS, because I would never have found it otherwise. It is in a low building overshadowed by a trio of shiny skyscrapers that dominate this part of Century City. As you drive into the cavernous underground parking and head up into the complex, the ambiance is austere with acres of polished marble and glass. The escalators from the parking lot spit you out into a shiny marble-trimmed atrium full of lawyers and account executives going about their business.
Century City - "Y"
(Yes this photo really IS rectangular! Cool optical illusion, though.)
I was just about to ask the receptionist where the Annenberg center was, when I overheard a couple of other people asking the same question. Clearly this is a common problem – there was no sign anywhere. As instructed, we exited the building through huge glass doors confusingly set in the glass wall at the rear of the atrium which overlooks a grassy area with picnic tables, and headed up the concrete steps to the right.
Approaching the "Space". Best not to judge a book by its cover, eh?
Whatever else you may say about the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City LA, the price is right. Yup it’s free!
I had read on their website that it would take only an hour or two to see everything, but I think that is being generous. An hour will do it – and that includes sitting through an entire multimedia extravaganza projected on multiple screens, large and small, in the central part of the building that takes up most of its floor area.
The space is very modern with sleek curving partitions and a neutral, slightly corporate, color scheme – as a museum might look if it was designed by Apple – and the video screens and consoles that dominate the central space do little to dispel that notion. The visitor is guided around a convoluted path to maximize the display potential, but ultimately it is a small place, and that was the first disappointment for me.
The opening exhibition, “L8S ANG3LES” – which is on until June 28th – includes images from eight Los Angeles based photographers in the genres of fine art, architecture, documentary, fashion, photojournalism and celebrity portraits – less a coherent show than a celebration of the the breadth of work coming out of LA. The small size of the gallery and the large space which is dedicated to multimedia (…but not enough to enough seating!) left me wanting to see more than the two or three works displayed for some of the featured photographers.
The video presentation actually scored high marks for me in its ability to reveal the photographers personalities and allow each each one to talk about their work, but it seemed to me that this was the “main event” and the work on the walls was merely secondary. There was wonderful architectural and portrait work there to be sure, but the majority of the photographs in the show were journalistic (I wonder if the LA times sponsorship was a factor there), and while I agree that harrowing pictures of war torn places are important, I don’t believe that they should be considered art (usually), and they are frankly out of place hanging in a gallery.
In the future, the idea is to use digital presentation in this central area to compensate for the limited physical space available, and to give visitors access to an enormous library of work – projected in high definition or accessed via a console. This explains the distinction made in the ads between “print” and “digital” – convenient certainly, but I’m old fashioned enough to really miss the look and feel of the physical print.
All in all however, I enjoyed my visit to the ASP and I am curious to see how the Space will develop, and how future shows will use the facility. I certainly plan to look in again when I am next in LA and I would recommend anyone with a passion for photography to do the same. Just don’t forget your GPS!
]]>I’m glad you asked!
It will probably evolve over time, but the idea is simply to provide an easy and convenient way to keep folks up to date with what I’m doing in the world of photography.
Unlike a traditional mailing list, YOU choose what and how much information you get, and when you get it. Just “subscribe” using the button at the top right, and whenever I post something new (probably not that often) you will get an email. Cool, eh? If that gets too much (or if I start to get boring) you can subscribe to “news only” and only get a message if there’s new content or a special event. Lastly the truly geeky can use the RSS feed (whatever that is…).
Other than “news”, I’ll be sharing cool photography related stuff I come across, random thoughts about life and technology and, well, I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Even I don’t know yet.
Just click the “subscribe” button and join me on my journey. It’s easy and there’s no risk – you can jump off any time you like.
See you on the interwebs!
~Nick
]]>