The Constructed Image

The photo can be a constructed image, put together with props, background, and lighting. I have been working on several constructed images, one theme being bubbles. What interest me is there fragility and transient nature. They last but seconds and can be gone before they are fully created. Bubbles are beautiful in their symmetry. I often take real things and make them un-real because of  their visual  or psychological
context. This is one of the approaches I took with the bubble pictures. This results in a puzzle the viewer must solve. Its a game to create an aesthetic with the known that becomes un-known. Art should excite, challenge, touch your psyche, hart, or make you question.  

The Camera As A Time Machine

Part of the magic of photography is the ability to effect how we conceive time. we have recorded people and things that are no longer here. We also can make accurate records of patina on objects that show time has effected them. The visual record of people who have matured records the character that time has left with them. We also see transition of season, weather, and erosion. Only photography as a medium allows us a true perception of the passage of time. In all actuality every time we press the shutter that fraction of a second in time has passed and cannot be retrieved. In creating art with photography we should use this to our advantage to make pictures that transcends time or embrace it. Time should be a consideration in how we make images  The church is no longer here. The water fall is the same, there was a ten year span of time between the two pictures. The patina of the factory door shows years of use. The feathers fade toward the edge of the picture showing an evolution of time  with the use of five separate exposures.

Timeless Elegance? How Do We Achieve It

How do you achieve a timeless quality and a sense of elegance and still make creative images. Many of those photographers we call our greatest artist used the most traditional methods. There appeared to be no following of the latest trends, or making use of new techniques for the sake of the  technique. I have noticed that most of these photographers relied on a unique vision, a way of working, or concepts. There are three photographers that have had a profound effect in my personal development as a photographer. Of course there is Ansel Adams, then Eugene Smith and Richard Avedon. They all worked in different areas of photography, but had common threads. They all had a unique and consistent vision, ways of working, and concepts. They were also all masters of their craft. These factors resulted in a sense of style that made their work instantly recognizable.

Over the last forty years I have attempted to develop a unique vision. I have concentrated on the black and white still life silver gelatin print. I have worked to master craft. The pictures I made thirty five years ago retain the same since of style as my current work. I have worked to achieve a unique timeless elegance using simple subjects.

The Calla Lillie was shot thirty five years ago. the Bubbles and Weed were shot last week.  The Photos are from four different portfolios. The still life pictures number in the hundreds.

Is The Photo The Truth

We see the photo as truth, an exact representation of how something or someone looks. We use them as evidence in court, and as historical reference, both personal and public. Photos are used to describe both product and process. The photo itself is not truth only a representation. It can be manipulated, and changed to express concept or ideas, or become visually poetic.

The photo in concept is much like a shadow. A shadow is only a representation of the real thing, created by light. The shadow can be manipulated and changed. Using shadows as a key element in a series of photos is an intriguing concept. The image formed by light,(the photo) is used to make images formed by light,(the shadow). The photo is further removed from the truth and is a suggestion of that truth.  

Abstract

Can the content be literal or narrative with an abstract concept. Why not? This may force us to examine ideas beyond the image. We can continue to honor the aesthetic and craft of the photo.

Art Can Make You Think

The artist job is to arrive at a unique solution to a problem. The problem is visual and self imposed. The solution can be the asking of open ended questions that require the viewer to have there own answer. By posing open ended question the viewer becomes a participant in the photo. In the last two years I worked on a series of pictures called feathers. Although there is a theme that unifies the images, I strive to make each picture its own unique solution to a visual problem.

Be True To The Media

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, photo, (meaning light or produced by light), graphics,(meaning capable of painting drawing or writing). I tend to take a literal interpretation of this definition and apply it to the work I produce. How I use light is an essential element in my work. One of the key elements in how I plan a picture in my minds eye is to pre-conceive the light. What direction will it come from. Will the light be hard edged from a spot light or bare bulb, or soft edged from a reflector or light box. Will I fill the shadows with a reflector  or another light, what will be the light ratio between light and dark areas. I think of the surface characteristics of the subject, will it show texture and drama if the light skims across it, will the light pass through it if it is translucent. Will the light be consistent with the context of the subject or abstract. You can take the simplest subject and light it in a manner that will render it dramatic. Often you can take the light that exist and  alter it with reflectors and gobo's or added artificial light  to achieve your desired end. There are also times when you find light as it exist  to have qualities that are interesting or support your subject, and that may be enough.

Graphics is drawing or painting or writing. I want my pictures to be as graphic as possible, hence the use of black and white. Color can often get in the way of a strong image, or be a crutch for a week one. I love the challenge of producing a simple image that gain visual power from its graphic nature.

Where Do My Images Come From

We all have a third eye, our minds eye. We see with it in dreams,  our imagination, how we want things to be or not to be. We have all heard some one say picture this, they are calling on us to use our third eye. The visual artist literally pictures it. It becomes a process. We often change the original visualization in process because different ways of seeing our original concept come to mind. As creative people we are open to change and accept variations which may be visually stronger than our original concept.

Where Do My Images Come From

You are the sum of your experiences. As an artist your life experiences are often reflected in your work. Those experiences can be general, as in things that happen in society that are historical or social. Experiences can also be personal. The experiences can be direct and have an impact on you, or vicarious, something you observe read about or are told about. How you react to these experiences to bring them to visual fruition makes your art unique to you.

The picture of the gloves on the back of a chair remind me of my grandmother returning from church on a sunday afternoon. She would take off those white gloves and put them on the chair. We always made jam as a family affaire in the summer. The Mason jars were a part of that activities.  The baby shoes were my daughters. When she was small I had a baby carrier that allowed me to carrier her on my chest as she faced me. I can still remember her beating hart. The shoes always remind me of that experience.

Some pictures can be very personal based on your life experiences, others may reflect a place in time or a feeling.