My Photographic Journey
Umpachene Falls, New Marlborough, MA, 2010
I don’t usually take sunset photos, but this is not another picture of the setting sun. I made this photo in the fall a few years ago, and with autumn now arriving I thought it would be a good time to post it.
Two Painters
I need to lighten up a little. Here is a photo taken at an art museum in Vienna.
Metropolitan Museum, American Wing
As part of Soho Photo Gallery's continuing celebration of its 50th anniversary, an exhibition, Picturing New York, is on view now through September 11. The show, which has images from both current and former members, fills the entire gallery. This photograph, taken at the Met Museum in 2018, is one of my two prints that were selected for the show.
I sometimes wonder how I can transition so easily between photographing the natural world and the built environment, like this scene at the Met. It certainly helps that I feel comfortable in both milieus, but I suspect there is more to it. One of the things I like about photography is that it can give me insight into myself. Why did I make a certain photograph? What is it about a scene I like that resonates with me? I believe that there are themes that I respond to which transcend the setting or environment I am in — shadow and light, the passage of time, quiet spaces, beauty in ordinary but often overlooked objects, etc.
But all of this analysis usually takes place after I click the shutter. At the time of making the exposure I simply may feel there is something here worth capturing.
Since my last post, I have continued working on my hanging scrolls project, and I am now nearing completion of a series of scrolls for exhibition. They will be on view in the Annual New Marlborough Artists show at the New Marlborough Meeting House Gallery in the Berkshires from September 2 to October 2.
The project was an exciting creative challenge for me, both in concept and production. I was inspired by the traditional hanging scrolls of China and Japan, but I wanted to give a contemporary interpretation to my scrolls using photographic processes and materials. I eventually decided to print on canvas inkjet paper. The canvas printing paper serves as a substitute for the silk often used in traditional Asian scrolls. It is strong, yet it can be hung easily and rolled up like a traditional scroll.
I had never printed on canvas-backed paper before, and I had my share of printing failures, but I finally learned how to make the proper adjustments on the printer to work with this medium. Also, because the printed scroll will not be framed behind glass like a typical photographic print, I give the canvas a special spray coating to help protect it from fingerprints and harmful UV rays.
So after having learned some new skills and techniques, I am looking forward to finally exhibiting my scrolls.
May Snowfall 1 as a hanging scroll.
I am working on a project that is inspired by the hanging scrolls of Chinese and Japanese artists from past centuries. Although images of any proportion could be hung in a scroll-like fashion, my initial set will be tall and narrow. I am also limiting my first images to black and white.
My intent is to create scrolls that convey a quiet beauty, such as what might be found in the tokonoma of a Japanese home — an alcove where paintings, ceramics, flower arrangements, etc. are displayed.
May Snowfall 1
I am excited to announce that Harper's Magazine has chosen my image, Big-leaf Maples, Hoh Rain Forest, to appear in their August issue. The photo will be a full-page accompaniment to an article about Big-leaf maples and the development of a tree DNA database. The article is written by Lauren Markham, who is a journalist and essayist as well as an award-winning fiction writer.
I discovered this building with its colorful wall in Maras, Peru at the site of the ancient salt pans or ponds, known locally as the Salineras de Maras.
I was struck by how the rectangular colored shapes on the wall echoed the rectangular plots of salt, and how the edges on the wall’s painted shapes were modified to accommodate the roof line in the same manner that the mostly rectangular plots were modified to fit the contours of the terraced hillside.
There are thousands of these salt ponds on the hillside. An underground stream rich in salt and minerals water was discovered here by pre-Inca communities. They made channels to direct the stream into the ponds. The ponds are tended by local families much as they have been for centuries.
I came upon this woodland design a few years ago. Recently, as I was working on the image, I made a color version and a black and white version. It took a while for me to decide which version I liked better, but eventually the black and white version prevailed. I felt that the dark and light shapes and the overall pattern were stronger in black and white, and that these shapes and patterns were the essence of the photograph for me.. Who knows, someday I may change my mind. Here is the color version, so you can decide for yourself.
Jane’s Carousel sits in Brooklyn Bridge Park on the East River. It was created in 1922, the heyday of the American carousel, by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. This year marks the carousel’s centennial.
In 1984, Jane and David Walentas purchased the carousel in its entirety at auction. When purchased, the carousel was in poor condition. Over several years, Jane Walentas oversaw its restoration at her studio in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It opened to the public in September 2011.
I made this photograph in 2014, as I was beginning my multi-year project of twilight photography, which I eventually titled The Edge of Night. This photo never made it into any of the related exhibitions nor the book I published, but I thought it should be given some exposure (no pun intended), so I am publishing it now.
I arranged these three images as a triptych to accentuate the patterns and colors of this rock wall in Bartholomew’s Cobble, a designated National Natural Landmark in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
The tables and chairs on this rooftop patio were carefully positioned so that rainwater could not stay on the surfaces, but would quickly run off. Looking beyond the intended reason, they can also be a metaphor for…what? One can see humor in common objects being used in an uncommon way. Or perhaps it reminds one of the precarious condition of the world we inhabit. What does this image bring to mind for you?
This place is a popular tourist attraction, especially for photographers. Who can resist the reflections made in the thin layer of water on the floor and the light from the sky entering through an oculus in the ceiling? I suspect hundreds, if not thousands, of photographers have uploaded their images of the Portuguese cistern to the internet. So how could I expect to make an image that would be different and distinctively mine?
Read MoreThis building once stood at 830 12th Avenue in Manhattan, on the corner of West 57th Street. It was owned by the Artkraft Strauss Sign Company, the creator of some of New York City’s iconic outdoor signs erected in Times Square as well as other parts of the city. Sometime after the company closed its sign business around 2006, I discovered that the building’s façade had become the canvas for a giant mural. A small portion of the mural is shown here. The building is now gone. In its place stands a modern apartment building.
As for the image, I find the combination of the industrial architecture from the past mixed with a surrealistic design with vibrant colors to be mesmerizing.
This photo was taken last fall, but when I converted it to black and white it looked like a springtime scene to me. I made this image near a section of the Appalachian Trail. I go back to this area whenever I wait for my car to be serviced after dropping it off at the nearby garage.