First Frost

First Frost, Silverton, Oregon–12.2.09

Hard to believe it's been about two months since I last posted any photographs. It makes me think of that often quoted line from John Ono Lennon, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Maybe it's the global warming, or maybe it's just Oregon. Two years ago, the first frost arrived on Halloween morning. This year it came two days ago, on December 2. The photograph is a pile of leaves on one of our front stairs that I really should have swept away before this. By the way, there was no Photoshop work done on this image. The muted tones are exactly what the camera caught.

Butte Creek, Oregon-- 9.28.09

Horse Drinking at the Creek

Indian Beach, Oregon-- 9.13.09

Salem Insane

The following are from the eight images I exhibited at the last show at the Project Space II gallery/workspace that opened on August 26 and had its artist reception on Salem's First Wednesday, September 2, 2009. All but two of the pieces displayed were digital photo-montages, combining song lyrics, archival images or simply composed with more than one image.

Fairview Training Center/Mad World, lyrics by Roland Orzabal (Tears for Fears)

The Oregon State Hospital/People are Strange-lyrics by Jim Morrison (The Doors)

Fairview Training Center/Darkness, Darkness-Jesse Colin Young (The Youngbloods)

The Oregon State Hospital/Crazy, Gnarls Barkley

The Oregon State Hospital-composite

Equivalence postscript

The show officially closes on Sunday and from the opening reception, two sales and random comments, it was a success. Here are a few comments I received via e-mail. I may post some of them on the website...

You see Oregon just like I do. Many do not see it, but you definitely do- thats why I am so attracted to your photographs.

Courtney Brazil, Portland

They say a great photographer has to train and focus their mind and heart into the lens of the camera. It is clear to us that you have accomplished that so very well. Your work is cerebral, sensitive and creative. We had many favorites and could tell others visiting your exhibits were impressed as well.

Tom Lichatowitch, Silverton

I wandered by design into Lunaria last Wednesday to see your show. Wonderful! I love the opening photo of the thistle leaves. They could be almost anything, the landscape of a far-off planet even, and the frost highlights their structure, and the framing of the shot captures the beauty and mystery. Also, the shot of the wall in Salem (I believe) was marvelous. Its appearance changed while I looked at it from a surface of badly decaying paint and scuffs and smudge to a photo of flowers or abstract art. The clouds, the tempestuous sky, way cool. I do not know how you took that shot, but it seems like you were miles in the sky shooting down this tunnel from stormy skies to blue. The wall of rock with the ‘eye sockets’ changed the longer I looked at it. I truly admire your ability to see the equivalence and beauty in what appears to me to be a rock or dirty wall. The shots are wonderfully framed capturing the essence without anything extra.

Jeff Klein, Silverton

EQUIVALENCE

The images below are some of what I will be exhibiting at the Lunaria Gallery, in Silverton (Oregon) during the month of August for my featured show, entitled Equivalence: Photographs Taken Under the Influence. The title refers to Alfred Steiglitz and his work as well as the influence of Edward Weston, Minor White and Aaron Siskind (among others). The artist reception for the show is August 7, from 7-9. Stop by if you're in the area!

Joshua Tree

Rite of Spring, Silver Falls State Park

Otra Giaconda, Huatulco, Mexico

Columbia Gorge, Oregon

Equivalent, 3.6.09

Adagio

Equivalent, 5.6.09

Tempestuous Sky

Sunday in Salem

Some days you go out with your camera and nothing comes to you. Other days, you get overwhelmed by the compositions that unfold before you. Sunday was one of the latter. A cloudless, perfect day in Salem. The following is only a very small selection of the pictures I took...

The first two are among the shots of the Boise Cascade Mill that is in the process of being demolished. Visit http://www.oregonlink.com/then_and_now/paper_mill.html to see how it looked in 1924 and in 1996.

It is being torn down and will become a "mixed use" space. For now, it has all the charm of a victim of a German Blitzkrieg. The company doing the tear-down has a number of signs on the sight, referring to themselves as purveyors of "the art of demolishing."

The two photos above were taken on Commercial Street, next to the Oregon Tattoo Company. Garry Larson, the owner was outside, having a conversation when he saw me crouch before the wall and pop some snaps. "It's art, isn't it? I mean... people walk by and they don't think it's art or anything, but it's art." Garry said. Astute fellow, Garry is. The point of fact is that most people who walk by don't see it at all, let alone think of it as art. I took the series in black and white mode, but the RAW file of the top image caught me and I just had to go with it. I named it "Wallflowers."

Window. Treasure Island Antiques & Gallery. State Street. Single exposure.

From a parking lot, State Street.

The Capitol Building.

Steve Anchell, contributing writer to Shutterbug and The Rangefinder magazines. Mezzanine of the Capitol Building. Sometimes breaking most of the rules yields some very interesting results.

Oregon State Hospital, Salem. Another historic landmark that is being demolished. In another part of the hospital, patients still live and are treated. The hospital was the location for the filming of Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Brown Street, Silverton

New Camera/Dying Rose

I got a new camera a couple weeks ago. A Canon EOS 450D. It's called a Rebel XSi here in the US, which I suppose it could be worse. It's called a Kiss something or other in Japan. I haven't had a chance to use it much*. The day before yesterday I went to the Oregon State Hospital (location for the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) I may post some of those images. But today I took some snaps of some roses our neighbor grew that were on their last leg (or petals). This is one of them. I processed this one from the RAW file, converted it to grayscale and did minimal correction. More to follow.

*As for why I decided on the Rebel XSi-- I had a 30D for a while and was just intimidated by it. Too much camera, at the time. I sold it on eBay and bought the Canon G9, which is a great camera and I expect I will continue to use it for its ease and size. I had to get over the stigma of buying something called a Rebel. There really is no reason for me to have purchased a 50D other than the name. It, again, is too much camera for me. Neither did I need the latest incarnation of the Rebel-- although it offers more mpx, it also has the video capability and a built-in microphone, neither of which I need. The reviews indicated that the XSi has many of the same components of the 40D, with a plastic body instead of the titanium. My anal retentive traits will ensure no undue wear and tear. It fits comfortably in the hand, seems intuitive--not very different in controls, etc than the G9, with the benefit of interchangeable lenses, etc. As for why Canon-- that was a no-brainer. I can use my film camera lenses, and, with the exception of owning a Nikon F3 set-up for a few years, I have always owned and used Canon.

The Waldo Middle School Project

These photos were taken while I participated in the art & poetry project at the Waldo Middle School in Salem (OR) in conjunction with the Salem Art Association this past April. I taught collage making while Carlos Reyes taught poetry. The results were collages containing poems the students wrote. It was kind of a primitive Facebook, in that the students were instructed to create a piece (on foam core) that showed how they would like to be seen. Some of the finished products were fairly incredible. While Carlos taught or when they worked on their collages, I took photos. These are just a handful of the literally hundreds I shot.  If you've gone to my website, you know, I rarely shoot people. But this was a rare opportunity and these are rare – and very special – kids. 

This is Alma. It was difficult to take a bad picture of her. She has a beaming, infectious smile. I caught her off-guard here, though you'd never know.

Brenda is another of the kids that seemed to light up for the camera. Her shyness and awkwardness doesn't come across in this image. Instead, she lights up with confidence and woman-knowledge.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was full of confidence. She looks much older than her 14 years as was the fact that she is much more articulate. The more I spoke with her and got to know her a little, the more amazed and impressed I was. She plays cello in the school orchestra. As I was leaving the school one day, I noticed her picture in the glass case in the lobby, singled out as a teacher's assistant. 

Ashley – petite and quiet. And more complex than what shows on the surface. The wonderful thing about this experience was having a rapport with these kids at 13 and 14, a very impressionable age. I love the fact that Ashley just stared at me the way she did – not shying away nor concealing herself.

Taylor and Ashley. Taylor exuded confidence and poise. She was proud to tell me about her Normandy V-shaped Aluminum guitar and Mesa Boogie Amp. Rock on, Little Queenie...

Ally, Alma & Stephanie. Waldo has a dress code. The T-shirt that Stephanie is wearing is one of the options. At first, I didn't know that and just thought it was a cool shirt. In her case, it just might be very appropriate. I hope so, anyway.

Sarah. I don't think she knew I was taking this picture. Maybe the girl behind her did. This is where the term "woman child" was born...

Cody. A class clown. Bright as can be. Personable. And, if allowed, destined for good and great things.

Tiasha. I just love this picture. The kids were supposed to pair up and take one another's portrait. Tiasha didn't have a partner, nor wanted one, for that matter. She knew when to say cheese, to smile for the camera...

Newspace Gallery Entries

After agonizing for what seems like forever on the five images to enter into the juried show at the Newspace Gallery, in Portland (OR), I have finally decided-- and a good thing, too. The deadline for entries is tomorrow. In addition to the image from the Macal River, (from the "welcome" post), they are...

I called this one "Window" in the submission. It was taken on Cordon Road, in North Salem in February of 2008.The version here is the toned one I submitted. It was originally shot on the B/W setting. I recently printed it and the contrast and composition really popped.

I took this on (or a block away from) Glisan, in Portland in June, 2008. I originally titled it in Spanish (Paisaje Inventado-- Invented Landscape) after Manuel Alvarez Bravo, but entered it with the English title. I'm too self-conscious to be that pretentious.

I often think of the passage in Edward Weston's Daybooks, where Charis, his model and wife, would be driving them through the Mojave during the work done under the Guggenheim fellowship, looking for locations. Edward didn't drive and would occasionally fall asleep in the car. Charis would stop and wake Edward up when she felt she reached what looked to her like a "Weston." This image is not exactly the same, but my wife did play a big part in creating it. We were walking along the Silverton Reservoir and she wanted to skip a stone along the glassy smooth surface of the water. I yelled, no! She laughed and threw the stone. It created the ripples you see. I shot and now must credit her for the creative and collaborative impulse. I called it "radiance" for the entry. Elsewhere, I have just called it "Ripple." I like the way the circular ripple radiates and repeats along the surface, breaking the reflection of the clouds and far bank of the reservoir. I inadvertently had the camera (my Canon G9) on the neutral density filter option, which forced a high ISO speed and the grainy noise you see. This image is on the website.

I call this one "Hostas Leaves" and have already been chastized for the lack of loftiness to the title. I took it just off the steps on our back porch a few weeks ago. There is a monochromatic version, and this tinted version. It was composed and cropped in-camera, with no additional cropping and very little tonal correction. The way you see it is the way it came, practically right out of the box. The simplicity and geometry of it is a close to what I think as perfect as I have gotten. I like the way it looks like it may have been taken three quarters of a century ago. Someone recently asked me what kind of film I use. I told him I don't. It is the image, above and beyond the means of capture, that counts in the end.