4 selects

Turner Memorial Tabernacle, 9.5.12

If you've followed this blog, you know I very rarely "manipulate" my images. I try to limit my Photoshop work to basically what could be done in a darkroom, i.e., dodging and burning, exposure control, contrast, etc. So this one is a bit of a departure. The building and the angle seemed to lend themselves to an "antiquing" process. My little watermark is also kind of dated.

Daisies, 9.15.12

This one is a case of the camera ensuring I get the shot! I originally took this in monotone, but with the setting for a large jpg file, plus the RAW file. When I saw the muted palette of the RAW file, I decided I preferred it. I did nothing else to it.

Fading Flora, 9.15.12

This one was taken the same day as the one above, but I left this one in monotone. I used my Canon 105mm macro lens, giving it that extreme depth of field. A great lens!

Broken Window with Wasp's Nests, 9.29.12

This one reminds me a little of a Minor White image, which, to me, is never a bad thing.

10 Little Images

I am exhibiting the following images at the last installment of Project Space 2012, in Salem. I refer to them as "10 Little Images" because, due to the limited space afforded me, I printed the images each about 5"X8" on Moab Entrada Bright Rag 190 gsm Archival  fine art paper.

This is from the artist statement: The theme for Project Space 2012 is “Works in  Progress.” The 10 images exhibited here were all taken during 2012, with most taken prior to June, when I had surgery. Two were taken as recently as two weeks ago. I deliberately use the word, taken,in the spirit of Minor White and his writings on “found photography”: The photographs were there, I simply found them... and “took them.” For the most part, these images display an absence of human artifacts or influence. There are no people in them. With the exception of the two images from August (”Prayer with Shroud” and “Bouquet Remnant”) the images were taken exactly as I found them.

(August 20, 2012)

Passionate Kisses, South Salem, Oregon

1.2012

Walnut Trees, Evans Valley, Silverton, Oregon

1.2012 (previously posted)

Barlow Road, Yoder, Oregon

1.2012 (previously posted)

Dead End, Canby, Oregon

3.2012 (previously posted)

Late Snow, Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

3.2012

Willamette River, South Salem, Oregon

4.2012

Hidden Spring, Breitenbush, Oregon

5.2012

Joyous Figure,  Mindful Dog

Breitenbush, Oregon

5.2012

Bouquet Remnant 

8.2012

Prayer with Shroud

8.2012

The last two pieces were "found objects" (dried plants or weeds) and photographed on a white sheet, in natural light. 

THE OBITUARY PROJECT

Every morning when I get up, I read the obituary page. If my name's not there, I shave. George Burns.

I've been subscribing to Mr. Burns' philosophy for wuite some time. Once, years ago, I saw my name in the obits in the Los Angeles Times as I was waiting to board a plane. You can bet I visited the Mutual of Omaha kiosk before boarding.

* * *

For nearly five years, I have cut out obituaries from The Oregonian (and, in the instance of two of the finished montages, from The New York Times). What I found fascinating is the way the deceased–or their family members–choose to be remembered. The obituaries that catch my eye are the ones the feature a photograph from the person's prime.

At about the same time I began clipping and scanning the obituaries, I took a half dozen or so close-up photographs of stapled and nailed surfaces of the wooden power poles along Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland. 

Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 2008

They stood on their own, as studies of tactile surfaces converging in graphic compositions. I cannot say what compelled me to bring the obituaries and power pole close-ups together. 

Obituaries, 2008

The first montages were more a visual/graphic experiment, developing the integration of the various elements in a cohesive composition. As the process unfolded, it revealed a direction — a relationship between words and images—a narrative on both the life of the subject and the way we choose to remember loved ones and how they want to be remembered.




As with the majority of my photography, these digital montages celebrate impermanence. I often refer to my photography as “fugitive,” and so it is in focusing on the end of one’s life. For what is life if not fugitive? 

* * *

The Salem Art Association (in Salem, Oregon) has sponsored what they call "Project Space" for four of the last five summers, utilizing a vacant storefront downtown for studio, exhibiting and performing artists. I have been involved each year of its operation. In fact, I exhibited the first obituary compositions at the first Project Space, during the summer of 2008. For the 2012 Project Space, the theme was "works in progress." Of the two proposals I submitted, the obituary project was chosen. For the exhibit, I showed the following six photo-montages, along with other unrelated montages. Other than the emphasis on the narrative, there is another big difference between these pieces and the original two, shown five years ago. I did Internet searches on each of the subjects. All of the searches revealed some additional information, but none so comprehensive as for Maggie St. James...

Elena Mimi Casals

Molly

Tessa

Grace

The Two Lina Romays

Maggie

Maggie’s obituary revealed a fascinating story. When I researched her, it was her mother, who kept coming up. Ruth was a legend in Portland, having been an abortionist, performing over 40,000 illegal procedures. I certainly did not want Ruth’s notoriety to overshadow her daughter, who is, after all, the subject of the piece. The style was dictated by the choice of words available and the wording determined the size and relationship of images. It was influenced in part by film noir and pulp fiction, particularly, James Ellroy’s LA Confidential.

The Two Lina Romays began with the obituary of the Mexican singer/actress. A Spanish gore/porn actress took the name, one of many she had used in her life and career. I found the juxtaposition fascinating.

Elena Mimi Casals was a Cuban poet and songwriter. Grace, Tessa and Molly led more private lives. Faces in a crowd, a family picture... or an old snapshot staring up at you from the obituary page of the paper.

note: I do not consider the obituary pieces photography. While each of them have as a basis an original photograph, they are not photograph. They are digital montages, owing as much to the collages of the Dadists as they do to Adobe Photoshop.

3.13.2012

We had a freak snowstorm on March 13. My wife and I also had an out-of-town visitor. Combining the old, and formerly tried-and-true dictum of the postal service with our tourist guidance service, neither rain, nor sleet nor snow will keep us from showing off Silver Falls State Park. 

On the road to the park. 

I shot this in the driver's seat. 

Not recommended. You can almost hear 

that creepy music from the beginning 

of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."

A stop on the way.

3.16.2012

Maybe because March 16th is my wife's birthday and I was subconsciously inspired. More likely it was a matter of set and setting. I set out to take a ride, with the eventual aim of finding a location where I had happened upon a few months earlier. I eventually found it, but not before stopping at a high creek and reaching a dead end. After rediscovering what I was looking for, I continued on, ending, appropriately enough, at a roadside memorial on the banks of the Abiqua Creek.

January, 2012

I've played around with the idea of watermarking my photographs, primarily to protect them from being downloaded and re-purposed. I thought, in fact, of beginning the practice with these, the first photos of the new year. In the end, I have decided not to watermark them. It's not that I assume the best intentions in people or anything like that. It's just that I feel a watermark would take away from enjoying the images. I want people to see my photographs as close to the way I envision them as possible. So, no watermark--this photo-blog operates on the honor system...

Looking North–1.8.12

Walnut Trees, Evans Valley Road–1.11.12

* * *

Below is a series of photographs taken on Friday the thirteenth of the frozen ditch along the Evans Valley Loop. I always like finding this seasonal phenomenon. The thin ice catches motion and creates its own world, inhabited by still creatures...

* * *

Canby, Oregon–1.28.12

Mollala, Oregon, 1.28.12

* * *

Canby, Oregon–1.30.12

Canby, Oregon–1.30.12

Three Graces, Canby, Oregon–1.30.12

Canby, Oregon–1.30.12

Shortly after taking this photograph, the man who lived next door came by and kind of startled me. He stood behind me and asked if he could help me. I told him I was "just taking some pictures." Pictures sound so much less threatening than photographs. I asked him how long the house had been empty. "It's not," he replied.

Canby, Oregon–1.30.12

Catching up... again.

With 24 hour news cycles and instant messaging and all that, I really need to reduce the lag time from the field to the Net, again...

The Willamette River, from Keizer Rapids Park, 12.11.2011

The Willamette River, from Keizer Rapids Park, 12.11.2011

The Willamette River, from Keizer Rapids Park, 12.11.2011

The three photos below were taken in Paso Robles, on a wine-tasting weekend. None of them have been Photoshopped (as yet). The first photo (the tree) looks, to me, as if it had been shot with Kodak's Plus X. Dave's Dogs truck and the tree close-up were taken in Paso's town park.

Paso Robles, California–12.18.11

Paso Robles, California–12.18.11

Dave's Dogs Panel Truck, Paso Robles, California–12.18.11

Next up, January, 2012...