Photography

CONTRAILS

CONTRAILS is part of my “Views From a Third Floor Window “series. It was shot at around 5:30 pm on Saturday, February 27th, 2022, using my cell phone camera and looking toward the west. Given the winds and time of day, the composition and palette are more a matter of looking up at the right time, reacting to the scene and having a camera at hand than they are to any conscious planning or composition on my part. Within seconds of CONTRAILS having been taken the contrails had almost completely dissipated. I was particularly struck by how the contrails created a geometric structure to the scene, and how one seemed to pierce another. (2022)

STILL LIFE IN THE CITY #2

A number of years back I did a series of black and white photographs in and around southeast Washington, DC using a Pentax SLR and Kodak 400 film. These were primarily of the architectural details, their interaction with the trees in the small yards and the lights and shadows. I did my own darkroom work (the Stone Age version of Photoshop) and titled the series: STILL LIFE IN THE CITY. In December of 2021 I used the black and white filter on my cellphone camera, to take a similar series in southeast DC and titled it STILL LIFE IN THE CITY –  II. Other than the black and white filter and some cropping, there were no changes to the images. In many ways STILL LIFE IN THE CITY#2, part of that series is an exercise in visualizing in black and white.(2021)

WHATTHEFLOCK?

WHATTHEFLOCK? is part of my “Views From a Third Floor Window” Series as part of my trying to learn how to use digital photography as an art form. Initially I am going to focus (pun intended) on basic  composition rather than image manipulation. WHATTHEFLOCK? was shot using my cell phone and because of the weather (overcast, dreary and dank), the distance, and being shot hastily through a window as well as that I am just starting to use my cell phone as a camera ended up being an interesting silhouette shot. What was interesting to me about this flock is that it was composed of robins, cardinals and sparrows – something I had never seen before except around a feeder

REFLECTIONS OF HOME

REFLECTIONS OF HOME is a somewhat originally composed if unoriginally titled digital photograph of my apartment, taken as a reflection off the back window of my van using my cell phone. This image is exactly as taken except for some minor cropping. As I start  experimenting with digital  photography as an art form, I am initially concentrating on composition rather than image manipulation.

Looking Ahead: December Morning Fog

I have now been at Ann’s Choice for a little over 18 months and am starting to get a more focused picture (pun intended) of what I am going to be doing to scratch my artistic itch. While I expect not to be making any new handmade paper, and doing much less, if any ceramics and printmaking (the facilities and location don’t really lend themselves to these mediums – at least as I do them), I am expecting to go back to a couple of mediums, stained glass and woodworking, that I haven’t worked with in years; to expand my collage work, and to explore a couple of new mediums, digital photography as an art form and origami using my existing supply of handmade paper.

The piece shown here, DECEMBER MORNING FOG, is part of a series of digital photographs taken, in this case with my cell phone, from my apartment window and titled “Views From A Third Floor Window”. The color is natural: no filters were used and the only editing was some cropping and sizing for internet transmission.

The next two pieces will be two different collage impressions inspired by DECEMBER MORNING FOG.