Trees, or Forest...

The Forest Path,  2018 - week 07

      Each week has its bit of exploration, learning, and when I'm lucky an epiphany that leads me to greater understanding of my art.  Or its' challenges.
     I have always found cottonwoods to be wonderful trees yet so full of individual character. 
Each tree is so different, and yet, still a cottonwood.  The challenge that has arisen with this, is 
that when I am photographing cottonwoods, I have found that I'm usually creating a portrait. 

     A portrait of an old friend.

Cottonwoods,  2018 - week07

     That won't work this time around.  I need to show the forest...  the whole community!  So I cannot focus on any one tree with its wonderful personality.  I need to capture the chaos of nature, while showing the beauty of the cottonwood forest.
      And then come up with art...

Cottonwoods,  2018 - week 07

Between the Seasons

The Three States of Water,  2018-week 06

     Sometimes in our explorations of the world around us we will find unusual seeming scenes that in reality are quite normal. It can be something as simple as the ice on the river melting away. Yet, what do we see as artist... This is actually when things can get fun as well as interesting. And maybe we let our imaginations run away with us.

North Fork, South Platte River,  2018-week 06

     Yet the question often becomes, are we really getting our message or the playfulness across? That is something that every viewer will decide for themselves. Sometimes they will see something that the artist totally missed!

     And I will continue to enjoy the creative process, as I create...

Cottonwoods, A Fond Farewell

First Glance, 2018-week 05

     I often have found myself interested in working in projects or series.  You can often tell a more interesting visual story.  This way one image doesn't have to capture it all.  You can also show different facets of the same story and how things change.

     In 2006 I did my first book orientated project for a handmade book titled "Cottonwoods in Winter".  It was completed by using a 4x5 field camera (Wista) over the course of January and February of that year. I first published and hand sewed the book that March.
     The location was a 2 mile long by 3/4 mile wide cottonwood forest along the South Platte River in Chatfield State Park, Colorado.  There are no roads, just trail access, so I used my mountain bike pulling a trailer to haul my camera, tripod and film from my house on each visit. It did not snow much that winter which really helped me with access to remote areas.
     I really grew to love that trail and those cottonwoods. Parts of this forested area seemed untouched by man over the years.  Some of the trees are so large it would take 3 people to touch around their girth. With a few of them being close to 300 years old.

     A dozen years have gone by since I worked on that project.  The wind has knocked down a couple trees.  The river has flooded once or twice, but basically it is the same magical forest that I visit through out each year.

Looking north, 2018-week 05

     That brings us to my new project...  Once again I will photograph this area.  Trying to capture more of its feel as a forest, instead of the individual trees.  I am guessing I have at the most two years before it's mostly destroyed. The Corps of Engineers has given the Denver Water Board the go ahead to raise the level of Chatfield Reservoir by 10 feet (3 meters).  Most of this old growth forest will be affected as it grows along the river feeding into the reservoir.  All of the trees in these images have been staked and numbered, the final accounting before the roar of chainsaws and earth movers.

     Denver wants its money, and needs its water as it continues to grow.  Forgotten and erased from our memories will be some of the Colorado lifestyle and its untouched wild lands. 

Looking south, 2018-week 05

     Nothing else to do now, but record it so it won't be totally forgotten!

Deja Vu

     I am in week 04 of my journey of rediscovering my photography.  I am finding that it has become very inspirational.  The more that I am out doing my weekly assignments, the more I am actually seeing.  By this I mean my mind is searching for and finding compositions.  My awareness of light and textures is really high, and I am enjoying what I am seeing more and more.  In this way I am thinking photographically almost all the time.

     It is a lot like seeing the world in a state of heightened awareness, or in some ways, like seeing through the eyes of a child... once again.  This is one of the many joys of being a photographer and exploring the world around you!

Three Shells,  2018-week 04

     I am also revisiting some older images that I have done, and finding that I know see them differently.  I am indeed a different person than I once was.  And more importantly, I am accepting of this fact.

     Like this weeks images of shells, which I have tried so many times before.  Again it is done differently, and of course I have different results.

Two Shells,  2018-week 04

     No, I have not created the perfect image of shells.  And they are a long ways from the images by Edward Weston that inspired me to try them in the first place.

     But... I will keep on trying! (and exploring my vision)

Is it worth it?

     Sometimes that question, "Is it worth it?" comes up in relation to what I go through to create my images.  There doesn't have to be somebody else asking the question.  It is most often this voice from somewhere inside my head asking this, and other questions.

     Self questioning as well as the self doubting are just another facet of producing Art from the artist point of view.  It has become another challenge that needs to be dealt with every time I go to get a camera out.  And it doesn't matter which camera, my 35mm, the 4x5 or the 8x10.  That same voice will start with the Questions...

          Is it worth my time?

          Will it make a good image?

          Is there enough light for a good exposure?

          Do I have enough time to set the camera up and make the image?

          Will anybody understand what I'm trying to say?

          Again,  ...Is it worth it ???

Cottonwoods,  2018-week 03

     When I made this image,  I wasn't all that sure.  If I was to contrast it against what I went through on last weeks outing,  it wouldn't be fair to the image...
     A three quarter mile hike with everything I needed to create the image on my back.  All 40lbs of it, for what?  Not to mention the cold wind, and a late afternoon sun peaking through the clouds...

     What am I doing to myself?  For what...  (I am definitely not a spring chicken any more.)

     The only answer I have ever come up with is YES!  My art is worth all this and more!  If the image isn't quite good enough (and who am I to judge?),  maybe the next one will be!

Weekly Offerings

South Platte River,  2018-week 01

      Most photographers are generally lazy.  By this, what I mean is we don't practice our Art/Craft everyday, or even every other day like musicians.  Doing scales?  nothing sounds more boring than doing musical scales...    Except maybe an hour on the bicycle trainer, going nowhere.  Then, when we do go out and do our photography after a couple of weeks of Not Doing, we still expect to create a masterpiece!  Most of the time it doesn't work out the way we expected...

     I have found (mostly the hard way) that your mind needs to be totally into your Art.  There are so many technical aspects to large format photography, that without the constant practice, you will make mistakes and I do make mistakes.  And then you still have all the artistic considerations that go into creating the image.

     Photography is a verb, that means a lot of doing...   over and over, and over again.  Until the technical aspects become second nature.  Then and only then will you be free to concentrate on the artistic concerns of creating an image.  So each of my weeks this next year will have its challenges, and its failures.  And I will learn from each and everyone of them!


     These two images from last Saturday are a good start, despite their short comings... They are still Doing!

 

South Platte River, Rocks, ice and water,  2018-week 01

Back in the Saddle...

Today (18.01.06), I exposed 8 sheets,  a very good day!

     When a bicycle rider falls off his or her bicycle, they will usually get right back up and continue their ride. Unless of course they, or the bike have become broken. 

     An Artist, when they fall of their path of creating art, it is a totally different matter. The  
recovery is not all that quick. Just the fall causes you to really question your art and your ability 
to create. Getting back into the flow seems nearly impossible...

     That is where I find myself this first week of 2018. Trying to get back in the saddle!  I had a
serious bout with cancer the summer of 2014 that literally blew me off my path as a Fine Art
photographer.  I was in the midst of a series of shows with a strong salon group when my fortune seemed to change.  Months of radiation and chemotherapy followed by a difficult surgery left me
hoping for some miracle to return me to the wonder I felt when creating my art.

     I am now clear of the cancer. And even though I have been doing some intermittent 
photography over the past three years, I have not felt committed nor produced an actual body of  work for show. This blog will be about my getting back into the saddle with my creativity. One of
my goals is to expose at least one sheet of film every week over the next year. As well as develop,
scan and proof it, I will also publish it in my blog the following week. I will also include some of the thoughts, as well as the challenges I find as I get back into the rhythm of my creative life.

     Please join me, and feel free to leave comments and encouragements.