After 3 weeks of on and off the road traveling to photograph the fall colors, I am back eating a bagel at Panera (my other office). Spent the weekend getting some rush print orders done and I will be delivering the prints for my Water Abstraction show at Metro Arts Center shortly. Then back to fulfilling print orders and sifting through 6000 images. I will be adding more images to the website soon. For now above is a preview of coming attractions.
I am pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit of my fine art photography at the Metro Arts Gallery on November 19th. The exhibition space is within the public area of Metro Arts Commission’s offices, located on the fourth floor of the Metro Office Building in the Richard Fulton Complex. The theme of this art show is Water Abstracts, (a favorite photographic subject of mine). The show will be open through March 2010.
Metro Arts Gallery Exhibit Opening Reception
3:00 - 4:30 p.m. November 19th
MNAC’s address and hours of operation are:
800 2nd Avenue South, 4th Floor
Nashville TN 37210
Hours: Mon.–Fri., 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
What is Wabi-Sabi and what does it have to do with my photography? Wabi-Sabi describes a Japanese aesthetic of art and living.
One of the best explanations I have seen for the term is:
“Wabi is a feeling of loneliness or solitude, reflecting a sense of nonattachment and appreciation for the spontaneous unfolding of circumstances. It is like the quiet that comes from a winter snowfall, where all the sounds are hushed and stillness envelops everything. Sabi is the suchness of ordinary objects, the basic, unmistakable uniqueness of a thing in and of itself.”
From ” The Zen of Creativity”
John Daido Loori
A few years ago a large number of my images were chosen by a client to be hung in an upscale hotel. While I was printing the images I marveled at how the image choices seemed to have picked up a theme that ran through my images. This was not a theme that I was aware of as I was creating the photographs in the field. I was so fascinated that my client had seen this thread that ran through my imagery that I was unaware of, that I couldn’t resist writing her and telling her how much I appreciated her “getting it”.
Her response was “I love your work it is so Wabi-Sabi!” I immediately began researching on the internet and at bookstores. I ended up reading and learning about a Japanese aesthetic which had permeated my fine art photography for years without even being aware of it.
Have you ever noticed how the colors of a photographic print will look diferent at various times of day and under different light sources?
Most photographers and printers use daylight profiles. The print looks good under daylight but under flourescent or incandesent lighting the colors can take on radically different hues.
I have been making fine art photographic prints for more than 30 years first in a black and white darkroom, then a cibachrome lab and now using state of the art photography printers.
This has been an issue which has bothered me a lot in the digital era.
My solution to this problem is to use mixed lighting profiles and even profiles for specific light sources.
The majority of fine art prints which I produce are produced using a mixed lighting profile. It is designed to give the most natural looking color under a varity of lighting conditions. It works well even under conditions where a combination of light sources (for example flourescent and daylight) might both be illuminating the photographic print.
If you know that the image will be viewed only under a specific light source and not moved you can let us know and we can set the color to create the art print to look best in your environment.
However, if the photograph may be moved or viewed under different light sources it is best for us to use the mixed lighting profiles that I use by default.
