My copy of the catalog for Paul Caponigro’s exhibition ‘The Hidden Presence of Places‘ arrived this week. I was of course familar with, and particularly like, ‘Running White Deer‘ and aware of some of his still life studies but otherwise largely ignorant of much of his work. This was an attempt to fill in that gap in my knowledge. I was very pleased that I did. The collection in ‘The Hidden Presence of Places‘ has a number of images that resonated with me – quiet and contemplative, exactly what I am striving towards. The essay that leads off the book has a number of references, many of which I will add to my library over the next few months. In the meantime I’m going to study the images in the catalog and plan a visit to the exhibition at the Farnsworth Gallery in Rockland before it closes Oct. 9th.
Friday Inspiration: Eliot Porter
I find Eliot Porter’s style of intimate landscapes particularly powerful. I recently came across the video below, ‘A Look Back’, a documentary put together shortly after his death in 1990. I quite enjoyed it and hope that you will too. You can find out more about Eliot Porter on the web here. Many of his books can be found used on amazon.com and are well worth looking out for.
Friday Inspiration: Joel Tjintjelaar
I’m continuing on with my theme of photographers that shoot long black and white exposures today with Joel. Joel has an interesting website that has features tutorials for those people interested in pursuing the long exposure images that he’s known for.
I first became aware of Joel’s work through the Nik Software ad for Silver Efex Pro. In fact the video below is a Nik Software promotional video in which Joel discusses his intent and the process for realizing it.
Friday Inspiration: Michael Levin in Japan
I first came across Michael Levin‘s work last year when it was featured in George Barr‘s book – Why Photographs Work: 52 Great Images Who Made Them, What Makes Them Special and Why. Michael works in black and white using long exposures, as long as 60 minutes, to create images that have been described as ‘soulful and evocative’. Read an interview with Michael in ‘The F-Stop Magazine’ here.
The video below was shot in Japan by Brad Kremer and is a showcase for who Michael is and what his work is about.
KI: Michael Levin from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.
More videos featuring Michael’s process can be found here.
Friday Inspiration: David Fokos
I first came across David Fokos’s work at the Granary gallery on Martha’s Vineyard last summer. David works in black and white using long exposures ranging from 20 secs to as long as 60 minutes. Using long exposures David is able to ‘average time’ to give results that he believes are more representative of our impression of the world around us. This is particularly evident in his water series where the raging surf is tamed to give images that are more calming.
In the video below David discusses his process and his inspirations.
David Fokos on Plum TV from clifford reese on Vimeo.
On location with David Ward
I was very excited to see that Environment Films have a short documentary that follows one of my favorite photographers, David Ward as he works to create an image in the field. It seems that David has been evolving towards more ‘intimate landscapes’ rather than the grand view over the last few years, something that particularly appeals to me. Creation of one of these detail shots is the feature of the documentary.
Unfortunately I can’t figure out how to embed the video, so until I do click here to view it.
David has published a couple of books that are well worth a look. The first was ‘Landscape Within: Insights and Inspirations for Photographers‘ that deals with creativity and the thought processes that photographers use to create inspiring photographs. In his second book, ‘Landscape Beyond: A Journey into Photography‘, David explores the key components of a successful landscape photograph.
Traveling Light
I’m just back from a quick trip to the UK. Naturally I took along my camera in the hope of getting some photos that I liked. I generally take my DSLR with me but after seeing the Traveling Light video that Charlie Waite has put together I’m wondering whether I could get away with just a compact camera such as my Canon G10 or even just my iPhone. Check out the trailer for the full length video here.
With Landscape in Mind
I recently bought Eddie Ephraums’s book ‘Joe Cornish: A photographer at work‘, which documents Joe Cornish’s approach to photographer. It’s fun to see what Joe achieves with a compact camera, using that as a sketchbook to try out ideas before setting up his main camera. I was very excited to see that Environment films had followed up this idea with documentary film. Check out the trailer below:
With Landscape in Mind (TRAILER) from ENVIRONMENT FILMS on Vimeo.