10-NOV-2011
Ancient scene, the Pyramids, Cairo, Egypt, 2011
By abstracting the pyramid and surrounding camels through backlighting, I am able to make a picture that is utterly timeless (except for fading jet contrails glowing the overhead sky). I moved my vantage point to place the sun behind the bulk of the pyramid, and spot metered on its glowing edge. The silhouetted pair of camels, along with a cluster of tourists, is linked to the pyramid as a single monochromatic entity. I needed to shoot this scene from a fairly close distance in order to make the camels and people large enough to make an impact. The image required the use of a 24mm wideangle lens, enabling me to include most of the vast pyramid in the frame from such a close distance.
27-JUL-2011
Photo exhibit, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts, 2011
Several hundred work-prints by the portrait photographer Annie Liebovitz are currently on exhibition in a barn on the grounds of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. I photographed a small section of the exhibit, wrapping it in the shadows cast by a barn window. Several windows are also reflected in the glass panels protecting the photographs. Liebovitz conceived the exhibition especially for the dance festival to salute the 50th anniversary of the Mark Morris Dance Group. By photographing photographs embraced by light and shadow, I recognize the very nature of the medium itself.
27-JUL-2011
Mask, Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 2011
The mask seems to be floating towards us. I create this illusion by spot metering on the white plaster and allowing the rest of the image to recede into the shadows. The image speaks of another time, as does this historic theatre, which was founded in 1903.
09-MAY-2011
Hotel, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2011
There is no sign of activity at this luxury resort. What kindled my interest was the way the late afternoon light and shadow plays with the massive empty couch at the hotel’s entrance. The scene is essentially monochromatic, except for the brilliant red cushions that sit unused on long seating surface. The extended shadows on the concrete echo the horizontal flow of the extended couch, which seems to move from the light at left into the darkness at right. I used a 24mm wideangle lens and spot-metering mode to expose for the white couch and allow the shadows and surroundings to fade to black.
20-APR-2011
Golden machinery, Goldfield, Arizona, 2011
Goldfield was built to support a gold mine that operated here from 1893 to 1926. This gold mining equipment has been rusting unused for the last 85 years, and nature has provided it with a golden patina, accentuated here by evening light. I used my spot-metering mode to expose for the highlights, and allow much of the image to fall into the shadows of time.
09-MAY-2011
Imagination Gives Us Wings, Main Library, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2011
Sunlight moves, and artist Larry Kirkland has used it to create one of the most popular public artworks in Scottsdale. He carved the shape of a bird into the roof over the entrance to the Scottsdale Library. As the sun moves across the sky, the bird appears to move across the interior of the roof over the entrance. I photograph both the roof carving and the illuminated bird as they came together late in the afternoon. (The artist also created a huge golden feather of gilded aluminum that is suspended over the entrance. Your can see my image of it at:
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/113688088 Both the bird and the feather make up a two-part work of art called “Imagination Gives Us Wings.”)
21-DEC-2010
Sainthood, St. Francis Church, Salvador de Bahia
The light was coming from behind this icon, illuminating a golden wreath that celebrates the worthiness of what appears to be a saintly figure, as well as the top of the hood that crowns its head. The face of the saint was in deep shadow. Instead of exposing for the face, I expose here for the illuminated wreath and hood instead. The shadowy face expresses the mystery that often cloaks the nature of sainthood.
19-JUL-2010
Grave of Cassandra Bartlett, West Dover, Vermont, 2010
Cassandra Bartlett died in 1854, after living for only three weeks and five days. Artificial flowers still mark her tiny grave. A shaft of late afternoon sun illuminates the red petals and the corner of her stone. By spot metering on the flower, I can make the façade of her gravestone, and the family marker just behind it, fall into shadow. The mood I’ve tried to create here is one of sadness, intensified by the play of light and shadow upon the grave.
28-JUL-2010
Backbenchers, House Chamber, Old State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona, 2010
From high in the gallery over the House of Representatives Chamber in Arizona’s old state capitol building, I shoot the noon light as it pours through an overhead skylight to illuminate five desks at the back of the room. Using a superwideangle 14mm lens, I stretch the scene into deep shadow, symbolizing the presence of the past. The other desks are barely visible to the eye. If we looked at this scene with our own eyes, we would see the entire room as well as the highlighted desks. By using my spot-metering mode, I can expose for only the strong light, and create this effect. Meanwhile, a circle of 19th century light fixtures, as well as the great chandelier in the middle of the room, offer additional context of another time. The chamber is now a museum. The present Arizona House of Representatives, which is much larger than it was at the turn of the 20th century, meets in a new building next door.
03-JUN-2010
Panels of gold, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2010
The evening sun turned the wall of this dry goods store into three panels of glistening golden adobe. I used these panels to divide this image into thirds. The first third at left remains open, leading to the panel bearing the store sign, which gives us context for the locale. I waited until a silhouetted figure wearing a western hat entered the third panel, just in front of the sign, and made this image. I liked the jaunty upturned brim of the hat -- the abstracted figure symbolically comes to represent all who have lived in this quintessential western town over the decades.
08-JUN-2010
All aboard, Durango and Silverton Railroad, Durango, Colorado, 2010
The bright yellow wall is the side of an old railroad car. The shadow is that of the conductor, shouting “all aboard” as the train prepares to leave Durango on its daily trip to Silverton and back. His hand gesture tells us that he is in command here, and by silhouetting him, I abstract him into a symbolic figure of authority.
08-JUN-2010
Early morning walk, Durango, Colorado, 2010
The early morning light bathes the facades of an entire side of a residential street, creating a rhythmic series of the ten triangular peaks that carry the eye through the image to the walking silhouetted figure at lower right.
