07-FEB-2009
Celebrating nature, Herberger Theatre Center, Phoenix, Arizona, 2009
This is one of several larger than life bronze sculptures created by Arizona sculptor John Henry Waddell in the 1970s. It reaches towards a tree in front of the Herberger Theatre. The entire group of sculptures is called “Dance,” yet this particular figure appears to be celebrating nature itself. It seems to be reaching into the huge branches just beyond reach. By exposing for the sky, I create abstract silhouettes of both the tree and the figure, allowing shape and gesture to speak instead of detail. (To see an image I made of another silhouetted figure in this statuary group in 2007, click on this link:
http://www.pbase.com/image/77956421 )
08-OCT-2008
Tourists departing Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2008
Their body language tells the story here. The silhouetted tourists, weighed down by duffels and backpacks, are so intent on getting home that they won’t even glance at the rising steam of the Old Faithful geyser finishing an eruption in the background. One tourist holds an iPod in her free hand, and appears to be either talking or singing. Yet for the moment she is standing still. The other tourist has a foot in the air as she brings up the rear. Meanwhile, the glowing lanterns over the main entrance of the hotel balance the abstraction with a touch of reality.
18-MAR-2008
Jama Mosque, Old Delhi, India, 2008
Raptors swirl around one of the many towers of this mosque, the largest in India. Its courtyard can hold 25,000 worshippers. I abstract this mosque by not only shooting only a small part of it, but also by silhouetting the subject I’ve chosen. To me, this single tower, festooned in lights and circled by birds of prey, expresses the feelings I had at the moment.
26-DEC-2007
Promenade, Nha Trang, Vietnam, 2007
Nha Trang is the most popular beach resort city in Vietnam. Its municipal beach features a promenade that runs the length of the downtown area. I made this image early in the morning with strong sunlight reflecting off the ocean to backlight and thus abstract as silhouettes the straw umbrellas on the beach and the worker carrying two buckets on her shoulder on the promenade. The image also features rhythmic repetition – two trees, two umbrellas, and by implication, two buckets.
06-NOV-2007
Church at sunset, Old Town, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2007
Fronting Albuquerque's historic Old Town Plaza is San Felipe de Neri Church, built in 1793. Shooting with the help of a setting sun illuminating the façade of the church, I waited until a man entered the fenced area at right. Using my spot meter, I exposed for the brightest part of the image, which turned all of the shadowed areas black, including the shape of the man. When the man was framed within the triangular portion of the composition, I made the picture. As a silhouette, the man is no longer a particular individual, but becomes instead a symbol of all who have come to this church over the centuries.
07-NOV-2007
Repairs, Sky City, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, 2007
Much of the Acoma Pueblo was built in the 16th and 17th centuries from materials hand carried up the steep slopes of a 367-foot high mesa. There is no electricity, and those who live here want it that way. The old buildings require maintenance and that is what is happening here. The place is called Sky City, and on this day, its own sky offered both contrails and a "sun dog," a halo caused by ice crystals in the sky. I exposed for that sky with my spot meter, which caused all of the shadow areas in the image to darken, and the man to become a silhouette. We see his active shape in one dimension. As a silhouette, he becomes lonely symbolic figure facing a great challenge, one man who must somehow keep the crumbling world around him from falling apart.
07-NOV-2007
Photographers at work, El Malpais, near Gallup, New Mexico, 2007
Shooting this spectacular sunset together proved to be a bonding experience for our group of photographers standing on the edge of a cliff looking over the New Mexico desert. Although the sunset was a lovely subject in itself, I thought that a shot stressing the photographic camaraderie at day’s end would make a more humane image. I hung back, and used spot metering to expose on the sun itself. This exposure deepened the color of sky and turned the photographers into a group silhouette. It abstracts them, removing their identity as individuals, yet it leaves each with a symbolic role to play in the image. The key figure is the man in the hat who gestures towards the sun, pulling all of us along into the image with him. It is he who brought them here, and in a sense, his gesture invites all viewers to join the group as well. The other three photographers support his gesture, each in their own way. The woman at left appears to be listening; the man next to her is working on his camera, while the fellow at far right is intent on shooting. They are a group of humans that have come together to witness and enjoy nature at its most beautiful moment. (Two other scenes from this evening at El Malpais follow.)
07-NOV-2007
Dog’s Night Out, El Malpais, near Gallup, New Mexico, 2007
As our group of photographers was working on the same sunset seen in both the previous and following image, another tripod-bearing photographer joined us, along with his huge four-legged friend. The excited dog apparently needed only one of those four legs at this moment in time. In this image, the photographers and dog are each doing their own thing. By exposing for the sky, I have not only thrown each of them into silhouette, but also the ridge upon which they stand (or run) and the tree at left, as well. A giant diagonal shadow slices through the sky, focusing the illuminated area on the cast of characters at work and play on the ridge. The silhouette gives this fragmented activity a sense of unity it would not otherwise have.
07-NOV-2007
Fire in the sky, El Malpais, near Gallup, New Mexico, 2007
Alone on a precipice, this photographer seems overwhelmed by the natural spectacle before him. For once, the adjective "awesome" seemed utterly fitting. The emphasis here is on the sunset itself, while the silhouetted figure of the photographer gives it both context and a sense of scale incongruity. He becomes a symbol of man’s continuing efforts to somehow grasp the essence of nature, while in fact, we can only stand back and admire what it can do. This is just such a moment – for the tiny photographer out there on the edge, and for all of us.
08-NOV-2007
Junction Ruin, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 2007
Ancient cliff dwellers found a sanctuary in the great gorge of Canyon de Chelly. This ruin stands at the junction of two of its many twisting sub-canyons. I noticed the mid-day shadows creating black slashes in the rock face of the canyon, echoing the harsh, unforgiving nature of life in this remote place. I layer the image with a similar slash created by a shadowed, shattered branch of a fallen tree. Its upward curve echoes the curves of the shadows on the canyon wall. By spot metering on the bright face of the cliff, the shadowy branch with its feathered end also becomes an abstraction, a silhouette that suggests the wing of a soaring eagle, sacred to the Indians who live in this canyon.
08-NOV-2007
Navajo riders, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 2007
They came from behind us, riding hard, seemingly from out of the past. They galloped into a blaze of color, and vanished around a curve in the dirt road. The late afternoon sun illuminates each rider in a different way. The woman is an example of rim-light – her hair seems to glow at the edges, as if she is on fire. She echoes the explosion of light coming from the brilliantly colored tree in the background. The man, along with his horse, is still in shadow. Because he is seen against the light, my exposure makes him into a silhouette. He is less defined and tries to catch up. But he can’t. I like the contrast between riders. It increases the power of juxtaposition: dark vs. light, ahead vs. behind, female vs. male, and all of it emerging from a cloud of dust, riding towards the beauty of the natural world.
10-NOV-2007
Legacy of Fire, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 2007
Mesa Verde occupies 84 square miles in Southwestern Colorado. It is known for its cave dwellings, and for the forest fires that swept through it in 2002. This image expresses the legacy of those fires. By exposing on the sun trying to force it’s way through a blanket of cottony gray clouds, I able to silhouette the dead shrubs and trees that reach towards them. This silhouette speaks of death and destruction, while the brightness of the emerging sun symbolizes the resurrection of the land and all that might yet grow upon it. Since this is primarily a black and white image, I tested it first as a black and white conversion. The black and white version seemed to lose the spark of life, and the feeling of hope expressed by the greater reality of the creamy gray clouds and the trace of light blue around the sun that is granted to us by this color version.