09-JUN-2006
Dairy farmer, Tillamook, Oregon, 2006
We visited with this farmer and his crew of dogs for a few minutes. His family has owned this farm for generations. This barn, built in 1930, has become a favorite of visiting tourists. Instead of photographing the barn itself, I turned the image into an environmental portrait. The sign, laughing dog, soiled clothing and worn condition of the barn add context that speaks of his life and his job.
08-JUN-2006
Gull, Ecola State Park, Canon Beach, Oregon, 2006
Just two miles north of Canon Beach is an observation point overlooking the seagull rookeries of Ecola State Park. I photographed hundreds of birds there, but this one was the most memorable. It was perfectly poised in the sky over a distant freighter. Without the context of that freighter, it is just a nice description of a bird in flight. But with that context, the image speaks of the vast distances this bird must fly, and the image moves from description to expression.
11-JUN-2006
Art Gallery, Gardner, Oregon, 2006
The subject of this photograph is a sculpture of Albert Einstein, a man of many ideas.
I express that point by finding a vantage point that adds context rich in symbolism. As foreground context, I include a softly focused sculpture of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. For background context, I add part of an abstract painting symbolizing an energetic swirl of ideas. Together, these contextual elements enhance Einstein as a cultural and intellectual icon.
11-JUN-2006
Footprints, Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Florence, Oregon, 2006
I found myself looking for human values in a sand dune, generally perceived as subject matter for a landscape photograph. I found those human values best represented by the footsteps of a photographer who had preceded me. Once I began photographing the footprints, they became my subject, and the sand dune became my context. Before this day is out, those chaotic, meandering footprints will fill with sand and vanish forever. But the dunes will remain. This image may speak of man’s temporary mark upon on nature, yet in the end, nature will prevail.
09-JUN-2006
Antique gas pump, Wheeler, Oregon, 2006
Wheeler, on the south shore of Nehalem Bay, was once a booming timber town. Today it has 400 residents and a few antique shops. One of them was asking $250 for this cobwebbed pump – currently the cost of five or six tanks of gas. I abstract the pump by including only the nozzle nested in its holder. That nozzle is the subject of this picture. Everything is else is context. The cobwebs tell us that this nozzle has not been removed from its holder in a long while. The chipped paint on the pump adds an emphatic echo of age to the image as well. A picture of the old pump itself would be superficial description. Abstracting it down to its nozzle and thereby emphasizing the cobwebs and chipped paint as context, greatly enhances the expressiveness of this image.
08-JUN-2006
Plastic folk art, Clatskanie, Oregon, 2006
Finding or taking subjects out of their normal context and putting them into another will often create an incongruous result. Such is the case here. This roadside shop sells plastic decorative and religious figures molded in Mexico to tourists passing through Clatskanie. Somebody had placed a religious icon directly below a pair of large seagulls standing on massive pilings. By isolating this triad in my frame, I take them all out of the context of the shop itself, and create an incongruously surreal three-way altar setting that would not be apparent to someone seeing them in the context of the entire shop.
10-JUN-2006
A photographer’s mission, Otter Crest Beach, DePoe Bay, Oregon, 2006
Dawn's low tide brings dozens of photographers to the tide pools along this beach. Among them is Dave Wyman, the leader of our Oregon photo-tour. (
http://www.pbase.com/davewyman ) I made this image of Dave launching his all out photographic assault by both removing context and adding it. I exposed for the sky, making him and the rocks below him into abstract forms, stressing the shape of the body carrying the tripod, instead of contextual detail of his clothing and backpack. At the same time, I include dramatic cloud formations that often exist over the ocean, and most importantly a seagull in flight. The diagonals of its wings echo the diagonals of Dave’s tripod. The shape of the rocks, repeated by the shapes of the white clouds just above them, along with the presence of the tripod and bird, add context that brings energy and purpose to this photographer’s mission.
10-JUN-2006
Argument, Newport, Oregon, 2006
Sea lions haul out on to floating platforms in Newport’s harbor. They spend most of their time sleeping, but every now and then get into a shouting match such as this one. I was standing directly above them on a pier, and my overhead vantage point allowed me to include the floating platforms as context. These platforms are man-made, yet these animals are behaving very much as they do in natural settings. They offer an incongruous context for an incongruous activity.
09-JUN-2006
Lighthouse, Cape Mears, Oregon, 2006
The Cape Mears Lighthouse has been in operation since 1890 and has the shortest light tower (38 feet) on the Oregon Coast. I was able to stand on a hill overlooking the tower and photograph the lens of its light straight on. I chose to abstract the scene for the colorful pattern and reflections created by the lens, removing the context of the appearance of both the truncated lighthouse itself and its natural setting. The art of abstraction often involves removing context, thereby making an ordinary subject into an extraordinary image.
10-JUN-2006
Sea lion rookery, Cape Creek, Oregon, 2006
We are looking down on a cow surrounded by nearly a dozen pups. She appears to be barking instructions. I made this photograph from the top of a bluff overlooking the rookery. Context plays a crucial role in this image. The presence of all of those young sea lions gives the bark a purpose. The rocky land and rolling sea add additional context, offering the image a sense of place. Without this context, we lose the story itself – life within the chaos of a sea lion rookery.
12-JUN-2006
Abandoned power cleaver, Bandon, Oregon, 2006
This old powered cleaver is one of the few pieces of industrial machinery left in an abandoned meat-packing plant that were able to photograph. I moved this image from description to expressive industrial geometry by abstracting it, removing its blade and including only its eloquent industrial housing. By taking away the blade of the saw and the room where it hangs, I am removing functional context. Yet at the very same time, I am also adding context by stressing the words inscribed on its facing which restores both function and origins. By converting this image from color to black and white, I am also altering context by changing its form – the image becomes less real, and more symbolic of a time that has passed.
12-JUN-2006
Woodworking artist, Riverton, Oregon, 2006
Philip Clausen makes art out of home furnishings carved from huge pieces of wood full of burl. I made this portrait of him as he discussed the scale of the ornate housing for a dumb-waiter that stands before him. This picture has interchangeable contexts and subjects. We can say it is a picture of a piece of art, with the artist shown as context. Or we can look at it as a portrait of Philip Clausen, and use the wood as context for his art. I prefer to see it as an environmental portrait, wrapping the artist in wood both in the foreground and the background. I like the way he took possession of the wood as he talked with us – it is a piece of him as well as piece of art. I stressed the context here – it is much larger than the man himself. Yet it serves as an extension of the man as an artist.
(A sad post-script to this image: On October 23, 2014, eight years after I made this photograph, I received an email from Philip Clausen’s daughter in law. She told me that Philip had recently died, and that the Clausen family wanted to use this image at his memorial service, and for his obituary. She said “of all the images we are looking at, we feel that yours really captured his spirit.” I sent her a copy of the photograph, and told her that I was honored to be of help to the family. Philip Clausen was 88 years of age, and he did not die a natural death. He perished in a fire. His studio, home, and all of his unsold work were destroyed. The piece of wood that he holds in this image is now ash. In the face of such tragedy, this photo assumes an additional dimension and purpose. It recalls this artist as he lived and worked, and in its own way, it will serve to keep his memory alive for those who knew him.)
