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About the Artist
About the Artist
 About the Artist
About the Artist
Once Upon a Time . . .
"It was fascination, I know
Fascination (turned to Love) What fascination it was, indeed, when I first saw that I could wet colored paper, put a leaf and a cover of glass on it, expose it to sunlight, and the paper would then capture the outline of the leaf; or when a nail hole in the siding of the barn would project an image in the darkened stall inside. It was Magic, and not unlike that compass, always pointing North, was for Albert. And so it began . . . as they say, a long time ago, in a galaxy, far far away. Papa gave me a used Voigtlaender 35mm camera and a Magical World of Light and Form opened. As a teenager, from the pennies saved hustling newspapers, I built a color darkroom. At that time just a black and white setup was half a miracle. I quickly moved to medium format photography and photo-journalism. For years, hours were spent daily in the journal's darkroom developing more than images, but senses of composition, rhythm, and more. And yet, it was pure magic as the exposed image would gradually appear in the developer tray under a safelight's faint orange glow. That magic continues. Although medium format / high-resolution image capture remains, the toxicity of the wet darkroom (six different baths for E6 Colour chemistry, including sulphuric acid), is long gone. Now, it may require a week (and often longer) to develop an image the 'new-fangled way'. Still, when finally ready, it is, once-again, nothing short of magic seeing an image appear as dots of color (not unlike as when crystals 'pierce' micro-capsules of dye in a silver-halide color print) are put down on the machine that takes an entire wall of my studio. The architect's (and water-colorist's) eye . . . Formal education included graduating the ISU College of Design in Architecture. It is a demanding discipline that is all about design – design of space, form and light – and how we interact with it, it with the environment, and vice-versa. It is also where the water-colorist emerged. It has been said that you can see the water-colorist's and architect's eye in my work. Today, The fascination continues with exploring the music of the light. (See its about the light.) And the magic occurrs when it can be realized and shared. While there have been many obstacles to exhibiting in the past nearly two decades, nothing as compared to these last years. Hopefully, we can safely meet at an Art Festival near you in the future.
Contact the Artist
Contact the Artist
If you have any questions, want to ask a question about an order, or need help with this website,
Please email me at —
FAQ
FAQ
Offerings, Process and more ...
Offerings, Process and more
Creative Process [remember, the magician never divulges what is behind the curtain ... (Toto, Sit!).] The photographer's process is to open their eyes, their mind, to their surroundings. It is to pause, to notice the smallest detail, to evaluate and re-evaluate, to wait for a magical unfolding whether exploring the world or exploring the raw images from that world – that is their essence. Capturing an idea and developing it are nothing without a physical presentation. Otherwise, it is only an ephemeral wisp, quickly gone with the wind of time and memory. Toward that end of truly realizing that idea, that light, that image, I do all of the work in my own studio, always with archival materials, with limited edition numbered prints. [See Did You do All of This?.] Creative Process — Production & Website
[... we can adjust the image to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity ..."*2]
It was a very long time ago that I gave up on 'professional' labs boluxing both
my negatives and prints and took everything 'in-house'.
The tools - the software paint brushes, if you will -
to create and render the presentations from my developed images and
to present my vision to you as I need to, did not exist.
So I wrote them.
Thousands upon thousands of lines of code provide the means to generate a production image from the developed image.
The Website -
Furthermore, the attention to detail and control of the process extends to gallerie images-imagenes website.
Tens of thousands of lines of code build the vast array of images needed for the website from those developed images.
Additional apps generate the databases used to feed those images to you, along with the cgi programs on the web-server
to query the data required.
The graphics design, the web-page design and program, and the programs driving the presentation and the viewer's interaction
with the web pages, were conceived, developed and written by the artist.
To provide the website view with a responsive experience required a new foundation,
a new reactive programming 'language' (framework, system, ...) for those web-applications.
That foundation,
dflibg/js Avallon,
is built from scores of thousands of lines of software code,
also written by the artist.
So, no, I don't 'just take the pictures'. full stop.
[See also Did You do All of This?.]
Offerings
[often called the vulgar, commercial stuff (but without which there is no art to see)]
I offer my images in various media/presentations, often customized to fit the needs of the client or collector —
• Archival Photographic Print (mounted and matted)
Occasionally, an image really speaks to being presented in multiple panels; or, the installation requires a size that must
be realized in panels. For these instances, individual images may also be offered as multi-panel
• Gallery-Wrapped Canvas Triptych
Such a presentation can often draw the viewer in, engage them in depth.
Finally, much of my work reflects the drama and exhuberance of light – often seen in the Visions and Water-and-Light
series and in A Time for All Seasons. Many of these use aluminized media (archival prints and canvas) to show the
incredible luminescence of these images.
With some, even more is needed. For this reason I am experimenting with acrylic mounting not unlike the past where
we would strip a print emulsion and laminate it on canvas. Some images may be available as
• Flat Panel Triptych
where the image is reverse mounted on clear acrylic and the entire assembly floats from the wall on which it hangs.
For more insight into when and why a particular media is used
please see Offerings - Image Format Options
[ the image within the image ]
An image is developed over time - an original rendering is revisited and refined; sometimes another great image is discovered
inside an image.
When multiple images are developed from a single negative these will be shown in the Format Options image menu sidebar.
Why? Why not just One?
Each 'variation' resonates with me, speaks something unique, evokes a special emotion.
Sometimes we see the world via a traditional viewport.
Sometimes we see it as Corbusier did - wide panoramas.
Sometimes we are in awe of the gothic. Sometimes an idea is of the single focus - no movement, just that focus - as life reflected
in a square-format, twin-lens reflex.
Monochrome (aka 'Black and White')
If you read About the Artist, you know of my obsession with colour. However, years of
black and white darkroom work also showed that there can also be a special place for monochrome. It, too can drive
a special sense of focus without the distraction of colour. Its music can be soft, with incredible texture of lush strings and woodwinds.
It can be fortissimo, with bold, brassy contrasts.
When a negative (also) develops into a 'black-and-white' image - this is shown
in the format options (as illustrated in the above example).
Please note, monochrome images are not the garish, hard, silver-halide style.
Rather, the are printed with a slightly soft palladium tone, a much more pleasing rendering to this artist's eye.
Artist Statement Artist Statement Do you have an 'Artists Statement'?
[Oh, and by the way, chop it down to 100 characters or less.] [Child advisory: curmudgeon's attitude follows – life is too short to deal with such bull-pucky!] Seriously? This entire article is my statement. My work is my statement. I could regurgitate all kinds of platitudes that will let you feel better, but... If you are truly interested, please see its about the light Otherwise, the following is actually most applicable — "I coalesce the vapors of human [natural] existence into a viable and meaningful comprehension ..." Overheard at Art Shows Overheard at Art Shows ... Everyone comes from a different set of experiences, different exposures to art and to kitsch. And while I will be patient and try to explain, involve, and educate the best that I can when someone pauses to ask a question at a show, most of the following questions are actually quite insulting to the artist... Did you do all of this? Seems like a strange question to hear at a Fine Art and Fine Craft show, doesn't it? Nevertheless,... Yes. I spent the hours slogging around in the woods, on the trails, over the sand, at wierd hours, sometimes freezing, often many miles from home, capturing an idea. Months will be spent developing that idea from those 'negatives'. An idea may even lay dormant for years waiting to be re-examined, re-imagined and developed. I spend days and weeks developing an idea, producing rough drafts of an image. Finally, comes the effort at tweaking and adjusting the process of printing an image, (which some will call an art in and of itself). It involves testing and selecting the best archival media to realize its idea, its 'nature' – then iterating to satisfy the perfectionist in myself. Every image is custom produced by me – always looking to improve the 'negative' – its composition, focus, light,... – and the final result. "... we control the horizontal, we control the vertical, we can adjust the image to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity ..." *2) It is in this obsession with detail that even the frames for the Archival Photographic prints are produced by the artist. These are created from native hardwood stock, Walnut, Cherry, Maple or Oak, not from mouldings. Are these Originals? Every image is individually custom produced by me, not by some assistant, not by a laboratory, nor by any photo-mechanical, offset, or photogravure, etc., process. Please see Did you do all of this? and Not just another print!. Canvas? That's not Fine Art – That's Just (expletive-deleted) [ Are These Paintings and Political-Correctness ] Actually, no they are not (expletive-deleted), not one eensy-teensy bit.. Let's talk ... For more than a century, the Fine Art Photographer has searched for the proper media to present an idea (the image). The right media – tin-type, platinum, selenium, silver-halide, N-surface, E-surface, F-surface, 'fine-art' paper, 'cold-pressed' paper, metallic-pearl, canvas raw, canvas, canvas pearl, canvas mica-aluminized, aluminium, acrylic, etc. (whew !) amongst a few – were each chosen (sometimes by availability, but chosen nevertheless) to present the essence of the image, even to enhance that essence as seen by the artist. Don't get me wrong. Once upon a time, portrait photographers would expose an image onto paper-backed media, strip the emulsion and then laminate it onto canvas in order to create the illusion of a painted portrait for their clientele (one that did not require the client to sit for hours and/or days). That allusion is absolutely not why the Fine Art Photographer may chose a canvas presentation today — A presentation in canvas may be chosen as it is a great media for the image. The texture is appropriate and enhances what that image is trying to say. Canvas may allow the artist to create an image at a size truly demanded by an image better than a work on a paper media will (see durability). Canvas may be chosen for its durability. It is sealed against moisture – the very bane of images on paper. It is sealed against UV rays (e.g., sunlight). It can be cleaned. It does not require an additional expensive, fragile glass cover, acid etched to reduce glare, with vapor-deposited chemical films to block UV transmission, nor a horrid acrylic cover. Its mounting does not 'bubble' due to wide swings in humidity. Finally, the client may chose a canvas presentation (even if it is not optimal), because the esthetic fits that of the environment of where it will be displayed. So, please 'pack up your' personal prejudices and political-correctness about media into that 'old kit-bag' and get over it. Do You Have a Picture Of ... ? This is not a postcard gallery. Neither is it a gallery of typographical images (images evoking letters), nor of Campbell Soup cans... While there are exceptions, most images are not researched, sought-out and developed because the subject is a particular landmark or a particular genus, phylum, etc. They are, rather, developed because of a search for beauty and intricacy in the world around us, from the small, often overlooked, to the grand, either natural or of mankind's creation. The exceptions are those images that tell a story about us, our history, our impact on this tiny blue marble we all call home. However, you may find the general subject of an image that evokes a particular emotional connection - with which you identify through your life's experiences. There may be some which are serendipitously associated. However, to help you search the portfolio – Both the introduction page and the gallery browser are organized by general topic. In the introduction page, select the drop-down combo-box under the image scroll. In the gallery browser, select the gallery image icon in the gallery scroll or double-click a gallery image icon in the gallery overview. Images are often part of several 'galleries' (concepts, etc.). Hence, you may also browse a gallery/concept by clicking on an gallery or tag name in an image's gallery list. All you do is just print another, right?
Au Contraire, mon ami! Although the Archival Photographic Prints are always in a numbered, limited edition series, my offerings are absolutely nothing in common with numbered edition lithographs, nor other photographic limited editions. The constant re-evaluation, re-developing, often results in very few in such a series being the same. Furthermore, like good architecture, my art is often a partnership between the artist and the client. I may have the idea, but the client has context. Hence, custom sizes and presentations always require a redeveloping of a image to meet both my vision and the client's needs. This (Color, Effect, ...) Can't be Real. You must Photoshop the image First, please do not use a noun as a verb. Second, no Photoshop use, ever, no compositing from multiple images to create one, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. That color, that texture, that effect is real. period. full stop. Light has a point of view. It appears differently at different angles of incidence. It has different qualities as it is reflected, refracted and/or diffused. An image requires patience. That Must be Some Camera? I guess if you consider the eye to be a camera. (Sigh) A piece of equipment is only that – a tool, a means to an end. Some equipment will capture light under wider ranges of conditions and with more detail. Other equipment and media allows the artist to better realize the depth and luminosity of the image – to present what the artist saw in their mind's eye. You might as well attribute Rembrandt's presentation of light to the canvas he used and Grant Wood's particular style to the fact that he frequently used masonite and could control the texture with his brush and palette knife. But, if you must ( I must, I must! *3)... Cameras have included everything from a Mamiya 645, a Rollei TLR, a Sony (no baloney!) and a slew of Canon SLRs; from medium-format film capture to (currently) medium-format digital capture. Do you use Film or is this Digital? This is an honest question - but it matters not, either is just a means. I love film capture, especially medium format. I have done it for decades. The dynamic range and nuances are fantastic. I just can not do it anymore. It is not just the toxic nature of the printing process. It is also the size and weight of the glass, (lenses) the necessity for tripod shooting, availability, etc. Although digital cameras have become as ubiquitous as consumer grade cartridge film cameras once were, truly quality image capture has been problematic. For this reason I use what we would class as medium-format digital capture (50MP+) for the past decade plus. Digital capture, even 'medium-format', requires more planning, more preparation, more patience than film. Front-end capture is much more demanding. Images that must be captured on-the-fly are a problem. *2 - Narrator - Opening Exposition / The Outer Limits *3 - Sherrif Bart (Cleavon Little)) / Blazing Saddles, Brooks, Pryor, etal.
Be kind to one another,
About:
Once Upon a Time ...
Coalescing the Vapors of Human Existence Offerings and FAQ Sh*t Overheard at Art Festivals Title 
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