I recently reread the introduction to the book Ansel Adams at 100. The book came out at the same time as the AA exhibit was traveling the world back in 2002. The intro. is by John Szarkowski, who has written many insightful commentaries and histories on photography. For some reason these words about the growth and changes in Adam’s work over his lifetime really made me think about how a person can evolve as a photographer over the course of a life.
Spring Barn Artists’ Show
We are planning three Barn Artists’ Gallery shows this year, and the first one is coming up in April. We are glad that Delbert Weese is going to be able to join us and show some of his really fine paintings. They are unique, and Marcia and I are proud to say we own one.
Earthquakes and photographs
On my long driving trip to Winnemucca, I had lots of time to think, and not surprisingly the recent earthquakes around the world weighed on my mind. One of the most surprising facts about the Chilean quake was that it was so massive that geologists say that it caused the earth to spin differently–enough so to make our days a nano-second shorter. Talk about power.
Shooting the West
I just got back from 10 days in Winnemucca, Nevada at a photo workshop called Shooting the West. It was an interesting experience, and I met some nice photographers from the area. One, John Hill of Reno, is pursuing the publishing of his dad’s experience selling and installing motorized windmills in the 30s and 40s. I thought it was a great idea, especially in light of the rekindled interest in wind energy today. Saw lots of turbines in western Nebraska and throughout Wyoming.
Beautiful and simple and true
I saw a portrait in the newspaper today, and it reminded me of an issue I have with photos taken at an angle leaving the horizon line running diagonal or nearly so. To illustrate the story that went with it, this image was a portrait of a man with the foreground an essential part of the story to be told. However, everything in the picture was at an angle, even the man was leaning backwards in the frame. This type of shooting has become quite prevalent in recent years, and I really wonder why. There is nothing about the photo that demanded this shoot-from-the-hip approach. For me (old school as I am), leave the odd angles for the photographers who are grabbing a photo the only way they can: Robert Capa on the beach at Normandy, dodging bullets and trying to capture one of the momentous events in world history, for example. Or we have all extended our cameras at arm’s length over our heads trying to shoot above a crowd to capture a telling moment. There are, obviously, reasons why the world looks askew in such photographs. And I am not talking about the creativity of studio portraiture here either. I like what some photographers have done raising the bar on family and wedding portraiture. But when it comes to newspaper work, even illustrating a feature story with a portrait, I think the odd angles are as bad as a flash hot spot behind the subject’s head.