Abstract Photo ~ Ambient Art

This might be my favorite photo of all time. It is definitely my fav as of now.  What I love about abstract photograph is that, without a defined subject you can find yourself in it.

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Ambient Art

Ambient Art

Here is the lattest update to my ever on going ambient art project (someday to be re-titled Emptyness and Form)

Beyond the Camera ~ A Letter to an Artist

Being a creative, there comes a moment when you realize that the camera is not that important.

Last week I attended my first art opening. I walked into a room that had bright white walls that displayed the works of six different artists. Rows of lights lined the ceiling aiming down on the art; lighting the work, leaving the room slightly dark to enhance the exhibits. The crowd, the art, the lights...definitely looked like an art opening.  Men with black-rimmed glasses, scarves affixed around the neck.  Ladies with their hair pulled up atop their heads, wearing high tight black boots that reach beyond the top of their knees. The crowd mingled, taking time to stand and stare at the art.  Wine and cheese held in their hands as conversation about the night flowed.

For myself, I had the black-rimmed glasses upon my face and hat atop of my head; no scarf..I felt like an outcast.  I drank water.

Being a photographer and coming off of my first private show you would think that I would be a patron of the arts. Sadly I am not. But I will be attending an art opening this upcoming Saturday night. Will be sure to wear a scarf.

As I walk through the crowd admiring the work I was enthralled by the photographs that were created without a camera. In my workshops I preach the words “the least important thing that you need to create a photo is the camera”. Yet it is important even if it comes in last.

Quick lesson: Photographic paper works a lot like film.  When light hits the paper it causes a chemical reaction that causes silver-halie in the paper to turn when processed with developing chemicals.

These prints were abstract, minimalist, rich in depth and color. Here were photos looking very much like my “ambient art” that were created without a camera.

To stand in front of camera-less photos and take in the beauty of light was breathtaking.

A week later came my next learning experience in “Beyond the camera”. Take a close look at the photo that is in this post.  Click on the photo to see it as a complete photo with a black background and no other desktop noise to distract you from viewing it.

This photo was taken with a camera but the camera was not that important in creating this image.  The camera only stored the vision; it held the digital bits of information. I dare say that light was not that important in creating this photo either.

This photo is beyond the camera and beyond the light and into a moment of pure creating. This photographer saw into the light and created beyond the norms of exposing.

The second guiding principal that I beat into the heads of those who attend my workshop is “photograph the light first and compose the subject second”. This is good advice.  This photo is beyond that type of thinking.

The photo was created by my wife, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is a well established creative photographer who daily teaches me something new. This photo left me speechless, motivated, inspired and humbled.  There are many, many things that I love about this photo: composition, framing, tones of colors, motion, fluidity.  What I love the most about this photo is that I could have never created it; I could never have conceived the vision.

As you read this you may think that I am a bragging husband.  That is true. As a working artist myself I am inspired to create a photo that is beyond the camera, that is beyond the light to create a transcendental photo.

I have spent twenty years in the photography business.  Ten years in the analogue world and ten years in the digital world.  Either decade the lesson remained the same:  learn the rules of creating and learn to use your tools.

In the digital decade photographers all too often use their tools to cheat.

With new technology there is new responsibility.  Do not think of technology as the easy way out.  You will never reach a transcendental experience in you art.

Use technology purposefully to complete your vision, not to fix it.  Real creativity is full of mistakes.  Creating should borderline between unpleasant and ecstasy.

Going back to things that I love about Elizabeth’s photo is that it could have been created in any time throughout the history of photography.  No post production was needed in creating this photo….big lesson to learned is that no amout of technology can help you conceive the creative process.

Yes, this photo was edited in Lightroom: a photo does not become a photo until it is selected and toned in the darkroom, be it digital or analogue.

Giant disclaimer: This is not anti-anything-tech. Tech is good. Ok, let’s move on.

It is about using your tools to create rather than fix.  Easy example is in music.  There is a tool called auto tune, it is used during the recording process when either a singer can not sing in tune or does not want to be bothered to go back and re-do the vocals.  This is cheating.  All too often in photography Photoshop has become a repair shop rather than a well-intended software tool where you could complete your vision and finalize you work.

When creating we are all too often searching for a resource; a way to make it easier for us (be it Photoshop, actions or auto anything). Resources alway get depleted, used up and outdated.  Technology is a resource.

Be the source of your own creativity.  A source, be it the sun or yourself is an inexhaustible inspiration.

Be the source…..

This is what Elizabeth’s photos has taught me.  No amount of resources, technology or cheating could have created this photo.

Creating Art To Fit the Space

At times I like to think about the history of where my photos may have been seen.

I seldom get the opportunity to see my work displayed. Ninety nine percent of the time my work is sold to the client never to be seen by me again. For the majority of my work I never see it in print.  All too often it is edited then burned to disc (or flash drive) or uploaded to the cloud in the sky. Never do I see the photo hung in someone's home, office or whatever may happen to it.

My computer screen has evolved into my canvas...into my finished print.  Even in my home when I think about getting enlargements made and hung, I stop and pause.  I think the next image will be even better than the last.

This morning I awoke to fog and fall autumn colors; this is photographer's crack.  I placed my daughter on the bus, grabbed my gear, kissed my wife goodbye and headed out into the forest.

As I walk into the woods I am thinking about the photos that I did not take last year and that I am hoping to re-create today (P.S. this can not happen; the light is never the same twice).  October, 2011 I spent a great deal of time in the woods trail running through the fog. It was quite beautiful. More time than not I would be yelling at myself to stop running and break out the gear and create something new. I ran.

Today was my redemption! Fog, autumn colors and no will to run. I grabbed my new Nikon D800 36.3MP….this is a serious camera.

What in the hell do I do with 36.3MP? I can crop a photo down to a nose hair and still print an enlargement! Seldom do I do extreme cropping in post production, the bulk of my cropping is done in camera.  Is 36.3MP too much? (note: this is not a review of the D800, it is a great camera).

A photo in reverse, creating art to fit the space. A while back I gave myself a photography challenge.  The idea was/is to create a photo that would only enhance your environment; to remove the subject.  I called this project ambient art.  In weddings we create photos that are to be printed in an album. But in art when we do not yet know the destination of the work; how do we create to fit the space?

The easy answer is when it comes to megapixels you can always go smaller but you can never go larger.

For me, I envision my work printed large.  Next month I will be having a private show where I will be displaying 20x24 prints. It will be the first time that I will ever see my work in print, with an audience to boot.

The bulk of the work was shot on a camera that was 12MP. A few of the prints will have been shot with 36.3MP. Looking forward to see if I see the difference…..

Photography Side Projects

I have not been doing much of my photography side projects as of late.

My “Ambient Art” series has come to a close, 5yrs in creating that body of work. Time to step away, bring it to a close and move towards a new subject. The Ambient series has been an important creative outlet. Side projects make me a better photographer on game day.

It seems lately every time I have a conversation or read about photography the subject moves towards taking lots and lots of photos of a single subject and or theme. Simply press down on the shutter and rattling off 8 shots per second and then edit to select the best.

I’ve struggled with the idea that photography is a volume sport. Intentionally creating a photo is where it's at for me, not spraying through volumes of photos to pick the best.

I do understand that this is a personal process for the photographer on how they choose to create. I need to be quiet and selective before pressing the shutter. Creative moments live in the breath for me, not in the aftermath.

This brings me to a new side project and I am considering putting some time into: Abstract Wind is the project that I’ll be working on. I have this vision of capturing patterns in the wind, provided by dust, leaves, debris, cloud patterns and birds. This project has me bowing down to Mother Nature and shooting quick to capture as many frames as possible to find that perfect line and form that I wish to capture. So, I argue with myself on that maybe photography can be a volume sport.

It comes down to how you wish to "Do The Work". In the end the creative process is only about doing the work, those who wait for inspiration.....wait.

Photo of the Week

This photo ends my Ambient Art series. You can see the full gallery (HERE), to close this series I want to give away this photo.


This photograph is licensed under a creative commons licensing: Please feel free to use and distribute the photography & artwork in accordance with the licensing.

You can download full size JPG (HERE)

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Ambient Art

Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.167 sec (1/6)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art