For a well-considered visual environment
30 July 2010 1 Comment
A few cameraphone images snapped while on the jobsite (as a house painter). The camera on my new [6 month old] phone brags as many megapixels as our first bonafide digital camera, and its macro function works pretty well. As the photo of the mayfly attests too.
The prize goes to whoever can figure out what the first picture is of.
25 June 2010 2 Comments
In line at bank this morning I was struck by how the three or four people around me all represented different ethnicities. In some places in America this wouldn’t be too surprising, but here in middle America, in small town America it’s pretty novel.
The people at the counter stood a (presumably) Sudanese couple, behind them were a woman in a burka and a Latino A man I believe was Lao held the door for me as I’d walked in.
Impressed by this diverse array, I took out my fancified phone intending to take a photo.
A woman in a burka uses the ATM.
The Sudanese man, however, took offense to my taking a photo with. “Why are you taking my picture? You can’t do that,” he said in fairly clear but heavily accented English. “Why not?” I asked, which began a somewhat redundant exchange with others in the bank listening in.
“You can’t take someone’s picture without their permission,” he stated plainly. “It’s against the law.” This, point in fact, is just untrue in the United States. Now, if I were going to use that image for profit I would need to get that person to sign a release form. But for personal or even artistic use, we in America are free to photograph people on the street. I remember my professor of photography in college talked about how he would walk in between two people having a conversation in the pursuit of the perfect photograph, and more impressively how the people (in Miami, Florida anyway) would go right on with their conversation as if he weren’t there.
“Nooo, not in America it’s not,” I responded to the Sudanese man’s accusation. I’d already deleted the photo anyway, knowing it wasn’t what I wanted.
“You can’t do that,” he reiterated. By now I was starting to realize his English — while I could understand him well enough — was fairly limited.
Some cultures, African in particular as I recall, believe[d] that when you take a photograph of a person you steal their soul. I was hoping he would engage me in conversation and some such cultural difference would become apparent. Other cultures love to have their pictures taken though. In contrast, when I visited Ensenada, Mexico in 1995, people ran to be in front of your lens, children in particular.
“Why not,” I asked again in the sincerest and humblest of tones I could find. I really did want to know why he so seriously thought I could not take his picture. This discourse went on another minute or so in the same manner, and he eventually wandered out of the bank without satisfying my curiosity.
15 July 2009 2 Comments
Posting as I’m able this week. Glanced at the radar after still more packing this evening — we’re pretty close to done now, so hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy our time with company and social engagements of the next few days — and noticed a little action immediately south of town.
From our roof it was probably the most photogenic storm of the year for me. I didn’t watch it all that long though. Low hanging clouds crept in front of it and obscured my view, beside the fact it was almost dark.
17 February 2009 3 Comments
As Shepard Fairey continues to be in the news, I can’t help but wonder if I am going to get sued for turning someone’s photograph of a storm into a sculpture. I’ve been more realistically depicting thunderstorms in clay in over the last year, and more recently I’ve also been working on some figures from Flickr images as well.
Flickr is a goldmine of inspiration for me at this point in my work. Of coruse, I’d love to be able to actually, physically chase storms — photographing, drawing and sculpting them during the chase — but that hasn’t been realistic up to this point. So I end up searching the Flickr pool for images I can turn into sculpture.
Is this fair use? Is it enough of a transformation, even if I’m trying to create a more-or-less accurate representation of the storm in three dimensions? Personally, I’d be flattered if a sculptor turned one of my better photographs into a work of art. But is some overzealous photographer going to recognize one of my works as a picture he or she took and get all perturbed?
I don’t possess the time or resources to deal with lawsuits. Is the safe route to not use other people’s photographs at all (or only use those with an appropriate Creative Commons license)?
I’m probably safe. First off, I generally need to cut off certain edges of trailing clouds, and turning photos into sculpture also requires quite a bit of extrapolation. Basically half of the storm is not visible in a photograph. Further, my own form of realism is still fairly abstract on account of scale and materials.
30 January 2009 6 Comments
When the sun peeked through the overcast sky in Northwest Arkansas yesterday — it’s been scarce all of January — I made it a point to wander around and take a few more serious photographs.
I’m very pleased with this one. In fact, it seems almost perfect to me as a photograph. It’s actually just outside of the office. I took five or six of the same image waiting for the right train car to scamper by.
See my other images of the storm, most of which are more like snapshots, in this Facebook album. Read my wife’s blog for a first-hand account of the storm in Siloam Springs.
27 January 2009 Leave a Comment
Ice storms are common in the south. Everything stops, even at the threat of a storm. People rush on the non-perishables at the grocery stores; of course, the same thing happens with the threat of an inch of snow. It’s amusing to me.
Photos from my yard in Siloam Springs (Northwest Arkansas). I enjoy using the camera during all kinds of inclement weather. I’m hoping for a few inches of snow on top of the ice so I might be able to go sledding for the first time in years.
See a few more photos as I add them via this link.
4 November 2008 2 Comments
Election day photography that, refreshingly, has absolutely nothing to do with the election.
This first one is from two years ago, and I’m reposting it because I think it’s one of my best. Ever. Nikon D50 with our cheapo Nikon lens.
The above is from today in Twin Springs park in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Samsung cameraphone. The fountain was just rebuilt this summer. More here.
10 October 2008 Leave a Comment
ThinkChristian points out a post at the Urban Prankster which elaborates on The Federation of Students and Nominally or Unemployed Artists’ instant art grants of $10-$60. From the Federation’s website:
The FSNUA aims to re-inspire creative thinking and action in everyday people by removing a small barrier and providing encouragement. We give small, unsecured grants in the form of $10-$60 for creative projects thought up on the spot by everyday people. In the past this has included a merchant marine, two 10 year old girls, a US soldier on leave from Iraq, an accordion player from Alaska, and around 40 others. We funded their new paintings, drawings, knitting, and photojournalism projects, and the repair of one accordion. Projects that may not have happened had they not come across 10 people in the park to support and inspire the thought.
Beyond the small amount of money, the project encourages people to see themselves as something other than workers or consumers even if it just for the length of time required to apply for the FSNUA grant. We also hope to re-inspire dormant desires to create while presenting an example of generosity without an ulterior motive.
I’m pretty fond of the idea, especially the last paragraph’s hope that they are encouraging people to “see themselves as something other than workers or consumers.” Here-here!
A friend forwarded me a link to photographer Magdalena Bors’ website. As much as a photographer she appears to be an installation artist, turning common household objects into miniature landscapes. The following image from her photo-installations is for my knitting wife.
She was born in Antwerp and has a photography degree from Melbourne, but there isn’t much other information about the artist on the website.
29 July 2008 3 Comments
As I get into some larger and more realistic clay sculptures of thunderstorms an interesting paradox presents itself.
Working from photographs in order to sculpt a storm requires approximately 63% extrapolation. The photograph shows me one angle of the storm which I’m able to adequately reproduce, but there may be roughly three sides not visible to the photographer from that particular angle. A storm is large enough that a person isn’t able to photograph it from all angles. If you’re far away to see the entire cell, you probably won’t have time to drive around it before it’s dark out, the storm merges with other clouds nearby or actually dissipates.
It’s somewhat of a thrill to sculpt, even from a still image, such a dynamic form. Recreating these supercells in clay (or, perhaps, wood) is basically 37% abstract rendering and 63% conjecture. I have no idea what the other side of the storm looks like, nor do I know the shape of the anvil from the top. The work requires me to imagine what the other side of the thunderstorm looks like.
In the short time I’ve been working in this way I’ve really come to enjoy this process, the paradox of realism and imagination. A week or so ago I described it in my own mind as improvisational realism, as I worked on the sculpture above. I’m eager to keep working in this vein, although there are a number of technical details that will need to be worked out a long the way.
I’ve already cracked the anvil on the pictured work. While turning it over onto a towel in order to hollow out, it laid at an angle which bent the moderately moist edge too far. I attempted to repair it and am praying that it doesn’t crack when fired. The thin edge of the anvil protruding from such a solid piece of clay is asking for trouble as it is. This particular shape was formed through subtractive and additive processes; toothpicks were used to add strength while the work sets up. It will probably take at least five, probably ten of these forms before I find the best way to fabricate them. It doesn’t help that I’m using a clay body (Steve’s White) essentially devoid of grog. The next one will, instead, be a mixture of clays from the reclaim bucket (low-fire white, raku and a mid-fire buff) that will contain a significant amount of grog in comparison, probably better for sculpting these fairly tenuous forms.
I have roughly five hours in this one already.
28 July 2008 4 Comments
Last night I spent some time sketching after a photograph I found on Flickr. With some regularity, I surf said photo repository for new images of storms. This one was taken by Flickrite nicholas_t in Mt. Bethel, Pennsylvania last year.
I sketch before I get into the actual sculpture to give myself a better understanding of the subject. Sketching serves as a second level of observation, as well as time to brainstorm new ways to use clay or wood in my sculptures.
It seems, in some respects, that everyone wants to be a photographer these days. By everyone, I mean an awful lot of people who might not necessarily possess a natural giftedness in the visual arts. There seem to be pros and cons to this movement, if I can call it that, but those are for another post. Regardless, the implications on the tactile arts of a camera and process that so realistically reproduce a given subject remain significant.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy photography. However, I often think we don’t understand its limitations in accurately portraying the objects, situations and atmosphere within its frame. As amazing as the medium is, it’s easy to overestimate a photo’s ability to convey a space and time.
Does the often insane pace of life around us and our resulting impatience — and therein lack of intentional observation — keep us from really seeing a photograph? Are we so used to photography as part of our environment that we only glance at the products of this amazing visual technology, not giving it proper attention?
Has photography made artists lazy? If not, does it have the potential to strip artists of the desire to create tactile works? I asked myself this as I sketched last night. The question was born of, in part, this next question: Why would I bother sculpting storms in clay on such a small scale, not being able to render a lot of their detail, when we can just look at photographs? Sculptures take up shelf or table space people don’t have. Photographs can easily be hung on walls, which are usually more plentiful. Since I’m so infatuated with storms like the one above, why don’t I just become a storm chaser (which I would love to do) and photograph the things?
First off, I’m driven to work with my hands, hence the focus on this blog on the tactile arts. Secondly, even if my sketches and sculptures don’t/won’t rival the immaculate vision and presence of a prairie storm, they represent a personal level of investigation that goes beyond casual, or even some more serious observation. Thirdly, I’d like to believe there is some validity in my own interpretation. The third point is a bit dangerous; this kind of thinking can place too much emphasis on an artist’s personal interests. You can’t — and shouldn’t want to — completely separate the artist from the sculpture; however, art is bigger than any individual.
“Make it your goal to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands . . . so that you may win the respect of outsiders, and have need of nothing.”
Kudos to nicholas_t for using a Creative Commons License.
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