Month: November 2005

During a recent trip through the west, we caught more than a few art galleries. Images like this, universally, seemed to sell quite well… So, here’s my attempt at duplicating modern commercial Western art. I think it works pretty well; now, if I could only figure out how to glop on paint with my Epson printer….

I’m giving a talk at a UT PhotoJ class today. I’m going to try to pass on some of the things I’ve learned. My plan is to show some of these shots and talk about them. I thought it would be apropos to show a shot of myself , taken at their age, to the students I’ll be talking to. (This is what I looked like 32 years ago, fresh out of UT and even more freshly married…) Time changes everything but the core of who you are.

There’s so much going on with such subtle expression. In this shot it’s all about the secret smiles.

I love watching the constantly unfolding dance between the temporal and the relatively more permanent. How many times has that rock been frocked in gold?

This is my friend, Sue. Can you feel the flow in the shot? It starts back in the mountains, swirls around in the valley, and jumps right at you, off the page, from the left… Kinda like Sue.

I never really understood why New Mexico and hot air balloons seemed to be synonymous (or at least congruent) until I woke up on a fine clear morning in Taos to unexpectedly see colorful clusters of the most basic flying machines rising magically in the cool clear mountain air. Now it all makes sense.

Whenever I approach a shot, the first thing I ask myself is, “ok, what’s the essence of this…?”… (Actually that’s what I’m constantly asking myself, even when the camera isn’t in the way.) Here, the vertical highlight reflections outlining the backlit sillouetted trees topped off by backlit leaves does the trick. The composition is basic rule of thirds. Usually the simplest shots are the best.

The Tao Te Ching says, “The inner mirrors what surrounds us; what surrounds us manifests inwardly” All Is One. There’s less separation between the outer and inner than we think. Maybe there’s no separation at all. Everything we shoot is a self portrait.