We dropped by the reception for the Blue Line Gallery membership show last night. We arrived after the awards ceremony, and much to my surprise, I was informed that my photo Ferrari Ranch Wetlands received an Honorable Mention. Of course it's always nice to receive recognition for your work, but more importantly, it was great to see a photograph (any photograph) given an award in a mixed media show against more traditional art forms such as painting and sculpture. Photography has been making steady progress as a serious medium over the past 50 years, but in some circles it's still misunderstood and given less consideration than other art forms. Kudos to the jurors at Blue Line Gallery for taking photography seriously and judging it on a level playing field with the other works in the show.
The Subtle Season
Summer's harsh light is not conducive to capturing broad landscapes, but there are still creative opportunities if one looks hard enough. This is the time of year for landscape photographers to sharpen their vision and search out the subtle.
Acorn
Summer Wind
Blue Line Arts Membership Show
This yearly exhibition highlights the artistic talents of members of Blue Line Arts and will include a range of mediums, including painting, photography, mixed media, ceramics, pastel, and more. This year, Blue Line Arts received its largest participation from members, with over 150 artworks on display.
Blue Line Gallery
405 Vernon Street, Roseville, CA
July 17 – August 16, 2014
Reception: Saturday, July 19
6:00-7:00 p.m. (members only)
7:00-9:00 p.m. (public)
More Information →
My gelatin silver print, Ferrari Ranch Wetland (shown at right), will be on display at the show.
Ferrari Ranch Wetland
Four Edges
"Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts."
— Garry Winogrand
Hammon Grove Riffle
A Cure for the Summertime Blues
Summer landscape photography in California can be a real test of a person's patience and fortitude. The harsh light and long, hot days are anything but conducive to capturing the environment in its best light. Forms are presented in stark contrast, and highlight and shadow are pushed to their extremes. Unlike in the winter, when opportunities present themselves throughout the day, the summer usually pushes our image making to first and last light.
Outside of those extremes though, there are less obvious opportunities available to landscape photographers willing to adjust their approach to accommodate the conditions at hand. By shifting scale down to the macro level and using depth of field to control the play of light and shadow, it's possible to turn difficult lighting conditions into an opportunity for creative expression. Working in this manner tells a different story about a landscape—a more intimate story of detail and texture—while perhaps also pushing us out of our comfort zone into a new way of seeing.
Wild Grasses and Vine
Wild summer grasses and a twisted vine in the Blue Oaks open space. West Roseville, California.
Wild Grasses and Vine
The Essence of Things
"Most of us look at a thing and believe we have seen it, yet what we see is often only what our prejudices tell us to expect to see, or what our past experience tells us should be seen, or what our desire wants to see. Very rarely are we able to free our minds of thoughts and emotions, and just see for the simple pleasure of seeing. And so long as we fail to do this, so long will the essence of things be hidden from us."
— Bill Brandt
Wildflower, Study 1
Altocumulus Over Oak Copse
I went out early this morning to capture the beautiful cloud formations rolling through as a result of this unusual summer low. It's stunningly beautiful out there. I'm doing my best to enjoy it before the serious heat sets in next week.
Altocumulus Over Oak Copse
Just Being Outside is Therapeutic
"Just being outside is therapeutic. We are lucky to be in a position as relatively prosperous westerners to have enough time on our hands to reflect on our predicament in the world. We are not constantly preoccupied with whether we have a roof over our heads, whether we are warm enough and if we have food. This allows us to look at our place in the universe and the great thing about landscape photography is that it just feels right to be outside – it’s like being at home. The actual act of being outside and the creative aspect gives us back a relationship with the land that we have lost through the urban experience."
— Joe Cornish
Westside Oak Forest, Study 3
Something Will Have Gone Out of Us
"Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; If we drive the few remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction; if we pollute the last clear air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through the last of the silence, so that never again will Americans be free in their own country from the noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste. And so that never again can we have the chance to see ourselves single, separate, vertical and individual in the world, part of the environment of trees and rocks and soil, brother to the other animals, part of the natural world and competent to belong in it. Without any remaining wilderness we are committed wholly, without chance for even momentary reflection and rest, to a headlong drive into our technological termite-life, the Brave New World of a completely man-controlled environment."
— Wallace Stegner
Fallen Timber, Little Truckee River