Sharp Intake

I have been invited to display a series of my abstract black & white nudes in a new exhibition at Gallery M in Cambridge (Galt), Canada. This exhibition will feature a number of artists (and this photographer ;) ). The theme is mildly erotic and a lot of fun. Opening night is Thursday May 9th and runs through till June 17th.

The set of images I chose for this show can be seen on my website in the Exhibitions gallery. Please have a look and if you are in the area, please stop in to check out the show.

Tumblr

I continue to struggle to find a satisfactory way to bring my art to an audience. I am pretty sure there is no "best" way so I continue to experiment trying to find a way that seems to suit my needs.

My website works well to show a relatively static view of some of my work. But it is awkward to update so I tend to leave it alone for weeks or months at a time. There is much I am creating all the time and I would love to share more of it, more often.

This blog account works well and it is easy to use as a mechanism to get some of my thinking and ideas out. But I also want a venue where I can share images without a lot of (or any) visual distractions. I want something clean and simple.

Flickr is okay, but some people struggle with the navigation and membership issues there.

Recently I have been viewing a couple of artist's image blogs hosted on tumblr and thought maybe that was what I needed or at least it looked like something that could work for me. So I have created an experimental blog there.

If you are curious, please check it out. If you don't mind taking a minute or two, please send me a comment (here or via the Ask me link on tumblr or a direct email, whatever works best for you).

New Maternity shoot

So, for the longest time I have wanted to do a maternity photoshoot. In other words, work with a pregnant woman.  I have done a number of shoots with new moms and their babies and I have been very pleased with the images I have been able to create. But I have never had a chance to work with a woman who is about to give birth.

It has been a bit frustrating because I have a lot of ideas, so many images I'd like to try to create using her unique, pregnant form.

Finally, last week, I was able to do just such a shoot. The results are, I think, wonderful. But I know I have just scratched the surface of the possibilities.

It all came about a couple of months ago when I learned an old friend was pregnant with her second. She and I had worked together for a couple of different local arts organizations over the years. And although we have not talked much recently, we never lost touch either (nod to facebook ;)).

When I found out she was pregnant, I wrote her asking if she would be willing to do a photoshoot with me. I laid out some of my plans. She seemed excited.

I am looking forward to working with her once the baby is born!

And I am also keen to work with other women. I have a lot of other ideas and am eager to see them come to be.

Portrait sessions with a twist

I get a lot of requests to do portraits or other photo shoots with people. I like to put people in environments that seem to suit their personality or their character best. And I like to suggest variations they may not have considered. 

Down by the River

This summer I have had quite a few shoots where I have been able to suggest variations on the model's ideas to create beautiful images.

Here is an example. Paige called and asked if I would do a series of images of her by the water. Her initial plan was simple, by a waterfall, in a new swimsuit. But we did not have easy access to waterfall on the day so I suggested this river area.

We started with the image ideas she had of her new swimsuit and had a lot of fun with that. I had suggested (ahead of time, I don't like to spring surprises on people) this length of fabric over her shoulders would look interesting in the water. I was very pleased with the results.

Wanderer

There were a few challenges to this shoot. We had been having a crazy hot summer all through July. But by the time we got our dates aligned and were able to do this shoot, morning temperatures here now in the low teens - pretty chilly. So complete submersion was out of the question.

There have been other shoots this summer where I have been able to create wonderful images. I am excited to be doing more and more of these.

Mirrored

Encore

Torso

As part of the BOX-11 series, I was invited to show some of my new work in a show entitled Encore. This show is being held in the WalterFedy building as was my last exhibition entitled CAPTURED. I was excited as well as a little apprehensive about this show as I had decided to show some of the work from my nude and body art projects. I had no idea how this work was going to be received especially since it would be on display in a corporate environment in a relatively conservative community.

I need not have worried. My work is of a sufficiently abstract nature that it should give offence only to the most sensitive (or prudish?) of people. In fact, I sold a couple of my pieces almost immediately.

For this work I found that printing using normal (even though high quality) ink jet, giclée inks was not quite the quality I was after. Doing a bit of research I found the piezographic print process would provide the best quality images showing the intensity of black that I needed. The piezographic process prints images using eight (or more) ink cartridges of the purest black carbon inks available. The tonal range offered by this process is breathtaking.

Waves

I was especially pleased that so many people enjoyed my work. The comments and praise has been very encouraging.

But probably the most encouraging, inspiring comment I received was from a woman who asked if I would use her as a model for images of this style hoping that she might then be able to hang one of them in her home.

I am always on the lookout for other potential models for my work. If you or anyone you know might be interested in modelling for me, please get in touch. I would be very pleased to work with you to create an image that suits you. (If you think your body might not be appropriate for this style of modelling, please be aware my models have ranged in age from mid 20's through late 40's. I am sure I can create something that pleases you :) ).

More of my work can be found on Flickr in my Nudes/Body Art set.

CAPTURED

WalterFedy, a local architect and engineering firm has started to host art exhibits in their main foyer area as a way to engage with the art community here in Kitchener & Waterloo. Their first show is called CAPTURED and is a curated collection of the work of 11 local photographers. The show opened in late October and continues through the end of December.


I was invited to show a couple of my photographs. And in particular I was asked if I could/would produce something especially striking for display on a large red wall. I had just the image that would do very nicely. It is a scene of a local railway station taken from a bridge. During this past year's Contact photo show in Toronto I saw a number of very cool images printed on aluminum. It struck me that a scene of the railway station would look fabulous printed on aluminum. So, I did a bit of research and sent off a number of sample images to a couple of printers to see that my idea would work. It has turned out even better than I could have imagined.

Transportation, printed on 4' x 6' sheet of aluminum
(ignore the watermark, this photo taken by Jared Davidson (using my camera))

The photographers were given a chance to hold a reception for friends and family to view the show (access is normally somewhat restricted because it is a regular working environment). We put together a very nice reception and invited about 80-100 people. It was wonderful to see people's reaction to our work.

More images from that evening can be found on my Flickr CAPTURED set.

BOX-11

My installation

BOX-11 is an annual art show and sale that happens in the Kitchener/Waterloo region. This is its third year and it has become very large and influential. This year, there were at least 60 or more eligible entries but only about twenty three that were accepted by the curatorial jury. And only five of us were photographers.

It was quite an honour for me, my first art show. I was very excited. (I was also accepted to show some work in another art show at WalterFedy about this same time, I'll write about that in another posting).

Preparations

Preparations for this showing were extensive. First selecting the works that would define my body of work had to be done. I knew what, generally speaking, I wanted to show - my industrial images. But which ones? After a great deal of contemplation I had decided on the required four images for the initial jury review. If they liked my work I would be able to submit more images for a second review. Printing the images turned out to be a big problem. I was having serious problems with the ink in my printer and could not get a consistent black. Finally, after a lot of experimentation with ink and with papers, I found a combination I was happy with. Then getting the initial four images printed and still making the deadline was a challenge.

Sample of one display area

Setup

The show is always held in a local, derelict factory (with permission, of course). Getting the factory space cleaned up and prepared for the show is a huge challenge that I am fortunately shielded from. The week before the show starts all artists are expected to attend an initial reception where we are given directions on how the show will run. We get to see a lot of the preparations at this time. The lighting system is being installed as we listen to our directions. Cabling is being pulled by our heads, we duck and shuffle to miss being bumped (we're not in any real danger, it's more fun than anything).

Darren documenting the show

Friday night arrives and an invitation only reception is being held for local big wigs and mucky mucks and fancy "people of means". (I'm not dissing this, actually. I count myself as one of that group ;). Just before the doors are open, I walked about and took this image of Darren documenting the show. Everything looked great. And there was a huge turnout. I met many people who were very interested in my images. I was inspired by many of the comments I heard (and overheard). I was inspired by how I saw people studying my images. I was tickled pink that I sold a few that night too!

Saturday and Sunday were very busy days. Maybe a thousand people came through those two days. I had great fun talking to people about my photography, about art, about the historical significance of the factories I photographed, about so many other things. I was excited to sell a few more images. It was a wonderful event.

I am talking to two interested art collectors