Aug 31, 2010

Shells - What once held life pt.1

I started a project last year collecting random shells and shell fragments (mostly Conch shells).  I started to explore the shells initially as abstract forms similarly to the pepper still life images made popular by Group f64 member Ansel Adams.

After failing miserably at trying to capture the kind of imagery that would evoke the same emotional response that I felt the first time I saw one of Ansel's prints on display.  I gave up.

I have long come to the conclusion that I am no master.  And the first time I saw Ansel's images i was really unimpressed.

Well truth be told the way the gallery in Toronto had his exhibition arranged was rather confusing to me.  You were first greeted by his "Pre F64" work.  Half worn original prints hardly the work of a true master.  To be more precise it was more of what I call a "mind grine".  The work looked poor, they were bunched together like items on a supermarket shelf.  I was confused. Where was the father of modern photography I had read about all these years.  At that moment I was lost.

My boss who was there as well was quite confused as well.  He had been to a exhibition years before and these "shells" on the walls where not, we concluded, the work of Ansel Adams.  The prints were done on "cheap" looking paper, quite close to the texture of newspaper.  They lacked contrast.  Emotion.

Just as a chess master plays, moving each piece with calculated motive so I assumed the curator planned the layout of the exhibition.  Hence the "mind grine".   At the end of the "supermarket shelf" prints was a arrow with the wording "exhibition continues". 

Around the dark corner lay prints that would capture even the most idle of gazes.  They took you into the mind of a master.   Staring at "Moonrise, Hernandez" I was shocked.  How could I have doubted that this was Ansel Adam's work and not some sham.  The books  that bear his name do him no justice. 


Squirrel!!!!


If you didn't get that last line I suggest you close this browser window.  Get off you bum and go out and enjoy life a bit, watch a movie.  


Where I was going with all this?


Ansel had to start some where.  He was no prodigy.  He was talented.  He worked hard.  His first works were "normal" at best.  He, however, persevered.  And today is dubbed the "father of modern day photography". 

Why the Ansel story.  Well after exhausting composition of curves of conch shells it hit me.  These once held, protected and housed a living creature.   What follows is a conch "memorial" of sorts.  A shell on a bed of pebbles in a pine box surrounded by darkness. 

Squirrel!!



















Aug 15, 2010

Rings That Bind




"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings


 In Less than a month's time I will embark on a epic quest that I pray will last till the day I die.  Unlike Frodo in Tolkien's book I will make this decision to wear my ring willingly, and it will be by no means a burden. 

To some of my more inept readers:  it means i'm getting married.  The lucky lady is Krystal G. Moodie (check out her blog via the link).

We needed to take some shots of our rings for our wedding book/album/website.  The experiment proved challenging as polished tungsten carbide acts like a mirror.  Unlike the images you see in catalogs I wanted to leave the images of the rings untouched by the clone tool.  Comment on the images below.  



















All of the above images were taken with one (1) light and a few reflectors to catch highlights.  The rings are Tungsten Carbide from Titanium Jewelry..

Next post:  Into the mist