Then & Now
I am paying more attention to emotion in my images…a more purposeful journey than I imagined. The approach got me to thinking about evolving. To that end, I picked three images from this year and compared them to three images I took in 2018. Criteria? No, not really. I just appreciated the images. Two from 2018 had been selected to hang in The Art League Gallery for a month, but that’s not why I chose them. The question I was asking myself…has my art evolved over the past five years and if so, am I happier than I was then?
How could I forget that 2018 was also the year I had a hip replacement and a heart attack? Except, I actually had forgotten until I saw the image of me in a hospital bed. Ha, ha…those were the days, waited on hand and foot. Some observations about the differences. I am taking WAY fewer photos these days. Could be my age keeps me in, there is some truth in that. I took more than 18,000 images in 2018, I’ve taken about 5,000 this year. Quite a change. Could be because I don’t know Richmond like I knew DC and as an older guy, I’m more bashful about going places I don’t know. Some truth in that, too. Could be because I had a super group of fellow photographers I went out with a several times a month including an ex-Pat Brit who can’t find the “Color On” switch on his camera. Could be I’m spending more time with my wife learning about the new city we live in. In truth, it’s a little of all of those things. However, this year I’ve focused more on the emotion the composed image triggers in my brain. It’s no longer lines and edges and thirds…it’s about how I feel when I look through the viewfinder.
The images above are from this year. The first image is an iconic 19th century kitchen scene…I can imagine working in the light of the window with a candle ready for the coming darkness. I’m comforted by the warm setting but terrified as enslaved people worked in that very spot. I’m also attracted to this image for Koh-Itten, red, one spot. The red grinder brings my eye deeply into the setting and is a thing of efficiency in a world of forced labor. The second image was found near a canal with two walkers headed to trail’s end. The size of the walker on the bridge provides scale. The forest behind the bridge is a borrowed landscape bringing the forest to the walkers which is probably where they’d come from on their walk. The bench breaks the photo in half and suggests a place to rest or enjoy the forest. The last image was on a street walkabout in Fredericksburg, VA. The young man was curled up on a pillow reading a book in the window space of a book store. What great window dressing! I enjoyed seeing his little bit of isolated sanctuary from the busy street seen in the reflections.
The images below are from 2018. Our land, that, is the land in America, is a powerful symbol of the diverse peoples who live on it. The first image seemed to represent the untamed woods and the cultivated fields. I was attracted, of course, by the symmetry of the bales. The second image was taken on a chilly, rainy day on The Wharf in DC. The rain was coming down hard…my friends and I and our cameras were protected with awnings and beer. The young lady was walking quickly. She had to be careful the wind did not steal her umbrella away. The last image is of a man and boy, perhaps father and son, playing in the fountain on The Wharf on a sunny day. I wanted a long exposure to “freeze” the water but was afraid the father son would move and lose focus. I was bracing my camera on a handrail, the two stopped, I took the shot. Perhaps these last two are also “emotional” but I think I approached them more as events than human feeling.
I conclude my art has evolved. Perhaps not a lot, certainly not from a “sellable” or “gallery-worthy” perspective, but I’m happier with what I’m doing. What do you think?
