Taking A Break

Last year I was introduced to Brad Styron’s work. His gallery is located at the Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier near Emerald Island NC. His love for surfing has allowed him to create incredible work from the view of being on the water. His wave images are really a piece of art. Having been in the area all his life, knowledge of where and when to shoot is intuitive to him. Just last night he steps out to close shop and notices the beautiful stormy clouds and subjected the Bogue Fishing Pier to a piece of art. The creation of this image was second nature to Brad. In his gallery you’ll find amazing wave images and stunning landscapes. Brad is print master, and knows how to make colors pop. I also have to say that I’ve never seen canvas prints like Brad Styron’s. Along with his acrylic, metal and paper prints he’s created some very unique frame designs. So the next time your down towards the beach stop in at Playa Graphics and chick out the Brad Styron Gallery.

I apologize for the delay of posting the blog, but as you can see Delores and I have been at the beach this week. I’ve been capturing some really cool long exposure that I hope to include on my website.

Sometimes you just have to take make time to get away from all the worries of home. We make sure to do this every year around this time as it today our 21st wedding anniversary. We have really enjoyed this time getting away. So this week’s blog is a little of just taking a break.

David is a NC based photographer. To see his online gallery click here.

Decisive Moment

This image of General Henry Slocum was made at Gettysburg National Military Park. Controversy around his conduct at the Battle of Gettysburg arose from his indecision, delaying the advance to the battlefield. He later earned the name of “Slow Come”. I remember the visit to Gettysburg as if it was just yesterday. I was able to capture several good images that day. The clouds were simply awesome. Feeling a sense of reverence while walking, I tried to imagine the bravery these men had during this historical national event. After learning more about the  the battle and adversities for both sides I’ve come to realize critical times require critical quick decisions.

Life is full of situations where we have to make critical decisions, our jobs, business and personal issues sometimes require a quick decision in order to move forward. In photography making quick decisions while making photos is something we attempt to avoid. But there are several opportunities to utilize your leadership ability of making decisions. One of the biggest challenges I think Fine Art Photographers face, is when editing their own work.

The context of editing I’m referring to is when deciding what images will not be included in a portfolio. Photographers associate their images with the experience while making the image. Thoughts such as effort put forward to get the shot, personal sentiment, personal preference as to how good an image may be compared to the others.

Selecting images for my website is challenging. Photographer’s images are like their babies, we have an attachment to all of them, but that doesn’t mean some images will fit within the context of a particular portfolio on your website. Editing my work is something I had to get outside help with. Thanks to Stella Kramer, I’ve got a lot better idea of what not to include and how to order them.

Photographers should separate their personal connection with their images when editing. Selecting a photo you think is less worthy that fits within the context of your portfolio is much more effective than including your favorite. As artist and collectors, context should be obvious, so make a decision to have a decisive moment when editing your collection.

David is a NC based photographer. To see his online gallery click here.

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Stretch A Little

Fine Art Photography is great place for long exposure. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about long exposure and it really adds new challenges to photographing a land or city scape. I love the look of moving clouds in landscape and the streaks of lights from cars in the cityscapes. This photo was taken at Bass Lake as an entry to the Bass Lake Photo contest. The water has taken a nice smoothness along with the movement of the clouds. We made the decision to go out that day due to fact it was stormy. I love stormy weather for black and whites. I didn’t place but Delores took first place in the Flora & Fauna category, see here.  I’ve never seen a duck with its head under water keeping an eye open.

Being creative isn’t always easy. Coming up with new ideas can be very challenging. But I think as a creative, one has to be patient with themselves. Spinning off from last week’s blog, “relax” and the ideas will come. There are techniques for brain storming and if I’m in a rush I’ll do that, but I like taking a natural approach to creativity. I feel that having the technical knowledge from capture to print allows a photographer to visualize more what’s possible in the end (print). By knowing the tools and what is capable, an artist has more options for expression. This can include everything from a camera, post-processing to the printer. At every stage there are different offerings for one’s creative view.

I know a lot of photographers that have other people involved at the different stages after capture. Then it becomes a collaborative creative process. There is nothing wrong with that. I believe as a photographer you don’t have to know everything about the capture to print process, but if you just doing the capture, the more you know, the better prepared the images will be for print. Photographers should be able communicate to the Print Master what they want out of the print.

Moving forward I’ll be doing more long exposures, I’m fascinated by the artistic value it brings to photography. Long exposure is something I want to add to my box of tools and techniques. I’ll have to continue to work on it and be willing to creatively stretch a little.

David is a NC based photographer. To see his online gallery click here.

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Quiet Time

This image was taken close to Miamisburg Ohio. Couple of years ago, a friend of mine showed me this little park and we were there just at the right time in the evening. The evening light shimmering across the grass really sets off the colors. It’s good to see green as we’re moving closer to summer.

Solitude is the story as the bench awaits the visitor. This is a quiet place where one can simply take in the fresh air. I can imagine myself sitting on the bench feeling the breeze from the water and relaxing.

Our Responsibilities keep us very busy and in a big hurry. We have so many, with our jobs, spouse and kids not to mention other family members and their circumstances. I think it’s best to make time for ourselves. Sometimes we need time alone, time for ourselves. Time to do the things we enjoy doing for nothing more than ourselves. This is important for everyone, because with all the people depending on us we have a responsibility to ourselves as well.

If we want to be the best employee, spouse and give back to our family we need to go to a place where we can be as worry free as possible and get our quiet time.

David is a NC based photographer. To see his online gallery click here.

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Keepsake

Photo by David Davis

I had wanted to return to Cass County Mo for years to capture the countryside and a few historical landmarks, and last year we are able to make that happen. This is the image of the Cass County Courthouse in Harrisonville Mo, organized in 1835. Soldiers quartered their horses in the old original courthouse during the Civil War, as it was later declared unfit for occupancy. The building was repaired somewhat for business at the time and it was later rebuilt in 1897 paid by a citizen tax of $45,000.00.

Today there is a new modern courthouse just on the outskirts of town. My hope is the county will preserve this beautiful building for future generations. The downtown square of Harrisonville is beautiful. I can remember as a child we couldn’t find a place to park on the square from all the business that was happening. Today the square is much like a museum of a town with just few businesses operating.

I’ve wrote about small town America and how we need to nourish a culture of creativity and to do this we can revitalize our original downtown areas. This image exemplifies that notion. Harrisonville has done a superb job of keeping all the old bricked streets and buildings in great shape. There are artistic painted images on some of the outer brick walls of the buildings with historical facts. My feelings when making this image was to convey the beauty of preservation. The joy of what a 177 year old town has accomplished with maintaining their history.

Art plays such a big part of our heritage and we as photographers have a responsibility to our future generations to capture images like this for keepsake.

David is a NC based photographer. To see his online gallery click here.

Resources:

www.casscounty.com