Douglas Bienert Photography

Occupy Portland

2011-10-10T14:45:00.001-07:00

Images from the October 6th protest rally in Portland, Oregon.

こんにちは Konnichiwa

2010-05-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

I just returned from 12 days in Japan! Three days in Kyoto, and the rest of the time in various parts of Tokyo. An online gallery will be forthcoming.

Hometown

2010-03-30T16:30:00.001-07:00

A collection of images taken in Portland.

Portland Cigar Club

2010-02-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my "Jazz Era" style portraits from an evening at The Portland Cigar Club.

Get Naked

2010-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I was invited to photograph a Medeival themed banquet at Naked Winery in Hood River, Oregon. I had a lot of fun- and a lot of Pino Noir.

Stop by their tasting room in Hood River the next time you take a visit to the Gorge.

I'll be at the Portland Cigar Club taking black and white portraits this month - with wine by Naked Winery.

Pizza by the slice, image for the portfolio.

2009-11-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

More new images added today in the online gallery.

This image was made while sitting in a pizza parlor in downtown Portland.

New Webste

2009-11-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

My new web site is up and running. My web site now links to my blog and searchable online portfolio. There is also information about a number of my projects. I have found a couple of links that are faulty, but otherwise I think it looks good. Take a look!

CHECK OUT MY WEB SITE

Winter is arriving in the mountains.

2009-11-07T15:53:00.001-08:00

Its blustery and snowing up on Mt. Hood. Will we have snow again in the city this year?

Visit my gallery of last year's snow storm HERE.

Signed, limited editions available.

Online Gallery

2009-10-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

My online gallery is open. I have uploaded 55 images so far, and many more will be added over the next few weeks! Please stop by and take a look. All prints are for sale or licensing for reproduction.

Prints start at $60 and increase as the limited editions sell out.

VISIT THE GALLERY

He has left the building.

Comming Soon

2009-10-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on building an online gallery which you will be able to browse as well as search by keywords. My website will also be taking on a new look as well. Keep visiting my blog for more information.

There are very few Cartier-Bressons, Brassais, and W. Eugene Smiths in the world, but to me these men are photographers. They are artists because they make statements that all of us wish we could have made.

- Arnold Newman, Interviews with Master Photographers.

Fr. Tudor of All Saints Anglican

2009-10-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Photo Show October 1st

2009-09-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Sauvies Island: Vintage Prints & New Landscape
by Douglas Bienert and Logan Clark

October 1st 5pm - 8pm
at: The Parish of Saint Mark, Anglican
1025 NW 21st Avenue
Portland, Oregon

Next door you can tour the beautiful Romaneque architecture, ancient icons, and frescos. Bach and other composers will be performed by Aurthur Eagle on the German Baroque pipe organ.

Prints will also be on display Sunday October 4th following the 10am Sung High Mass

Oregon Coast

2009-07-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Manzanita

Short Sands

Sauvie Island

2009-07-09T13:32:00.001-07:00

It is probably a good sign that I have spent more time photographing than blogging. Here are a few images from my work this summer out on Sauvie Island.

NE Alberta Street

2009-06-20T22:33:00.001-07:00

Mississippi Street, North Portland

2009-06-13T12:41:00.001-07:00

...word.

One less hipster on Mississippi would be a good start.
Seriously dude, loose the daisy duke shorts and eye glasses without lenses.
It's nasty.

unto the least of these

2009-05-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

I have been working with a friend of mine who heads up the after school programme in the Parkrose School District. These photographs will be used as part of the grant proposals to keep the programme running. Children are provided help with academics, supervised play, and dance classes. Gardens were planted to beautify their campus and they take an active roll in maintaining them.

Dreadful Majesty

2009-04-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was on my way to get my hair cut when I saw the most spectacular storm clouds forming all around the city. I postponed my hair cut for an hour. I had to get some shots!

What I really wanted to do was stop on the Fremont Bridge to create some images. However, not wanting to risk a fine (or arrest) I headed to Rocky Butte to see if I could captures some of the blazing light.

Rocky Butte

View to the east. Mt. Hood is tiny and on the left.

Looking east.

Looking east/southeast.

The Gorge, Oregon.

2009-04-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from yesterday. After skiing on Mt. Hood I drove down into Hood River. I have to thank the people at Wy'East Vinyards for jump starting my car. I managed to coast right into their parking lot (and the wine tasting room) after my car's electrical system fritzed out. Turns out the cord to the alternator fell out. So - with 5 samples of wine, a bottle of Chradonay, and a jump start, my day was back on track!

Wy'East Vinyards. Hood River, Or.

Wy'East Vinyards. Hood River, Or.

Hood River, Oregon.

Hood River, Oregon.

Cascade Locks, Oregon.

Unique view of NW Portland

2009-04-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

This image was taken from the rooftop of my parish in NW Portland while I was waiting for the Maundy Thursday Liturgy to start. The light was just amazing this afternoon.

Never a dull moment.

2009-01-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

The New Year found me in Vancouver, British Columbia photographing Harri Krishnahs, some guy who dressed like E.T. in pancake makeup, crazies jumping into English Bay when it was 4˚C air and water temperature, and lovely snow in Stanley Park. Not a bad start to 2009!

NEW YEARS EVE

Krishnah Krishnah!

Street Busker dressed like E.T. with pancake makeup?

"Auld Lang Syne" in the style of Mannheim Steamroller.

Stroke of Midnight! Good-bye 2008!

Polar Bear Swim : English Bay. Vancouver, B.C.

Can't sleep... clowns will eat me!

Boy's first polar bear swim with grandfather.

Where is Richard Dreyfuss?

There should have been a "cutest kid award"!

English Bay from Stanley Park.

The snow storm returns.
City park between Robson and Davie Street.

I also self-published the Urban Wayfarer photographs in one 8x10 book, which is available via Blub Publishing. (Click to preview book and order a copy.)

Upcoming books will include:
- Desolate City : photographs from the winter storm 2008.
-25 Years of Photography - a retrospect.

Desolate City

2008-12-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few images from the winter storm here in Portland. These are just a few which were taken Saturday the 20th, the day the storm first hit hard. It continued to snow for four days. I loaded up the camera and put on my x-country skis and headed out for over 14 miles!

The only places I encountered people were in the core of the city. Most of the streets were empty. People waved cheerfully at me from windows. There was a complete change in attitude, friendliness abounded. Silence, the whiteness, and the restriction of mobility slowed everyone down. It pulled them into contemplation of the ordinary transformed into something different. Everything had an otherness to it. People who live in cities used to his weather might not experience this so readily. In Portland where this weather has become rare, it had a striking impact. This otherness is not something we find so often in contemporary society. It is a very similar feeling as steeping into a great Cathedral where everything points to otherness.

I will be gathering all of the images into a collection titled "Desolate City".

Community Garden, North Fremont Street. Portland, Oregon.

Community Garden, North Fremont Street. Portland, Oregon.

Sacred Heart Parish, North Williams Street. Portland, Oregon.

The Broadway Bridge, looking to the East Side. Portland, Oregon.

North Park Blocks, looking south. Portland, Oregon.

Pioneer Square. Portland, Oregon.

Washington Park. Portland, Oregon.

Washington Park, Rose Gardens. (or Narnia?) Portland, Oregon.

Washington Park, Rose Gardens. Portland, Oregon.

Washington Park, Rose Gardens. Portland, Oregon.

Jamison Square Park. Portland, Oregon.

Train Station, from the Broadway Bridge. Portland, Oregon.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-14T23:48:00.001-08:00

I managed a few photos in today's ice and snow storm.

"The Barn" where I live.
It is currently 58 deg. in side with all the heaters blasting!

The Failing Street pedestrian overpass.

Ice and twigs.

The MAX train on Interstate.

Interstate Avenue.

Along Interstate Avenue.

Tiny houses near "The Barn".

December Walk

2008-12-04T17:23:00.001-08:00

A few new photos from today.

Walking in Autumn

2008-11-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

It's the most Morrissey time of the year...

2008-11-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

I just love Autumn in Portland! Here are a few images from Washington Park yesterday.

The Holocaust Memorial was particularly unnerving in the quite with all the leaves. There are tattered fragments of humanity cast in bronze scattered about the lamp post and park benches.

Some recent work

2008-10-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a few recent photographs.

I went out to Sauvie Island with Kameron to shoot his Sr. Graduation portraits. We started out both taking pictures at The Pumpkin Patch as he is doing an internship with me in photography.

I came across two of the cutest kids trying to haul their pumpkins across a huge field.

We proceeded to take some portraits.

Yesterday I photographed my sister.

Abstraction

2008-10-17T18:02:00.000-07:00

Just a few rough drafts of some new abstracts taken while wandering around down town Portland.

Top of the world!

2008-09-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

I just got back from and overnight camping trip to Saddle Mountain with my friends Kate and Hanna. I hiked 3/4 of the way up Friday late afternoon and back. The next morning we made it all the way to the top. That adds up to a total of 9 miles and over 5,200 vertical feet! Here are a couple of snapshots. Black and White photos will be posted soon! Check back...

My friend Hanna. This is only a little over 1/2 way to the top!

Me... almost to the top!

BBQ's not Bombs

2008-08-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from todays BBQ and voter registration rally today.

Desparado

2008-08-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

I have been busy scanning old negatives and photographs from my days at Pioneer Ranch Camp in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta Canada. I would love to go back up there and do a photojournalistic project on the camp. My dad went there in the 1950's and I went in the 1980's.

I have a number of the photos completed on my Facebook. There are a few from my dad's day in the 50's posted. The ones below I took when I first started photographing. I was about 16.

We loved Monty Python and went on a "Quest for Spam"... a product we later found was not available in Alberta. We did end up, however, with a SPAM substitute: "SPORK". I was so hungry after five days in the wilderness I ate the whole can. Not even the dog shared my enthusiasm for SPORK.

Trevor McIvor sitting in a alpine meadow with one of our horses.

Clown at the annual Rodeo on the last day of camp.

VIEW ALL PIONEER PHOTOS

The Columbia Gorge

2008-08-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

I recently came back from a three day camping trip. When I heard that it was to hit over 100 deg. I grabbed my tent and went cot out of the city with my friend Kate.

The campground was... well, temperate, but not very restful. It was typical roadside camping sandwiched between a major freight train rout and the freeway. It was next to the Columbia River for swimming. There were so many blackberries that it smelled like pie everywhere I walked!

The following photos are quick edits of some of the photos I took. I really need to do this more often!

Last day in Canada

2008-07-29T12:13:00.001-07:00

So far Sunday was the best day for photographing. It was warm and sunny with billowing clouds.

As I was walking along English Bay there was a group of people practising Capoeira.
According to Wikipedia, Capoeira is a blend of martial art, game, and dance originated in Brazil, from the regions known as Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The art-form started up in Brazil during the 16th Century, an obvious result of the slave trading that took place in conjunction with the previously slaved native Indians. Capoeira was created and developed by slaves brought from Africa. Participants form a roda (circle) and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The game is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Less frequently-used techniques include elbow-strikes, slaps, punches, and body-throws.

I continued walking along English Bay and into Stanley Park to Lost Lagoon.

The cloud formations around the West End were fantastic.

I also explored the False Creek area. There are great urban parks in the midst of the high rise apartments.

Today, however - its is grey and raining. I will still try and get some new photographs. I did manage this image of the statue which is a tribute to the unknown fallen soldier. (It still needs some work, but this is an ok first draft.)

With a little help from the guys at SEARS

2008-07-28T01:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a horrific start to my working vacation in Vancouver, BC. About an hour or so into my drive north my alternator went out. I pulled into the Shell station near Kelso, Washington. I managed to get a jump start and a follow to the Sears automotive centre. Fortunately the guys at Sears were not at all busy and managed to fix my car. They were great and worked hard to get me back on the road. I probably would have had to have been rescued and head back to Portland without them. There was only one problem... it took until 3:30pm just to get the part. For SEVEN hours I was stuck in a near abandoned Mall - which was a living hell. There was nothing but a Foot Locker, Xenophobe's Express Chinese Food, 12 year old boys wearing "mom jeans" and some guy walking through the mall in nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs and tennis shoes (presumably from Foot Locker).

One of the greatest mistakes was eating the Xenophobe's special. Basically, if Dinty-Moor made Chinese food, this is what it would look and taste like. It was this bland gelatinous goo with enough MSG to knock me out for about an hour under a tree shortly after eating it. I bought a Lewis Black comedy book to lighten my mood. After I couldn't tolerate sitting around anymore I took a couple walks around the outside of the Mall. I ran into an absurd tombstone like marker:

"The MOST fun kids can have."

My only thought is that what really happened is that all of the kids actually DIED of boredom. I was already on my way! I went back into the mall wherein I was followed by a creepy Steven Hawking like manager from one of the stores. I fled the building and sat under a tree for the rest of the afternoon.

Finally after 5pm I was back on the road and on my way to Canada. After a hassle at the border it was nearly MIDNIGHT by the time I arrived. I still went out and danced up a storm until about 3am. I was completely edgy from the day and needed to wear off all my stress.

Today was great day of photographing and I will have some images posted soon.

Piccolo Pete

2008-07-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a fun 4th of July. I have more fun photographing kids blow things up than lighting fireworks myself.

Hunter is our fire starter.

Maddie and her friend out squeal the Piccolo Pete.

Sauvies Day 2

2008-07-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

It has been absolute BLISS to get out into the countryside and photograph. Much of what I have done in the last couple of years is all urban or portraits. The lapping of water, the quacking of ducks, and the mooing of cows has just refreshed me! That being said, I could do without the swarm of mosquitoes that is out of control on Sauvies Island. I wasn't really keen on the skunks rustling around in the bushes near me either.

I am thinking of contenting to work on nearby rural images throughout the Summer and collect them into a small show.

Here are two photographs from yesterday.

There is this old "pod" that washed up years ago. I do not remember what it actually is, but if Noah's Ark and a 1950's Space Ship had a love child - this would be it.

I will always be "a kid" when it comes to clouds. I could sit and look at them all day!

Sauvies Island

2008-07-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the best shot from my trip out to Sauvies Island yesterday. What a lovely day!

Spokane and back - two days of shooting.

2008-06-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

I will not go into a needless description of why I have not updated in a while. I will sum it up quickly by saying, I was just too busy to post.

I have just returned from a quick road trip to Spokane, Washington to retrieve my show Urban Wayfarer from Spokane Falls Community College. Below are just a few images from the trip, quickly edited for the blog.

The weather appeared like it would be rainy as I prepared to leave Portland. However, once I was past Hood River the weather couldn't have been better!

I found this silo not far from The Dalles, Oregon. The sky began to produce the most spectacular cloud formations.

I discovered this field above the Gorge on the Washington State side of the river.

In George, Washington was a cafe named for George's wife Martha. This was about all there was to see in George, Washington.

Instead of wasting $70 at a lousy hotel watching cable in Spokane, I spent the night at Riverside State Park.

The light was fading fast and I discovered that I left my tripod at home! I used by camera bag and the auto-timer to reduce camera blur to get the above photograph.

I had a wondeful night sitting around the campfire. Though, I must say that the Safeway brand campfire wood burnt like a dirty wet sock! It was hardly a bonfire. Still, it was very nice.

I awoke early to take about and hour or so hike to the other side of the river and back. It was a lovely morning! It has been far too long since I have been out of the city.

After picking up my photographs and loading them into the car it was time to head back to Portland. On the way back storm clouds began to form in the mountains that divide Eastern Washington from Seattle. The vast amount of farmland is breathtaking.

I stopped at an overlook and could see a wind farm on the other side of the Gorge.

After crossing the river I felt compelled to check out the Ginkgo Petrified Forest. Well, I had sort of expected a group of upright trees turned to stone. I'm sure that is what the tourist trappers are hoping. I was not let down though!

This dinosaurs surrounded by petrified stumps was totally worth the side trip! RAWR!

I was sorely missing my tripod at dusk, but did my best to hand hold my camera for this image. I am still uncertain if I prefer it in colour or black and white. I'll enjoy your feedback.

Learnng to Read

2008-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Its surprising how many people don't read. The less your read, the harder it is to grasp the meaning of a book. With all the visual imagery around you would think people would be able to read images better. But that takes practice as well. They read too much visual junk. They skim images. Perhaps there is just so much out there that no one takes the time to really look.

The current controversy over the Miley Cyrus photograph in Vanity Fair by Annie Leibovitz is absurd. Fist, her parents and other guardians were all on set. Miley and Leibovitz both looked at images in fashion magazines to talk about lighting and mood. It was shot digitally, so they all previewed the image on set before it ever went off to press. They all liked the image. But now Disney, the great pimp of child stars, is fearful it can't squeeze out a few more millions before she becomes a full fledged woman. Only after they pitched a fit did Miley feign an apology and claim that the image really is inappropriate.

In a world where we use sex to sell everything, talk about Britany Spears' private bits and Paris Hilton's sex tape on the six o'clock news, how is it THIS image is so shocking? You would see more of Miley on her beach vacation. Are we living in the Victorian era? Oh my GOD... I saw her ANKLE!

This photograph is taken without all the make-up and goofy tween apparel she wears in order to sell her image and a slew of products. I have a FAR bigger problem with that! Did anyone complain when she is selling Disney Hoochie Shorts? Now, that being said I think the portrait would not be particularly appropriate for a cover of her next CD or to appear in Teen Beat magazine. This is not the case though, this portrait was taken for an editorial article in Vanity Fair which is a magazine targeted to adult readers.

I think its quite a beautiful portrait. She's only got a couple of years left as a "child star". Even now, on the cusp of 16, she isn't really a child, but in the middle of transformation. It's probably the only REAL portrait of her to be printed. She isn't a pop star in this image, she is an actual person. She is a vulnerable, real, human being. That is what makes this image so stunning. It is our cultures lurking gnosticism that recoils at this image.

People will make decisions on this image based on who they are and where they are in life.

A parent is going to think about how their little girl is no longer a little girl. They will be protective and make decisions based on this.
A teenage girl will look at this photo and say "I'd like to look like her."
A teenage boy might buy more copies of (ironically titled) Teen Beat if this picture were published in that magazine.
A photographer must be unconcerned at the moment of capturing the image about all of this.

An artist's duty is to capture truth. After the image is taken, and only then, the photographer can deliberate over what is an ethical way to display the image. If I try to make these decisions while simultaneously trying to respond to the world in front of my camera, I may never capture anything of value. First I must be attentive to a situation, respond with my gut intuition, and capture an image. After that I must ask "Is this picture true? Is this picture aesthetically good? What is the ethical way in which I should present this image?"

Now, on top of all that, let's talk about learning to read. Let's READ this image. She hold the fabric to cover herself - TO COVER HERSELF. She isn't "topless" which is a word thrown about. This is not Britany flashing herself to the paparazzi. If anything it speaks of modesty. There is something expressed in her eyes that says she knows she's not really a little girl anymore. There is also expressiveness on her face that speaks of holding back. She truly is in the middle of childhood and adulthood. The sheet is the remainder of her cocoon and she isn't quite ready to emerge yet. This is what makes this image beautiful. On one day, when Miley is very very old, this icon of her youth will be even more beautiful and meaningful. Photography is powerful. It captures the fleeting nature of human beauty. If someone finds this image pornographic because it shows a bare back its speaks more about them than its does of the photograph or of Miley Cyrus. These people simply do not know how to read.

quick update.

2008-04-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy getting caught up on many things after a couple of busy weeks shooting the photos for TIME, putting together seven portfolios to try and get a shoot with some travel magazines, squeezing in the last couple days on Mt. Hood, and putting together a new loft bed.

I ran outside to snap a couple of shots becuse I love the dark clouds and sun breaks we get during Spring.

Keep posted for information on where I will be for The Mississippi Street Fair and First Thursdays in The Pearl.

Aisan Chicken Salad!

2008-04-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the chance to see Margaret Cho live. I took these (rather awful) pictures at the show (with my happy snappy camera).

Thanks sis for getting me such great tickets for my birthday!

time for TIME

2008-04-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

I was published in this weeks issue of TIME. The cover is of the Pope. My photos appear in the living section for an article on how women celebrate their pregnancies.

My photos: four photos on bottom (the two on either side of the photo of the bronze casting)

style over speed

2008-04-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's bike weather today! I found a great blog today by bicycle advocates in Denmark. These people have the right idea. One of their slogans is "Style over Speed".

I watch dirty hipsters on fixed gear bikes blast through the stop sign at N. Mississippi and Shaver every day... there goes one NOW! (not kidding). The other day one nearly hit me while I was WALKING through an intersection.

I suggest we get back to some civility. Bike a little slower. Bike with some style. Bike according to the rules of the road. That's why I ride a vintage girls 3 speed from England which I named Ashely. (Its a boys name! Really, it is! At least in England and Australia...)

So, put on a snappy outfit and ring your little bell while spandex clad angry bitter bike nazis and rude dirty hipsters on fixies fly by you to an untimely death.

Once More to the Lake

2008-04-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have been digging though some old images taken in Vancouver, British Columbia for a project.

I had never taken the time to print these, but found some really good shots.

Sometimes I just like to be touristy, and all I have is my "happy snappy" camera... and that's o.k.

©Douglas Bienert
Vancouver B.C. looking toward English Bay and Stanley Park.

©Douglas Bienert
Selling chestnuts in the winter on English Bay.

©Douglas Bienert
Man walking up Davie Street in the West End.

©Douglas Bienert
Coal Harbour, Vancouver, B.C.
(It looks better in black and white, without all the green of the glass!)

©Douglas Bienert
Inuksuk along English Bay.
I love these rocks. Some just seem to defy gravity.

Some days I like to take my "real camera" and work.

©Douglas Bienert
Bicyclist on English Bay.

One day I ventured out into the rain. I was soaked by the time I got back, but I really enjoyed the silence. It was one of those storms when the ocean waters were still. You could barely make out the tankers in the distance from the rain and fog. It was all so beautiful, I didn't care how wet I got. Why do we stop loving to play in the rain? Get my yellow rubber boots, rain jacket, and camera! I choose not to grow up. Because of that, I have seen immeasurable beauty.

©Douglas Bienert
English Bay in the rain, sometime last year.

©Douglas Bienert.
Man jogging on English Bay with commuter plane from Vancouver Island flying in at the end of the day.

On a summer day at sunset, at Third Beach, I encountered a boy playing wildly with a doll. I wonder what story was playing out in his mind...

©Douglas Bienert

my God!
the joy of water
and waves
and summer sunlight...

Beauty is so fleeting. I rage against the dying of the light, my shutter capturing in an instant a moment of beauty. It will preserve it on paper for a while longer. But, even that will fade in a hundred years or so.

I think of this from E.B. White's Once More to the Lake, written in 1941. It is about taking his son to a lake where his father took him.

When the others went swimming my son said he was going in too. He pulled his dripping trunks from the line where they had hung all through the shower, and wrung them out. Languidly, and with no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.

More skiing on Hood - if you care.

2008-04-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well, there is only ONE full month of skiing left! After that, it will be weekends only - which I work. I'm trying to get in as much as I can even in spite of the growing bone spur on my heel. (OUCH!)

I still don't have the pictures from the day we took the snow cat rout up to 8200ft. But here is a good shot of the mountain.

And here is a close up of the above images and detail of where we started and which direction we went. I hope to get the shots from that day soon.

It is really hard to get a scale of how vast and steep this run really was! We kept skiing behind that ridge all the way down the valley to about 5,000ft (from about 8,200ft)

Also, last week, there were some amazing clouds!

Today there was a "ski crow" but it didn't seem to keep the snowboarders away.

I hope all the other Portlanders are out enjoying the sun today!

Shooting for TIME magazine

2008-03-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a photo shoot for an article in TIME magazine. It should come out next week.

It is for an article on how various women are celebrating pregnancy and motherhood. These are images of castings that pregnant women have made of themselves and then decorated.

I didn't know what the products would look like or what I would have to work with. The walls in the house where I went to photograph these were all painted unique colours and I was able to give each one a sense of place. I was worried that all I would have to work with was a blank wall. In fact, I had many different colours and props available to me. There was also lovely soft light coming through the windows in each room and I shot with natural light.

I will have more info on the article when I get to see it next week - so stay tuned!

The Great Vigil of Easter

2008-03-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

Some images taken at the Great Vigil of Easter at The Parish of Saint Mark. Saint Mark's begins their liturgy at 5am Easter Sunday before daybreak in complete darkness. The Pascal Candle and hand held candles are the only source of light.

Striking of the new fire - they symbolic light of Christ rising from the darkness of the tomb. Fr. Lillegard lights incense to bless the Pascal Candle.

Marking the date of this Easter on the Pascal Candle.

Inserting five grains of incense into the Pascal candle representing the five wounds of Christ.

Chanting of the Exultet.

Procession to the Baptismal Font for blessing.

Mixing the Chrism oils and blessing the Baptismal Font.

The Asperges.

Lighting the altar candles while the litanies are chanted.

Censing the High Alter during the Kyrie Eleison

productivity

2008-03-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, this has been one of the most photographically productive weeks I can think of!

I am busy digitizing and archiving old negatives and shooting new images as well. I am finding that I am getting details that I was unable to capture on film. My only problem is that prints are sometimes too dark in the lower middle tones and I am going to have to open up the middle values a bit. I also need to trust the histogram graphs when it comes to my highlights. I am often afraid of the highlights washing out and back off a bit. This has left some prints a bit flat, even though it is a mere three or four points different! Overall though, I am amazed at the tonal quality with the K3 pigments on the Museo Silver Rag paper.

Less talk - more images, so here you go.

Brewery Blocks c.1994 ©Douglas Bienert

This was taken before the brewery towers came down and all the condos when up. This corner now hosts The Everett Street Bistro.

Glasses, 1990 ©Douglas Bienert

Pear and Fork, 1990 ©Douglas Bienert

These two still lives were shot while I was at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California.

Saint, Carmel, California. 1990 ©Douglas Bienert

This was taken at the Carmel Mission. It will be included in my project Sacramentum.

Old work is new work

2008-03-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

First, let me say that I am not pleased that I did not get a ticket to see Barack Obama speak today in Portland. Not only did I want to hear him, I was hoping to take some pictures! All the tickets were given away within the first few minutes of announcing the sign up.

So... instead, I've just stayed home and worked on some old photos. These are negatives I have not printed in probably a decade. Most of these I had only made a couple of work prints of. I am working on finding images that are either directly of religious subjects, such these two older images I finished working on last night. This crucifix was photographed in the defunct monastery and junior seminary of St. Anthony's located just behind the historic Mission Santa Barbara.

Crucifixion, c.1990. ©Douglas Bienert

I stumbled upon this image waiting to be captured in a closet near, from what I remember, a large vesting sacristy. I found a scrap of white paper which I tacked to the wall to bounce light and fill in the shadows on the face. There just happened to be some kind of light, I think it might have been a small stage spotlight even (hey, its been 18 years since I took this image!) which I used to highlight the right side of the corpus.

This image was taken in about 1995 or '96. I was helping run a camp for Anglicans in Colorado. This is of a good and dear friend Father Gerad Flynn. We had hiked, medieval style, in cassock, to this alpine meadow which just happened to be in bloom! I went back the following summer, but the field was bare - so this was very fortunate. Fr. Flynn is seen with his large walking stick, which he carried through the airport. Fr. Flynn has a wit not to be tangled with. When asked what the difference between Roman and Anglican is he would say things like "We don't have brooms on our helmets." Once at a regional synod of clergy and laity he replace the cross on his cassock with a pin on Star Trek symbol. It made the little "bleep-bleep" sound when you touched it. While stuck in a very boring and irritating conversation I watched him amuse himself by touching the thing and saying (while the conversation continued on mind you) "(bleep bleep) Flynn to Bishop. (bleep bleep) Flynn to Bishop. Beam me up, there are no intelligent life forms at this synod." I have not seen him since the late 90's, and he lives in New Zealand now - but he remains one of the most important influences in my life.

Fr. Flynn, Camp Collins, Colorado. c.1996 ©Douglas Bienert

I also will include images that are not obviously "religious" (of crosses, churches, liturgical instruments, etc). I will include images such as the one I posted from the other day of feet and light streaming onto a wood floor as it suggests feet on a crucifix. I also plan to include the shot Genesis, the landscape I took east of Yosemite National Park posted on as it reminds me of the passage in Genesis "and the earth was formless and void, and the Spirit hovered above the waters".

My goal with this collection is not to document the life of a particular tradition or history of a parish but rather to interpret visually some feeling of the mystery and spirituality involved in the physicality of Anglican/Catholicisms.

Corporis mysterium

2008-03-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

The crucifix at The Parish of Saint Mark, Portland, Oregon
Anglican Church in America

I went by my parish yesterday to work on the chants for the Great Vigil of Easter and happened to have my camera with me. The first time I saw the great rood screen draped in purple it gave me "the willies". I'd seen smaller crosses covered before in my first parish in Santa Barbara, but they only had one average alter cross and that was about it as it was a "simple" Gothic structure. Seeing the huge rood screen cross covered is just unnerving. I wanted to capture this otherworldly feeling your get when you see it.

I have found some information on the origins of covering crosses and icons, but not a lot of explanation of why. I have been told that it is to hide the mysteries visually, allowing us to focus on the redemptive works of Christ. Only on Good Friday will one cross be unveiled during Divine Liturgy, and that is the one used at the veneration of the cross - the one people will come forward, kneel down three times along the way forward, then kiss. The three double genuflections represent Christ falling three times as he carried his cross.

As to the origins of this custom I found this:

From a Roman Catholic sources: Monsignor Elliott remarks:

"It probably derives from a custom, noted in Germany from the ninth century, of extending a large cloth before the altar from the beginning of Lent.

This cloth, called the Hungertuch (hunger cloth), hid the altar entirely from the faithful during Lent and was not removed until during the reading of the Passion on Holy Wednesday at the words "the veil of the temple was rent in two."

The New Advent encyclopedia confirms this with a bit more explanation on the custom, which is interesting:

In Germany... the custom [on Passion Sunday] of veiling the crosses and statues in the church was formerly done at the words in the Gospel "Jesus hid Himself", but is now done on the previous evening.

My FAVOURITE cartoon

2008-03-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

Derf City has been one of my fav. cartoons for years. I have been angry that Willamette Week stopped printing his work years ago. Visit his site here: DERF CITY

I just HAD to post this! Click to open it larger!

A productive week

2008-03-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have been rather productive lately!

First, a funny shot. I found this newspaper box that said "Bad Karma News" on it. As I was taking the shot, who should roll into the right side of the frame but scathing cartoonist Callahan! How appropriate!

I also had to take some photos for my church The Parish of Saint Mark. One of the people we needed a head shot for was Oregon artist Michael Gibbons. I spend all of 20 seconds with each person, but I really like this shot! It turned out to have a sort of Karsh portrait of Hemingway feel to the skin tones.

A friend of mine is a great guitarist and is setting up a web site to promote guitar lessons. Here are a few shots we came up with. I will link to his site when it is finished.

Another print today

2008-03-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here is another image that is part of my new project Sacramentum (working title).

Oaks Bottom walk

2008-03-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went out hiking in Oaks Bottom, a wetlands preserve in Southeast Portland. This trail takes you through the wetlands out to the old Oaks Park Amusement Park which opened in 1905. Portland used to have one of the most extensive NONPOLLUTING eclectic traction trolley systems in the country. (These were all ripped out of the city in the 60's.) You could travel via trolley to the park as well as by horse or by boating on the Willamette river. The name Oaks Park came from the fact that it was surrounded by oak trees.

The Springwater Trail also runs along this area. You can bike all the way from outer Gresham into the city on this trail! It really is fantastic. People COULD (if they didn't always drive gas guzzlers with a super sippy cup of 1,000 calories of Frapachino in their hand) bike all the way from outside the city limits (including Mount Hood Community College) to down town Portland mostly without encountering cars. There is a full 40 mile loop!

I remember kids doing down to Oaks Bottom for a science field trip, but I honestly don't remember going myself. What a lovely little sanctuary right near the city.

Ian and I hiked down into the preserve, near the Willamette River. From there I could see the amusement park and Ferris Wheel across the wetland pond. The sun broke out and was highlighting the light coloured grass.

There were wonderful fallen trees, ducks, and frogs croaking madly.

Someone had set up these cairns (an Irish term) which were smaller but similar to the ones in Vancouver, BC that I enjoy so much.

The Native Americans in Canada refer to them as an inuksuk and are sometimes shaped like the form of people. They were used to mark trails or graves. Sometimes these small markers, like the ones I found today, are called ducks or duckies. They were called this because because some would have a "beak" pointing in the direction of the route. An expression "two rocks do not make a duck" reminds hikers that just one rock resting upon another could be the result of accident or nature rather than intentional trail marking. In any case- I always like finding these. The ones in Vancouver are much larger and often seem to defy gravity with how precariously each rock is placed one upon the other.

The warming trend has brought out early blossoms.

After crossing the wetlands and the old train tracks I came to the amusement park itself.

Then walking along Springwater trail I could see people out boating.

These photos today are rather pedestrian, but it was nice to just be out walking and seeing today.

I went home and finished a portrait project for Blake:

Taken by Front Avenue and the rail tracks in Northwest Portland.

Taken inside the All Soul's Chapel in The Parish of Saint Mark.

Here is a poster for The Parish of Saint Mark which I am currently working on, as well as original prints of just the image for sale. This is the one poster idea I had.

The other would be a simple vertical shot with just "The Parish of Saint Mark" beneath it. I didn't know whether something extremely simple and standard would be better to this idea with text.

Feedback?
Now... off to some more photo work.

Perhaps I should get to work?

2008-03-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, another day of skiing. It's just been too nice to work in the studio. I offer this awful photo taken on my (blush) camera phone. (I know... I know!) But, sadly it is all I had and I had no intent of climbing to 8,200 ft to ski the back canyons today! My friend Ian did have a happy-snappy camera with him and i'll post some of those as soon as I get them from him.

We hiked to the top of this ridge and dropped into the canyon on the right. We climbed to 8,200 ft, which is about 3,000 vertical feet from the summit and is only about two football fields from where this ridge fades out and the steep ascent occurs) and dropped down to 5,200ft in just a few minutes. Stay tuned as I will post better pictures soon. We encountered avalanche slide outs, glacial waterfalls, cliffs and pinicales, and severe leg burn!

taking advantage of the sun and snow

2008-02-27T09:21:00.001-08:00

The weather has been just TOO nice to work on personal projects lately. I managed to ski both Monday and Tuesday this week. Monday Ian, Hilary, Tom, Cory, and I got first runs into Lower Heathers Canyon with 4 inches of fresh snow. It was one of the best drops into Heather's this year! Tuesday was rip it up corduroy groomers!

Just a few photos:

It's a LONG STEEP way down the canyon.

Me, up at the top of Cascade Express. The only way to get higher is to hike or take the snowcat when avalanche danger isn't so high.

Looking back toward Cascade Express and the open snowfields.

phenomenal

Looking toward entry into Heathers Canyon.
◊◊ double black ahead! ◊◊

This shot looking back up shows how Hilary and I skied into the canyon. The first run we had to sketch along the edge of a cornice and then traverse into the bowl below those large rock croppings. One guy tried and made about two turns, slid out, and ended up at the bottom of the canyon in about three seconds! The photo below is taken from where it says "photos taken here". It is taken looking down the canyon from that spot. (Click on the above photo to open it larger.)

Hilary after dropping down the first slope of Heather's. She makes sure that her "Girls Kick Ass" T-shirt is a fact, not just a slogan. I don't think I've beat her down the run yet! That's what happens when you grow up in Telluride walking to the lifts from your house!

As much as I want to get going on a couple personal photo projects... this kind of weather just can not be turned down! Speaking of work though I have a project due by 3pm for The Pearl Wine Shop. Time to get my head out of the clouds!

The Witches Cabin

2008-02-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

I went up to Forest Park yesterday to photograph what is known as "The Witches Hut". It is actually the ruins of an old bathroom made of stone. It looks like a bombed out church. I photographed it for a collage project. I have the collage almost finished, but I am not sure I am ready to post it yet. I will have to live with the print for a while to see if I actually like it.

Here is how I photographed it with selective focus for the collage:

While there took some photographs of my friend Kameron.

It was a very productive day!

Miraculous Clouds, Mysterious Figures, and French Canadian Girls with Dolamathes

2008-02-13T11:12:00.002-08:00

I have started digitizing my old work and creating some new photographs as well. I plan to set up a booth at the First Thursday art walk this summer, so I'm getting ready to print my editions!

Each print will be available in the following sizes and editions:

8x10 on 14x17 - edition of 50
11x14 on 16x20 - edition of 30
16x20 on 24x30 - edition of 20

The price will go up every five to ten prints depending on the print size. I hope to add a catalog online so people can view them there as well as an off line catalog for when I am at the art booth.

So far I have had some great success with printing. I think I am prone to printing images with less contrast than I did in the traditional darkroom. I'm not sure that is a bad thing as I am finding that I am achieving more detail in deep shadows than I did in the darkroom. One thing is I feel I may need to brighten my highlights as they are appearing slightly on the dull side. The papers I am using have no optical brighteners in then for archival purposes, so this could be part of what I am experiencing.

Here are a few of the images I am working on.

Genesis, 1991 © Douglas Bienert.
This image was taken east of Yosemite National Park near Mono Lake. It was created on film and utilized a deep red filter to separate the blue of the sky from clouds. It was also taken before 6am and the sun is not over the horizon yet. This means that there is only very soft light filtering over the hills. The main cloud was that soft wispy kind you see of that shape. (I believe that it is called an Altocumulus Lenticularis cloud.) I know it doesn't seem whispy here. If you took a snapshot in colour everything would be very blue and there would be no deep shadows and no bright highlights. I wanted to exadurate the contrast and over developed the film by 12 minutes, double the normal time. I then added more contrast by printing on #3 grade paper along with extensive dodging and burning. When I scanned the negative and worked in Photoshop I wished to remain faithful to the silver print I made in 1991. So far I am rather pleased with the results - but I am unsure if I like the grain pattern when the print is made at 16 x 16. The extensive over development most likely led to the increased grain. It is stunning up to the 11x11 size though.

Untitled. c.1994 © Douglas Bienert

This image has been interesting to work on. I have been surprised at how much MORE information I am able to get out of this negative then I ever was in traditional printing. I have retained some interesting reflections which rendered as pure black in my original print. I had considered cropping the image differently, but in the end my first instincts from '94 were correct. It will take me a while to get used to seeing this image with more details in the shadow area of the torso.

Butoh Dance, Wreck Beach Vancouver, B.C. 2002
© Douglas Bienert

This image has a very different feel from my original print. I am still trying to decide if I like it or not. This is by far the best shot from the day. I really love the girl's expression (the one on the right). This was probably one of the most beautiful days in Vancouver I've ever had. It wasn't just warm, it was hot out. Strangely, the way the ocean currents work the water is considerably warmer than the Oregon coast - which is impossible to swim in. I'm not suggesting the water was warm though. I spent the day following the dancers around, getting right on the ground as they were. The clouds, the light... it was just perfect! And then I spent the rest of the day sunning and eating dolamathes and drinking wine that the French Canadian girls brought. Really. What could be better?

Great photographer story

2008-02-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was reading in FOCUS magazine about the great portrait photographer Arnold Newman. He was working for LIFE magazine at the time photographing artists. He went out to photographer one artist living outside of town (New York).

photo: Jackson Pollock by Arnold Newman, 1949

"I went out and spent a day kibbutzing with him and photographing in colour. You had to photograph in colour two weeks before the black and white." He said "Arnold, I'm broke. If you have $150, you can have this painting." It was about four feet high.

I said "I'm coming back in two weeks. Hold onto it Jackson." It was Jackson Pollock. When I got back to New York, I found they decided to shorten the story. They used just two pictures of him paining made by a staff photographer who had been out there before. I never got my Jackson Pollock. It would be worth $8 to $10 million today."

The Great Gloria and Sanctus of Photogaphs Ring Out!

2008-02-03T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have been writing a letter this morning to a good friend, Father Haley, a retired priest from the heydays of when the Anglican Church produced music and spirituality of the finest order. This was before Post-Modernism took over minds and hearts. This was also before American Fundamentalism stole Christianity, discarding sacraments, mystery, and ultimately Incarnation. Those Anglicans stood against puritanism with its creeping gnosticism which views the material world as something to rid ourselves of in order to become more "spiritual".

I print a portion of it here:

Dear Fr. Haley,

I've been meaning to sit down and write you for a while now.

I was reading in a book titled FOCUS magazine, about fine art photography. They really do have good work in it, not that Postmodern nonsense. There is an interview with Ruth Bernhard before she died. She was 101 when she died last year. Her thoughts on beauty and its demise is startling. It reminds me of many of the things we have talked about. She ties the demise of human civilization to the loss of beauty. One quote sounds almost exactly like something you said, that those who find the human body obscene must have an obscene god.

I print it here for you.

While enthusiastically agreeing that her nudes are sensual, Ruth maintains that her work is not sexual in nature. "I want all my photographs to be sensuous, whether they are of glasses, or a pot, or a nude person, because I want them to be pleasing and exciting to the eye. And from the very beginning of my photography, with "Embryo", I found a symmetry and beauty in the human form. "Yet there are those who thought it was wrong for me to show a nude person. And I said to them all, 'That means the Lord made a terrible mistake that we were born nude!' They did not like it, but it was the truth."

Despite her optimistic attitude about life and living, Ruth is outspoken about the cruelty and aberrations she feels are rampant in today's world. "I think we are behaving terribly. And I would like all of your readers to know that we could be different. You know the human race can write poetry and music and create such beauty and still behave in such horrible ways. And I am not speaking of only the killing and wars and atrocities we hear about. Each day in each interaction with each other I find that we often treat each other very poorly; without care. So each of us, individually, has to take responsibility for how the human race is behaving. With all that I see we are doing, I am sorry to say that I am pessimistic about the human race being able to survive long enough to learn to live together and to love each other."

And yet Ruth remains a strong advocate of the artistic creation of beauty. "Well you see, it is the responsibility of the artist to show what life on this tiny planet can be. To create beauty is maybe the very best thing we know how to do. In our relationships to the world and to other people, maybe we fail, but it doesn't need to show in our work. I'm sure that Picasso was not a very nice fellow. But, he does not reveal that to us in his art. And of course that is very deliberate. And in my work I looked for that which is beautiful, whether a crushed teapot, or a perfect leaf, or a graceful Spanish dancer. I will leave behind a legacy of beauty. What ore could I want from this great life I have had?"

I found the comment about Picasso to be something I have always felt about myself. I have had my moral failings. To many to count. In my work though - i am truest. I can't sign a fine art print if it isn't right. When it comes to art. Creation. I can't put my name on it if it isn't as perfect as I know I can make it. I have a lot of good photographs. There is nothing wrong with them, but they don't RESONATE. I find it interesting that we use the word resonate, to "re-sound", for things other than sound. It's that feeling you get when you hear a great choir sing Palestrina - your SOUL feels the echo, your body reacts. While I enjoyed taking all photographs, the experience of seeing - many pieces aren't art for me. At some point early on, before I graduated from high school I knew the difference and that I had to stay true to this distinction. This doesn't mean I have an aggrandized view of my own work. Not at all. I don't think most my work even comes close to the works of the greats: Ruth Bernhad, the Westons, Paul Caponigro, Richard Avadon, Minor White, Andre Kerteze, and the list goes on. Each voice is important. When I add my voice - no matter how small or faintly it is heard it must be in harmony with the rest of the choir. In this way the great Gloria and Sanctus of photographs ring out from the choir of photographers.
photo: Genesis, 1990 © Douglas Bienert

finding inspiration

2008-01-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to continue to create when no one seems to want to give your work a break. As I read that it took over ten years for Edward Weston to get a major show in New York, and that a Houston museum (which is kicking itself in its own ass) turned down an offer to buy anything in one of his shows for $10 - I realize things just haven't really changed. The goal is to keep creating and to remain positive about the process - not the sales or recognition. That may, or may not, come in time.

I also read this morning an article about Ruth Bernhard, who died last year still going strong until she was 101. Bernhard said

"To live life fully, and consciously, is the duty of an artist."

She created an image of two leaves, beautifully and simply photographed. Her image was done in a time of loss after a long and loving relationship came to an end.

"Two of them called out to me to be photographed." as Ruth recalls, "The two leaves had found each other, and I put my little shaving mirrors to work as reflectors of the light from a light bulb. I had a wonderful time. And I found I felt better." The resulting image Two Leaves (1952) remains one of her most requested photographs.

There is an image of mine of a leaf in the palm of a hand, which I believe, is still one of my more successful images. A comment by Ruth made me think about why this image still means so much to me after a number of years.

"These two small leaves carried my awareness to the understanding that everything in nature is of great importance. I learned from those leaves and ever since then I consider a fallen leave as important as the Grand Canyon. It's all important. It's all connected. One couldn't be without the other. And so I found a lasting happiness in my life from a moment of sadness."

Leaf, 1993 ©Douglas Bienert

winter wonderland distractions

2008-01-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

First of all, while I have been ranting against post-modernist art...

THIS is NOT what I had in mind for an artistic revolution. 1-800-THE LOST indeed!

I find teddy bears that look like Hitler more interesting!

as well as metallic barnyard animals in my neighbourhood on North Mississippi Street.

I have been taking a break from reading and photographing to spend time on Mt. Hood. This has been one of the best seasons in years. I leave you with some rather standard touristy shots of Mount Hood.

Getting ready to drop into the back country Heather's Canyon.

Lower Heather's Canyon.

View from the bottom of the canyon. It was a serious leg workout!

Farther down the canyon.

View from the Vista Ridge (other side of the mountain).

Looking toward Timberline Lodge from Vista Ridge.

I think you can see why it's been hard to work on my days off!

really, people... lets move on!

2008-01-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

I have been reading MODERNISM: The Lure of Heresy by Peter Gay. He has been discussing how artist became weary of the same work that the Salons were exhibiting and selling in the 1800's. The Impressionists and then later movements wanted to find new ways of expressing things. The rich and bourgeois ran the art world and would not accept some of the new ideas. They could not get their work shown or sold. All the "edgy" post-modernists are no different now than the Salon was in the 1800's. The gallery owners in New York, San Francisco, and elsewhere are still peddling piles of syrofome balls and canvases whitewashed with Miller house paint! It's done. It's played out. It is no longer edgy (if it ever was) and it isn't profound (because it never was).

I leave you with this absurd example by Stone, Jim (American b. 1947) titled:
Pricerise, 1981

It is on RESIN COATED paper, Fujicolor Crystal Archive photograph, 14 x 19 which a museum purchased requireing matching funds! All this jackass did was put a bar code in the bottom of an Ansel Adams print, rephotograph it, and sold it as his own. This is called "Post-Modern Appropriation".

My only last thought, and comment... ARE YOU F'ING KIDDING ME?

I think it is time for ReModernism.

Disappointment

2008-01-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

The results of the judging for Photolucida just came in and I did not make the final cut. It was a worldwide search, so the competition was fierce. I looked at some of the finalists work and there was some very good images! I must now push myself to create some new work and get it out there!

This Friday

2007-12-31T14:04:00.001-08:00

I have just received word that the extension for judging in the photolucida Critical Mass competition comes to a close this Friday. The amount of entries doubled to almost 600 photographers this year which delayed the results of round one judging. The 150 finalists will be announced soon. If I am included in this my work will go out to approximately 200 gallery owners, curators, collectors, and publishers world wide. The two top photographers will have a monographed book of their work published.

over fed

2007-12-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

The craziness of Christmas has taken its toll on me. Projects, extra shifts, unfinished cleaning....

It was nice to spend Christmas with my family.

My niece proved that olive fingers never go out of style.

spirit might take over

2007-12-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a bit on what Minor White learned from Alfred Stieglitz on this theory of Equivalents. I think it is something I've already known and practiced thanks to the influence of the great photographers from those eras that my high school teacher "Mr. D" exposed me to.

On the web site www.vasculata.com I found an essay by Peter Marshall about this theory. I am thankful for the Minor White quotes found there, as well as Marshall's reflections.

Marshal writes:

White's contact with Stieglitz awakened his interest in the metaphorical power of the photograph, and in particular its ability to induce or correspond with certain mental states in the viewer. A photograph can convey a feeling a joy (for example) in a similar way that a piece of music can. It was an idea to which Stieglitz had given the name of the 'Equivalent', in particular for a series of cloud studies he made in the 1920s. It was an idea that White was to develop both through his photography and his writings.

photo: Alfred Stieglitz c.1920's

A useful essay by White, 'Equivalence: The Perennial Trend' in the PSA Journal, (Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 17-21, 1963) puts it thus: 'If the individual viewer realizes that for him what he sees in a picture corresponds to something within himself-that is, the photograph mirrors something in himself-then his experience is some degree of Equivalence.'
The idea of mirroring is central to much of White's photography and writing about photography. As he put it: 'When a photograph is a mirror of the man and the man is a mirror of the world, spirit might take over'. When the late Arnold Gassan (one of White's more perceptive students and another fine photographer and teacher) quoted his words in his fine 'Handbook for Contemporary Photography', he went on the add White's rider 'It follows that 'self-expression' as the aim of the photographer is not in itself sufficient.'

The idea of the 'Equivalent' goes beyond simple connotation or symbolism and it is not a simple matter of a relation to the subject matter. It is a function that operates at two different times and places - when the picture is made and when it is viewed. The making of the picture involves the photographer and the subject, and carries on in the craft processes involved in developing the negative and in the physical production of the print. But the viewer of the print also has an active role in the process if equivalence is to work.

When Stieglitz photographed clouds, he was certainly not interested in meteorology. The form of the clouds - their shape and gradation - was certainly important, but not in the simple sense that one might see faces or shapes in them, such as a brooding eagle or vulture. Such shapes might have their place, along with their tonal values, in arousing certain specific mental states or feelings in the photographer which it would then be necessary to try and capture by suitable framing and transformation through film, development and printing to the print.

The final stage in the process involves the viewer looking at the print and feeling the same way, experiencing the same emotions as the photographer. The photographer's aim is not simply 'self-expression', but to analyze what they are feeling and use the expressive controls of the medium to convey these feelings to the viewer. 'Self-expression' is of course usually an excuse for a lack of both analysis and control.

To the twenty-first century secular reader, the use by White of the term 'spirit' (or rather when he wrote it, 'Spirit') may well be a stumbling block. White uses the term to mean something that is the centre of our human experience and of our aesthetic experience in particular. It is a centrality that transcends fashions, trends and particular circumstance, something that is at the ground of our being, both as individuals and as a part of a shared culture. We may prefer to paraphrase 'spirit' according to our own philosophical tastes. White later realised this problem and tended to avoid it, talking instead about 'creative' or 'sacred' photography. White's spiritual journey led him, through both Gurdjieff philosophy and photography, to attempt to be at one with that spirit, to reach the deepest levels of his and our nature.
Windowsill Daydreaming, Minor White 1958

Although White had worked with a series of pictures in 1942 before joining the army, it was only with his 'Second Sequence/Amputations' of 1947 that he began to explore new methods of linking images in sequence. Other photographers - such as Walker Evans in his 'American Photographs' - had created highly structured picture sequences, but the model on which they worked could generally be called 'cinematic', deriving from the techniques developed by the early Russian film directors such as Eisenstein.
If White had a conscious model for his own work it undoubtedly came from the Catholic Church, with its series of 'stations of the cross', each inviting and provoking contemplative meditation as the viewer followed his pilgrimage around the exhibition display."

I have hung my show "Urban Wayfarer" about five times now. Each space has been less than museum quality space. It has been difficult to arrange them in one large room in a complete sequence. However, each time, whether it has been two images on this wall, four here, and seven there, the relation from one print to the next has been crucial to me. I had not quite connected it to my religious proclivities as an Anglo-Catholic!

I was not raised an Anglo-Catholic. There was no art in the churches my family went to. I do remember, however, a trip to The Grotto, a Roman Catholic sanctuary here in Portland, Oregon when I was a very small boy in the early 1970's. My family was attending a Baptist church at the time. I had never seen stations of the cross before. While there is a fair share of kitsch, the stations are quite wonderful. They are giant bronze bas-reliefs set into the rocks. I might have been about five or six years old, and very small for my age. The figures weren't much smaller than I would have been. Some of the scenes such as the life if St. Joseph were much larger than life. To see the stories so large surrounded by rocks and lush Oregon trees and plants along with the act of moving from one reality to the next... it's hard to put into words. It made a lasting impression on me. It is no wonder that it was one of the first places I went to when I took photography in Grade 10.

St. Anthony. The Grotto, Portland, Oregon 1983.
© Douglas Bienert, age 15.

I also remember some thoughts in a documentary about Robert Mapplethorpe, also raised Catholic. I believe it was Mapplethorpe himself who mused on how symmetrical much of his work was. They showed images of his studio and the shelves held books, and other items that were all balanced, altar like: two candles, tabernacle, painting above.

While writing this and looking for visual examples I have found some interesting visual connections! Minor White's life long emphasis on Spirit and Art as a Religion is similar to more blatantly religious works.

Minor White, retrospective book / Jacob's Ladder by William Blake

There is a common element of ascension in both photographs, and more obviously so in Blake's painting. The nihilism of the Post-Modern (and post-Post-Modern) world makes no opportunity for the spirit to rise to great heights. The symbolism in Minor's photographs, while abstract, are able to connect the viewer with thousands of years of human expression. Since they are not arbitrary, we can actually glean meaning from them. They stir the spirit to ascension.

Burger Manisfesto Part One

2007-12-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

The Moment of Seeing is turning out to be a fantastic read.

Photo by Minor White

Things of note from today's reading.

In 1950 Ansel Adams wrote that after spending so much time photographing in the mountains of Alaska and other national parks he felt estranged from what was going on in the photographic art world. He had "come to a conclusion. "I am not an artist.... The clique of 'artist' in this year of our fraud ain't my clique." He developed a particular loathing "in no uncertain terms... to non-objective art" and thought "we must go through a real fire of some kind to re-establich a sense of reality." And complained "The esoteric cliqueisms based on arbitrary symbols is indicative of the whole world viewpoint."

For me, I will agree provided there is an emphasis on "arbitrary symbols". I have no problem with non-representational art. It is the sort pretentious arbitrary symbols that need to be endlessly explained by the artist that leads to much of the mind numbingly useless 'art' we see today.

SYMBOL a thing that represents or stands for something else, esp. a material object representing something abstract : the limousine was another symbol of his wealth and authority.
• a mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process, e.g., the letter or letters standing for a chemical element or a character in musical notation.
• a shape or sign used to represent something such as an organization, e.g., a red cross or a Star of David.

ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting the Apostles' Creed): from Latin symbolum ‘symbol, Creed (as the mark of a Christian),’ from Greek sumbolon ‘mark, token,’ from sun- ‘with’ + ballein ‘to throw.’

A symbol MUST be recognized by at least a number of the people viewing it, for if it does not communicate some idea readily it can not by symbolic. A form that looks like a stop sign, a hand, a skull, a cross, or a lightening bolt will communicate some sort of meaning. I think there is a great difference between this and the artist pontificating about his artistic equivalent of a Rorschach Inkblot Test.

I think that a Wikipedia article on the controversy of the Inkblot test has much to say about how I feel about the arbitrary symbolism that began at the beginning of the Post-modern period.

"The Rorschach inkblot test is controversial for several reasons.

First, the basic premise of the test is that objective meaning can be extracted from responses to blots of ink which are supposedly meaningless. It seems [citation needed] that evaluating the results of the test requires the blots to have meaning in the first place—though meaning of a very subtle kind that has not been directly explicated. Otherwise, the images projected into the patterns would be of little value in assessing personality traits. Supporters of the Rorschach inkblot test believe that the subject's response to an ambiguous and meaningless stimulus can provide insight into their thought processes, but it is not clear how this occurs. Also, recent research shows that the blots are not entirely meaningless, and that a patient typically responds to meaningful as well as ambiguous aspects of the blots."

People can have an emotional response to completely abstract non-representatinal art. There is nothing wrong with this. We may enjoy its colour, shapes, forms, textures. We might have an emotional response to the colours, for instance. It may remind us of summers at the lake, or of dark brooding moments of depression. I think this is completely valid. Sometimes in a photograph, the subject is the LIGHT itself! So much though of Post-moderism is filled with pretentious esoteric nonsense though. It assumes that "objective meaning can be extracted from responses to blots of ink which are supposedly meaningless". Or, rather, that objective meaning is there because the ARTIST tells you what his arbitrary symbols mean. This contradicts over 2000 years of logic and human history. The OBJECT tells me what it actually IS. (Yes, yes... I am harping on essentialism again! For more, read my thoughts in "Modernism and The Red Wheel Barrow" from Sunday, 18 November.) Symbols are at leas recognizable amongst a group of people. That group might be Christians, the French, North Americans having grown up in the 1980's, etc. These groups might understand the art more readily because they have a familiarity with particular symbols. An outsider can learn what these symbols mean.

In some art forms people may simply need to learn more about how symbols are contained in the image. Am I ignorant of some of these? Absolutely. I can learn how to read the painting or photograph if I study more about the culture, the artist, and the history of the time in which it was created. However, it's the meaninglessness of the world and disdain for all past symbols, institutions, and modes of thinking that Post-modernism subscribes to that causes the problem for me.

It is somewhat off topic, but it brings to mind a great example. A form of this kind of drivel is satirized in the movie Suburbia. A group of alienated college age kids hang around the dumpster of a mini-mart drinking, talking, and wasting their lives through the entire movie. Sooze, a typical 90's "alrernative" girl, wants to go to "the big city" to study art. She hopes for more out of life. She wishes to escape suburbia in a small town.

She does a piece of outstandingly pretentious "performance art" titled Burger Manifesto Part One the Dialectical Exposition of Testosterone. She does a little dance and recites this monolog:

Sooze: "Fuck Oliver Stone. Fuck Bill Clinton. Fuck Howard Stern. Fuck Michael Bolton. Fuck O.J. Simpson. Fuck Pope John Paul. Fuck my dad. Fuck all the men. Fuck all the men. Fuck all the men! Bang your head. Blow your nose. Run down the street. Suck a hose. Chew my lips. Eat some shit. Eat a stick of dynamite and blow yourself to bits. Shut your mouth! Go away! Drink my piss! Have a nice day! I hope you cry and never doubt, I hope you die with blood in your mouth! I hope your lies will no more shout within my eyes, it's in your snout! You're a pig! I know that's true. I dance a jig. Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!"

Jeff: Burger Manifesto Part One is gonna make people think?
Sooze: Yes, you asshole!
Jeff: About what?
Sooze: About things that are important to me!
Jeff: Like what?
Sooze: Sexual politics, racism, the environment, the military...
Jeff: Racism? You don't even know anyone that's black!

This is a bit of an absurd digression, I realize. I think though that it illustrates the loss of genuine symbol and thought in art. The charachter Jeff sees through it. Her meaningless title as well as an absurd list of symbols "Blow your nose. Run down the street. Suck a hose." is not far from some of the nonsense in galleries today: a pile of Styrofoam balls, a heap of pennies, large canvases washed with a can of white Millar paint. It is meaningless masquerading as art.

What Sooze needs is to truly address the issues that she feels are important with genuine symbols and rational, intelligent, human though! Plato said "Nothing imperfect is the measure of anything." What is needed is for western culture to return to solid thought and the pursuit of excellence in all forms of art. The great rock musicians of the 1960's were great because they had been classically trained! The art in The Moment of Seeing was great because Minor White pushed photographic vision to "see with the eyes of a poet". It had to be technically excellent as well as emotionally so as well. The Moment of Seeing is a reference to White's insistence that the final print be envisioned perfectly at the moment of seeing rather than salvaged after the fact in the darkroom. He wanted the photographer to see with intent.

He stated in a lecture:

"Is art to be a reflection of the hopelessness of the present day man or is it to be one of the solid things which he can hang on to?... So at lecture Monday I had to go on record saying that for me, art was one of the faiths of the world. That jarred a few of the boys... But it is worth it!"

Neitche's nihilism has infected everything! When Neitche declare God dead, he might as well have declared art dead as well. The faith of the artistic fathers speaks otherwise. It is my hope to live to see the day when beauty, truth, and goodness triumphs in art once again.

The Moment of Seeing

2007-12-08T11:43:00.001-08:00

We emphasized the creativeness that happens at the moment of seeing over the kind that takes place in the dark room.
- Minor White, 1956

I am currently readying The Moment of Seeing: Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts.

The photography programme was founded by Ansel Adams in 1945. Minor White became one of the lead instructors from the start. It is the record in words and images of one of the most brilliant eras in the medium of photography. More thoughts on this book later...

Reaching a "creative" state of mind thru positive action is considered preferable to waiting for "inspiration"
-Minor White, 1950

Holidays

2007-12-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

I really dislike the shopping frenzy at this time of year.

What I do love though is going to old Portland restaurants and having drinks with friends. There is nothing better than an old wooden bar, the reflections of Christmas lights, and a good coffee drink!

friends
laughter

a moment to slow down
observe
be content

Advent

2007-12-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

I was on my back from Mount Hood when I saw a storm cloud off in the distance. The view was blocked by large trees, power lines, or a cabin. I finally found a rural road that led me back to this open expanse. It was the perfect location to view the cloud in its entirety.

Whenever I see storm clouds like this i think of the hymn Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending. The words are by John Cennick in 1752 and the music is by Charles Wesley.

© Douglas Bienert

Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.

2007-12-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

Group photos have never been my forte, but here is a shot of my parents with my nieces.

I'd rather not talk about the experience....

Modernism and The Red Wheel Barrow

2007-11-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

I am convinced that the "snapshot aesthetic" as well as post-modern thought is a blight on contemporary photography. I appreciate a wide range of styles within photography. Some modes of seeing fascinate me because they are foreign to the way I would view a scene. But this trend of sloppy images with an apparent lack of composition, as well as intentionally presenting the subject matter as banal as possible is really quite tiring.

I was provoked to think of what it was that causes this reaction at Powels Books photography department: pick book, open book, flip though a dozen pages, SIGH, place book back on shelf.

Snapshot aesthetic. Photographer: Terry Richardson

I am aware that one could accuses me of not taking the time to actually look at the photographs before making a judgment. That is somewhat fair. There might be more going on in the image that I was willing to take the time to discern. However, I have spent quite a number of years now looking, photographing, teaching. Perhaps my patience is thin with so much banal imagery. However, Aurthur Tess in a recent interview for FOCUS magazine states what I have been struggling to verbalize about contemporary photography:

Tress muses: "One of the tenants of Modernism is movement of forms within the picture and the tension of positive and negative shapes and the edges of the picture, but now with the adoration of the snapshot aesthetic that attention to form has been neglected a little bit - the ability within that instant to be able to construct a very complicated orchestration of shapes and forms. I think we've dumbed down what we expect from photography. And sadly, I think a lot of curators have followed that lead."

Arthur Tress. “Boys Flying Dream.” Gelatin silver print

And thus he supports his idea that formally well structured images may be a professional disadvantage for an artist these days.

For those who would argue that the snapshot aesthetic has more to to with "being there" and capturing the "essence" in a moment I counteract with the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson., the father of photojournalism and street photography. Contemporary photographers drawn to the idea of the snapshot aesthetic could do well to learn from Cartier-Bresson. Attention to form and composition need not diminish being "in the moment." Bresson refers to it as "the Decisive Moment."

Behind the Gare St. Lazare, Paris by Henri Cartier-Bresson
"There was a plank fence around some repairs behind the Gare Saint-Lazare train station. I happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped."

In Cartier-Bresson 1952 book The Decisive Moment he uses a text from the 17th century Cardinal de Retz in his 4,500 word philosophical preface which states "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment." Cartier-Bresson believed this moment was "...the point at which a subject stands revealed in its most significant aspect and most evocative form." He also stated that "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms that give that event its proper expression." Much of contemporary photography ignores the latter as irrelevant. This is no wonder considering that Postmodernism denies the notion of essence and the connection to form and substance.

In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics all of which any entity of that kind must have. This view is contrasted with non-essentialism which states that for any given kind of entity there are no specific traits which entities of that kind must have.

A member of a specific kind of entity may possess other characteristics that are neither needed to establish its membership nor preclude its membership. It should be noted that essences do not simply reflect ways of grouping objects; essences must result in properties of the object.

An essence characterizes a substance or a form, in the sense of the Forms or Ideas in Platonic idealism. It is permanent, unalterable, and eternal; and present in every possible world. Classical humanism has an essentialist conception of the human being, which means that it believes in an eternal and unchangeable human nature. This viewpoint has been criticized by Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre and many modern and existential thinkers.
(From Wikipedia.org)

Seeing that most people living today were primarily raised in a Postmodern society This makes me wonder if the snapshot aesthetic is intentional, or merely a product of a predominate nihilistic culture? In one article on Postmodern photography a man named Steve Edwards stated “In closing the distance between the privileged object and its audience through mass circulation… art's bogus religiosity could be blown apart.” Apparently, not only did Nietzsche try to kill off God but all religiosity, including art. I have always felt that beyond the arguments one may have with particular creeds that visual art was fundamentally religious.

I think these ideas are greatly reflected in how photographs from the Modern era contain within them something extra. The essence is revealed though carefully composing the forms within the photograph. I find Cartier-Bresson was not only correct, but profound when he claimed that not only the frozen moment was important, "but also [the] precise organization of forms that give that event its proper expression." A great photograph isn't solely about being in the moment, but waiting, anticipating, seeing the moment when all forms, shapes, light, texture, and meaning converge.

I appreciate an actual snapshot more than photographs made in the style of the Snapshot Aesthetic. In an actual snapshot the armature may have never thought about form, shape, balance, light, let alone the concepts of essence. However, a father photographing his son at a birthday may be filled with wonder, joy, and awe at the beauty of his boy. It may not be a great photograph in any great classical artistic sense. Real snapshots and old family albums do strive to get at essence though. Even if the amateur photographer is unaware of this, he aims to capture the essence of: boy, son, father, a boxed present, birthday, home. I understand that the snapshot aesthetic attempts to approach the subject in the same way. I think though that it fails as art. Or, at least it is not great art. While I enjoy the old snapshots, the greater power that a real work of art has is missing. What then is the difference between a snapshot and a great photograph? What then is the difference between Michelangelo's David and a figurine from The Dollar Store? Apparently, nothing after "art's bogus religiosity [has been] blown apart.

On a web site called Lens Culture and article titled (ironically) "What is Essential" this was posted:

"I met one of the artists, Joana Deluvaite, in Lithuania last month during the Kaunas Month of Photography festival and was impressed with her work and how she is exploring some "essential" ideas through photography. Here are just a few examples of her photography:"

Photo by Joana Deltuvaite, from the series Squatter House, 2006.

Photo by Joana Deltuvaite, from the series Daily Life, 2004.

Compared to the works by Cartier-Bresson or Arther Tress, what exactly is it about Deltuvaite's work that is "impressive"? Absolutely nothing in her photographs seems to matter to her. If something does, she has failed monumentally to communicate what it is.

The next image, by Arthur Tress, is a fine example of the attention that is lacking in the Snapshot Aesthetic. The moment when all seems to come together into the decisive moment seems present to me. The boy's sense of balance, the curve formed by his extended arm and torso, the exended fingers each discernible from the other, the downward tilted head, the deep shadows and total blacks on the pants creating shapes. All of it works together. And finally, it is printed with the same attention to detail, permanence, and beauty. All of it speaks in the language of Platonic idealism- the essence and the form of this boy, his humanity. It points to something permanent, unalterable, and eternal about the nature and of mankind. Tress captures THE moment when all the transitory beauty of youth, humanity, shape, form, sunlight come together in one monumental, religious, decisive moment.

I am so thankful thatmy first photography teacher "Mr. D." exposed me to classical artistic thought. He taught us "things mean things". I realized this as he showed us images such as Edward Weston's Pepper No. 30

Pepper No. 30, 1930 by Edward Weston

and read us this poem:

The Red Wheelbarrow
by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

Fortune Cookie

2007-11-17T16:17:00.000-08:00

seems appropriate...

Andre Kertesz

2007-11-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

Mondrian's Glasses and Pipe, 1926
Andre Kertesz

I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until the picture elements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases my eye.
-Andre Kertesz, Margaret R. Weiss, Saturday Review – World, January 1974 [cited in: "Creative Camera" May 1974, p. 148]

2007-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to my Alma-mater Spokane Falls Community College in Spokane, Washington.

I hung my show "Urban Wayfarer" and gave a short talk about the show and some of my earlier work. It was great to be back in the classroom. I haven't taught since 2000 and I forgot how much I enjoyed being in the classroom.

There were a couple of points I wanted to emphasize.

Many photography schools emphasize craft and technique but fail to talk adequately about artistic vision. Art schools that have a photography programme emphasize artistic vision without mastery of the technique and craft. Knowing all there is to know about f-stops and shutter speeds is useless if the photographer has nothing to actually say in the photograph. Likewise, the artist may have a great vision, but is unable to take what is in his minds eye and the viewfinder and actually capture his vision. These two aspects of the medium must never be pitted against each other. It is always a blending of craft and vision. Only than can the photographer achieve excellence.

It was great to catch up with my old room mate Erik as he teaches there along with the director of the programme Ira who was also in my Fundamentals of Photography class back in 1987.

The trip was not without some great Spokane weirdness. Portland is weird, but in a different way. The first night while out at a pub my friends I saw a bag lady on a, clearly stolen, pink huffy ridding circles in a downtown intersection at midnight. Oh... she was wearing, clearly stolen, mens size 14 shoes. The effect was rather clown like. If I only had my camera that night!

Inside the pub was an old woman who removed her teeth to "sing" a karaoke version of Bette Middlers "The Rose". The effect was not unlike a cat being tortured in unseemly places.

The weather was beautiful and the leaves in autumn, the wide streets, and classic old American homes made me think of the song "Life in a Northern Town" by Dream Academy.

Driving in your car...

2007-11-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

It is an absolute lovely day for a drive.

The ordinary transformed.

2007-11-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

From my show Urban Wayfarer

For centuries artist created by making images on objects such as cave walls, vases, pieces of wood, canvas, and church ceilings. With painting, ideas, shapes, and realistic objects are composed by the artist in an ordered way on these pre-chosen surfaces. Photography was a revolutionary way of creating. Through the lens a “canvas” is placed in front of the world. Imposing this window allows the photographer to find the order hidden in what appears to be chaos. With the advent of digital imaging and Photoshop the photographer can now more readily combine objects from various images, combining them into one. I was trained before this era and was inspired by the earlier philosophy of seeing.

Ever since my dad bought me my first camera, a Pentax K1000, I have loved wandering the city. The images in “Urban Wayfarer” explore the cities of Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia in abstracted detail. Though digitally created, these are not multiple photographs combined into a new image. These photographs are found “as they are”. The only manipulations are similar to a traditional darkroom where basic colour is worked with and selective lightening and darkening of areas of the print are made. In this way these photographs are the ordinary transformed. All of these images are of things one may pass by every day without noticing: a dumpster, cement benches, or a locked parking garage.

The camera is my tool. Through it I give a reason to everything around me.
-Andre Kertesz

I have had a number of my friends view my show Urban Wayfarer. Many people have asked to see is where the image started before I enhanced the contrast, colour, and locally lightened and darkened the image. Here are just to samples from the show.

Image #1 "Construction Time Again".

before & after

This was found in a back ally in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was early morning and the light was dim and diffuse. It rendered the colours very flat and the overall contrast in the scene was poor. I loved the colours and the brush strokes. To print this image in Velvet Fine Art watercolour paper the image had to be processed imensely. At one point I almost gave up on this image, but am now glad I persisted. While I realized I couldn't get everything I wanted out of this print, I have come to be satisfied with this image.

Image #2 "Ecce Signum"

before & after

This image was also shot in difuse light, only at the end of the day. This was also taken in Vancouver, British Columbia not far from the West End.

I really wanted to work to bring out the textures of this image as well as the subtle colours that are present in the cement. I was careful to selectively lighten and darken various shapes that formed in the cement like the lightening bolt shape from the top and the circular pattern on the lower part of the print. I made sure that the lightening bold was just a bit brighter than the circular shape. My initial concern was that the subject and composition was too simple. I have found so much going on in the colours and textures of the cement that this print has really become one of my favourites from the show.

All 21 images from the show have undergone similar work.

Hallomas

2007-10-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Feast of All Saints, or Hallomas, is this Thursday. I came across this photo I took in San Francisco earlier this year on a trip to view the 20th anniversary of In the American West by Richard Avadon.

I have a fleeting memory of visiting The Grotto, a Roman Catholic outdoor sanctuary, when I was very young. Larger than life statues greeted me, confronting me with the stories I was told at the Baptist church that my family attended. I have never forgotten the quiet in the midst of lush gardens and the eerie dim light.

One of my first black and white photographs was taken there when I was in Grade 10. I remember trying, on some subconscious level, to capture the feeling of the quiet. Quietness was not something fostered in the churches I attended as a boy. The photo is nothing spectacular. At the time though it was a success. From the beginning I learned from my photography teacher (Mr. D. as he was affectionately called) that things mean things. The joy and mystery of photography is that you can capture the meaning of an object in a new object, the photograph. Sometimes this new object has more meanings contained in it than the original object did. Looking back on my fuzzy, 1970's Polariod coloured memory of my first visit to The Grotto I think I realized that things do mean things. There was something going on there that was more than mere decoration.

Urban Wayfarer on Exhibit

2007-10-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that in November I will be showing my current collection Urban Wayfarer at Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, Washington.

I graduated from Spokane Falls with my Associates degree in 1989 before continuing my studies at The Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California where I earned my B.A. Photography.

This show consists of 21 images of the cities of Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia in abstracted detail.

Intro

2007-10-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is my new blog- a blog free from endless surveys and quizes. My old LiveJournal died a sudden death when it became littered with people's inane surveys.

This will be a place to post new images and write about photography as well as books, movies, and other things I find thought provoking.