June 2006
— Members' Current & Upcoming Shows
— Members' Workshops
— IN FOCUS with Susan Huber
— Special-Offer Prints by Guild Members
"The desire to see nature, to transcend mundane vision, is not a desire to see more, but to see differently. For photographers, this means somehow escaping the categories of thought which limit our perception. One common theme that emerges with artists about their methods is an emphasis on process rather than product."
Susan Huber echoes Minor White's words in this month's IN FOCUS piece. Susan's article offers one answer to Ray Bidegain's question about going into the field to photograph. Subscriber Brad Eustice wrote to us, saying "Sometimes I travel similar paths or roads like you did that day and (find) nothing. Other times, I shoot bugs, dirt clods, or anything to warm up my eye so I look into the mundane or 'unseen elements' that we tend to overlook, just to open my visual awareness. Landscape is everywhere we look, but sometimes you do have to sit and wait for the images to develop. Maybe if you think that the experience of seeing is just as important as the act of taking the photograph, your senses will loosen up, and all of a sudden, the image gate will bust open and you will shoot until the film runs out. I have done both, and surely you are not alone."
We just received word that John Wimberley's name has been included in the new edition of The Photograph Collector's Guide, the seminal reference for art dealers and collectors. This is their first revision in many years, and it is a significant honor to our Guild member John.
To the left is one of the images you’ll find in our store, John Wimberley’s ”Evening Dunes.“ Because we understand the difficulty of seeing the true beauty of a contact print from a scanned image on your computer, we offer an unconditional guarantee. If you are not satisfied with any photograph you have purchased from the online store, you can return it for a refund. We currently have over 350 photographs available for your inspection; just click on the link below to quickly and easily view our catalog. The store is a secure site that allows you to purchase using your credit card or PayPal account.
Two of Gerhard Bock’s photos have been chosen for a Merit Award by B&W Magazine. They have been included in their Portfolio Contest 2006 “Special Issue” currently on news stands. The images (one is at right), part of a series entitled “Sueños de México,” were shot in Mexico, many using a Holga camera.
The Camerawork Gallery in Portland, Oregon, will feature Patrick Kolb’s Azo prints from July 22 to August 18. The gallery is located on the Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital campus in Peterson Hall, 2255 NW Northrup Street in Portland. The gallery's regular hours are 9AM-5PM Monday through Friday and 1-5 PM Saturday. An opening reception is set for Sunday, July 23, from 1 to 4 PM.
Ray Bidegain
Ray Bidegain is teaching a workshop in conjunction with the Portland Photographers Forum. The class called “The Portrait and Figure Workshop,” will be held September 15-17, 2006, and will explore this special genre of photography in a wonderful setting in the Columbia Gorge near Portland.
Click here for more information or to sign up for these classes.
John Wimberley
“Sight and Insight—A Workshop on Seeing in Photography,” is being offered by John Wimberley October 6-8, 2006. This workshop, also under the aegis of Portland Photographers Forum, is open to all photographers, regardless of format and whether film or digital. Tuition is $250 and the class is limited to 10 students. To sign up, please contact Robert Brummitt at (503) 614-0161, or e-mail robert8x10@hotmail.com.
The theme of water (or lack thereof) defines most of our landscapes inhabited by
humans, fauna, and flora. When I look at a landscape, I don't always see the
elements working together. Sometimes they will not fit; and then it is time to
look at the landscape from another standpoint. Photography is the ability to
quieten the mind to “see” and to work around the chaos. Perfect landscapes don't interest me; they don't encourage me to delve deeper into what is presented. Perfection is a state manufactured to suit our ideas on how to manage the world—which so far has not worked.
“Seeing” is a difficult process. You have to put aside your prejudices and work in the present to reveal a part of yourself. Artists' works often reveal their turmoil and their hopes in their art. “Seeing” is an intellectual exercise: Putting it together visually while revealing an intimate view is the goal. Sometimes being a photographer means being an observer first and an active participant second by working with the image. I love Atget's acceptance of his subjects as interesting despite being seemingly mundane objects of 'old' Paris. I often wish I were born earlier. I would have liked being on a geologic survey team, seeing lands never seen before from a European standpoint, mapping waterways, viewing dinosaur tracks on sandstones. As an observer, I want to document in my photography the changes brought upon by habitation. This is why I often visit the Badlands/Prairies in Canada where water is diminishing due to agricultural and oil exploration uses. Water is one of our most valuable resources. It is fascinating to see how it has shaped landforms via ancient glaciers. This photograph, "De Anza Springs," came about I when I visited a friend, Jim Noel, in 1999. Jim teaches photography in San Diego, CA. He graciously agreed to show me San Diego County, as I was curious about Anza Borrego Desert and the lands surrounding it. We went to De Anza Springs where I saw wonderful water towers, abraded by the yucca plants' leaves that left elliptical patterns. From a good overlook of the valley, I immediately saw where the rocks provided a precipice to stand and look around. I wasn't satisfied with the 'mind scene' so I did something a lot of us have done before: I turned the camera 180 degrees. Then I “saw” the rocks and quickly exposed the sheet of film. The rocks were spiritual, very quiet with just the right feeling of light. (I like lots of light because it is often lacking where I live on the northwest coast.) When I showed my print to Jim, he exclaimed, "I have lived and photographed for forty years and have never seen those rocks in quite the same way you did!"
The 8x10” image was shot using Ilford film and contact printed on POP (printing-out paper) and gold toned. I hope to continue to my “Drylands/Prairies” series and develop it into “Quiet Lands,” a mix of landforms reflecting my thoughts.
Bill Bartles—Industrial Abstracts
I make most of my photographs close to home and am drawn to commercial sites. One that I pass every day on my way to work is Ready Mixed Concrete Co. Although I’d photographed there without success before, everything seemed to come together just right for me on a recent Sunday morning and I exposed sixteen sheets of film over about four hours. That is a lot of film for anyone who shoots 8x10! One of the big drawbacks with these sites is that they are usually private property. I try to ask permission to make photographs, but on Sunday there was no one there to ask. Because it’s an open site and close to the main road, I felt fairly comfortable being there. After awhile I saw a pickup with the company sign on it stop on the street. I kept working like I was supposed to be there. Eventually the driver came over to ask what I was doing. I was very friendly and explained to him that I was a photographer. He was surprised because he thought I was surveying or something like that. He had no objection to my being there. Some time later another man in a company pickup drove by and stopped to ask what I was doing. I told him I had permission to photograph; he was also OK with it.
Here is one of these photographs, which will also be in our next B&W ad. Please check in the online store for my new series, which I will have at special prices. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed making them.
Andrew Frith—Ambrotype Demo for Patrick Kolb and Gerhard Bock
During May, Mary Jo and I scheduled a meeting with Guild member Andrew Frith as part of our photo trip to California. Since Gerhard Bock lives a little over an hour away, he joined us, and Andrew put on a fascinating demonstration of the ambrotype print process (see at right Gerhard Bock, Patrick Kolb, Andrew Frith).
After admiring Andrew’s collection of beautiful old brass lenses, we toured his darkroom, with its bottles and vials of strange chemicals. Then we got down to business. First Andrew coated a piece of black glass with an emulsion, which he let dry several minutes. Then we all went out to the “portrait chair,” where he put Mary Jo into the custom-made head clamp “just to show how it works.” Andrew clapped a portable shutter onto the antique lens of his 8x10 camera, slipped in the prepared plate, and said, “Smile!” Although the shutter stuck at first, it finally responded and he returned the exposed plate into the darkroom. He dipped it into a developer solution, then a fixer, and we watched as the image emerged like someone coming toward us through a mist. Next, Andrew held the glass over the flame of a tiny alcohol burner to fully dry it, and finally sealed it with a fragrant varnish of lavender oil and sandarac gum. We felt like we’d had a tour of a bygone time, plus a keepsake to remember it by.
For more details on the ambrotype process, please click here.
John Wimberley—Nevada Petroglyphs
I was recently in the field for 12 days, photographing in the area between Las Vegas and Ely, Nevada. I exposed 130 5x7 negatives, mostly of petroglyphs and some landscapes.
This was a continuation of my work photographing rock art in the Great Basin. During the trip I camped in my 4WD VW Transporter van. At left is a digital snapshot of my camera while photographing a panel of "Pahranagat Men" at a newly discovered site.
Patrick Kolb—Coast Highway
This May we decided to drive the California and Oregon coastal highway. Knowing the narrow roads, sharp turns, and dropoffs of these roads, we determined that the only way to travel was north (read on the inside) for more than a few reasons, the number one being plain terror.
We took the Interstate south and turned west to Cambria, a great little artists’ community on the coast. There was a big film production crew shooting a movie that was supposed to be set in Oregon, so we felt right at home.
California’s Highway 1 is something to behold. Every time we stopped, people would come over to express their amazement. No matter what part of the world they were from, the remarks were all the same, “Nothing else like it in the world...” All in all, we spent about ten days traveling, with the usual stops in Big Sur, Carmel Valley, and Monterey. The shot above at Point Lobos captures one of the few times we weren’t fighting the winds.
On the northern end of the trip, we stopped at Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay. Sometimes called Point Lobos North, this locale always has something to photograph. Nearby Sunset Bay Campground is one of Oregon’s nicest, and the camping fee covers entry into Shore Acres as well. The gardens were in full bloom, but the real treat is out near the old tennis courts. The water and wind have combined with the soft sandstone to form a photographer’s paradise.
I feel comfortable recommending this drive to any adventurous soul. Because there is so much to see, plan on taking several days. We travel with the motto, “Life begins on the off-ramp” (La vie commence à la sortie).
Ray Bidegain—Platinum Printing Workshop
A workshop, “The Art and Science of Platinum Printing” led by Guild member Ray Bidegain, was held this past month. “We were lucky to have the wonderful facility at Washington State University for the weekend and there was plenty of room, and great equipment for the six students to use. On the first day of printing, the students were able to make a total of 49 platinum/palladium work prints. On day two the students were making adjustments to the first day’s prints, and we saw many fine prints by the end of the day. “I had the help of Guild member Patrick Kolb on this workshop, and it was our goal that each student be successful in learning the process of platinum printing and leave with some finished fine prints. The students all had platinum materials left over to take home, so they can continue the process on their own.”
Ray and Patrick discovered that they really enjoyed working together teaching the workshop, and are planning more for the future. Watch for more information in upcoming Guild newsletters.
Special-Offer Prints by Guild Members
Please have a look at this issue's special-offer prints on our website.