Making of a Print

Well I have picked up my print and I am meh about it. The printers did a fine job and printed exactly to the proof but I think where I feel it to be a loss is in the punch of the image. I think where I went wrong is not understanding the medium I was printing on. I was hoping that I would have a lot of the qualities of a photograph on the paper when it was never going to happen. But all is not lost

This is what the image has going for it; it is sharp throughout the image. There are no blown out whites or funny digital hiccups that detract from the image. The greyscale is exactly as I had created it and the dark are full. There is not a flaw in the print anywhere in this print. The only thing I don’t like is the lack of a punch in contrast that you get from a photographic paper. With that said, I am not going to trash it but stare at the print for a while and figure out what to do with it. I may just matte and sell it and let buyer frame it themselves. I am, however, going make a large print of the same image on photographic paper.

But to counter that small disappointment I created some images of my Yucca plant that is blooming in the backyard. This is the second year in a row that both plants have bloomed and so I took advantage of my day off and defused sunlight to make these images. Two of these images are shot in front of the vine plant growing next to it. I find that the green textured leaves of the vine plant make a great modeled background when it’s blurred out. The last one is done with black side of my reflector to hide what was behind the flower.

I really liked the soft defused light in the images I created and feel that it is the key that makes the photograph despite what I had originally planned. I was looking for the sunlight streaming through the tree to create drama of highlights and shadows that are in my water lily photographs. Instead I kept battling the high think clouds of the morning so I just went with it and ending up loving them more then what I had planned. Funny how that works.

If you love these or any images on my site feel free to contact me for a price quote on any size of print you want, as well as any questions you might have. I would love to talk to you. And if you have enjoyed this post or the images I have created, feel free to share I would appreciate it.

Door #72

Doors as a subject matter doesn’t sound like much of an interesting subject matter but for me the old building doors around town fascinate me. Old as in the buildings of the 20’s and 30’s because the designer of the building incorporated the door to the design, unlike today. Today’s buildings seem to treat the door as an afterthought or something to hide. Today’s doors are just a pane of glass with a handle and words painted on it, or it is glass framed in a metal sleeve. A cold barrier that is relative unimpressive and uninviting.  

Looking at the buildings of the era you can see that the door is something that was thoughtfully designed to accent the building. A door way is a place that greets visitors, to prepare them for the wonders of the design of the inside and the object that announces you to the outside. A door is functional keeping the weather out but a door should incorporate the design of the whole building. A door is more that its name implies.

The Matyk Building Door is set in, giving you the feel of being in the space without being truly in. The welcoming being closer to the inside, the shelter of the space from the weather gives the space warmth.  This accented by the plants, which are dead, and the glow of the gas light above and the wood. The wood that gives life and character of the door. Wood is warm, life and a welcoming feeling to the space to the house. I believe no matter what the rest of the building is made from, a wooden door will always warm you before you go into the house and that is how it should be.

The exit door from the TCR Building has that quality as well. The doors have that feeling of the warmth of the inside sheltering us announcing us to the world. What this space says to me, “Thanks for coming, we have enjoyed you but now the story is over and it’s time for a new story somewhere else.” That sounds funny but to me that is what a good exit door should be.

Doors, there is a lot of them around town that I will be photographing because I believe in some way they are a part of our town visually and metaphorically.    

The Matyk Building Door. The plants are long past dead but still gives life to the space. 

The TCR Exit Doors. This space is a warm thoughtful exit out to the world that says to "thanks and comeback again." 

Landscape #3

Tuesday was one of those days where the light and weather was not what I was looking for to make images of downtown so I opted instead to head out to the country side to create photographs. Being spring the weather tends to be turbulent for most the days. In the latter half of spring into early summer the number of storms that produce tornados grow substantially. As Iowans, we tend to live by the weather. The farmer’s success is tied to the favor of the weather so it is common place that we keep one eye on the sky while going about our daily lives. And in the spring when the weather turns bad and storms roll across our plains we don’t always head for shelter. Instead sit out on our front porch and watch the violence of the wind, rain wrapped in thunder and lighting and the few tornados carve paths of destruction in our fields.  Only when the danger is truly baring down upon us do we seek shelter only to step out and face the destruction head on.

As bad as the clouds look it was one of those spring days where it could not make up its mind wither to rain and be nasty or just look that way. Many of times on days like these I couldn’t help be drawn to stand out in a field and watch the clouds race by. It’s the drama of the sky and the energy that swirls and builds in the atmosphere. It’s watching the clouds move one way or another and as they did the light change giving them and the landscape character rather than flat grey like winter.  

For me Spring is change, the energy that is building to push the life from the ground. I could feel it standing there as the clouds passed overhead creating a friction between land and sky, anticipating a spark, a bolt of lightning discharging the color of the planet breaking the monochromatic spell of winter. Just stand there and you will feel it.