Here's what my mother told me about my early days as an artist. She said I drew from the time I could hold a pencil: when I turned 30. Actually, a bit earlier. On walls, floors, sheets, whatever was within reach. The house began to look like the inside of Picasso's brain. The parents soon wised up and loaded me with great piles of envelopes, notepads, paper bags, newspaper, bathroom tissue (bathroom tissue was tougher in those days), and other su … Read More

via The Cartoon Bank Blog

Feel free to stop by! Then, next week I can get down to some real photoblogging. Self Promotion is all good…but by now your thinking what’s in it for me? Haven’t you got any pretty pictures to share?  Well, at the very least, you will have a burning desire to shut me up already by showing your pretty face at Photographic Expressions Studio and Gallery at 235 Lark Street in Albany. Besides, I like and would love to give you a personal “tour”.

So, fridays, I plan to be around from 12:00 pm to 4:00. You can call ahead if you have any doubts as to my whereabouts and then I’ll know to expect you (marching band will be posted presently out front.) Finally, for your viewing pleasure a couple of photos from the inside:

Guests viewing paintings and photos in the gallery opening night.

The Gallery

The Gallery

Until next CLiCK!

I love that the story of Ellen DeGeneres’ doggy dilemma has made national headlines.  In case you’ve cut yourself off from all forms of communication during the last few days (which is the only way you could avoid hearing about this, at least here in the states), Ellen adopted a dog that didn’t get along with her cat which she then gave it to her hairdresser.  The agency she adopted from claimed this was a violation of her contract and took the d … Read More

via A Bunch of Wordz

Sail Away, Pilar Arthur-Snead & Photographic Expressions

This past week I was able to spend one glorious week on a short mini vacation in Mystic, Connecticut. I enjoyed exploring the seaport, going on a nature hike at a local nature preserve called Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center. While I can not show the over 200 photos I took here. I’d like to share with you a photo from the 2 hour sunset sailing journey I took yesterday evening. The water was calm, the sky was blue and the temperature was a comfortable 80 degrees. The schooner, the Argia took us through the Fisherman’s Sound which is on the other side of the Long Island Sound. We end up at the end of the Mystic River where you could see land of three states: NY, CT, and RI all from the deck!

It was beautiful!

5:30 to 7:30 PM, Friday September 3rd

Stop by! Just say hi! More information can be found right here!

September’s Theme: TREES

Featured Artists:

Artist Bio – JuliAnn Goronkin

JuliAnn Goronkin graduated from Syracuse University in 1988 with a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art. She was the recipient of many awards including the Hiram Gee Award for Excellence in Painting. While spending a semester in Europe, JuliAnn learned the art of batik. JuliAnn began her career in fiber art…

Upon graduation JuliAnn was drawn to Tucson, Arizona and quickly became enamored with the expansive Sonoran Southwest Desert. JuliAnn had perfected the ancient art form of batik and began selling her works of clothing and wall hangings. In 1992, JuliAnn came up with the idea of making lampshades and co-founded a company called Natural Selections, Inc., located in Tucson Arizona.

The paintings reflect the splendor and tranquility JuliAnn observes in nature …

JuliAnn’s true passion has always been painting. Her works are a mixed media of acrylics and fiber paper with pencil. Her work is created on either watercolor paper or wood. To create depth, she builds up layers using a variety of mediums including acrylic paints, fiber papers and colored pencils. Working with these mediums allows her to use their unique properties to create varied texture, surfaces and colors.

JuliAnn currently resides in upstate NY where she is awed daily by the beauty of the seasons as they alter the wooded landscape surrounding her home.

Artist Bio: Pilar Arthur-Snead

V. Pilar Arthur-Snead, Chief Photographer & Owner, is a long time resident of New York’s Capital Region. She grew-up in and attended school in Schenectady, NY. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Theology and Philosophy from St. Bonaventure University in. She lives in Albany with her husband, Charles, and their five cats.

Currently, she is pursuing her Master of the Fine Art (MFA) Degree in Photography at the Academy of the Art University. The Academy of the Art University is the oldest art school in the nation providing both classroom based and online learning for today’s forward looking artists.

Her current project is called “A Sacred Grove”.

We  take  trees  for  granted.  Trees  are  a  cornerstone  to  the  ecological  system  in  which  we  live;  they   provide  us  with  the  oxygen we  breathe.  Trees  give  us  life.  Trees  offer  of  shade  us  in  the  summer  months   when  we  are  hot.  They  sacrifice  their  livelihood for  the  benefit  of  our  written  words.  So  it  is  no  wonder   that  trees  have  been  worshipped,  revered,  idealized  and  symbolized  for as  long  as  humans  have  had  the   ability  to  do  so.

Within  Buddhism,  specifically  Tibetan  Buddhism,  the  tree  serves  as  a  symbolic  reference  and  an  anchor   for  the  understanding  of the  foundations  of  Buddhist  meditation  and  practice.  There  is  a  Sanskrit  word   chaitya which  can  be  then  translated to  the  Tibetan  word  stupa which  can  in  turn  be  translated  to  mean   “sacred  grove”.  Hence,  the  title  for  this collection  is  “A  Sacred  Grove”.

It  is  her  hope  that  the  viewer  will  leave  behind  their  banal  view  on  the  nature  of  trees;  perhaps,   reconsider  his  or her interaction  with  them  all  together.  In  the  grand  scheme,  she  wishes  for  the  viewer  to   gain  a  sense  of  their  own interdependent  origin  and  connection  to  the  land  vis-­‐à-­‐vis  trees.

Downtown Albany, Retail Space Available

I have recently begun a new fine art/documentary project. The series is an exploration of space that has been inspired in part by the recent economic downturn and it’s affects on the small business owners of Albany and the surrounding Capital Region. This will be an ongoing project that I hope to turn not only into an extensive documentation of the Capital Region and it’s spaces but perhaps into a book. It is a series that has also been inspired by the likes of modern photographer Eugene Atget – who chronicled the collision of old world Paris with new. His work was prolific and I encourage anyone interested in photography even remotely to investigate his work. There are several monographs available as well.

Eugene Atget Photograph

Lken's - A Closed Summer Hot Spot, Central Ave, Albany, NY

CLiCK! Just got a new look. We have reinvented ourselves for a FReSh, PHaBuLous, PHOTOBLOG!!

Yeah baby, Yeah! So stop by each week and check out the featured photo, artistic work – etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

This week’s photo is a little bit of Americana for you. LKen’s was the summer hot spot back in the day. Now the commercial lot sits vacant along side the abandoned home next door. What a travesty that such a fun, exciting and used to be so vibrant place sits empty, un-used, and unloved.

I took the liberty of bringing it back to life. LKen says “hi” to the wayward travellers.

Until next time, CLiCK!

Twilight

I have been involved with Art n’ Soul for about a year now. I actually started my photography business in January of last year (2009). Janet was the first person I went to for support as a fellow artist. She really understands the struggles and triumphs that someone who has a passion to create goes through. I signed on with Art n’ Soul as an artist and soon after, Janet had gotten me my first “one woman” show at Harmony House in Cohoes. This was such a big confidence booster as well as a positive affirmation of going in the right direction!

Janet really tries to think outside the box when it comes to promoting artists herself and in helping artists to see ways to promote themselves. I love that about her! Since opening my photography business a year ago, and operating out of my home, I took a big step this year and opened gallery/studio space! Again, Janet was the first person I went to as an artist for support and encouragement. She helped to identify a few key business brass tacks that I should put in place. Also, she is 100% willing to promote me, the studio, and to encourage me to promote myself!I ask you fair readers, to support me in supporting Janet Tanguay of Art n’ Soul. She is an artist’s best friend! So vote for her project in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge. It’ll take…ummmm…less than five minutes!! Tell your friends, and family to vote too!  Helping Janet helps me!! We all win…(I’m doing a happy dance right now!)

So, Vote Now!

BTW!!! Look for a Grand Opening announcement for my studio soon! The wall hanging came in last week! The first artist that will be feature in my new space will be JuliAnn Gorokin and myself of course! The theme will be Trees. Photographic Expressions Studio and Gallery Grand Opening is shceduled for First Friday in September. Ooooh and also Larkfest is September 25th!!! September is going to be a GREAT month!!!

JuliAnn Goronkin Paintings                                                          Pilar Arthur-Snead Photographs

Image is Copyright by JuliAnn Goronkin

Untitled, Copyright 2009, Photographic Expressions, All Rights Reserved

Until next time: CLiCk!

Macro Photography is a whole micro-universe of the world of photography – pun intended. Going all the way back to one the first premises we established here, a photographer need not be versed in all things photographic. Rather, a good photographer becomes well versed in the basics of photographic methods first, and then gradually begins to hone specialized skills that make him or her a GREAT photographer in one or two areas of interest. Marco photography is one such area in which someone might consider specializing.

Given the depth and breadth of the subject of marco photography, I suggest doing a little research on the subject. A simple Google search will reveal over 3 million hits. Hello??? Do you feel daunted?? On the one hand, I hope so because I want you to appreciate the skill which you are developing and know that to become good, really good you’ll have to invest some time in hands on practice and in reading up. But, on the other hand, I want to tell you to calm down!!! You can learn some basics about photography in general and specifically about macro photography in a short time and then go out and shoot away!

First, you’ll want to assess your equipment. Strangely enough macro photography is one of those areas where you can do some phenomenal things with relatively affordable equipment. Many point and shoot cameras offer a macro setting, for example, the Canon Powershot SX 110 IS is reasonably priced and does a great job at getting close ups.

Tulip taken with Canon SX 110 IS, Copyright 2009 Photographic Expressions, All Rights Reserved

Second, if using a point and shoot camera one that has the macro setting and allows you to manually adjust the aperture and shutter speed will be best. Then from a practical standpoint, what you will need to know is how much a particular scene do you want in focus?  The wider the aperture, the less you will have in focus. The more closed down the aperture the more you will have in focus. Wider aperture means faster shutter speed, smaller aperture means slower shutter speed.  Why? Wide = more light hitting the film or sensor. Closed down = less light hitting the film or sensor in which case it must be exposed for longer.

A wide aperture would be f1.0, f2.8, or f3.5 for instance. A smaller aperture would be f8.0, f11.0,f20. If you are out-of-doors in bright light it may be easy to get a fast shutter speed with small aperture. Fast shutter speeds will compensate for any movement you may make while taking the picture. Indoors however, it may prove difficult and you’ll want to be sure to use a tripod or find a way to maximize your light source. Either way, a tripod for macro photography is probably best. Let’s, suffice it to say, this is when your photographic know how will come into play. You must understand how aperture and shutter speed will affect your image.

Macro photography is all about light, stillness and movement. A good place to start in building your macro photography skills would be with a point and shoot camera. This will enhance your understanding of the aperture, shutter speed connection. One more thing I suggest, and I learned this the hard way, is that if you are shooting with a digital camera, you should always shoot with the lowest available ISO setting, usually this is ISO 100 or ISO 80. Adjusting the ISO on a continual basis can result in confusion with your aperture and shutter speed adjustments and just general poor image quality. A lower ISO will ensure a high quality image and less digital noise.

Here are a couple of web resources for finding out more information about macro photography:

Darren Rowse: Maco Photography Tips (My number one choice for you!)

Philip Greenspun on Photo Net (VERY GOOD!)

Beautiful imagery by Damon Clarke, you can always improve your game by looking at other photographic work. It helps your eye to see how someone else composes, lights, and frames images.

FInally, just a few of my own favorite images from my own collection:

Taken with Canon Power shot SX110 IS, Iris, Copyright 2009 Photographic Expressions, All Rights Reserved

Taken with Canon SX 110 IS, Ants, Copyright 2009 Photographic Expressions, All Rights Reserved

Well, I hope this jaunt has been fun!!! Keep shooting, keep learning!! And until next time:

CLiCk!!

Part 1

Clarence Laughlin was a writer – a poet, in fact – before he took up photography as a serious endeavor and then he did so only after asking for and receiving the blessing of master photographer Alfred Stieglitz in 1935 (Meek). This blessing was one many photographers sought as Stieglitz was akin to the “Godfather” of Modern Photography (Meek). Laughlin was an avid reader from the time he was a child, collecting as many as 15,000 volumes of books. Not surprisingly, then, it should be noted that Laughlin’s photographic work was influenced not only by the likes of his contemporaries and predecessors such as Eugene Atgét, Man Ray, and Paul Strand but also great literary writers as well (Meek). Laughlin was, to his creative credit, a self-taught photographer.  And although he used the photographs of Strand, Weston and others as “studies” in his early years, rather than photograph the progress of machinery or the modern industrial landscape, or fashion for artistic purposes, Laughlin, like Atgét, chose to habitually capture the progress of decay. His depictive subject matter was frequently the decrepitude of the architecture and buildings of the “Old South” (Meek), (Hambourg).

The mood of his photographs most closely mirrors the mood of the writings the French Symbolists whose poetic kindling vividly burned the root of realism and objectivity characteristic of their antecedents. Laughlin’s photographic embers are often dark, like charcoal burned after the fire, both in terms of subject matter but also in terms of the interplay between light and shadow. Often times within one image the figure and ground seem to dance back and forth and the viewer’s eyes begin to wander within the space of the frame. Laughlin said, “My life has been transformed completely by photography. The magic of the camera is when you change the meaning, the ordinary meaning of the object into meaning which you yourself create” (Frierson). His images are, therefore, wrought with shadowy and veiled female figures, in desolate places, reflections and ghost imprints all of which call the viewer to create his or her own meaning as they a glimpse into a “virtual” photographic reality.  For Laughlin, these symbols were “personal”, “stepping stone[s] to an inner world where the object” photographed was transformed from inanimate to animate, from inhuman to human by his own subconscious forces, perceptions, and imagination (Aperture).

Clarence John Laughlin, The Magic Mountain, 1955 Gelatin silver print, 1955-57 print, Stephen Daiter Gallery, (Gallery, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Clarence John Laughlin)

Also, Laughlin was equally inspired by the work of Baudelaire in his poetic musings and in his photographic journey. Baudelaire, in turn, was the inspiration for the Symbolist movement in France (Morgan) (Baldick).   Principally, the Symbolist poets sought to avoid the use of direct or objective language and favored patois that evoked a subjective mood in the reader or aroused the senses through symbol or free verse (Morgan) (Baldick).  Laughlin felt similarly about photography and the photographic print and he felt strongly that “those who [had] set themselves up, in this country, as the arbiters of ‘modern’ photography” had fallen prey to the “blight of mechanization” and depersonalization of their subject matter (Aperture). This is certainly not a direct attack on his contemporaries but most definitely a finger pointed in the direction of the champions of the modernist “straight photographic” method, those very same individuals whom he painstakingly studied in his early years. Still, Laughlin conjectured, “My central position, therefore, is one of extreme romanticism – the concept of ‘reality’ as being, innately, mystery and magic…This romanticism revolves upon the feeling that the world is far stranger than we think…” (Aperture). For him, the photograph was, in fact, a visual poem. He often would pair his photographs with either poetry of his own creation or with the works of others.

Clarence John Laughlin, 4 Vision of Dead Desire, 1954 Gelatin silver print, Stephen Daiter Gallery, (Gallery, Clarence John Laughlin)

Interestingly, Laughlin is noted to have been, by many sources, the first American “surrealist” photographer (Gallery, Clarence John Laughlin). Still others call him a romantic, or “the Edgar Allen Poe” of photography; he has also been called a symbolist. Laughlin, however, termed his work as a creation of the “third world of photography” to which he later attributed ten principles of “otherworldliness” (Woody) (Bogartte). And although Laughlin principally took photographs of inanimate objects, his photographs are alive, moving with this strangeness, this real “unreality”. There is a definite sense when viewing his pictures that we are haunted by the past, haunted in a way which our everyday intellectual and religious systems can not take into account (Aperture).

In conclusion, from the American modernist perspective, Laughlin does not really fit in. His work truly cannot be defined as solely surreal or solely symbolic or even solely romantic as he was one of the few photographers of his time that was able to synthesize many photographic and literary points of reference into his own way of seeing.

Clarence John Laughlin, The Enigma, (Aperture)

In Nature’s temple

living pillars rise,

And words are murmured

none have understood,

And man must wander

through a tangled wood

Of symbols watching him

with friendly eyes.

Charles Baudelaire, Correspondences, The Flowers of Evil (Aperture): ’Correspondences’ is reprinted from The Poems and Prose Poems of Charles Baudelaire. Ed. James Huneker. New York: Brentano’s, 1919.

Part 2

Laughlin was known to have used multiple exposures and or negatives to create one image. He also enjoyed the use of reflective devices such as glass and mirrors. In the creation of this modernist style work of art three exposures were used and then combined in Photoshop. In addition, a soft sepia–like tone was added to the final combined “print”.

In the spirit of Laughlin and the Surrealist movement this piece seeks to lead us into the depths of the underworld where as the title suggests we can’t get out. The photograph employs the use of typical surrealist devices such as reflections and a unique combination of light and shadow. Like Laughlin and the surrealist photographers the piece also seeks to bring vibrancy to an otherwise static environment while challenging our thoughts about where in space, and time we are. Additionally, the photograph is coupled with poetic verse written by the artist transforming it from a photographic image to a “visual poem”.

Combined Images

Arthur-Snead Image 2, Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved Photographic Expressions

Arthur-Snead Image 3, Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved Photographic Expressions

The Finished Piece

You Can’t Get Out

By V. Pilar Arthur-Snead

You Can't Get Out, By V. Pilar Arthur-Snead, Copyright 2010, All Right Reserved, Photographic Expressions

Each day I awake to the sunshine of my mind,

Clear blue skies and hope abound.

Looking ahead just beyond the horizon,

I can vaguely see my destiny.

Step forward,

And yet, I am stuck.

Each step brings with it another,

And another and still another.

There is no end,

The horizon fades as the sun sets upon the mountain peaks of my future.

In darkness I sit watching, waiting, listening,

The sound of my heart and mine alone.

If I close my eyes, I can see that sunlit horizon,

Open to restless, useless limbs of desirous insanity.

Tick, Tick, Tick,

Almost dawn and the sun will shine again,

Across the bow of my destiny,

I heard the sounds of fickle desperation in the night,

Left, right, middle, the road will turn either way.

But each day I awake to the sunshine of my mind,

Clear blue skies and hope abound.

Works Cited

Aperture Foundation. Clarence John Laughlin: An Aperture Foundation Monograph. Vol. 17. Millerton: Apreture Foundation, 1973.

Baldick, Chris   . Symbolists. 2010 April 30 <http://0-www.oxfordreference.com.library.academyart.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t56.e1111>.

Bogartte, J. Karl. Clarence John Laughlin. 27 April 2010 <http://homepage.mac.com/photomorphose/cjlaughlin.html >.

Clarence John Laughlin: An Artist with a Camera. By Michael, Micheal Murphy Frierson. Dir. Michael, Micheal Murphy Frierson. Michael Murphy Productions. 2009.

Gallery, Stephen Daiter. Clarence John Laughlin. 2007. 2010 йил 26-04 <http://www.stephendaitergallery.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=13>.

Hambourg, Maria Morris. Atget, Eugène. 2010 April 27 <http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.library.academyart.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T004771>.

Meek, A. J., John H. Lawrence, Clarence John Laughlin. “Clarence John Laughlin: prophet without honor (Book).” Google Books. 2010 April 27 <http://books.google.com/books?id=w6AP4VUGdcoC&lpg=PA11&ots=S7jGMri5Fx&dq=Clarence%20Laughlin%20Photogra%5Bher&pg=PP1#v=twopage&q&f=false>.

Morgan, Ann Lee  . Laughlin, Clarence John. 2010 April 30 <http://0-www.oxfordreference.com.library.academyart.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t238.e776>.

Woody, Jack. Laughlin, Clarence John. 2010 April 27 <http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.library.academyart.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T049579>.

Next Week: Suggestions for developing your macro photography skills! Stay Tuned, Keep Focused Until Next time CLiCk!!!