Retrospective: The Color Collection 2007 - 2013

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   I have been making color images only since 2007.  It wasn't until 2011 that I really embraced color though.  It occurred on  on my month long trip to South Uist.  Now, it is hard for me to  imagine not doing color work.

   Color images have a totally different impact on the viewer from the monochrome ones.  Some images look better in black and white while others need to be in color.

   When I began to see the world in color rather than in black and white, a whole different world opened up to me.  Color has it's own meaning and metaphoric possibilities I've found.

   Again, as you "walk through" the collection you may wonder at my choices.  It is all about how I originally received the images and what they have come to mean to me over time.  I purposely didn't add that information because it really doesn't matter what the images mean to me.  You need to look and ponder from your own perspective.

   I strongly recommend that you put together your own retrospective because seeing the work together, side by side, is so illuminating.  Contemplative photography is not about the commercial viability of the work, whether it will sell or not in a gallery.  It is such a personal approach and that is what makes it so appealing to me.  I don't have to wow the critiques and neither do you.  Hold your image in your hands and revel in it's message and meaning to you.  If it touches you, that's all that matters.

Retrospective - The Monochrome Collection: 2005 - 2013

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  Well, as promised, I've waded through hundreds of images and come up with a collection of images for my "Retrospective".  I've divided the show into two "galleries", a monochrome one and a color one.  I felt that this was the best way to do it since there is such a different feel to each collection and they are best viewed together.

   There are a hundred images in total, fifty in each gallery.  Today I am presenting the monochrome collection.  This has been a fascinating process to consider which 50 to include.  Most of the photographs are included in my folios on the blog.  Seeing all the images side by side, however,  is very revealing to me. 

   I noticed that I am particularly attracted to dramatic skies, diagonal compositions and asymmetry!   I was able, by viewing the collection as a whole, to see the underlying themes of my work very clearly.  I thought it was a fitting way to end the year.

   The photographs were chosen not so much for their artistic merit but for how they came to be and what they personally mean for me.  You might try creating your own retrospective, either digitally or by actually printing out the images and staging a "viewing" for friends and family.  Since I consider my blog readers my extended family...you are all invited!  Just click on the invitation above and visit the monochrome gallery!

   My Icon is "Up Close and Far Away", the image above.  It is the one image that if all the others were lost would be most representative of my approach...my "style" of photography.  I hope you enjoy your visit to this first gallery and don't forget to sign the guest book!  (Which is just another way of saying, comments are welcome!)