12-AUG-2012
Ghosts in the forest, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, Carmel, California, 2012
In color, this image highlights the dead white Cypress trees as they contrast to green canopy around them. By changing the medium to black and white, the green vanishes, and the dead Cypresses seem to join the forest, rather than stand out from it. The merging of live and dead trees, flung upon the ancient rocky shoreline, speaks of replacement – as a tree dies, another grows to take its place. Yet the ghosts of the past always remain with us as a reminder of mortality, as well as the life cycle itself.
12-AUG-2012
Cypress branches, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, Carmel, California, 2012
Although Cypress trees can survive for more than a thousand years, this one has perished, leaving its graceful structure for us as a reminder of mortality itself. Its branches seem to be dancing, an echo, perhaps, of its distant youth. I converted the image to black and white to strengthen the flow of the white branches framed within its darker companions.
15-AUG-2012
Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood, California, 2012
The 2,500 five pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Streets in downtown Hollywood commemorate achievement in the entertainment industry. I include only two of them here – one honoring the actress Louise Rainer, who at 102 years of age is the oldest living Academy Award Winner. (She won a Best Actress Oscar for “The Great Ziegfeld” in 1936. She had to wait a long time for this star on Hollywood Boulevard – she dedicated it herself in 2011.) The other star in this image honors Red Foley, a country music artist. The stars symbolize fame, and I contrast them to a lone woman, photographed from behind as she waits for a bus. One must also assume that she, like most of us, will have no star in this sidewalk. By converting the image to black and I white, I remove all color and vibrancy from the scene, implying that fame is illusory, even in a place where 2,500 stars seem to make fame commonplace.
12-AUG-2012
Detail, Cypress branch, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, Carmel, California, 2012
Coming to Point Lobos as a photographer, one is always mindful of the images that Edward Weston made here in the 1930s and 1940s. His family still operates a gallery in Carmel, and many prints of his work are on display. His detailed studies of the twisted, parched trunks of dead Cypress trees are inspirational and compelling. For me, they often seem to speak of life and death simultaneously. Motivated by this idea, I made this image of part of a Point Lobos Cypress branch, concentrating on the swirling vitality within this piece of ancient skeletal wood. The swirls ebbed and flowed as the tree flourished, created over the centuries by both the growth of the tree itself and by its stormy seaside environment. The swirls are frozen here by time itself. As Weston did, I work in black and white, simplifying the complex subject and providing a sense of great age.
11-AUG-2012
At play, Santa Cruz, California, 2012
This youngster was hanging on to an oversized pendulum, an interactive work of public art on Santa Cruz’s Main Street. Her response to the device was ecstatic as she rocked back and forth on it. I was able to freeze this moment where she embraces the huge post with great zest and passion. The closed eyes and clenched fist express such human values quite well here. By converting it to a black and white image, I remove a competing distraction from her vivid blue sweater, and make the photo more symbolic -- less about this individual herself, and more about childhood play as a universal stage of life.
21-NOV-2011
Medusa, Side, Turkey, 2011
I found this depiction of Medusa in the garden of Side’s archeology museum. The shadows intensify the scowl of the creature, an ancient Greek image widely used to avert evil. She always is shown with living snakes emerging from her head, and supposedly can turn living creatures into stone. In this case, the Romans turned the tables on Medusa and cast her in stone. My black and white interpretation reinforces the stony texture of the sculpture.
21-NOV-2011
The gears of time, Side, Turkey, 2011
I found these truncated Roman marble columns lying on the ground near Side’s amphitheater. They seem to be incongruously growing out of rhythmically repeating rectangular slabs of marble. There was no coloration in either the marble or the dark background, so I converted the image to black and white. The monochromatic treatment simplifies what already is a starkly organized composition.
16-SEP-2011
Groundskeeper, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
This man was simply sweeping the paths along a hill above some of the ancient Inca ruins that are part of a museum in the center of Cuenca. I moved well below him, entering a chamber of an Inca dwelling. A large stone lintel over the entry to the house soared directly over my head, and a huge stone wall joined it at a right angle. I placed the man at work within the rectangular frame formed by the lintel and the wall. The black and white format abstracts the image, linking the stonework, the man and the trees, as well as the heavy storm clouds overhead, to the man at work -- creating as a seamless expression of labor that seems to stretch back into time itself.
23-SEP-2011
Hungry child, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
This toddler was standing in the doorway of a basement room, eating her breakfast. She was wearing a vividly colored sweater and carrying an equally colorful backpack. I wanted to stress her somewhat apprehensive expression, and the coloration competed with it. By making this image black and white, I have made the image less specific in nature, and more universal. It is about a child’s cautious view of the world, not about clothing or color.
24-SEP-2011
The wait, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
This woman is patiently waiting for a bus. She stands opposite a white wall and gray street. She stands before a tree in backlight, which offers a silhouette that stresses form and shape at the expense of detail. The black and white treatment creates a mood that is still, pensive, quiet – which reflects her situation: waiting to get on with her life. By removing color, particularly the green foliage, we simplify the point at hand.
15-SEP-2011
Grave marker, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2011
This image, made under leaden skies in Cuenca’s vast city of the dead, shockingly resembled a photographic negative when I converted it from color to black and white. I find it to be an apt symbol – a negative is the opposite of a positive, just as death is the opposite of life.
23-APR-2011
Ceiling fan, Arcosanti, Arizona, 2011
Famed architect Paolo Soleri established Arcosanti 30 years ago, a communal living project that blends architecture and ecology. Today, its dining hall reflects the nature of Soleri’s vision. The multi-story hall features a translucent ceiling and a cooling fan, which I abstract here into a black and white study of light and shadow, structure and function.