On Luck...

"Do I need to remind you of what a 'lucky' shot Ansel Adams' Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico was? Nature provides the goods, and talent is what finds them. Luck plays a very, very small part."

--Bob Waldren

[ photograph above: Claremont Packing House, 2004 ]

Gandhi

"Action for one's own self binds; action for the sake of others delivers from bondage."

--Mahatma Gandhi

[ photograph above: Claremont Packing House, 2004 ]

A Delicate Balance

As a photographer, I believe my primary responsibility--both to myself, and to my audience--is the creation of new images. Anything that gets in the way of creating new images--working in photoshop, printing and mounting photographs, displaying photographs at a gallery, even working on this blog--is a threat. Of course, there are some necessary evils. I can take thousands of photographs, but unless I find some method of presenting them, they are useless to me and my audience. So a delicate balance must be achieved between the creation, manipulation, management, presentation, and promotion of the images. That balance is different for every photographer, and can vary widely over time.

[ photograph above: Claremont Packing House, 2004 ]

Inside the Packing House

I got to go inside of the old Claremont Packing house for the first time today. Spent probably an hour and a half, and captured about 150 images. It was dark in there, so everything was shot off a tripod. It was raining outside, and the roof leaks, so everything was damp, and there were puddles and drips everywhere. I will post some photographs soon; meanwhile, next week I'll be spending another couple hours in the other (more interesting) half of the building!

[ photograph above: Arcosanti, 2004 ]

What the Heck IS that???

People seem to really like this image, but they always ask "what the heck IS that?"

This is an installation at the ("LVM") art museum in Madison, Wisconsin. It's called "The Glassy Surface of a Lake" and is was put togehter by a Chinese artist names Xu Bing. The text is from "Walden" by Thoreau. To see what the installation looks like from the ground floor, click here. To read the press release about this installation, click here.

If you're in the area, the installation will be there through June 26, 2005. It is very cool to look at it. You can look at it from the floor below, then walk up the stairs and view it from above.

[ photograph above: Wisconsin, 2004 ]

That's it, Show's Over

The "Visions and perspectives" show at the PVAA Progress Space has officially closed, and I took all of my photographs down this afternoon/early evening. Let's just say it went down a lot faster than it went up!

In all, it was a wonderful experience. I sold a fair number of prints (about 75? don't know the esact count yet), met a lot of great people, reconnected with some people I had not seen in quite a while, and had a few great opportunities presented to me. It was so much work getting ready for this show, but it was well worth it.

So what's next? Stay tuned...

[ photograph above: Mission San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, 2004 ]

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

--Matt Artz

[ photograph above: Arcosanti, 2004 ]

Visions and Perspectives

My parents, who live in Reno, came down to Southern California for the holidays. Today I had a chance to take them to the PVAA Progress Space gallery in Pomona to see the "Visions and Perspectives" show.

[ photograph above: Garrapata Creek, 2002 ]

Packing Houses, Part II

Yesterday afternoon, driving back home from the gallery in Pomona, I stopped for a couple minutes at another old packing house--this one in Claremont--and captured about 10 quick images, four of which I'm posting here.








[ photographs above: Packing House, Claremont, 2004 ]

The Matt Artz Story

Another article about me appeared in the Highland Community News today. Visitors to this Web site will probably recognize it--they basically reprinted text from my Web site, and added a photograph my daughter took of me at the "Visions and Perspectives" show last Saturday.

[ photograph above: PVAA Progress Space, Pomona, 2004 ]

Packing Houses, Part I

This old orange packing plant in Redlands shut down about a year ago. It's on my drive home from work, and I see this great photograph almost every day, when the light is just right, casting shadows through some torn shade netting. Today I stopped for a minute and finally captured what I've been meaning to for the last six months.

[ photograph above: Packing House, Redlands, 2004 ]

Edward Weston on Equipment

"...for the advanced worker as well as the beginner, there is only one rule. If your interest lies in the technical side of photography, there is nothing against trying all the gadgets and formulas you want or need. But if your interest is primarily in the picture, if you want to use your photography as a medium of expression, then keep your equipment simple."

-- Edward Weston

[ photograph above: Redlands, 2004 ]

Making the Transition from Film to Digital

A good white paper written by Michael Reichmann is available on the Adobe Web site, for all you film holdouts...a good overview of the technical diferences between film and digital capture.

Read it!

There are a few minor things I noticed but they are so minor as to be not worth mentioning...the only major gripe I have is on the last page. The statement about not being able to capture black and white images with a digital camera--instead having to shoot in color, then convert to black and white later in Photoshop or a similar program--isn't true. Many digital cameras today let you capture images directly in black and white. In fact, 95 percent of my images are captured natively in black and white, and since I use a digicam I have the added benefit of composing the image through my viewfinder in black and white before even making the exposure. You can't do that with a digital SLR!

[ photograph above: Redlands, 2004 ]

Great Reception Last Night

The reception for "Visions and Perspectives" went very well last night! At least 200 people came through the gallery, maybe a lot more--these things are so hard to estimate. I was there from 11 a.m. until 10:15 p.m., and a lot of friends and co-workers came through. In the end I sold a total of 55 prints Saturday! What an exhausting day. Thanks to everyone who came by, it was great to see you all--I wish we could have talked more, but there were so many people. (And whose idea was it to put a five-piece brass band in a basement gallery with cement floors??? :-)

[ photograph above: Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, 2004 ]

57 Undergound Gallery

Today I was informed that the 57 Underground gallery in Pomona has accepted me! They seem like a wonderful group of artists, and as of right now I'm the only photography amongst them. Hopefully I'll be able to display some of my current projects ("Agua para los Ninos", "Alphanumerics", "Sacred Geometries") there in 2005/2006.

[ photograph above: Joshua Tree National Park, 2002 ]

Tolstoy on Art

"Art, in our society, has been so perverted that not only has bad art come to be considered good, but even the very perception of what art really is has been lost."

-- Leo Tolstoy

[ photograph above: Whitewater, 2002 ]

Article in Highland Community News

Today the Highland Community News ran a brief article about my participation in the "Visions and perspectives" show. You can see the online version of the article here. In the printed paper, the photograph of the spiral staircase at Scotty's Castle in Death Valley is HUGE!!!!

[ photograph above: Joshua Tree National Park, 2003 ]

Las Dunas

My show in San Bernardino is tentatively titled "Las Dunas", and I plan on feature my best images of California sand dunes. Since it's not happening until April of 2007, I'll have plenty of time to work on new images to support this exhibit.

[ photograph above: Kelso Dunes, 2002 ]

Night Photography by Jerry Day

Check out the night photography of my co-worker Jerry Day on his Web site, Dark Sky Dreams. Very cool stuff!

[ photograph above: Kelso Dunes, 2002 ]

Paul Graham on Design

Paul Graham is, in my opinion, on of the great essayists of our time. His excellent essay, Taste for Makers has been very influential and is something I go back and read frequently. You can read it for free on the Web, but you should really buy his book Hackers and Painters, and read all of it.

[ photograph above: Whitewater, 2002 ]

Rainy Day Blues

It rained today. All day. I was at the gallery for the five hours it was open. Talk about being bored. Two people came through all day--they were together, and they sort of poked their heads in for about 5 seconds and left. So we tidied up the place even more.

[ photograph above: Kelso Dunes, 2002 ]

First Day of "Visions and Perspectives"

The show went well today. Lots of last-minute things going on--photographs being hung/moved, lights being adjusted, stuff being cleaned up. But it's almost done. And people are coming through. Not alot of people, but I did have a lady purchae two small prints today. Not bad for the first day!

[ San Jose, 2004 ]

Show Opens Tomorrow!

"My" wall is done--well, 98% done; there are still a few minor details to take care of. But I'm basically ready to go!



I built 10 "viewing rails" a few days ago, not knowing if they would come in handy or not. They did; well, at least 2 of the 10 did. I attached 2 of them to the wall above my bins. It's a great way to pull a few photographs out of the bins (which contain about 1,000 of mounted prints!) and show them off, without using frames. It's also very dynamic--I can change the displayed images frequently.

Setting Up is Hard Work!

I spent most of today setting up for the "Visions and Perspectives" show...

Update on "Visions and Perspectives" Show

I've haven't really been slacking that much for the last week or two, although it would appear so from reading this blog. Actually I've been very busy getting my things ready for the "Visions and Perspectives" show. My car is overflowing with photographs and tools and other stuff, and I'll be at the gallery in a few hours to start setting up. The show starts this Saturday, the 4th of December. I know it's a busy time of year what with the holidays and all, but please try to come by if you can! If all goes well tonight I will post some images of us setting up.

There have been a couple of changes. There are now six photographers participating:

Porfirio Aguilar

Matt Artz

Dorothy Brunell

William David Coxon

Craig Dinsdale

Sindi Diane Wasserman

In addition, we just recently found out that Yoshio Kitazawa, who was originally supposed to be participating in the show, passed away in September. The show will include a memorial to him, displaying some of his photography.

[ photograph above: Kelso Dunes, 1998 ]

Show in 2007!

My "next" show is slated for April through July of 2007. That seems like it's years away...because it is! But there's also something conforting about scheduling that far in advance. More details later.

And hopefully a couple more opportunities will come up between now and then!