Brooks Jensen: Fort Worden Wall Abstracts

Brooks Jensen's Fort Worden Wall Abstracts e-book.

[ photograph above: Red Mountain, 2004, by Matt Artz ]

Movement as Subject

"People call me the painter of dancers, but I really wish to capture movement itself."

--Edgar Degas

Brooks Jensen: Gestures of a Primitive Mind

Brooks Jensen's Gestures of a Primitive Mind e-book.

[ photograph above: Kelso Dunes, 2004, by Matt Artz ]

Digital Technology

"As usual in the amorphous realm of art, each artist deals with digital technology in their own way. Some make it the center of their work, others adapt it to their art or use it behind the scenes, while many ignore it completely and leave it to the younger artists."

-- Roger Macintosh

Brooks Jensen: Made of Steel

Brooks Jensen's Made of Steel e-book.

[ photograph above: Still Life, 2003, by Matt Artz ]

Subject Matter

"When working in abstract, subject matter is irrelevant. The subject matter is simply the raw material."

-- Matt Artz

[ photograph above: Virginia City, Nevada, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

The Role of Technology

"Art has always involved technology."

-- Rex Bruce

Watching

"People don't watch enough. They think. It's not the same thing."

--Henri Cartier-Bresson

The Photo vs. The Experience

"If you are busy taking photos that is what you remember, being behind the camera. I would rather just enjoy the scene and hope someone else takes the photos."

-- Buster Friendly

[ photograph above: Children's Forest, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Second Reception for Shutter Magic Show

The Shutter Magic show is still going on at the Joseph Filippi Winery in Rancho Cucamonga through the end of the month. A few of the participants are going to throw another reception--Sunday, July 31st (last day of the show) from 2 p.m. until about 4 p.m. (or whenever the snacks run out!)

[ photograph above: Children's Forest, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Sangiovese

My new favorite wine is Joseph Filippi Sangiovese. When I picked up my first bottle at the winery, I swear the woman who worked there was trying to talk me out of buying it. Well, maybe not that bad; but she was really qualifying it, saying things like "it's very earthy" and "it's an acquired taste". I thought, crap, this is going to suck; but not wanting to look like an idiot, bought it anyway. What a wonderful bottle of wine that was. My wife even liked it--actually loved it--and she's not a big fan of red wine.

[ photograph above: Charlie and Sangiovese, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Originality?

"Photographers who come up with power never get accused of imitating anyone else even though they photograph the same broom, same street, same portraits."

--Minor White

[ photograph above: Children's Forest, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Jennifer Shaw: Fields Notes

Jennifer Shaw's Fields Notes portfolio.

Means to an End

"I start with no preconceived idea...discovery excites me to focus...then rediscovery through the lens...final form of presentation seen on ground glass, the finished print previsioned completely in every detail of texture, movement, proportion, before exposure...the shutter's release automatically and finally fixes my conception, allowing no after manipulation...the ultimate end, the print, is but a duplication of all that I saw and felt through my camera."

--Edward Weston

Photography and Commerce

"I create artwork because I love to. I sell artwork so I can make room for more I am now creating. I am discouraged at the thought that some people would love a work of art – particularly an easily reproduced piece like photography – but would be separated from it because of a barrier of price. I price my work so everyone can buy as much as they are motivated to enjoy."

-- Brooks Jensen

Austin Granger: Nevada

Austin Granger's Nevada portfolio.

Searching

"Searching is everything--going beyond what you know. And the test of the search is really in the things themselves, the things you seek to understand. What is important is not what you think about them, but how they enlarge you."

--Wynn Bullock

[ photograph above: Arcosanti, Arizona, 2004, by Matt Artz ]

Hiroshi Watanabe: Landscape Stills

Hiroshi Watanabe's Landscape Stills portfolio.

The Experience Trumps the Photograph

"Often while traveling with a camera we arrive just as the sun slips over the horizon of a moment, too late to expose film, only time enough to expose our hearts."

--Minor White

Austin Granger: Death Valley I

Austin Granger's Death Valley I portfolio.

[ photograph above: Death Valley, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Life without Thinking

"One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car. But one has a background of years--learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming, thinking, experience, all this--then the moment of creation, the focusing of all into the moment. So I can make 'without thought,' fifteen carefully considered negatives, one every fifteen minutes, given material with as many possibilities. But there is all the eyes have seen in this life to influence me."

--Edward Weston

Jennifer Shaw: Espirito

Jennifer Shaw's Espirito portfolio.

Outsider Art

"The style is either childish, obsessive, or makes one think of a mental patient."

--Carol Es, on "Outsider Art"

Illuminating the Darkness

"In a photograph, if I am able to evoke not alone a feeling of the reality of the surface physical world but also a feeling of the reality of existence that lies mysteriously and invisibly beneath its surface, I feel I have succeeded. At their best, photographs as symbols not only serve to help illuminate some of the darkness of the unknown, they also serve to lessen the fears that too often accompany the journeys from the known to the unknown."

--Wynn Bullock

eBay Art Project

Interesting project where artwork purchased on eBay for under $5 is used as raw material.

Milosz Stasik: Floral

Milosz Stasik's Floral portfolio.

The Mind Goes Blank

"The state of mind of a photographer while creating is a blank...For those who would equate 'blank' with a kind of static emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition. Such a state of mind is not unlike a sheet of film itself--seemingly inert, yet so sensitive that a fraction of a second's exposure conceives a life in it. (Not just life, but *a* life)."

--Minor White

Charlie on the Rocks

I made this image about half an hour ago in some rocks on the side of my house...

[ photograph above: Charlie on the Rocks, from Travels with Charlie, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Austin Granger: Point Reyes I

Austin Granger's Point Reyes I portfolio.

Abstracts

"Abstracts are my most favorite kinds of images. They are strictly personal so I rarely show them. It is a rare gift when they are also personal to someone else. I can always tell when one connects. Their eyes light up."

--Brooks Jensen

Charlie and the Wall

I made this image two days ago in my backyard, when the light was nice (before sunrise).

[ photograph above: Charlie and the Wall, from Travels with Charlie, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Inner State

"This unexpected image was the record of an inner state that I did not remember seeing and he did not remember experiencing at the moment of exposure."

--Minor White

Hiroshi Watanabe: Perennial Scenes

Hiroshi Watanabe's Perennial Scenes portfolio.

Charlie and The Weed

After photographing the weed and Charlie individually, it just made sense to arrange them together. The results are pretty startling.

[ photograph above: Charlie and The Weed, from Travels with Charlie, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Things are Not What they Are

"When I looked at things for what they are I was fool enough to persist in my folly and found that each photograph was a mirror of my Self."

--Minor White

Austin Granger: The Salton Sea

Austin Granger's The Salton Sea portfolio.

Travels with Charlie

Imagine a woman living in a third world country, 100, maybe 150 years ago. Mired in a life of poverty, she never left her country, let alone her small rural village. She dreamed of seeing the wonders of the world beyond her village, and specifically of moving to America, where she heard that the streets are paved with gold and money grows on trees. Like so many millions of people around the world, when she died, she was quickly forgotten. Before long, her skull was extracated from the makeshift graveyard and sold to a dealer, who sold it to another dealer in the U.S. Ironically, only long after her death does she realize her dream of travelling to America. Eventually, her skull is purchased by a photographer. He names her "Charlie", and decides to make her the subject of his next project.

Forgive me, John Steinbeck.

[ photograph above: Welcome to America, from Travels with Charlie, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Weed

A couple months ago, I pulled this weed up from between the stepping stones in my side yard and threw it in the dirt planter. A few days later, I noticed it had turned from green to light brown. Because it had grown between stepping stones, it was very flat. I looked at it and thought, "I need to take that inside and photograph it." For the next two months, I looked at it almost daily while watering my vegetable garden and thought, "I REALLY need to take that inside and photograph it." Tonight, I finally did it.

[ photograph above: Still Life, 2005, by Matt Artz ]

Self-Referential

"Pictures you have taken have an influence on those that you are going to make. That's life!"

--John Sexton

Jennifer Shaw: Relics

Jennifer Shaw's Relics portfolio.

Straight Seeing

"I am not a painter, nor an artist. Therefore I can see straight, and that may be my undoing."

--Alfred Stieglitz

Hiroshi Watanabe: A Brick Factory in Udaipur

Hiroshi Watanabe's A Brick Factory in Udaipur portfolio.