While reminiscing on the photos I made this past year, I keep coming back to this image which is one I find closely fulfilling my vision. For me, it embodies a visual impression of Cape Cod which is new, trendsetting and cutting edge, yet harkens back to how the Cape has always appeared.
It has a timeless quality, yet is simple and clean with subtly that is fresh and exciting. It features bold colors, but they are more restrained than some of my other work producing a new variation which is very pleasing.
I am ever fascinated by capturing the last rays of light on mountainside treetops, and these images epitomize that rare moment where the hills turn into a beautifully textured landscape. The freshly fallen snow heightens the effect, giving these images a soothing, content feel despite the inherent cold and loneliness of winter in the Vermont wilderness. More images from this series
When I go somewhere to photograph, I feel satisfied if I come back with one image I really love (usually out of hundreds). However to communicate a compelling story, frequently a series of images is required to illustrate the message. To acquire the images needed for this, I typically either shoot one place over the course of a few days, or make multiple trips back to the same area. On my recent trip to Corsica, I was very pleased to put together a very interesting series over the course of a few hours.
Heading out from the town of Calvi, I traveled down the coast to the Scandola Nature Reserve, a peninsula which is only accessible by boat. The voyage over open water was very rough, leading to quite a few barf bags being distributed on board. On arrival we were greeted with a stunning landscape composed of a series of sheer cliffs, inlets and caves carved in unforgettable red geologic forms.
Working quickly I captured an endless stream of amazing cliffs, monolithic landscapes and narrow passages between the rocks. The resulting images are an incredibly tight series juxtaposing the forms against sky, clouds and sea. Each image in the series builds a story of a place which is so unique, perfectly untouched, and exquisitely formed that it might be imaginary.
I had planned for weeks and traveled 277 miles from my home to arrive at this place. The rugged coast of Maine’s Acadia National Park and its incredible landscape. Being winter, the park was closed for the season and the tourists gone. I was alone, looking at the ocean gently intersecting with the monolithic geology of the shoreline.
Pausing to gather myself before starting to roam about and shoot, I perched on a rock in anticipation of watching the sun peek above the horizon. While watching the scene unfold before me, I became entranced in that moment – just me, the sky, the water and the landscape. I was in the great wide open, alone with elements. Many thoughts crossed my mind as I sat there and took it all in, but they quickly vanished as the awesomeness of this place became set in my mind.
I realized the morning light I traveled all this way to photograph was quickly expiring, so I stood up, setup my tripod and captured the image below. I took many other images that morning, but this one best captures the essence of that moment.
Acadia National Park, Maine
Simplicity of a Primitive Age, 2010 – from the series Momentary
This photograph was made at Otter Point in Acadia National Park, Maine and particularly resonates with me for several reasons. I find the most interesting feature to be the ambient and soft quality of light. Because of the sky and ocean, the image has a blue hue to it, which I find very compelling. This effect is especially apparent in the large boulder in the foreground.
The two large boulders, while contrasting in color, setup a harmony and rhythm to the image by balancing each other out. This theme is extended by the collection of smaller surrounding forms which continue the flow both in shape and color.
One final element which attracts me to this particular image is the sense of mystery I get from it. This feeling is driven by the dark crevices between the forms and the stillness of the water in the background.
I don’t take a lot of photographs of fall foliage. Sure it’s beautiful, but it has never struck me as a helpful way to convey what I want in my art. Similar to the way sunsets are beautiful, but many times not that interesting. However, the glimpses of colorful foliage in this photograph supply just enough detail and contrast for the photograph to make a compelling image. The foliage doesn’t make the image on its own, but complements the other elements at work, forming a cohesive and inspiring image.
Some of the other interesting features at work are:
How the stillness of the water emphasizes the atmospheric quality of the sky through its reflection
The appearance of depth implied by opposite shore seen in the middle strengthens the overall impact of the photo
It looks mysteriously calm, yet bright and uplifting
The dark shadows in between the trees
There are certainly much more vivid displays of New England fall foliage than this, but I believe this image is stronger than many classic foliage images because it doesn’t rely entirely on colorful leaves for its strength.
Taken early on an October morning at Warner’s Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.
Below are some images from a sunrise at the National Seashore in Wellfleet. I didn’t actually see the sun come over the horizon since it was cloudy for the first hour of my visit but took some interesting shots around 7am when the clouds abated.
The wide range of textures and vastness in these images is compelling and visually stimulating. They also have an interesting pallet characteristic of the Cape, but with a contemporary, fresh and clean feel. This effect can be attributed to the brightness of the light in the images as reflected by the relative stillness of the ocean.
As you can tell from the plethora of Cape Cod images on my website and this blog, I am mesmerized by the unique landscape of the Cape. My favorite and bestselling set of photo note cards is not surprisingly from Wellfleet, a town on the outer Cape. Here’s a glimpse of the Wellfleet collection of cards from NotecardArtist.com, my website dedicated to the cards which I launched last year. Enjoy.
From left: Lecount Hollow, Great Island, and Cahoon Hollow
I took both of these on the same morning, very close to one another. They are part of an experiment in “banding” – capturing stripes of color/texture. The effect helps abstract nature and the resulting impression is unexpected.
I’m also a fan of the vertical format, which works really well for these. [I find it hard to show vertical images online, so many of my online selections are horizontal. My exhibited work is primarily vertical.]
For the past two years, I’ve been exhibiting my work in the Somerville Open Studios, which is the largest artist open studios event in New England. While preparing for the show this year, I have found myself reflecting on my work, revisiting images I haven’t looked at in a long time and pondering where my work as a whole is going. This process feels different than preparing for an exhibition which has the defined scope and direction required to produce a cohesive series. While getting ready for my exhibitions over the past year has certainly contributed to the development of my images, getting ready for this open studio has been surprisingly inspiring due to the new ideas that have come out.
The two images below were taken a few feet apart on a trip to Cape Cod last year. I skipped over them originally when editing the trip’s images and was pleasantly startled by their look after converting them to black and white. I had intended them as color images, but a dim, grainy look developed as I worked, giving them a dissimilar feel to my color images of late.
A similar thing happened when I started working with the image below of rime ice encrusted alpine grasses, taken above treeline in the White Mountains. While the rime ice image is bolder and has a simpler aesthetic, the intention, feeling and impact are shared.
