The macro view of flowers has helped me come to terms with my life’s experience, and nature’s disappearing wild spaces, and excitement of the unknown. Macro photography, is like putting on super-magnifying eyeglasses, so we can view what we could otherwise not see. Catching the light just right, and finding the precise viewpoint, the flower becomes space, revealing relationships in our mind’s eye. A photograph can be many things. My self portrait in an orchid speaks to me in it’s silence and grace, a reality hidden in a world of shapes and spaces. 0031 | Self Portrait in Gold | Pigment print on Watercolor Paper with Hand Applied Gold Emulsion 0032 | White Orchid on Silver | Pigment print on Watercolor Paper with Hand Applied Gold Emulsion
Example of this work on view at our gallery wall in the inviting showroom at Island Interiors at Ocean Reef. 8 Barracuda Lane Key Largo, FL 33037
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By definition, a photographer is a keen observer, who composes by eliminating the unessential, and does so from a unique point of view. While photography is an exact representation of an isolated instant, no two photographers can create the same image.
In 1892, Stieglitz wrote “simplicity, originality and atmosphere” were the main qualities necessary for the photographer to produce artistic pictures and that they were obtainable only by the “study of art in all its forms”. In 2019, the student of art has at their disposal both traditional and non-traditional tools for creating art, and can observe in nature, or in virtual museums on the internet. My “here and now” begins with the photographic capture, but my photographic practice is morphing into more painterly representations thanks to Adobe and a drawing tablet. “White Phalaenopsis” is one such example of this new work. It’s simple, it is from nature, distracting elements were eliminated, while others were added to fill the space. Brush strokes were made in relation to, and in harmony with the original capture. “White Phalaenopsis” is the centerpiece of the 70” x 32” gallery wrapped canvas triptych entitled “Marilyn’s Orchids”. This uniquely tropical house warming gift, now lives in North Carolina. It’s important to spend some time with your subject in order to truly get to know it. A close friend with an iPhone can obtain a better photo than a stranger with professional gear, simply because they’ve spent more time with the subject and know “the look”.
In landscape photography it is called a “sense of place”. Instinctually if you’ve seen it before, chances are it will repeat. That goes for winks and smiles, as well as highlights and shadows and the point on the horizon where the moon may rise. Marilyn’s orchid garden originated as house plants that each spring gained freedom from their pots as orchids in her trees. A 20 year tradition, her babies have flourished, and she can probably recall the friend or occasion which pertains to a particular orchid’s history. They bring her joy. As with the orchid bloom, you may have been attracted by it’s graceful droop or showy color, but when you peer behind, you see the stem, the “backbone” of the beauty. Sometimes just one frame is not enough to tell the story. Roots, trunk(s), bark, leaves, and crown compose the tree; as do its scars and woodpecker holes, twists, turns and tangles of it’s branches and it’s flowers and fruit. You can view it from yards away, or you can come close and give it a hug. Humans or nature. Both benefit from a history together. |
CAROL ELLIS
This photographic website provides me the opportunity for self-expression, for sharing Archives
September 2024
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