The Right Way, the Wrong Way, and…

This image was made before I knew what I was doing.  I have recently begun to realize that I was a much better photographer when my goal was to make pretty pictures with the aid of a camera and some black and white film.  I’d never read an MTF chart, didn’t know what the big deal was about German glass.

I just got some film, introduced some light by way of a simple floor lamp, and made pictures.

 

This was made using my first complete medium format camera outfit, a Pentax 645 with a standard lens.  I didn’t know anything about exposure compensation at the time. I remember an episode of Kung Fu (I think so, anyway) where it was said: “I seek to be a cup, empty of myself, to be filled with the oneness of the universe”. Decades later, I finally get it.

Sunday Morning

17, originally uploaded by silverglyph.

This image was created with my first (functioning) medium format camera, a Pentax 645. I had this strange habit of leaving a warm bed, and the woman who shared it with me at the time, in order to prowl the streets in the wee hours just after dawn with a camera. On this particular morning, the water was so calm, it reminded me of glass. I’d never seen the Detroit River so peaceful.

The gull reminds me of myself, venturing out alone in the semi-darkness, enjoying the peace and introspection that solitude sometimes brings.

Yet Another Allegory (at least it’s not another love song)

Untitled-1, originally uploaded by silverglyph.

When I look at this image, I think about how tulips close when surrounded by darkness. A little light prompts them to open up again. It makes me think about how jaded we can become, and how the act of creation can creak open the door to one’s soul, so that light might have a chance to dance again.

More Than a Thousand Words

It is amazing when one realizes the true profundity of the ability to communicate through pictures. This image illustrates how one might use a photograph to communicate in ways that actually transcend written and spoken words.

While roaming the university grounds one day,  I came across the subjects pictured above.  The gentleman apparently spoke not a word of English, and I but one word of Chinese. Fortunately, a simple greeting in Chinese and a gesture with the camera was all it took to obtain his permission to photograph this precious scene.  I nodded a “thank you”, he nodded an acknowledgement, and I resumed my journey to no place in particular.

As luck would have it, about a week later, I ran across this gentleman again.  We recognized each other, and with a few gestures, I somehow persuaded him to wait at the corner near the building in which he apparently lived,  while I ran to my car, which was parked about a block and a half away.  Upon returning, I presented him with a printed copy of this photograph.  The look of joy upon his face was worth immeasurably more than a thousand words.

The Foggiest of Notions

21, originally uploaded by silverglyph.

It’s about time I posted something here, seeing as I apparently signed up for this blog over a year ago. Call me Ishmael if you like, but that is not my name.  I am a photographer. An artist actually. I use cameras to make art, much in the same way I occasionally use pens, pencils, paint, etc. to do the same.

I have this thing about fog. The amorphous character of the stuff is what attracts me.  I suppose one could see this as an allegory to my life as an artist. Sometimes I paint. I might spend weeks, or months, a few days,  or ten minutes fascinated with what one can accomplish with the simplest of tools, namely graphite and paper.  Stopping on a dime, as it were, I can suddenly become mesmerized for weeks, or months, a few days, or ten minutes by the technical skill, upper body strength, patience and determination required to create just one image, hopefully a good one, using an 8×10 view camera and black and white film.
The one common thread that seems to stitch together my drive to create images, regardless of the tools and methods, is the simplicity of black, white and shades of gray. Thus the name of this blog.