June 30, 2009

Art Work made during Art Trek 2009

The last two weekends has seen me demonstrating my process for making camera-less images, sun prints, chemical prints, daylight print, leaf works or whatever you?d like to think of them as. I did this for Art Trek, at Broomhill Sculpture Park near Barnstaple, North Devon?s open studios event at the end of June.

There was a lot of interest with over 60 people visiting on the last Sunday alone. I was making work throughout Art Trek, the image above being the best constructed image made over the first weekend. I used leaves and more from ?throw-a-way? plants and trees rather than some of the more cultivated ones planted specially in the gardens. This particular image was made using stinging nettles and dock leaves, traditionally used as an anaesthetic for the sting; these plants can always be found together and are like yin and yang, sting and anaesthetic, positive and negative complementing the traditional photographic process I was using.

Over the last weekend I made a few single 5×7 inch unique prints from columbine, elder, ash and foxglove (there may have been other leaves etc and included 2x slugs that got in on the act by accident). These I sold at ?10 each once they were archivally fixed, washed and dried then mounted on foam board. I still have some of these left for sale for ?10 with free p&p through Europe, it?ll cost a fraction more for the States. If you?d like one please visit my main website: http://www.davegreenphoto.co.uk/pages/forest.htm

This is an example of a 5×7 inch unique print made during Art Trek 2009
May 27, 2009

Photo Workshops this Summer

I?ll be running a lot of photography workshops/courses over the summer. Every Tuesday in June and July. The Morning workshops are designed as a basic introduction to digital photography; learning to gain control over your camera, shutter speeds, aperture, iso, flash etc, setting it up for optimum quality under any given lighting, and making better pictures through composition. The Afternoon sessions are based around photographing landscape and the natural environment. This workshop is designed for someone who has a basic knowledge of how to use their camera but now wants to experience the natural landscape in a personal and creative way.

On Wednesday July 22nd I?m doing a special one day workshop exploring triptychs and the constructed image. I?ll will be using historic and contemporary examples and sharing my own experience in this one day workshop. A basic knowledge and experience of using your own digital camera is required for this day. A detailed itinerary for the workshop will be available soon. See my website for details: http://www.davegreenphoto.co.uk/pages/workshops.htm

Also I?ll be leading, with Caroline Preston a couple of residential courses, developing and exploring photographic techniques, at Beaford Arts. The first one?s for school years 9-11 and starts 10:00 Thursday 30th – 16:00 Friday 31st July and the second is for school years 6-8 and starts 10:00 Monday 3rd – 16:00 Tuesday 4th August. Details are here: http://www.beaford-arts.org.uk/index.php?id=21 also whilst you?re there check out my pages as a Beaford Artist: http://www.beaford-arts.org.uk/index.php?id=84 and: http://www.beaford-arts.org.uk/index.php?id=57 thanks to Jane at Beaford for these!

Talking of which I?ll also be having an exhibition of current work there during the last week of July and the first week of August. And I?ll be running some very special workshops for adults at Beaford over the weekend of 1st and 2nd August, I haven?t fully planned it yet, but think camera-less, so if there?s anything you?d like me to cover let me know; details will arrive here as soon as it?s all finalised.

May 15, 2009

Art Trek

Suddenly I?m a lot busier than I was, fitting in 2? days teaching at East Devon College in Tiverton, I?ve lapsed in my blog writing. Neither have I made many new images recently, of the large ?art? variety, as my best camera lens is being repaired. But I see this summer as a very creative time.

On Thursday 28th May I?ll be promoting Art Trek on the quay, under canvas, at the Appledore Visual Arts Festival. Art Trek for real starts three weeks later and I?ll be based at Broomhill Sculpture Park between Barnstaple and Muddiford making camera-less images. This will be the first time that I have used traditional photographic chemicals and paper for eight years and it will be fascinating to see what I can make from the leaves I find in Broomhill’s wonderful gardens. This will be a taste of the Year of the Artist residency I did with an Arts Council grant in 2001. I?ll be next to the Broomhill Stables (which will house North Devon Art?s Square Picture Show) on the 20th, 21st, 27th and 28th June 2009.

Whilst preparing for this residency I came across a whole load of unfinished work that I made in 2001 at the National Forest in Leicestershire. I had been making so many new pieces during the Year of the Artist residency that most of them had never been constructed together and mounted; I had quickly moved onto other things in 2001. these ?old? new pieces will be shown whilst I?m at Broomhill, one of them will also be show in the Queens theatre Caf? Gallery, Barnstaple, during June.

I had hoped to do some workshops during the Tuesdays of Art Trek, but I?m now committed to teaching in Tiverton. However if the interest is there, I?ll be happy to do something like this later in the summer.

February 17, 2009
2

I bring these things on myself!

After writing about how things change I was reminded of another current image, which will be in the Ruby Expo, which has changed – through my own mistake!

Atlantic Aperture (collapsed) was shown originally at Trelawney Garden Centre with Atlantic Aperture, shown one super-imposed on the other above. Following is the text that accompanied the two images:

We are living on the frontier of climate change here in North Devon. Our coast is living proof of historical changes through different heights of sea level and the comings and goings of Ice Ages. As the speed of change increases, so does the evidence. In the three years I?ve been photographing the North Devon coast I?ve seen caves disappear as their roofs have collapsed into the sea. This image is a combination of two that are in this exhibition; the original ?Atlantic Aperture? was shot in the spring of 2006 and the other was the same place one year later. This was an eight metre high tunnel, a passage from a small sheltered bay to the roar of the Atlantic, situated just west of Hartland Point and only accessible at low tide. Now, buried under a huge landslip, it?s only entrance is from the sea.

Anyway, I digress. I went to print Atlantic Aperture (collapsed) for the Ruby Expo, as they had accepted the image I had sent them as above, however, search as I might through my computer, external drives, back-up DVDs etc I could not find the image. So I resigned to making it again from scratch. Bizarrely after half a day of concerted Photoshop effort it turned out different, I believe better, than it was.

I?m not sure if there is a moral here. It ought to be ?keep your workspace clean and tidy?, ?file everything away in a methodical fashion?, ?always make a back-up of your files?. But my loss is also my gain as the new construction from the original frames is better than it had been. Perhaps the moral should be all of the above plus ?occasionally re-work your images?!

New version of Atlantic Aperture (collapsed), Hartland, North Devon 2009

February 16, 2009

How things change….

I have four new works in the current North Devon Arts, New Year New Work show at Broomhill Art Hotel and five more in a two day group show at Holsworthy Memorial Hall over the weekend of 21st & 22nd Feb for the inaugural Ruby Country Art Expo.

Both of these shows demanded new work, the NDA?s had to have been made during the last year and the Expo?s the last two years. It?s always good to make new work and it gives me the impetus to look at all of my ?work-in-progress? and decide which ones I?m still drawn to and will look good, once completed, in the respective shows.

One of the images I chose to bring on from thumbnail to artwork was Hermit Hole, Grand Canyon, March 2008 (thumbnail on the left/above). This was originated from time based in Tucson in the winter of early 2008. This was the first trip I had hiked below the rim of the Grand Canyon and it was fantastic. A lot of compacted snow and ice at the trail heads but further down it got brighter and warmer. This image, made of 47 separate digital frames, was found on the Hermit Trail, hence its name. It was the edge of what would have been a huge waterfall after a good thunderstorm, but when I was there it was totally dry, but there were the odd pools of water left further down.

Here you see how the image has radically changed through the intentional reconstruction of the many photographic frames to make it as realistic and truthful as possible but without loosing its sense of mystery and place. There is a continual battle as I construct an image between the placing of each ?jigsaw puzzle piece? on my computer screen in Photoshop, making sure each piece is in the right place and at the right angle; with my memory of how the place looked and felt, bearing in mind that I am transforming a three dimensional space, a 180 degree, fish-eye view, of a place onto a two dimensional canvas.

A similar, but not so dramatic difference was noticed with an image for the Ruby show: Striped Wall, Combe Martin. I have taken to making a thumbnail of an image using Photoshop?s ?photomerge? to give me an idea if it ?works? or whether I want to pursue it any further. Photomerge is great for merging up to 5 or 6 frames together (so long as they have been taken on a similar plain and have similar tonal values); but to combine more than this successfully I have to make my frames thumbnail sized.

Another use for this thumbnail is as an image to send to a gallery etc for inclusion in a show or for a press release. Once the image has been accepted I have to put the real work in making the constructed image full size, in this case a file of 750mb to make a fine quality print of up to 1.5metres.