An exercise in composition and color...

We had a class field trip to Miami, AZ last weekend. It was my first time there and I enjoyed the trip immensely.

I started out in black & white and made a few exposures with both the 8x10 and 4x5 cameras. Then my friend, the famous Larry Golsh, started egging me on, "When are you going to take some color photographs, Rich?" He said, "Why don't you take a color photograph of those trees over there?" The location was a bare lot between two old buildings... there once was a structure here but it had been torn down long ago. I looked at the trees, and as it IS winter and they were bare and gray, I initially said no thanks. Then I started looking at the colors "around" the trees. I stared at this scene for what seemed like an eternity, mesmerized by the simple yet incredible colors. The green carpet of clovers and grass was like none I have seen yet in Arizona. As I am color-blind I didn't even know what the color of the wall was. The light was very diffuse and there were no shadows. I thought that maybe this could make a great color photograph.

THEN the composition hit me. I tidied up a few things, removing some errant downed branches and twigs. Then I saw the feather. There was only one and it was originally to the left of the trees. I moved it to the base of the center tree. I set up the 4x5, made one color exposure and one black & white (yet to be developed).

I showed this to my mentor, Rod Klukas, this morning. He asked if he could use it as an example in his "Aesthetics and Composition" class at Photomark next week. I guess it worked out.

Thanks to my friend, the famous Larry Golsh, for making me take this photograph!

Superior photographs... well, at least I think so!

Just some miscellaneous photos from two recent trips to Superior.

Below is a black & white from my 8x10" camera on one of our class field trips. I was drawn by the strong horizontal lines, as well as the "dino" and the "ICE" painted on the boarded up window. (We actually had to remove a realtor sign to make this, but we put it back after we were done... ssshhh... don't tell anyone, especially the realtor!).

Below are the color images I have wanted to make for a long time, after seeing my friend Juan Garcia's beautiful black & whites from this magnificent, but decaying historical mural. I made these on a trip to Superior with my friend, the famous Larry Golsh.

The first is a wide shot but does not include the entire wall. The other half of the wall didn't speak to me as much as this half.

Below is another image, a detail from the mural. The piercing eyes are what made this photograph for me.

Thanks, again, to Rod Klukas' color zone system, and an overcast day!

11x14 - Super, man... in Superior

We had a class field trip this past weekend. Started out in Superior for breakfast at the Buckboard Cafe... That's Picasso, I mean Eddie Patelson having his usual pie with ice cream dessert AFTER breakfast! What a guy!

After breakfast we went to Miami... not THAT Miami... Miami, AZ. An old mining town that has definitely seen better days. There are lots of interesting old things to photograph. As soon as I develop my film and scan I will post some images.

After lunch we photographed some more and then headed back home. Along the way we stopped back in Superior to photograph the "wall" with the 11x14.

Taking the big boy out for the first time, with Rod Klukas (left) and Joe Trevino (right).

After setting up the image on the groundglass, inserting the film holder for the first time.

Making sure everything is tight. Click. Done. Now I just have to develop the 154 sq. in. piece of film!

Thanks to my good friend, the famous Larry Golsh for the photographs of this historic occasion.

Gallery Talk - Frederick Sommer - SMoCA, Feb. 19, 2009

I attended a Gallery Talk at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) last night. The current exhibit is "At the Crossroads of American Photography: Callahan, Siskind, Sommer." The talk this night was on Frederick Sommer and was presented by Claire Carter, the co-curator of the show, and Naomi Lyons and Jeremy Cox, co-trustees of the Frederick & Frances Sommer Foundation. The talk was very informative and, of course, the prints were beautiful.

I recorded the gallery talk and have an MP3 file (30MB, 1 hr. 4 min.) linked here (please excuse the first few seconds as I was fumbling to start the recorder after they started talking unexpectedly).

The exhibit continues through May 13, 2009 and is worth the trip.

Imagine... It was forty years ago today... My Sweet Lord!

Nothing to do with photography, but it was forty years ago today that Sgt. Pepper was last to play.

The famous Beatles rooftop concert was their last public performance together as a group. It was an incredible sight for those lucky enough to be there.

The rooftop concert is available on YouTube here.

The rest of us can only imagine... what would it be like if John, Paul, George and Ringo were still together today? Would they be playing the garbage that so-called musicians put out today, or would they be true to their roots, while still being innovators... creating rather than conforming to trends?





I have been lucky enough to see Paul and Ringo several times and consider them to be among the best concerts I have ever been to. I made the CD above, PostFab, because it will never be made by the corporate music world. Those days are forever gone, as are the boys from Liverpool. Rest in Peace, John and George. Long Live Paul and Ringo.

New Show... Press Coffee in City North

My show at Photomark has ended. No sales, but lots of nice comments. I thank Judith at Photomark for putting my work up since November.

As a result of the show, Pepper Coulan, of Sol Shine Gallery, inquired if she could hang some of my work in a small group show at a new Coffee/Wine Bar in City North in Phoenix. Of course I said yes. We hung the show last night. It is more of a "salon" style show, where many different types of artworks are hung as a group, usually stacked high on the wall. Salon style was popular in from mid 19th century to the early 20th century. Not the best way to present fine-art photography, especially 8x10" contact prints, but a new audience is seeing my work.

I am represented by 10 pieces. My mentor Rod Klukas has 4 pieces. Then there are some color scenics and what look to be drawings. It is an eclectic collection to say the least.

Anyway, there will be an "opening" of sorts at 7:00 PM on Saturday, January 31. Press is located at 5410 E. High St., Suite 115, Phoenix, AZ 85054 in the new City North shopping district. City North is just north of the 101 freeway and directly east and adjacent to the Desert Ridge shopping center. Press is on the north side of the street, just east of the "center" of the street. The phone is 480-419-6221. Their website is http://www.presscoffeefoodwine.com/

For more information, please call Pepper Coulon at 602-284-0505. Come and enjoy art, wine, music, and friends.

School Portraits... well, sort of.

Well, it's back to school tonight... Rod Klukas' Large Format Photography class at Scottsdale Community College. This is my social life, this class. There are a great bunch of photographers who take the class semester after semester. Some have taken it almost twenty times. It's my fifth semester and every time I learn something new. Last semester it was the Color Zone System, which has allowed me to seriously investigate color as an artistic outlet. This is especially important to me since I am (red-green) color blind.

Rod has told us he would like to do some portraiture this semester. Initially I was not thrilled as this is not my forte. But after thinking about it I thought it would be different, and something NEW, just like color was last semester. Then I started thinking about the beautiful 11x14" contact portraits that my friend Roger Palmenberg showed. They are absolutely stunning. I would love to be able to make portraits of my wife and daughter of that quality. My portraiture experience has been limited to snapshots for the most part. Once in a while I would get lucky.


My friend, Joe Pollaro, Paterson, NJ, 1984

Back in the early 1980s, when I was starting out with the 4x5" camera, I experimented a little. On my first trip to Carmel, CA in 1984, I stopped in Berkeley to visit my dear friend Fr. John, who had been moved out west from our parish of St. Mary's in Pompton Lakes, NJ. I had gone out west to visit Pt. Lobos and the home of Edward Weston, whose photography I had been studying. I spent a few wonderful days with John, and on the last day I asked him if I could take his portrait with the 4x5. We went up on the roof of his apartment building. I kept thinking of Weston's portrait "The Head of Galvan, shooting".


The Head of Galvan, Shooting, Edward Weston, 1924

The portrait I came away with blew me away. I felt that I had taken a photograph of this wonderful man's soul. The scan here does not do it justice. I have enlarged it to 11x14" but now prefer it as a 4x5" contact print.

Fr. John, Berkeley, CA, 1984

A few more portraits here and there over the next half dozen years, some successful, some not, and I quietly abandoned portraiture for the work I have done since.

With the advent of digital cameras I began dabbling with portraiture, again mostly snapshots. And again, once in a while I would come away with something that I thought was pretty good. And each time that I am successful, it again comes down to the soul of the person.


Clownfest #33, Seaside Heights, NJ, 1999


Dennis Rowland, Scottsdale, AZ, 2008

I am looking forward to this semester's new photographic challenge for me. I hope to post some more successful portraits here soon.