I have been selected as a finalist in the Black Mtn. Photography Contest!

Sunset and Thunderstorm, Black Mountain, Cave Creek, AZ, © 2011 by Richard M. Coda

Today I received notice that I am one of the thirteen finalists in the 2011 Black Mountain Photography Contest. Black Mountain is the signature mountain at the far north end of Valley in Cave Creek, AZ.

Each of the thirteen finalists will be published in the annual Black Mountain Calendar. There are prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, but also a "People's Choice" award that can be voted on in person at either the Cave Creek Museum or the Desert Foothills Library, or online via Facebook. The winner of the People's Choice will get the calendar cover.

Please vote for my image by clicking here.

You should never mix brown and blue...

Plywood, Miami, AZ, 2009 by Richard M. Coda

What? Who made that rule? Tim Gunn?

For as long as I can remember they (who is "they" anyway?) always said never mix brown and blue. I think they were talking about suits... don't wear a brown tie with a blue suit. Well, I was never one to follow what the fashion police said... but I think in this case they are wrong. I do know brown and yellow go together from listening to Rodney Dangerfield... "I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. He told me to wear a brown neck tie."

Anyway, here are a few photographs where brown and blue are the two main colors... and they work very well together.

Rusted Garage Door, Superior, AZ, 2009 by Richard M. Coda

Pt. Lobos, CA 2007 by Richard M. Coda

As I am color blind (red-green) I have never believed anything anyone has ever told me about color... I can only tell you what I see. All photographed on 4x5" Fuji Velvia 100 film. Thanks to the famous Larry Golsh for egging me on to take the Superior and Miami images...

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign…

Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign
– Five Man Electrical Band

I went out photographing with friends John Prouty and Juan Garcia early Sunday morning on October 31. I had a few places I wanted to photograph before they disappear, as things tend to do after I photograph them.

We started out on McDowell Rd. just west of Rt. 51. I had been wanting to photograph this sign for some time as we are bombarded by "Gold" commercials on TV these days.

After I made the exposure on my 4x5 I looked a few feet away and saw this chain link fence with lock and chain.

After these two I drove down the road a block or two and got this image I had also been wanting to photograph. Three images in 30 minutes… not bad.

A few more blocks west was this building that John had been wanting to photograph. John used his 8x10 while I used my 4x5.

After that we went downtown and found a few more things before calling it a day.

This was the first day out photographing after a long hot summer and it felt good to just get out and have some fun. Coming soon, some 4x5 images made at City Center in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving week.

Special Primordial Clouds Print Offer - $25 11x14"

I have always been fascinated by clouds. Originally in black & white, and recently in color. The annual monsoon season here in Arizona can provide some spectacular skies in both the mornings and the evenings.

I started a series this year and hope to add to it every year and whenever else the heavens oblige. In honor of this new series I am offering 11x14" Special Edition Prints (8x12" image size) for a special price of $25 plus $5 S/H through midnight, Saturday, August 28, 2010. This is a great deal and you know you've always wanted one... so visit http://www.rcodaphotography.com/primordial/ and pick out your favorites today.

Remember, the sale ends at midnight, Saturday, August 28, 2010.

Prescott

John Wayne, in progress, by Lindsay Coda, chalk on pavement, 2010

Pronounced PRES-skit. Make sure you don't say PRES-skot in town... you will be laughed all the way back to Phoenix.

Anyway, while my daughter was painting her John Wayne portrait at the Prescott Chalk it Up festival last weekend, I took an hour each day to just wander around town with my wife and grab some breakfast. During these walks I found a few things to photograph. I had the Nikon D300 with me during breakfast.

They also had great entertainment, including these young ladies.

I also brought the 4x5" and 8x10" view cameras with me, just in case. Good thing, because there were two images I couldn't pass up. I took both of these with the 4x5" on Velvia 100.

Hugo's, Prescott, AZ, 2010 by Richard M. Coda

The Warehouse, Prescott, AZ, 2010 by Richard M. Coda

VOTE!, Prescott, AZ, 2010 by Richard M. Coda

And, last but not least, don't forget to VOTE... For Lindsay by tomorrow, and in November... and remember, "VOTE THEM ALL OUT!"

Public Art...

My friend, Juan Garcia, is very interested in "public art"... not the kind that is funded my cities and states, but the kind that is sometimes legal, sometimes sponsored, and sometimes good. Graffiti, in other words. He has amassed quite a body of work on this genre and is working on a photo book.

About a month ago Juan invited me out on a Sunday morning to show me some of the places he has photographed this public art in Phoenix. Our friend Tiffany Pacileo came along as well. He has also photographed in Tucson and Los Angeles.

One place in particular he took me to was behind the Barrio Cafe on 16th Street in Phoenix. This is a fine-dining Mexican restaurant, who's chef, Silvana Salcido Esparza, has been nominated for a James Beard Award this year. One of the neat features of this place is that the owner of the restaurant has commissioned a local artist, El Moisés, to paint a mural on the block wall that lines the driveway and parking lot behind the restaurant. This mural was written up in the Arizona Republic in December, 2009.

Barrio Cafe mural by El Moisés, 2010

There are many distinct sections to the mural and it incorporates Aztec, Chicano, Pop Art, and Religious elements. One particular element that caught my attention was the Lucha libre (free wrestling) masks. These are masks worn by "professional" wrestlers of Latino descent. I remember watching them as a kid, when pro wrestling was good. Remember Bruno Sammartino, George the Animal Steele, and the Iron Sheik? Those were the good ol' days. These look almost like those Power Ranger cartoon guys.

Barrio Cafe mural by El Moisés, 2010

Anyway, we checked out a few more places, and I came across this. It is an old window or something, that has been boarded up, and had bars put up over it. Then it was colorfully painted. The colors, textures and geometry were very interesting all together.

Painted Grid, Phoenix, 2010, by Richard M. Coda

After we called it a morning I headed to a place that I had found a week earlier, on Seventh Street just south of Roosevelt, a few blocks north of Chase Field. It is an old ad on the side of a building that houses Avant-Garde William & Co. It kind of reminds me of the Babbitt's Ad that I photographed in Flagstaff back in 2008, only this time black & white just didn't work for me. Actually, I want to photograph the Babbitt's ad in color as well.

803, Phoenix, AZ, 2010 by Richard M. Coda

All of these images were shot with 4x5 Velvia transparency film.

Remember, you have until Sunday to vote for Lindsay's John Wayne chalk painting at Prescott eNews. Vote and vote often!

Colour My World...

Citrus, 2010 by Richard M. Coda

Yes, the famous slow-dance song by Chicago from the 1970s. But also the new mantra of a formerly black & white only kinda guy.

My wife brought home some tangelos and lemons given to her by one of her friends. The colors were so intense I had to photograph them. I picked up a couple of dark limes from the store to finish out the palette. Then I put them in a mahogany bowl I made in high school. I love this bowl. Years after I moved out of my parents house I came by one weekend when my mother was having a yard sale. And there was MY bowl... on sale for a nickel! Well, I couldn't stand the thought of that bowl in some stranger's house so I bought it back. Anyway...

I set everything up in the afternoon shade in our back yard and photographed it on Fuji Velvia 100 with the 4x5" camera. These colors are not fake, even though they might look it.

I have always told my daughter that you can't be a famous artist until you do a bowl of fruit. Now, I am famous!

More Old Color

Just going through some more old chromes where I got lucky and made a good exposure.

Ellis Island, NY, 1984 by Richard M. Coda


Pinnacles National Monument, CA, 1980s by Richard M. Coda


Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, 1990 by Richard M. Coda
This is a honeymoon photo on 8x10 transparency film.


Zion National Park, UT, 2000 by Richard M. Coda

My Colorful Past...

Actually, I never really got into any trouble...

After hanging my show at Phoenix Country Day School I took a look at the prints. First thing I noticed is that I had never seen so many (32) of my images up at once. The second thing I noticed is that nine out of the thirty-two images were color, and that I could have put many more color images up. Two years ago, this show would have been all black & white. What happened? I guess the blinders were taken off by my mentor, Rod Klukas.

I had never had great success with color before, especially since I am color-blind to an extent. I did have a rare success once in a while, but until I bought my first digital camera I didn't do much color. So I started thinking back about large format-based film color photography that I had attempted in the past. It does exist, and there are a few good images, but they never made it to a print. Partially because the digital revolution hadn't happened yet and it was expensive and a PITA to get color done. So the transparencies sat in a box. Well, I decided to fish them out and scan a few.

Parking Lot, A&P, Paterson, NJ, 1983 by Richard M. Coda

Pt. Lobos, California, 1984 by Richard M. Coda

Jockey Hollow, NJ by Richard M. Coda, late 1980s

It's hard to say if my vision has changed... I know what I am looking at these days is a lot different than what was available to me back then in New Jersey. These are kind of a mish mosh with no real theme other than color. Just thought it would be interesting to look back.

More Inspirations to come soon.

But is it really Art?

I don't think so. Well, my photograph is, of course ;^)

Another of my color shots from last weekend. I took this one for my daughter as she wants to go to art school.

Walk on the Wild Side

On my recent outing with John Prouty I photographed at the corner of 16th Street and Van Buren Street in Phoenix. Not the best area of town but worth photographing.

I had discovered this a few weeks ago while driving my daughter to a College Fair at the Phoenix Convention Center. They had just repainted the facade of this building and I could not believe the color choices. Dayglo Lime Green and Orange... side by side! I was also attracted to the signage and the windows plastered with newspapers. I told my daughter that I had to photograph this. She begged me to bring someone with me to watch my back while under the dark cloth.

I shot this on the 4x5 with a 450mm lens from across the street. There is a bus stop just outside the frame to the left. There was also what I would assume was a "working girl" waiting for the bus. I would have loved for her to be in the photo but the bus came before I could set the camera up and meter. Oh well, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo...

Another one bites the dust... again

2504, Phoenix, AZ, 2008, Richard M. Coda

Well, another of my color images has been painted over. This is really starting to worry me now.

This one may not be too bad... they painted it yellow and white. I will go back and re-photograph this one.

I read in the Arizona Republic today (Scottsdale section) that they are having a "south Scottsdale revitalization meeting" this week. Although this image is in Phoenix it is on McDowell Rd. – one of the targets of this "revitalization". I am sure Phoenix is on a parallel track here. I really hope they don't take these lively neighborhoods and wrap them in vanilla. We moved out here because everything was different than New Jersey, where almost everything looks the same. That is starting to happen here now, too, and I'm sure long-time residents will tell me that it's been going on for a longer time than I am aware of.

BINGO!

I will always remember those words. My Mom used to be a Bingo nut. Playing at five different places each week, including the Elks Club that was across the street from our home in Pompton Lakes, NJ. These old ladies can be a rough crowd, especially when cheap drinks are involved. "Shake up your balls!" they'd yell at the old guy running the machine. Then, he'd stand up and slowly gyrate his pelvis – as best a senior citizen could do without putting himself in the hospital.

Anyway, growing up in the 1970s, once in a while, especially during the summer months when nothing was going on in "Mayberry", as my late mother-in-law called it, I would accompany my mother across the street on a Wednesday night. I can still smell the cigarettes!

After I moved to Arizona and met Randy Efros, I found this Bingo Hall a few blocks from his home in Phoenix. I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to photograph it. A few weeks ago I finally found the time on one of my Sunday morning surgical photo strikes. I started out with the 8x10" camera in black & white, then switched to the 4x5" camera and shot both color and black & white. I still have to develop the BW negatives, but I have the color.

As it is Mother's Day soon, these are for Mom!

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning

I was driving around while my daughter was taking her painting class two weeks ago and I remembered that my mentor, Rod Klukas, had told me about a freshly painted building a few blocks away on McDowell Rd. near Rt. 51. I drove by and knew I had to make this image in color.

I went past it and turned around to see it from the other side of the street. I pulled in a parking lot and set the 4x5" camera up with a Fuji 450c lens which can bring me across the street with ease. This was a tough one to meter and I believe I metered for the magenta. Kind of reminds me of a rainbow.

Anyway, watch out sailors!

2 Years in the Making...

As Tom Petty said, "The Waiting is the hardest part."

I have wanted to take this photo for almost 2 years now. It is on the corner of 32nd St. and Oak St. in Phoenix. Usually, the sun is not right or too harsh and it washes the colors out. Or, they would have "Corona" Beer banners plastered all over it.

Two Saturdays ago everything was perfect. I was in the area because I took my daughter to her painting class. It was raining lightly. And there were no ugly banners in place. I drove by but it was raining into where I would have my lens pointing. So I drove around some more, got a cup of coffee, went to see Rod. An hour and a half later the rain stopped and it was still overcast. Perfect for color! I drove back, set up the 4x5" camera and made the exposure in less than 10 minutes.

I love this image... it has so many colors in it and they are all very strong. And the cow makes the image. I can't wait to see it printed large.

Color Without Form...

I was out photographing a few Sundays ago and ended up at the Scottsdale Civic Plaza. There is this tree trunk in front of the brushed steel surface of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art that I wanted to photograph in black & white with the 8x10" camera. I made my exposure and then thought about how beautiful the Civic Plaza, or Mall as they call it, is. They have sculptures, fountains, grass and flower beds. In particular, pansies. I have loved pansies since I was a small child. My grandfather always grew the most beautiful pansies. Their colors are pure and strong.

So I went back to the car and switched cameras to the 4x5" and brought color film with me. I set up to try and do some close ups of the pansies. However, with the limited depth of field I was getting, and the gentle breeze that was making the flowers move, I became frustrated. Better to do these in the studio under controlled lighting. Then I took my glasses off for a minute to rub my eyes. Things were blurry as I was looking at the flower beds... but they looked beautiful. So, I went back to the camera and deliberately threw it way out of focus and started panning for compositions. I was amazed at how pure the colors are when you don't have to worry about form. I made one exposure to see how it would turn out.

It turned out rather nicely, I think, so I want to do a series in this style, printed very large on watercolor paper. I know people will say "All you did was blur it in Photoshop." Then I can show them the chrome and they can see for themselves. I really did look for the composition after I had de-focused on the ground glass. It is kind of gimmicky, which seems to be what curators, judges, and critics want these days (that's for another discussion)... who knows? And, as one day everything will look like this to me, why not get used to it now :^)

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!

Color, Color Everywhere...

For someone who is color blind and never had any success with color, I am absolutely loving it now that I have discovered the "color zone system."

Below are some (quick and dirty) scans of some recent 4x5" work. I welcome your comments. Enjoy!