Before we say our goodbyes to Winter 2010 (which I’m sure we are all looking forward to doing), I wanted to share my favorite images captured during the season of cold and quiet and subdued light. Locations photographed and shown within this online gallery include Dayton and Hocking Hills, Ohio and Zion National Park, Utah. Gallery – The Best of Winter 2010.
Also, I’ve created a short “Pictures You Can Hear”slideshow presentation to accompany the Winter 2010 web gallery.
. . . While at first the only sound heard was the scraping of the snow plow and the occasional passing train outside, the more time I spent with the old instruments, the more I began to see the notes that were once played. As I focused my camera lens upon an interesting array of strings or lines of well-worn organ keys I began to realize that each instrument was at one time the extension of an individual musician, perhaps some accomplished professionals; maybe others just students. Here were the artfully crafted tools used to share a talent and give to others the pure pleasure of simply getting lost in the notes, whether it was with family in a living room, in the church loft above some congregation or in the music room of a grade school.
In many ways being in a room full of such reminders of life moved onward is like the feeling of walking into a child’s room, still adorned with toys and murals from more innocent times, after the child has grown and moved away. I think there’s something in all of us that secretly hopes for a return to those earlier days. Unfortunately the painful yearning of that hope often arrives too late. Yes there’s an element of sadness involved when photographing still life subjects that were once part of someone’s life experience and musical expression. Not surprisingly that’s exactly why such subjects have such a strong appeal to most visual artists. The resulting work is the expression of the heart exposed and is the proof presented of honest intent to just simply share that which is felt within.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting a local office where prints of my work are on display within the client waiting area. The most recent addition to the collection is a 30″x40″ gallery wrap canvas print of Upper Falls in Hocking Hills, Ohio. Next to it is an older print, simply displayed on white mount board, of an autumn landscape from Red River Gorge, Kentucky. Both of these prints show how fine art photography can effectively be displayed without a traditional frame.
In my home I have 13 of the 30″x40″ gallery wrap canvas prints of some of my favorite photographs captured in Hocking Hils, Cuyahoga Valley, Dayton, Zion National Park of Utah and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
By all means I’m not against traditional framing. In fact when done professionally the frame in of itself can be a work of art. I just believe in providing customers who look to buy prints of my photography with as many options as possible when it comes to hanging and displaying large format prints.
The gallery wrap canvas print is an option that I wish more people would consider. It is ideal for an environment where there are neutral walls and where the print can be fairly safe from wandering hands. These prints come direct to the customer from my professional lab, wired and ready for display. For their size they are very light and easy to hang. These prints also provide that added dimension, hence, the “wrap,” that gives the pleasing effect of almost walking the eye “around” the photograph.
For more information regarding sizes and prices, please email or all 1-877-JCrotty (527-6889). Special pricing is available for decorators and commercial art representatives.
The following landscape photographs and video are just a small sample of what I captured during last week’s trip to Zion National Park, on the northwest section of the Colorado Plateau in Utah. There are many more on the way. These were just a few I edited and prepared for posting online during my flight from Las Vegas to Columbus, using my MacBook Pro. The magic of the winter light in the canyons is hauntingly beautiful with the added benefit of the tourists of summer long gone.
Over six inches of snow fell over the Dayton area yesterday. All the white stuff on the ground creates the perfect light box just outside my studio window. Here I’ve photographed an orchid using just window light and a black background. The image was captured using the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens. I also employed a technique now available in Photoshop CS4 that effectively combines multiple exposures of the same scene, each with a different and distinct focal point, for maximum depth of field and detail.
The second image was taken later yesterday evening, just after sundown in the prairie at nearby Sugarcreek MetroPark.
What will the new year bring ? Perhaps the answer lies in the light of the winter landscape, discovered on New Years Day 2010 along the trail at Sugarcreek MetroPark. For me 2009 was filled with exciting adventures and accomplishments, both personal and with my profession, photography. The challenge during the next two months of deep, dark winter will be to hold on to the fruits gained and the seeds harvested during 2009 so that even greater accomplishments and steps forward can be achieved in the coming year.
For everything there is a season. The light turns. Even in the cold quiet of January there are slight hints on the horizon of the promise of a better and brighter tomorrow.
I’ve come to finally know that when I am out by myself on the trails alone, crunching about in the woods with camera and tripod in hand, that I’m never truly alone. Today there is much, much more to that “good light” than there was before.
Some of my favorite nature, landscape, cityscape, travel and event photographs captured during 2009, beginning with New Years Day in Hocking Hills, Ohio and going all through Christmas. It’s been a great year of wonderful, shared adventures with my daughters and many opportunities in capturing interesting subjects in the “good light.” There were some important professional achievements as well including a number of image publications, great editorial assignments, print awards from the Professional Photographers of Ohio, professional certification and the beginning of my photography workshops.
I look forward to all the new adventures and photographic possibilities in 2010.
