"Imagine. Make. Create." opens Thursday 29th 5-7pm

The annual student exhibit at Gallery 51 opens on Thursday evening. Congrats to all of the students who got work in the show!

Painting with Light

To paint with a brush, you stick the brush in some pigment and then smush, smear, or gently caress a surface with the paintbrush – and viola! in time and with editing, a good image! With photography instead of a paintbrush you can grab a flashlight, set the camera on a tripod and at a long exposure, and then smush, smear or gently caress the scene with the light – and woot! in time and with editing, a good image! “Light Painting” is a technique in photography where the artist moves a light source while creating the photo, thus building images that have a wide array of light and shadow effects that cannot be accomplished any other way. The results can be spooky, sublime, dream-like and futuristic depending on the scene, the lighting you create, and the colors.

Probably the most famous example is this photo of Picasso quickly moving an ember to draw with light, by Yousef Karsh:

Besides burning sticks, you could use a flashlight, a laser pointer, a glow-stick, LED keychain – anything with a light. You’ll need longer time exposures to get the effects – experimentation helps. You could tie a flashlight to a string, and suspend it from a ceiling or swing it in the air. You could lash together fifty lights and sweep them through a room. You could take one powerful hand-held spotlight and illuminate the night, or use cardboard reflectors and the headlights of a parked car. The potential and possibilities to make images that are unusual seem endless: all you need is creative approaches to your scenery. (And don’t forget that you can alter your ‘white balance’ settings to amplify the color of the light in radical ways). Here’s some outstanding contemporary examples: 

Jens Warnecke and Cenci Goepel of Lightmark created these surreal moments: 

Kay Canavino of Adams, MA, has done a wide array of award-winning night scenes using light painting. For example:

To see more of Canavino’s work, click here: Night Portraits.

Chad Coombs –  inventive, gritty, and lively photographs include this high-fashion, dream-like portrait: 

In addition to his stunning fine art work, Patrick Rochon has used light painting for ads for Honda. He  makes incredible, surreal imagery as solo and group portraits:

A hearty thank you to Kay, Chad, Jens and Cenci, and Patrick, who each kindly gave permission to allow their photos to be posted here.  :) 

Students: I dare you to try out some light painting. Not required as a project, but will give 1-3 points extra credit if you try light painting and post your results to Picasa. Otherwise, your assignment is to keep working on your final project images, about which I urge you to carefully consider each composition -- your framing, cropping, rotation, etc. Reshoot if needed, edit as always. Deadlines are getting close so be sure that you figure out which publisher to use, and start building your book.

Finally, please schedule time to go to this year’s student art show, “Make. Imagine. Create.” which opens Thursday evening at Gallery 51. I believe Alex, Signe, Kevin and Stephanie have photos in the show, along with the artworks of many other students!

Feature Artist: Anita Alvarez

Artist Anita Alvarez created this thoughtful composition for our 100 Steps project:

In her bio Anita noted that "My passion for photography has grown over the years but really took a spike with my first nikon last year. I specifically love landscape & portraiture which some may say are complete opposites, but i love nature and people. My mother & I have done lots of traveling around the world & my passion for people, culture, & landscape most definitely arose from there."

Feature Artist: Walter Bouchard

Here's a wild and inventive photo from Walter Bouchard, from his 10x100 project for our class:

Feature Artist: Stephanie Naffah

Photographer and Arts Management Major Stephanie Naffah developed this image as part of her final project:

On her website Stephanie noted that she is "the secretary of Mass. College of Liberal arts Photography club. I work at MCLA Gallery 51. Since I can remember, I have been dramatically drawn to photography. When I looking at other works of art I get inspired. By observing other pieces of art, and have create new ideas for photo shoots and photos. Have practiced photography since 2003."

Feature Artist: Nicole Gelinas

Artist Nicole Gelinas created these two photo as part of her in-depth final project for our class:

On her website Nicole noted a semi-secret truth, that "Art requires a special kind of madness to be pulled off correctly."

Feature Artist: Danielle Christensen

Danielle Christensen uses her mad cartoon skillz to develop this photo series:

She said on her blog "My concentration in in illustration, and photography, and soon animation. Cartooning is my real passion and when there is a way that i can input some of that cartoon fun, i do it in a heart beat. "

Feature Artist: Alex Massar

Alex Massar created this as part of his narrative, staged series for our class. This witty photo's title is 'Story Time':

On his website, Alex noted: "To tell you a little more about myself, I am a musician at heart and a photographer for fun, I love to do wierd and new things with my camera that people don't expect. My involvement with photography on campus is pretty heavy, as of now I have taken two thirds of the photography classes we have to offer here, and I am president of the photography club, which I have spent the last year modifying into a modern and exciting club to take part in."

Feature Artist: Kevin Mack

Kevin Mack's narrative series of photos from our class included this gem:

Kevin also makes a lot of nature and adventure-related work, such as

Kevin wrote: "Kevin Mack is an Adventure Education major who runs weekly outdoor trips through the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Outdoors Club. His weekly outdoor adventures are always captured through his camera lens." In fact the photo above was staged in the Outdoor Club's storage room.

Feature Artist: Barbara Lampron

Our peer Barbara Lampron has created a great series of photos of youthful chickens. Here's one:

Barbara is an avid cyclist and kayaker. She noted in her bio that she is "Currently a non-traditional student at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts with an interest in dark room techniques to create botanical based photograms," and of course many experiments in digital photography too!

Feature Artist: Signe Kutzer

Here's a delightful photo by our colleague Signe Kutzer, from her series of strong Farm Women of Vermont:

Signe notes: "I am currently a college student pursuing my passion of becoming a successful artist. Since I can remember, my world involved imaginative creations of what I observe. The satisfaction my mind and body receives when dive into a hands on project is purely euphoria. My eye is drawn to nature's organic shapes, textures, and colors. I am intrigued with what surrounds us, our environment, whether that be the trees or the structures that man has created. My photographs capture not only the moment and story of the content but record my emotional attachment to the subject. I strive for beauty and meaning within all of my photographs. They embody the mood of what is visible and what is not. I want viewers to experience not only what I did at that moment, but to have their own personally relationship.... their own story."

Photo Battle!

Just for fun --

as a followup to the previous post regarding how you recognize the quality of your own photos...

There's a website where you can post a handful of your own photos and have them paired against other photos. The general public votes on which photo they like better! Trustworthy? Probably not. But it is very interesting and entertaining to see what photos people tend to like more than others, and a few enterprising punks like to post silly photos. :) Click the link to enjoy...

Photo Battle

Once you go there, try clicking on 'scoreboard' to see the current photos with the most positive votes. 

How Do You Know if Your Photo's Good?

Excellence. Excitement. Vision. Meaning. In addition to raw technical issues such as exposure, lighting, signal vs. noise, and focus -- when we're making art we're creating meaning. We're creating images that speak to us, that are interesting to look at, and fun to be around. How do you know if your photo has got it -- that special something that provokes people (including you the artist) to think about and consider the image?

For most artists, there's a point in one's technical practice when one is no longer struggling with specific craft issues, and instead, the technique occurs seamlessly and smoothly. This is called skill transcendence, when all of your skills and artistry come together and work as a group smoothly so that you feel in the zone, that things occur nearly automatically. A pianist who practices scales for a long time gains the dexterity and memory to play without thinking exactly where every finger ought to go -- instead, she can sight read the music, translate to another key, etc. If she had to think about every movement of each finger, she'd go too slow to play the tune. If you were learning skiing (or really any sport), you'd see how in the beginning your form was all over the place, skis angling and arms flailing and body wobbly, tentative. In contrast the expert skier appears smooth, efficient, with a quiet and focused form -- instead of concentrating on 'getting my back leg to weight and angle to make a turn down the fall line while punching my ski pole forwards and twisting at the waist' the expert feels and looks simpler and calmer like he is 'just skiing.' After much practice, you just don't have to think about every skill all the time. Your analytic mind is out of the way, and yet you feel wholly engaged. In photography, skills are exposure, focus, planning the camera's settings, and of course composing the image. Probably the creation of meaningful images happens mostly  when skills are so strong that you don't need to always be thinking of them, and can instead focus on the imagery. Of course when something goes wrong, the highly skilled artist can step back from making images and analyze technical issues to adjust and revise the entire process.

The skills you are using to create a photo depend on what kinds of photography you create, which includes what kinds of meaning you wish to provoke audiences to consider. Photographers have spoken frequently about how they recognize quality in their own work, for example...

Ansel Adams emphasized the need to move beyond mere technique when he said: “There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” He also centered in on realism, when he noted that photography is "a blazing poetry of the real" but hinted at emotion too: "A great photography is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed."

Alfred Eisenstadt connected skill transcendence with artistry: “I dream that someday the step between my mind and my finger will no longer be needed. And that simply by blinking my eyes, I shall make pictures. Then, I think, I shall really have become a photographer.”

Yousef Karsh emphasized the psychological impact of his portraiture: “Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.” and “Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can.”

Man Ray preferred meanings: “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson linked reason, skill and emotion: “To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis.”

Diane Arbus emphasized the importance of her subject matter when she said: “I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them” and “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.”

Dorothea Lange gave some advice about where artistic meaning comes from: “Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion... the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.”

So I have a question for you: 

How do you recognize your own best work? What's different about it than artworks you've produced that just aren't quite so compelling? Does it look different than your mediocre or poor work? Does making your best work feel different than when you've made moderate work? Do your best images convey more or better meanings than otherwise? Which meanings? Why? What is your motivation to take pictures?

Use the comments to post your thoughts and ideas...

The Cascade

The Cascade, 12"x30" digital archival print [iso100, f22, 1.3s]. I posted it here so that you could see how I revised this image. I was dissatisfied with the overall composition: felt like the gnarled roots in the middle popped up out of nowhere, that the balance of the waterfall with the rock walls was too harsh, the focus a bit off, etc. So I went back to the scene, reshot everything, rebuilt the panorama and arrived at this image:

This has a better sense of depth, a calmer balance from left to right, and a few spots of new interest -- the bokeh at the top middle due to moisture in the air, and a couple zones where ferns have some motion blur due to a breeze during the long time exposures needed to make the photo. The focus is also crisper throughout. Printed at full size 300dpi this would be 12" tall and 33" wide.

The Cascade is a wonderful place here in North Adams, MA… just a short hike from the trailhead, and nestled deep in the woods. Whenever I go there it feels otherworldly and intense, waterfalls thundering in the early Spring.

Professional Photo Websites for Free

Digital art and digital photography can and should be placed online. Unfortunately professional design services and website management software could cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Ugh! But what if I told you that you didn’t need any special software, that making a website could be surprisingly easy, and free, or only ten dollars a year?

There’s two web services that I recommend you use for creating high quality websites that feature your work for free. The first is Weebly.com, the second is Wordpress.com. 

I’ve created an example Weebly website at this link:   http://gregscheckler.weebly.com

Weebly.com is shockingly easy to use, has some good clean templates, and nice photo gallery functions. You could definitely use it as a professional website if you keep the design straightforward and direct.

Currently my professional website is driven using Wordpress: http://www.gregscheckler.com I get about 55,000 visitors per year at this website – much broader exposure than any other marketing venue that I currently use. I use 1and1.net, at a cost of about $10 per year, to register and own the domain name gregscheckler.com, and then have the free Wordpress website (http://gregscheckler.wordpress.com) automatically routed to the name gregscheckler.com.   Wordpress has a lot more functions than Weebly, and you should try it someday, but it's interface isn't as intuitive as Weebly's. 

So here's what to do for today's online project... create a Weebly website:

1.       Go to Weebly.com and sign up for a free Weebly account.

2.       Choose a name and Create a free website.

a.       the website name is probably best if it includes your name, since after all your name as an artist is the main way that people recognize you.

3.       Select an exceptionally clean, simple Template

a.       don’t select complex, hyper, or overly colorful templates or themes… the purpose here is to keep your audience focused on you as an artist and your artworks.
b.    if you select a theme with a large header or photo, customize it w/your own art.
c.     don't select any of the add-ons or teasers (don't pay for anything).

4.       Know that in Weebly, everything works basically by dragging and dropping design elements into the website.

a.       Remember, the goal here is to feature your photography.

b.      Click on 'Save' and on ‘Publish’ frequently to save your work

5.       Create these pages:

a.       Homepage

b.      About the Artist

c.       Announcements (use the ‘create new blog’ function for this one)

d.      Photography

6.       Make the ‘Homepage’ your front page and put a picture or slideshow on it.

7.       Make ‘Announcements’ into the blog page; here you will post announcements such as when you are in a show, when you’ve taken an interesting photo, etc.

8.       For now, write a sentence or two about yourself on the About the Artist page.

9.       Place gallery of photos on the Photography page (select 5 to 10 of your best photos, upload them, and follow directions for making an album in Weebly via their ‘multimedia’ menu)

10.   Click 'Publish' again, and then Post a link to your new website in the comments section of today's post here at gregscheckler.blogspot.com

One of the best parts about Wordpress and Weebly is that if you decide you don’t like the website, you can either change the template or theme and try a different design without losing any of the content that you’ve posted, or, you can easily delete the whole thing. It doesn’t cost anything but a little time to set it up, so you’ve lost no money.

The project is finished once you've posted your website to the comments. The next part of today's post is for reading (not doing...) 

So then what do you do with your new website, if you choose to keep using it?

Here’s one thing that a website is really good for… testing your advertising. The fact is that advertising in magazines, newspapers etc. can cost a lot of money. Photographers sometimes make a lot of money w/a decent ad. But it’s hard to figure out what ads will work well. And if you’re like me then you don’t want to spend $1,000 on an ad that doesn’t work. So, how do you test the market before sinking thousands of dollars into advertising? You use a website.

For example, if you want to see what kinds of your photos people really respond to and might consider buying, link your website through to a printing service (such as Redbubble.com) so that there’s products such as matted or framed prints that people can buy. Then create some low-cost Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. In fact by clicking around Weebly you may have seen that it can automatically synch with Google and Facebook ads – but you’d use ads to get people to go visit your website (not to post ads on your own website). Simply read the directions for ads at Google or Facebook to set your own budget and to test what kinds of imagery and wording people click on when they see your art – it’d cost a couple hundred dollars to reach thousands of people who are likely interested in your work, which is far better than spending the same money buying an untested print ad distributed to a lot of people who may have no interest in your work. Once you’ve figured out what online ads are working well for you, and once you’ve made some money, then maybe it’s time to branch out and use your market testing to create some excellent print ads. I won’t fool you into thinking this is easy… it isn’t. It’s hard to come up with effective ads that sell the art. And you probably shouldn’t aggressively market your photos until you’re 100% confident that they are excellent quality or at least good enough that you’ll be proud to sell them. The main idea here is that you can use your website to test the markets for the artistic photos that you’ve created. In other words the well-designed, free or extremely low-cost website, becomes the centerpiece of your basic advertising campaign.