Ken Smith Photo Journal

Narcissus Gift

By next week my crazy race will be over for a time. I have all the shows prepared. I have made the two week trip to the midwest for the show in West Des Moines, Iowa. I have printed the 14 prints for the insurance building commission. And, I have done little new creative work. Or, as one can see, I have not been updating my presence on the web. First things first.

I have been thinking alot about passion in my work, but have put few words down that can adequately describe its importance. Maybe as I begin making new work again, the words will come. There has to be a certain breathing space in order to be spiritual about the work. The confinement of framing, meeting deadlines, attending show receptions does not allow for idle roaming. In the meantime, I have revived an older work, Narcissus Gift. It originally was made with the 4×5 on a paper negative, printed and toned in the darkroom. I have recently scanned the print and will be printing Gift now in the new method.

Leaf Heart

Hiatus sounds like a relaxing pause, but it has been the opposite around here. Since the first of June there have been shows, deliveries, new work, auto maintenance…..you name it. Little time to catch one’s breath. I am not complaining, for in this economy to be prospering is a joy. I only wish there was a better vitamin, or maybe that ‘hiatus’ that means ‘peace’ for just a brief time.

I am working on new work for a couple shows coming up. At the same time, brewing in my mind, is a dissertation about ‘Passion’ and being an artist. I hope to have that written soon. So please stand by and I will fill in the spaces shortly with pictures and philosophies.

Painted Turtle Shell Book

I have been preparing work for three shows simultaneously. The theme of one of the group shows is ‘Shell’, and I have enjoyed making work for it. One, I had written about in an earlier post involved turtle shells, shot with my old Burke and James 5×7 view camera. The finished piece is a hinged ‘book’ of two panels. The images are beeswaxed. The panel sides and backs are painted a chinese red. I am excited to show this new work.

Sea Memory

Unlike the turtle shell book, which was thought out, contemplated, worked on technically over a long time, another piece came about spontaneously, effortlessly. I had an old fossilized shell and I wanted to include it in the show. I made various images of it on my studio worktable, but it just wasn’t happening. On another table was a clutter of ’specimens’ – odds and ends of plants, bugs, rocks. An old feather I had picked up on a shoreline a long time ago caught my eye. I made a quick composition and it felt right, all in about 15 minutes. The image was made using my Panasonic G1, with my old Canon 50mm f3.5 macro lense and adapter. Handheld. The printed image is almost monochrome, just a touch of blue-grey, feeling like my sea memory.

Windowseat

Maybe the weather, maybe a series of events that have become a struggle…sometimes one has to take a long trip inward. This image of a castle window seat, in the Castilla Belmonte, in the LaMancha region of central Spain reminds me of that inward trek. As I wander alone, looking at this image, I imagine the numbers of women and men back in time that have sat at this window seat, pondering their own imbroglios. It is somehow comforting to know that there were places in the architecture of an old castle made specifically for contemplation.

Moss

Spring has finally come to the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. On a rocky outcropping on the land where I live at 3200′ elevation, the moss has begun to propagate.

Maybe it is because I am at the maturity of my photography career and a certain age, that I occasionally drift into wondering about the legacy of my work…what will become of it, and will it matter?

©John Maloof/www.vivianmaier.com

Over on “wood s lot”, http://web.ncf.ca/ek867/wood_s_lot.html/ – a website that comes up with interesting links to photography, poetry, and other writings – I found the incredible and sad story of Vivian Maier, and how her work lives on. The blog link below, set up by the person who found her bereft work, and is now its guardian, is worth some time to read. I hope her story, and the journey her work is taking is as inspiring to you as it is to me.

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

Water Plant 2

Late Chrysanthemum

Yesterday there was this article on the front page of the online NY Times about how professional photographers have been required to make fundamental changes due to the influence of the digital world, the internet….and the sheer numbers of photographs being made and marketed by amateurs and parttimers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/media/30photogs.html?src=me&ref=general

It can make the work of the fine art photographer even more challenging. The work must be so filled with significance, so well crafted, that it can alone in the strength of its visual presence, convince the viewer that this work rises above the millions of images, is meaningful beyond what he/she experiences every day. This image, is imbued with a heart, and the viewer is reminded of something she already has known deeply, and feels an innate belonging to what the image shows. Maybe it is the same primal task as it has always has been, but as the Times article implies, it may be more tough for the serious photographer – and the viewer – as we go forward.

On a side street in Xilitla, Mexico is a church with a row of churchbells, and on the right late afternoon, a half moon.

I am deep into several projects, and hope to post some examples soon. In the meantime, how about a trip to mexico….