The Blog At Ainsworth Images

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”

~Benjamin Franklin

Good advice from a wise gentleman!

Here is a picture of someone perhaps not so wise, but very daring, right at the apex of his ride. This is an action scene, emphasized by the blurring of all but the skater himself. It’s a late summer evening in the park, and the skate boarders are having fun. I was lucky enough to get this image of the most skillful among them.

A great action shot for that special location.

Have a great New Year’s. This is my last post till the first Monday of the New Year.

Enjoy,
Tom

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don’t know what to do with it. – Edward Weston

This carries over my idea from yesterday a bit further. Equipment doesn’t make the artist; the artist masters her equipment. Our equipment and software are so sophisticated today, that choosing them is simply a matter of preference. Learning to use them well, while keeping passion and insight alive is the task.

If you love what you do and the images you create come from the depths of your passion and vision, you are on the right road, if you need all the latest gear but never seem to capture compelling images, perhaps its time to rethink your priorities.

Monday, December 28, 2009

“The use of the term “art medium” is, to say the least, misleading, for it is the artist that creates a work of art not the medium. It is the artist in photography that gives form to content by a distillation of ideas, thought, expe medium ence, insight and understanding”.   – Edward Stechen

I don’t think it can be said any better than that! You can have all the most expensive equipment and software, but if there is no artist within, art will never come out of it, while a true artist could take a Kodak brownie camera or a single color and an old beat up brush and create something worthy of being called art. That’s the mystery and truth of it. That may make it sound like it’s simple for the artist, but nothing could be further from the truth. It takes years of singleminded dedication to develop the ability to see, then compose, and then manipulate one’s chosen medium to finally, at last, be able to express one’s vision. But, there is much joy in the journey, along with the hard work and frequent frustration. The rewards are thrilling however, when it all begins to come together, even more so when others begin to desire to acquire your work.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”  –Henri Matisse

This wonderful flower was growing on a tulip tree on the street in front of my house here in Portland, Oregon. The tree wasn’t much to see, but the flower itself was great, so that’s what I focused on.

I then turned it, digitally, into a pastel, with great success methinks! Florals are always tricky, flowers are beautiful, but we have all seen the overly sentimental, if  not downright “sappy” renditions of them, something I want to avoid at all costs.

Here is a stunning image to brighten your favorite room.

Enjoy,
Tom

By the way, this will be my last post till Monday the 28th, as I take a holiday respite.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

“Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject.”   –Elliot Porter

This can be illustrated rather well with my November 17, 2009 post of the tiny chipmunk overlooking the large waterfall, or even my post of November 19, 2009 of a single pear. The intimacy of the subject is what accomplishes this feat. What exactly is this chipmunk, who is usually scurrying around, experiencing as he sits quietly at the very edge of the falls? How can a single pear comprise a compelling image all by itself? These are the challenges and compositional  questions that make the work worthwhile and interesting.

Monday, December 21, 2009

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.    –Ansel Adams

I try to always keep this in mind. To me, it makes no sense not to realize that one’s work, as an artist, is to fill two needs. The need to express oneself creatively and the need of the second person, i.e., the end user.  We don’t create our work to warehouse it, at least I don’t, so I enjoy creating images that other people will relate to and desire to hang in their own spaces. This gives me the chance to share my vision of the world with others, which is what artists have always striven to do.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. –Claude Monet

You don’t have to look at my work for long to see I’m captivated by color. Van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse, Bonnard and the rest seduced me long ago with their mesmerizing colors and convinced me that using color effectively is the best way to express the feelings, mood and sense of place that one experiences and to then portray them in an image.

I love saturated and bright colors, but they must be appropriate to the image and subject matter. Some would disagree and happily have the water chartreuse , the sky purple and every color in between, but for me, who seeks to show the beauty present in the world, it would take a very special situation for me to use colors in that way! Of course, when I take an image to abstraction, all bets are off and I will use whichever colors I feel work with the image.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

What I am after is the first impression – I want to show all one sees on first entering the room – what my eye takes in at first glance. –Pierre Bonnard

The first impression, that’s where I make the decision to stay fairly realistic or go towards impressionistic or even abstract. This was originally an image of some moss on the base of a water tower. When I brought it into photoshop and blew it up, it reminded me of some Asian landscapes I’ve seen with wide open spaces with tiny people or animals that give them a sense of scale. I was struck by how much it resembled a foggy forest precipice, so I added the eagles and voila! A most magical image of a deep forest escarpment, mysterious and many layered. I love it!

An unusual image, using modern technology to create a work straight from the imagination of the artist.

Enjoy,

Tom

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.” –Vincent Van Gogh

To me all life is poetry, hence, the uni-verse. I will be accused of portraying only the beautiful, but I feel that there are more than enough artists that portray the dark side of life. I know the dark side exists, but hey, so does the light and it’s corresponding beauty, and its way underrepresented at present, so I’m more than happy to do my part. As the Loraxⁱ said, “I speak for the trees.”

So I strive to capture the “Poetry that surrounds us” on paper, as best I can. This requires that I constantly strive to improve my vision and technical prowess. But in the end, it’s the vision that really counts as anyone can achieve the technical mastery with enough work. The eye must be able to follow the heart and listen to the whispers from the soul, then one will become astounded with the magical images that present themselves.

1. -The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

“Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?”  –Pablo Picasso

Can you tell I have considerable respect for Picasso?

This is a very compelling question and not an easy one to answer, except for the fact that we know the mirror reverses the image. The line between photography and painting has become almost non existent at this point in history. What the question suggests, however, is still very relevant, do we just copy what we see, or do we try to invest our images with what we feel, see beyond the surface, of things and faces?

I, for one, will never be satisfied with mere representation. I will always strive to express how I feel about a place, face or whatever it is   I’m trying to show in my image. Otherwise, one is simply practicing photojournalism, which is OK if one is a photojournalist, but falls short if one is aspiring to create art.

In portraiture, I lean towards the informal portrait, I try to capture people in real life rather than set up a formal environment and have them pose.

This image is an example of what I am talking about. The image itself is always much more powerful than any words you can say about it.

Enjoy,

Tom