Newsletter #126: January, 2016
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved. Contents:
1. Should your photographs invoke questions or provide answers?
2. A Gallery of Images: Hi everyone,
I could easily turn this Newsletter into one GIGANTIC RANT. My main computer crashed and died, and it has been TWO weeks since I have looked at a single image. But I refuse to go there. I do NOT want to talk about computers in my Newsletters! With more time to read, I studied books on Art, and as a result, I wrote this article a week ago, drawing on some of the workshop experiences I had last summer. Improving the ways I teach photography has become an exciting part of my life, and studying Art is an important component of that process. It also inspires me in my own image making. I was supposed to have a new website to show you in this Newsletter, but that too has been delayed. Next Newsletter, I hope! I have pieced together this Newsletter with images I was able to access through my laptop. Hopefully, by sometime next month, I will be back to normal. Enjoy my 126th consecutive monthly Newsletter!! Our goal at the Chris Harris Gallery is to share photographic adventures and inspire others in the creative process. Please share this Newsletter with friends. We appreciate your interest and continued support for my work.
Chris
1. Should your photographs invoke questions or provide answers? What if we made photographs that did little to disclose what we were photographing? What if we made images that asked more questions of the viewer, images that provide fewer answers? What if we made images that had more mystery connected to them; images that piqued viewer’s curiosity and interest? In other words, why don’t we turn our cameras to creating photographs that ask more questions than they provide answers? I.M. Tony O’Malley
calcareous abstract
The above two photographs are documentary images of two local subjects, yet they provide few clues to what they actually are. When visitors come to our Gallery and see the above photograph ‘I.M. Tony O’Malley’ as a print on display, it’s not long before they start asking questions. “What is it”? “Is it a painting”? “Where is it”? “Did you do that in Photoshop”? The second image does not hang in the Gallery as a print, but it is similar to a series of photographs that are put to music in a slide show which I have presented to hundreds of people. The response is always amazing. People’s interest in these images is shown by the number of questions I am asked. Should your photographs invoke questions or provide answers? If the response from these two examples is any indication, I would say it is worth some thought. representational image of switchbacks through grasslands
Last fall I was teaching a photo workshop at Farwell Canyon. We were looking at the dirt road that switch-backed its way down through the grasslands toward the Chilcotin River. The scene is comprised of the very distinct lines of the road, the forms created by those lines, the tonal contrast between them, and the colour contrast and textures of the grasslands. We were discussing composition, as all the basic elements of composition lay before us. Everyone was trying to create a composition based on how they were responding, visually and emotionally. In other words, we were trying to express ourselves as photo-artists. At that moment a yellow school bus stopped behind me and the driver opened his window and said, “are you Chris Harris”? It was Tyler Dinsdale of Big Canyon Rafting. We exchanged greetings but the energy within the bus left little time for gossip. They were on their way to raft the Chilcotin River and nothing was to hold them back. Off they went down the switch-backs and I returned to my group. school bus with rafters aboard
Immediately, everyone starting clicking, myself included. With the added element of a vibrant yellow bus we made our ‘first response’ documentary style images. At f-8 and 1/250sec. we made images that were very recognizable; a yellow bus, on a dirt road, in the canyon grasslands, heading to the Chilcotin River at Farwell Canyon. As you can see, this image discloses the entire narrative. In other words, the images provided most of the answers to the ‘what’, the ‘where’, and the ‘how’. But wait a minute. The adventurous energy from within that bus had changed my entire emotional space. I was on a ‘high’ from just talking to them. It was as if I was going rafting myself. What about those images that ask more questions than provide answers, I thought to myself? What about a more expressive image that better described how all those adventurers were feeling? What about…….? What about…..? school bus; abstract
I raised my camera and went to work. I quickly tried different shutter speeds combined with various camera movements. I evaluated each result on my LCD screen, made quick decisions on ways I felt I could improve my composition, and kept trying. Within 1 minute and 1 second, I made the above image. By shooting at 1/13sec combined with camera movement, I was able to free the bus, the road, and the grasslands, of their recognizable or representational qualities; in other words, I had distorted ‘form’. I had expressed myself as a photographic artist. As a stand-alone print, mystery would provoke the same questions of ‘what’, ‘where’, and ‘how’. Intrigue would draw viewers’ attention, and we would be more likely to remember this photograph. Is this not what all artists of every medium try to do? I feel it is a very important part in the process of making strong and communicative compositions. the way to Farwell Canyon; abstract
When I stop here with my students, and they have made their initial documentary images, I can begin to feel the sense of impatience. There is an urgency to move on to the next spot. The ‘been there, done that’ sort of response. If I followed that ‘urgency’, we would be heading home after two hours having seen and photographed the entire area, but having learned little. If we accept that photography is an ‘Art Form’, then surely we should enjoy becoming, not just photographers, but photographic artists. The aim of my photographic workshops, is to push beyond the ever-popular photographic tradition of documentary or representational image making. There is nothing wrong with that tradition, but I think, as photographic artists, we would feel greatly enriched if we had more tools at our disposal with which to be more expressive. Learning to use the tools of one’s craft in new and exciting ways is surely the goal of every artist. promotional card
As it turned out, ‘The way to Farwell Canyon’ image was used on the cover of a promotional piece for a 7-Day photographic workshop that Dennis Ducklow and I are offering this year in the Bella Coola Valley. If you are interested in expanding your approach to photography, by enjoying both the representational and more expressive traditions, check out my website. There are 3-Day and 7-Day workshops to choose from. I hope some of you will join us! 2. A Gallery of Images: A small meadowlark sings from a tree top after a late spring winter storm Autumn leaves in Centennial Park, 100 Mile House Early morning mist, Moonlight Lake, Chilcotin Ark Alpine meadow light, Rainbow Mountains A visual narrative, glacial retreat Fall colours, near Quesnel Lake Winter textures; rock, trees, and snow; Duffy Lake Road
I hope to be back in late February; with a new computer and a new-look website! Meanwhile, if you are excited about photography, I hope you will consider a workshop. Check my website for details. |