Newsletter #214: February, 2025
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved
Welcome everyone!
Invitation
Rita, Teresa, and I invite you to join us at the Chris Harris Gallery on March 2, 2025, at 2pm. Door opens at 1:30.
Approaching Classic Art Movements Through Photography ~ Part II.
Abstraction
&
Multiple Perspective Photography
Orange and Black ~ abstract
On September 22, 2024 Chris and his step-daughter Teresa made a joint presentation at the Chris Harris Gallery titled ‘Approaching Classic Art Movements Through Photography ~ Part I ~ Impressionism’.
March 2, 2025; Teresa and Chris will continue the series with a talk about Chris’ continuing journey into expressive photography.
Teresa will speak about art historical concepts such as abstract painting in modern art, cubism, and types of perspective found in painting for a deeper understanding of Chris’s work.
Chris will illustrate his evolving creative process as he pushes the boundaries of photographic expression. This includes his innovative expression called ‘Multiple Perspective Photography’.
The presentation includes three slide shows with original musical settings by composer and renowned Canadian music producer, Ken Marshall.
Join us for this special event, where we will explore themes of experimentation and courage, and the pursuit of enlivenment through art.
For those who don’t know Teresa, please refer to Newsletter #210 for her introduction and biography.
The Invitation:
Rita, Teresa, and Chris, invite you to join us at the Chris Harris Gallery on March 2, 2025, at 2pm. Door opens at 1:30.
There are no tickets, and all are welcome.
However, if you can let us know in advance that you are coming, and would like us to hold a seat, the best way is a phone call or text to Rita at; 250-706-5577.
Victoria ~ A Birthday Get-away
In January, Rita and I went to Victoria for a few days to celebrate her birthday. We would miss the x-c skiing, but we would enjoy the warmer weather, the pleasures of exploring a small city environment, and visiting a few good friends.
On most days, I set aside time for a walk with my camera; a time to visually explore an urban environment, one I don’t often get a chance to look at or investigate. Using one camera and a single lens, each walk was to a different location.
Starting from where we parked the car, I first went to the Parliament buildings and then made my way through different parts of the city and along the harbour. The following images represent a visual journal; my experiences, discoveries, and interpretations.
Within a block of where we parked, I received an insight into Victoria’s approach to urban planning. In the process of building an architecturally modern building, they were preserving the front and back facades of an old heritage building.
When I reached the parliament building, I couldn’t bring myself to replicating a visual that everyone was familiar with. As there is no intrigue or mystery in showing people what they already know, I decided to have some creative enjoyment and show the BC parliament building in a novel way.
One thing Rita and I found challenging while driving through the city was deciphering all the new walking, cycling, and vehicle signs that direct traffic. Many were entirely new to me, so, when I was walking toward the harbour, I decided to amplify my confusion by repainting the road symbols myself!
The first thing I noticed on the harbour skyline were the masts of sailing ships. The sky was clear blue with no texture; it lacked feeling. Reflecting back on the seafaring paintings I have looked at over the years, including one in our living room, I created a more interesting sky in-camera.
One day, I entered Victoria’s Bastion Square; a pedestrian only place filled with trees, multi-coloured buildings and an open gathering area. Based on my previous experience in photographing complicated and complex viewscapes, I used my Multiple Perspective technique.
That means; these are images that comprise of multiple exposures made from different locations, of different locations, of multiple subjects, and with multiple camera movements. By using any combination of any or all of those options, provides the photographer with an absolutely unlimited range of expressive possibilities.
Upon entering the Square, the tree character on the left immediately caught my attention. From there, creating this image became an idea. Beginning with the character tree, I added trees on the right for compositional balance and people strategically placed in the square for human interest.
The final composition is a new reality in which viewers can go on an exploratory visual adventure.
This multiple perspective was designed to evoke a narrative; in it we see Victoria geographically placed on the map (made from a nearby mural) of Vancouver Island.
This image is symbolic; people often sail into Victoria harbour to visit the city. Compositionally, the window is from a moored ship, and the view of Victoria is exactly what one would see if they looked out of that ship window. This concept of expression is made possible through Multiple Perspective photography.
One of my walks took me through Chinatown.
Chinatown.
How could I resist making this image……
…..and this one!
Retail shoppers
Grindstone Café
On each outing along the waterfront, I kept an eye open for the opportunity of abstracting the viewscape. Water reflections offered me an amazing resource.
Abstract I
Abstract II
Abstract III
All in all, Rita and I enjoyed a fabulous holiday in Victoria. Going to the theatre, eating in different restaurants, exploring alleyways, walking and enjoying urban ambience in enjoyable climes, a little photography, and of course, shopping!
Winter Images with Meaning
In the midst of a deep freeze with temperatures too low for me to cross-country ski, I found myself reflecting back on some of my winter images. I decided on sharing eight in this newsletter, but how was I going to choose which eight? Finding it impossible to define favourites, or best, or strongest, I decided to choose most meaningful to me. These images are deeply connected with memory, association, and strong personal feelings.
It was a raw winter day when a wet-snow blizzard blew in over the south-eastern slopes of the Itcha Mountains in the West Chilcotin. I was riding a horse, cold, and with a camera slung over my shoulder, I was trying to keep my camera lens dry from the blowing wet snow flakes.
I was on a photographic expedition with guide-outfitter and friend, Roger Williams, fully aware that I was experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There were no excuses, and before me was a resonating visual which expressed an overpowering expression of mood.
With one hand on the reins, and the other operating the camera, I tried to guide my horse into position. Taking into consideration the aspect of the land, the positioning of the trees, and Roger on horseback with his dog, I made the above image.
The special day of finding our Christmas tree had arrived. The forest was clad with fresh snow, the toboggan and the saw were waiting, and the excitement of our once-a-year tradition had Rita and our daughter Teresa eager to get going. Even our dog Duggan was pumped!
Leaving the trail without Duggan following me, climbing a hill for a better perspective, and somehow having everyone (including Duggan) spaced beautifully apart, led to the capture of this image. Each Christmas season, this family memory hangs meaningfully as a print in the living room.
Since a child, I love snowstorms, and to this day, I love driving in snowstorms. It’s exhilarating and my camera is always at the ready.
One day, while driving through the countryside on my way to Wells, BC, a beaver lodge contrasting with a stand of tall dead spruce trees caught my attention. I slowed down and eventually stopped. The visual elements seemed perfectly arranged and the overall subject and setting had a strong personal resonance. The mood of the place was evocative. I made this image, which still has a special place for me.
It was -30 degrees when I parked my truck in a gravel pit. My idea was to walk to a nearby bridge to look down and photograph the ice features along the Chilcotin River.
I exited my truck but never got further than a few metres. The energy radiating from the steel blue-grey boulder in the foreground overwhelmed me. I felt if I touched the boulder with my hand, it would freeze there forever. It looked numbingly cold; yet in another way, artistically beautiful. The overcast day and dusting of snow, contributed to the arctic feeling. It was a feeling I felt compelled to capture.
Now, years later, as I look at this image, I still sense the feelings evoked in me by this ice-cold boulder.
In 2017, a wildfire burned through the Farwell Canyon grasslands. All grasses, flowers, rabbit-brush and big sagebrush were burned to the ground. The colours of the various grasses and the aroma of sage were gone. It seemed as if the skeletons of sagebrush were all that remained.
We know from a biological and indigenous cultural perspective, the burn was a time for rebirth, regeneration, and transformation.
From a photographer’s perspective, I foresaw the beauty of line and contrast when the snows of winter would arrive. I returned on a sunny January day when the expressive lines and shadows of sage could tell their story.
Compositional decisions are always exciting to me, and I remember as a happy memory, the time and thought I gave to making this image. As I walked back and forth alongside the fence on snowshoes, I gave all my attention to the size, and angle, of fence posts, and the spaces between them. Eventually I chose my composition and carefully made my image.
Years later, the feelings that first brought me to this fence remain. It is the essence of line.
I am drawn to minimalist compositions in any medium, especially photography. Occasionally, environmental conditions align perfectly to bring a subject, and my vision for a minimalist expression of that subject, together as one. It was a cold February morning that provided me the opportunity to create this meaningful interpretation.
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