Newsletter #125: December, 2015
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved.
Contents:
1. Expressing the connection between Inner and Outer Landscapes
2. 2016 photographic Workshops: Put one on your Santa’s list!
3. A Calendar of Images
Hi everyone,
Winter is upon us now in the Cariboo region of BC, the countryside is like a Christmas card!
It’s been another full and exciting year. Together with friends, we organized several photographic adventures and filmed a promotional video in the Rainbow Mountains.
Personally, I really enjoyed making a feature presentation to the Canadian Association for Photographic Art in Vancouver, as well as teaching several photographic workshops here at the Gallery.
Presently, I am working hard on my last book which is scheduled for release next fall, and I am building a new website due to go online in mid-January.
I have also released the dates for next year’s workshops which I am really excited about. I’m enjoying teaching more and more with each passing year!
Thank you all for your kind letters and support throughout the year. Rita, our dog Duggan, who seems to get in more pictures than we do, and I, wish you all a wonderful Christmas Season!
Enjoy my 112th consecutive monthly Newsletter!!
Chris
1. Expressing the connection between Inner and Outer Landscapes
Late last month, friend Mike Duffy suggested we go for an early morning photo-walk in Walker Valley. ‘Sure’ I said. I hadn’t been there in fifteen years, not since I used to live nearby.
Daylight was just pushing the darkness aside when we entered the valley. Once over the crest of the hill, I noticed a slight mist rising over the marsh. Throughout my five minute walk to the marsh, I concentrated on listening to how I was responding internally; inner view rather than outer vision.
Photography is about relationships. It’s about how we connect inner and outer worlds. The connection, I find, is usually Beauty.
evoking a sense of mystery in the marsh
Thoughts & information: Every image requires decision making such as, what to include and what to exclude. In this case, I decided to give up detail and compose the image along the lines of tonal areas, or areas of graduated softness. I made the photograph using slight camera movement at f-16; 1/2 sec.; at ISO 100. Handheld. |
Beauty in the landscape evokes an emotional inner charge, a feeling I try to capture in my images. This process is a challenge to all visual artists, photographers included. In most cases, making representational images usually fails to capture that emotion, unless there is extraordinary light. To meet that challenge, I often draw on technical knowledge and creative vision.
Pre-vision and creative camera techniques are subjects I discuss and illustrate in my workshops. Join me and take your photography to a new level.
2. 2016 photographic Workshops: Put one on your Santa’s list!
Again this year, I am excited to offer opportunities to ‘learn & leap’ into the world of creative photography.
Thoughts & information: Outside the Gallery during a workshop, I was discussing pre-vision and creative techniques required to make expressive photographs. Using slight camera movement, I made this photograph to include a ‘touch of yellow’ at f-14; @ 1/2.5 sec.; Handheld. |
The ever popular 3-Day photo workshops will once again be based out of the Chris Harris Gallery. They centre around the ‘creative process’; vision, composition, and creative techniques. If you know the basics, this workshop is designed to help you get more out of your images.
The workshop includes a full day field trip to Farwell Canyon.
Thoughts & information: This photograph was made on a field trip to Farwell Canyon during a talk on composition. Made at f-8 on a tripod. |
New this year are two 7-Day intensive photographic workshops which I am offering with fellow photographer Dennis Ducklow. The workshop will be held at the exotic and extremely photographic Tallheo Cannery, located on BC’s Central Coast near the town of Bella Coola.
Thoughts & information: During the fall workshop when the days are shorter, we will have the opportunity to learn and practice expressive techniques such as painting with light. Painted during a 30 sec. exposure. Tripod. |
In this workshop we will help you personally build on your existing skills and take them to a higher level.
Thoughts & information: Illustrated talks and demonstrations will help you visualize relationships (such as the open windows and drying fish nets above) and execute the image. The process is both exciting and rewarding. Double exposure. Tripod. |
Through illustrated lectures, in the field experiences, and critique sessions, we will help you recognize and create more powerful compositions. By the end of each day, you will see the world around you differently, and you will have become a more creative photographer.
Please review the workshop options on my website, then choose one that is designed for you.
To Register your camera club or group of friends for a “Customized Workshop” at the Gallery, or to have Chris travel to your location to give this workshop, please contact the office directly by email or phone and Rita will arrange your event with you.
Descriptions of these workshops, and how to register, are posted on my website.
3. A Calendar of Images
Here are 12 images depicting the months of the year as we usually experience them here in the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region of central BC.
January: A dusting of snow and low angle winter light add contrast and drama to the grasslands near Churn Creek.
February: A bighorn sheep looks directly into my lens at Farwell Canyon.
March: Spring runoff over previously frozen ice in Churn Creek, provides a dazzling emerald colour.
April: Early spring brings vibrant shades of greens to a coastal alder rainforest near Bella Coola.
May: In late May, the lawn in front of our home becomes a sea of flax.
June: In our garden, the inner beauty of an Iris generates a feeling of delicacy.
July: After a rain shower, the colours, textures, and tonal values of the hoodoos at Farwell Canyon are illuminated.
August: Leslie Dorsey of Rainbow Mountain Outfitters leads a pack train through the Rainbow Mountains.
September: Bunchberry, also called dwarf dogwood, adds a colourful touch of beauty to the forest floor in autumn.
October: The end of October is Halloween, and this year, the goblins visited the new community garden in 100 Mile House.
November: An early November frost reveals soft tonal and colour values over a cattail wetland.
December: We are all excited, including Duggan, to bring our tree home and decorate it in time for family and Christmas celebrations.