Visual Narratives, Work in Progress

The work below is from the body of work, “Digital Narrative,” a series of images that combine domestic imagery, still life, social environments and nature in landscape form.  The works are predominately panoramic constructions that borrow ideas from numerous sources.  These images are placed here edited from the most current work as I make them.  Exhibiting the images in this way gives a clearer sense about my working process and the way in which I move from theme to theme.  It is difficult to exhibit work in this way because of the many shifts from theme to theme, but this is the way I work and how I am looking at the images in my studio or on the computer.  I try to add new work every week.  This is not always possible but I want the work to change regularly as close to real time as possible.  This blog is the result of wanting to look at works as they are made rather than when printed or exhibited.

I like to think of these images as photographic drawings, often quick assemblages posing question about the interface between people and nature, people and environment or people and people and daily life.

 

Working Proofs:

 

Portrait of Jack, 2017

Many of the works in this series are made driving to and from planned destinations.  It doesn’t really matter where I am.  This photograph was made on a trip in a van with students heading to Mc Laughlin Reserve in Central California.  Photographing in the middle of active events is helpful to my work.  The images I make do not often resemble the actual situation.  This image is an indication that a new set of ideas, and directions are forming.

 

Self Portrait of Sorts, 2017

 

Westwood, CA Winter Landscape 2017

 

Lavender Soldier

This was made while hiking with Artist Lisa Kairos, who was walking the circumference of the San Francisco Bay by degrees.  She was photographing, sketching, taking in the landscape for a series of drawings and paintings inspired by these walks.  This beach was in Richmond, CA at the north end of the east bay trails.

 

Gum Ball Machines

Many of the poetic works contain images from very different locations; here a mall in Fort Collins, Colorado, The Aero Space Museum in Washington D.C., and a road photo driving cross country west to east, Ft. Collins to Washington D.C.  The set concerns the relationship of images rather than the content of an individual photograph.

 

Big Creek Landscape, 2016/2017

Compiled from photographs taken on a sola hike while on a field four day field trip with students to Big Creek Reserve, Big Sur, California.

 

Site Seeing at Big Sur, CA

Rest stop at Bixby Bridge, Big Sur.  Traveling in a van with Karolina Karlic and students to Big Creek Reserve.  I often photograph in very public situations and organize abstract visual narratives in private in the studio or on other travels.  I am inspired in public situations or in groups sharing ideas or experiences.  The final pieces are reflections of my thoughts and questions regarding the collective culture around me.

 

Viewing the Ocean from Land, 2016/2017

Bixby Bridge, Big Sur, CA, The National Gallery, Washington D.C.

 

Big Sur Waves at Big Creek Reserve

This is an indication of a new body of work emerging.

 

Middle West Landscape, 2016/2017

I take every opportunity for travel that allows photography.  I was helping a friend move his daughter’s college belonging from storage in Fort Collins, Colorado to Washington D.C.  This images joins a significant group of photographs within “Digital Narratives” that were shot from the car.  It is so easy to be overly formal when photographing.  Photographing from the car increases the  ”accidental aesthetics” that is necessary to further my work.

 

Gordon at Home, 2017

 

 

Shooting Marbles at the National Gallery, Washington D.C., 2016/2017

There is a growing series of pieces from inside museums.  Museums, along with other monumental human constructions, physical or conceptual are important cultural sites for expanding experience and ceremonial sharing.  Museums of all kinds, ballparks and other sports arenas, aquariums, National Parks, Disneyland and other theme parks are significant sites for studying the diversity of engagement and human achievement within our culture.

 

Mc Laughlin Landscape, 2017

 

Invisible Bats

 

Mother and Daughter at Little League Game, Nevada City, CA

 

Pollen Spots, Lake Berryessa, CA  2017

Driving back from Mc Laughlin Reserve.

 

Motorcyclist Driving to Des Moines 2016/17

 

Labor Day, Westwood, CA

 

Orange Fence, Ft. Collins, Colorado 2016/17

 

I Love No One, Yucca Valley, California

 

Driving to Des Moines #3

 

Driving to Des Moines #2

 

Driving to Des Moines #1

 

 

 

Texting Cowboy, Taylorsville Rodeo

 

Senior Center Bouquet, Nevada City, CA 2017

I have photographed at recitals in Grass Valley before on several occasions, but haven’t  been very interested in the outcome before.  My grandsons take singing lessons and perform at these events.  A good percentage of my photography is in similar situations, family events, domestic living situations or working in very familiar surroundings.

 

Broken Bodies, Legion of Honor, San Francisco 2016

 

Dated Lesson, 2016

Nevada City Brunch, 2016

As is evident looking through the work as it is posted one of the primary subject interests is domestic home life.  This is a late brunch this past weekend in Nevada City.

 

Studio Landscape Improvisation, 2016/17

All of my printing is done in the studio at UCSC.  The studio also provides space to work on still life ideas, integrating them with my interest in landscape concerns.

 

China Town Parade, San Francisco20, 2016

 

Highway 5 at Highway 41, 2016

Highway 41 at Highway 5

This construction was made from images made during a trip to the Mojave Desert with a class from UC Santa Cruz.  Some of the most important images that I make are on the way to destinations.  This is a site that I have done a lot of shooting.  It is a consistent rest stop on the way south.  April/May 2016

 

Berkeley Hills, 2016

 

Abstract Dragon, San Francisco 2016

From a walk on the San Francisco Bay Trail in April 2016.  This has a similar feel to the earlier image, Bay Architecture that you can see if you scroll down a bit.

 

Matrices at Landfille, Santa Cruz 2016

 

Tree and Figure Landscape

This is a more experimental piece.  The individual images were taken in a variety of places, Santa Cruz, Nevada City and at home.

 

TV Desert Landscape, Easy Rider, McLaughlin Reserve

 

Orange VW, Grass Valley Car Show, with donuts 2016

 

McLaughlin Poem, 2016

 

Winter Objects, 2016

 

Lunch at Fudd and Juice, Nevada City, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle, Big Creek Reserve 2015

 

Crossing NevadaCrossing Nevada 2016

 

Headless Dog, 2015

 

Big Creek Reserve, Art as Reproduction 2015

 

Painter on the Colorado River 2015

 

Lake Almoner postcard, 2015

 

San Francisco Bay From San Mateo Bridge

 

Waiting for the Parade, San Francisco

 

 

Bag, Cup, Phone, San Francisco

 

 

Roadside Businesses

 

 

Big Creek, Big Sur Coast

 

San Francisco Bay Architecture

 

Tool Shed, Santa Cruz

 

San Francisco Bay, Dumbarton Bridge

 

Broken Cups in a Lizards Back Yard

 

Love This Tree

 

DQ In The Desert

 

From Sweeney Granite Mountain Research Center, 2016

 

Coconut, Cookies, Peanut Butter and Pineapple

Bra, Fence and Mountain

 

Banana Peel

 

Revisiting the 70′s

 

Pink, Mostly San Francisco

 

Tinned Milk and Teapot

 

Snake Habitate

 

No One Belongs Here More Than You

 

Camelback Mountain

 

 

                                                                                 Flying over Camelback, Phoenix

 

 

Tug and Ship in San Francisco Bay

 

 

Stage, Barefoot in the Park

 

 

Totems, Spring Training

 

 

Improvisation Series, Red Horse, Independence, California

 

 

Improvisation Series, Black, Red and White

 

 

Fire, Flower and Clouds, Nevada City, California

 

 

Headless Figures

 

 

McLaughlin Reserve Pond

 

 

Experimental Film Showing, San Francisco

 

 

Taylorsville Museum

 

 

Independence, California

 

 

Ants on Rocks, Big Creek Reserve

 

 

Davis Reservoir, McLaughlin Reserve

 

 

MARCH 2015

 

Black Birds, McLaughlin Reserve

 

 

Four Views of a Rock, Big Creek Reserve

 

 

Improvisation #2

 

 

House Finch and Turkey Vultures

 

 

Lizard in Sand

 

 

Steamers Lane, Santa Cruz, Ca.

 

 

Improvisation #1

 

 

Blooming Cholla, Mojave Desert Reserve

 

 

 

Taylorsville Cemetery

 

 

 

Big Sur, Highlands Camp

 

 

Man in Boat, Big Sur Coast

 

 

 

Fuzzy Figure, Birds in San Lorenzo River

 

 

Purple Flower, San Lorenzo River, Santa Crua

 

 

Flag City

 

 

Train, Highway 80, Near Reno

 

 

9th Avenue and Irving, San Francisco, California

 

 

Golfballs and Biscuits

 

 

Ocotillo, Joshua Tree National Park

 

 

Shopping Cart Landscape, Barstow, California

 

 

                                                       

Norman Rockwell and Persimmons, Studio, December

 This piece is likely to be associated with a group of landscapes that are related to a spatial poem by Yosa Buson 1716 – 1784.

 

A mountain ant

on a white peony

out in the open

 

                                             Blooming Cholla, Mojave, Desert

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Backward Clock, Santa Cruz, Christmas Eve

 

 

Studio Still Life, Persimmon on Floor, December

 

 

Studio Still Life, Santa Cruz, December

 

 


Ball, Rabbit, Jay, Santa Cruz, CA

 

 


Tiny Tim’s Christmas, Nevada City

 

 

Four Men Walking, San Diego

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Rock in Road, Westwood, CA September

 

 


Metal Trees, Westwood, California

 

 

Cinderella, Grass Valley CA November 2014Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014

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Haunted HouseHaunted House

 

 

Cinderella, Grass Valley CA November 2014Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014

 

Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014

Prelinger Library, San Francisco
Prelinger Library, San Francisco

 

Music Recital Reception, Half Moon BayMusic Recital Reception, Half Moon Bay

 

Hummingbird in Grass, 29 Palms, CA, June 2014
Hummingbird in Grass, 29 Palms, CA, June 2014

Girl Walking Dog, July 2014
Girl Walking Dog, July 2014

Yucca, Mojave Desert, August 2014
Yucca, Mojave Desert, August 2014

 

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