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 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 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
Waiting for the Parade, San Francisco
Roadside Businesses
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 Habitat
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, 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 Cruz
Flag City
Train, Highway 80, Near Reno
9th Avenue and Irving, San Francisco, California
Golf balls 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
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
Rock in Road, Westwood, CA September
Metal Trees, Westwood, California
Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014
Haunted House
Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014
Cinderella, Grass Valley, CA, November 2014
Prelinger Library, San Francisco
Music Recital Reception, Half Moon Bay
Hummingbird in Grass, 29 Palms, CA, June 2014
Girl Walking Dog, July 2014
Yucca, Mojave Desert, August 2014