Take Me To Church
Posted on September 16, 2019
Iceland, summer, 2019—I love churches, mainly as symbols of quiet and stillness. I’m intrigued by “religious” or “spiritual” values: charity, kindness, sacrifice, forgiveness, transcendence, and so on. I’m especially fascinated when religious values conflict with profane ones. Like efficiency, productivity, and the bottom line. I salivated when this alarm-red truck rocked the scene in Reykjavík.
Such a great juxtaposition! It reminds me of Thoreau who despises rampant commercialism.
“I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself, than this incessant business.”
The next image is angelic and demonic all at once. It’s OK to gasp in terror before a church. After all, it’s stitched together from bits and pieces of cracked humanity.
But it’s also OK to be awed by its beauty and hopefulness…
…and its quest for simplicity and good manners.
Gavin and I had to earn this next church. We were at camp when I noticed the sun setting just so. Camera in hand, I walked west without a word. Gavin followed. We hustled up a steep hillside, then bowed before lupine. Graced by sun flare.
Sometimes when I compose a scene, it triggers a verbal experience. As this one did when I squared up to photograph it:
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow’r,
And all that beauty, all the wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
That’s Thomas Gray, by the way.
This last image also composed itself to a verbal tune, and from no less an authority than the Bible.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. —Exodus 3:2
Except in this case it’s grass and not a bush that burns and isn’t consumed. A fine pastoral scene, elemental, with basic physical realities—spears of grass, game trails, a sharp ridgeline, and a small red and white church, eeking out a living in the immensity of it all.
Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed!
Contact me for kids, teens, couples, family, and corporate photography in the Bay Area.
The Color of Water
Posted on September 10, 2019
Glaciers are mesmerizing.
All that gray, swirling ceaselessly,
Above in the clouds and below in the water.
Then suddenly—almost prophetically—a splash of blue.
Onlookers are drawn to prophetic blue.
A patch of yellow signals the arrival of someone else.
A comrade-photographer angling low for a shot.
Before long, the scene shifts.
The colors intensify as if by magic.
Bright and moody all at once.
Forlorn and revelatory.
Gavin walks to the water’s edge, irresistibly.
A California kid—hanging loose—misplaced in this vast glacial lagoon.
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Strong Young Women
Posted on September 3, 2019
Labor Day weekend.
Salmon Lake.
Cloudless.
I’m with friends.
Lots of them.
I’ve known them a long time.
We’ve seen our kids start small and go big.
Smiles are great.
But eyes are better.
They’re tough as hell to fake.
Eyes scream reality:
We take no shit from nobody.
Not in high school.
Not in college.
Never.
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Adobe: Picture Perfect
Posted on August 27, 2019
Overwhelming gratitude.
That’s how I feel when I photograph at Adobe.
Oh, happy, too, of the bursting variety.
So much to say about this set.
But the images themselves will have to do the talking.
I’m at a loss for words…
Contact me for kids, teens, couples, family, and corporate photography in the Bay Area.
Out Shooting Horses
Posted on August 20, 2019
July, 2019.
Iceland, dusk.
In the summer, twilight lasts a long time.
The sun never never fully disappears.
It flirts with the horizon.
Skirting, touching, and dipping beneath it, briefly.
Then it pops right back up again.
I made these images at 11:30 at night.
My family was asleep.
I was not.
I crossed the road, empty.
I sauntered into an open field.
Potatoes, cotton bolls, lush green grass.
Oh, and horses, lots of them.
Corralled by trenches and thin wire fences.
They skittered a bit, on edge.
One bolted, then stopped on a ridge.
He looked at me, miffed.
As I walked, he parallelled me with precision till I was gone.
A wild, long-maned Icelandic geometer of sorts.
Another horse.
Not skittish, friendly.
Soft nose, curious eyes.
Closer, closer.
I touched the forehead,
Then the muzzle.
I approached a small band of horses.
On hands and knees, I crawled up to them.
Totally unnecessary.
They greeted me, flicking their tails.
I sat down before them, at the feet of muscle and bone.
Rocking quietly before their strength and beauty.
Listening, observing, and shooting.
Always shooting.
Now that’s a damn fine image.
Big print here I come!
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Pensive Is Joy
Posted on August 15, 2019
Faces without expression interest me.
I like the ambiguity, the pensiveness.
But clients don’t like Pensive.
Not as a general rule.
They like unvarnished Joy.
Always have.
So.
Lately I’m doing something different.
During family photo shoots,
I run participants through a series of prompts.
Together we travel from Pensive to Joy
With many waystations in between.
I’m happy with the results.
I get what I want.
And clients get what they want.
Thoughts and reactions are welcome!
Contact me for kids, teens, couples, family, and corporate photography in the Bay Area.
Him to Her
Posted on August 13, 2019
WINTER, SUMMER—I traveled up and down the San Francisco peninsula photographing corporate business professionals. I’d like to share a few of them.
Adobe
The only thing better than a corporate shoot at Adobe is a corporate shoot at Adobe on a balcony overlooking the City. With a cityscape like that, your eyes would pop, too.
CyCognito
Members of the CyCognito leadership team needed new headshots to match an existing look and feel. Although it departs from my customary style and aesthetic, I thoroughly enjoyed working with a white background and two off-camera strobes.
Procurant
When you provide solutions for the global food supply chain, it’s smart branding to photograph your leaders outdoors where trees and hedgerows provide a splash of color.
Fenwick & West marketing pro
This aspiring marketing leader at a legendary law firm wanted to blend the venerability of law with the approachability of marketing. Done and done.
Oh, did I say Adobe?
If so, no harm in repetition 🙂
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