Holiday Craft Show 2008 – Reading, PA

I’m excited to be participating in my second Reading-Berks Chapter Holiday Craft Show this weekend (Nov. 1-2). Held at Pennsylvania Berks County Penn State Campus, this show features a great variety of craft and art mediums. Always a high quality show, patrons will find work designed and handmade by some of the most talented artists and craftsmen on the East Coast. Come get something special for yourself or for someone you care about. This is a great opportunity to start holiday shopping.

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Self Critique I

In my previous post (October 21, 2008) I included an image of geese in flight over a misty morning lake. Lana and Mark both made astute observations about the image and the process of making it. Their thoughts got me thinking that I would like to occasionally add more to the discussion about individual images. As Lana and Mark alluded, timing is an important component in the making of an image like this one. Equally important is pre-visualizing the situation before it occurs. What makes pre-visualization possible here is that the location is one that I have been at hundreds of times, usually around the same time of day, and very often with geese on the lake. I have observed these geese leaving their water roost many times, so I have a good feeling for their flight pattern.

Geese in Flight - (c) Paul Grecian 2008

I knew I wanted a wide-angle perspective to both give the location a sense of vastness, but also to allow myself some leeway in having the geese remain in the frame as they flew close to overhead. I also knew that I wanted to pre-determine the exposure before the geese flew over and so made an image without the geese and checked the rear LCD to confirm the settings. The geese needed to be against the sky and not overlap with any of the land. Since both the land and geese would be in silhouette, any overlap would mean a loss of the bird against the backdrop. In order to “stop” the geese in flight I would need a reasonably high shutter speed which meant increasing the ISO a bit as well.

I like the pastel tones of the sky and reflections in the water, the dark areas (negative space) add a sense of mystery to the image, the fog rising off of the water adds depth and atmosphere, all good thing in a landscape image. But I wanted some animation. If you’ve ever been around geese early in the morning before they leave their roost, you discover that they give you signs that they are preparing to take off. They become fidgety, extremely talkative, and often begin to move toward a spot from where they can take-off. It’s almost as if they are saying “OK, I want to get going, who’s with me”. So once I get the signs, I take my position and try to be where the geese will fly over head.

I was able to keep the 8 geese in this image against the sky, but equally important was that they did not overlap with each other. I have 8 distinct geese in flight. All of the thought that goes into making an image like this is possible only because I’ve done this before and I knew ahead of time what kind of image I wanted to make.

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Guild’s Fall Show – Good First

The Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen held their fall craft show this past weekend at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, PA. It was our first time at this new venue after many years of holding it at Tyler State Park near Newtown, PA. Most of the patrons I spoke with liked this new location for its open layout, attractive grounds, and excellent parking. It was a fun event and consisted of some very talented artists, craftsmen and craftswomen.

One of the great things about a new venue is meeting new people. Every show has new patrons, but a new venue increases that number. I enjoyed seeing previous patrons and meeting more that have added my work to their homes for the first time. I am in the process of filling custom orders from this show and preparing for a very full November (4 shows in 4 weeks). I also plan to get out some more in this fine fall weather we’re having and work favorite haunts near home.

Geese Leaving Roost - (c) Paul Grecian 2008

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Fall Classic – Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen 2008

As a Phillies fan, I’d like to see my team get to the Fall Classic (World Series). But before that, I’ll be at a different kind of fall classic – the  Fine Craft Show presented by the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. This show, which has been held at Tyler State Park in Bucks County, is now at Montgomery County Community College. This weekend (Oct. 18-19) will be our first time at this new and great location.

More colors to show from this past weekend’s work in the Delaware Water Gap. This scene just stunned me through the viewfinder as I turned the polarizer. A small girl throwing stones in the water gave me some ripples to add texture and a sense of movement.

Pond and Fall Colors, Delaware Water Gap, PA

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Peak at PEEC, Fall 2008

Just returned from a long weekend up at the Delaware Water Gap and the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC). I haven’t been to PEEC since college, so this was a trip I wanted to make. Me and a friend, Jim, spent two nights and two and a half days enjoying clear skies and outrageous color. Two 12 hr days of hiking and photographing were both invigorating and tiring. Jim and I worked a few ponds and lakes, a few trails and Childs Park (nice waterfalls). The colors reflected from fall trees in mirror-still waters were hot and spicy. I worked on creating images that were both representational and fully abstract. It was difficult at times to not think past where I was to where I wanted to be next. At points I had to push myself to just concentrate on the scene in front of me. This was the best fall color I have seen in years. Coming home this afternoon it was clear that the color did not reach down to the Quakertown area. But an hour north, it is wild!

I have a lot of editing and processing to do, but one of my favorite images is the last one I made Saturday evening. The sun was mostly gone, the moon was up and the colors were all reflecting in the lake water. A split-neutral density filter and a polarizer kept the light and color in line.

Moon and Lake Reflections - (c) Paul Grecian

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Mom For President

I’ve always been around creative people. Growing up with an artist mother, hanging out with aspiring artists throughout school, and exhibiting at shows for almost 15 years has been a great experience.  I really appreciate works in all media from painting to music and writing. My normal reading list is really quite limited in scope, but once in awhile I have occasion to stretch beyond my typical queue of photography books and related magazines. This time I really stretched. The first novel by children’s book writer Donna Gephart (but certainly not her last) is not just a fun read, but very timely. I’m a bit of a political junky, so I related to the story line of a political campaign’s impact on a young girl. The main character – Vanessa, is about the same age as my daughter and niece (I got copies for both girls) and the book gives an informative, if not somewhat scary, insight into a young girl’s head. Venessa’s mother (a governor) is running for president during a time when Vanessa is already dealing with a variety of issues

 

The title of the book is As If Being 12 3/4 Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mom Is Running for President. OK, now I have admitted to struggling with titles for my images (and quite a few people tell me they enjoy them), but a title of this length would probably not work for me. It’s tempting, but no. At one point in the book, Vanessa lists the reasons why she doesn’t want her mother to run for president. My favorite is that she already feels that photographers catch her looking her worse. Speaking from experience, my daughter accuses me of that all the time as well.

 

Donna Gephart is a talented writer in a variety of genres, but clearly in her element as a children’s book author. She is a passionate writer who treats the art and craft of writing the way any artist approaches their medium. I admire creative people who enjoy the process as well as strive for excellence, Donna Gephart does that. I often think about the analogy of creative writing and photography. Isn’t creative writing after all really a way of eliciting  a mental picture, a mood, or a feeling? Words, light, or paint, the creative process uses different raw materials, but pretty much to the same goal – communication. Donna has a second book in the works, until then, I’ll probably be working through my normal pile.

 

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People always telling me where I can go…

It’s not as bad as it sounds really. In fact, it’s kind of a compliment I think. People come into my booth, seem to like my work, and proceed to tell me where I can go …………”to make beautiful pictures”. Often I am told to go out west, or to Canada, Alaska, Florida, even Europe. I would like to go to any or all of these places. Maybe someday I will. But to a certain extent, I think people suggesting these trips, as kind-hearted as they are, are missing what my work is about. I create images about the places and things that I have grown to love, admire, and want to share. I love their excitement about the places they have been. But, my work is a personal expression of what excites me, and place is not important to me. My approach is more on the order of a relationship with a Walden’s Pond - intimate, personal, but not grand. I like the simple, often overlooked, and familiar. I just don’t believe that I could go to any location once, twice, or even three times and come away with a feeling about that place enough to create the kind of imagery I hope to create. On the other hand, the imagery I make at locations I have been going back to for ten years or more, continually excites me.

I don’t photograph at East Coast locations, and primarily areas close to home, just because it’s what I can do. It is because it is what I want to do. No disrespect intended if I can’t share your experiences of a trip to Africa, Antarctica, the Galapagos or even Yellowstone. It’s just that what excites me visually often is what’s happening 20 miles away (or closer), not 2000 miles away.

I also suspect that most people don’t realize that the truely great photography done out west or abroad is the result of many return trips or even full-time residence in those areas. So I want to make great photographs where I reside or can go back to often. It is often said that writers should write about what they know, painters should paint what they know, I have found that to be true for my work as well. And, if the opportunity to go to Alaska presents itself – I’m there!

(c) Paul Grecian 2008 - http://www.paulgrecianphoto.com

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