Artistic Process

The artistic process differs from medium to medium and is of course a never-ending learning process. As an artist working in the medium of photography, I cannot help but compare my medium and process to others. I find it both helpful in understanding my own medium but also in growing with it. And although I have been working in digital format for almost 10 years, the medium still feels new to me.

There is one aspect of working in digital format  that may be more important than any other. Unlike working with film, having immediate feedback on the camera’s LCD means being able to respond both to the scene in front of me and to the image I just created. And so as in painting, sculpture, or even composing music, I can analyse the result and adjust the process to do things differently.

Mostly, people think of that feedback as a way of checking that the camera is working correctly and that the image reflects what was desired. That is helpful, but maybe even more important is that the image itself becomes a new thing to which I can respond. Just as a painter lays down a brush stroke and then responds to how that brush stroke changes their feeling about where to lay down the next brush stroke, the photographer can respond to an LCD display of an image to determine what next direction to take.

In the image below that I made in Acadia National Park this past August, I was able to respond to the image I made as separate from the scene in which I was working. The image I made then could send me in a different direction than the scene itself would have.  As a result I could respond by changing focal length, perspective, polarization, exposure, composition, and if I chose to, also white-balance and application of a variety of other camera-based controls. The immediate feedback offered by the camera’s LCD allows me to be more creative in the field and ultimately with the final print.

This image was made with a Panasonic GH2 with an Olympus 9-18mm m4/3 lens at 18mm hand-held.

Cloud and Grasses, (c) 2012 Paul Grecian

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The Maine Thing – Day 6

Day 6 in Maine was fairly overcast, perfect for hiking in wooded areas. The image below was made on a trail starting at Jordan Pond. The trails are mostly for hiking, but also horse-riding and offer wonderful views of rather pristine woodland. What really amazed me was how interwoven  the Plant-life is with the geology. Trees were growing out of stone and even in the nooks of other trees! For example, I saw several fir trees growing out of  bifurcations in birch trees.

For this hike I selected to use a light weight Micro-Four-thirds system again. In this case it was the Panasonic GH2 with an Olympus 9-18mm lens (equivalent to an 18-36mm in 35mm format). Compositionally, I am using the trees to frame the distant view. From a color standpoint, this is a monochromatic piece, so I am emphasizing the different tonalities of green (as I would with grays were this a black-and-white image).

View from trail near Jordan Pond

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The Maine Thing – Day 5

One of the attributes of Acadia National Park that I especially like is the ability to park in the right lane of “The Loop” just about whenever I wish. This gives me the freedom to explore and respond to the landscape freely. And since the park is never really closed, I can do this for sunrise, sunset, middle of the day, or middle of the night!

One location on the loop that I like is at Otter Cove. Here, the mountains reflect into still waters lined by forest. I see it as a serene view, without great drama. Therefore my image represents it using symmetry, subtle tonality, and lots of sky. The clouds both provide visual interest to the sky but also minimize the landscape further. There is both direct and indirect light hitting the land along with shadows of the clouds themselves. This image was made with a Micro-Four-thirds system camera (Panasonic GH2) and an Olympus 9-18mm m4/3 lens. This lightweight camera and lens combo is a great travel kit.

Otter Cove, Acadia (c) 2012 http://www.paulgrecianphoto.com

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The Maine Thing – Day 4

Day 4 in Maine was a washout, I mean it poured! Perfect for some outdoor photography with saturated colors! I had my sights on Sieur de Monts Nature Center to work the birch woods. For this kind of really wet conditions, I rely on my Olympus E-5 DSLR and Olympus SW 50-200mm lens which are both weather proof. Even in Gore-Tex though, I felt wet from this rain, and water finds ways to get inside your jacket and shoes.

The wet leaves and boardwalk added color and reflection to the image and pretty much guaranteed I would be alone. It was really quite fun to work in conditions about as wet as I’ve ever experienced.

 

Boardwalk in Birch Forest

 

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Maine Thing – Day 3

I hoped that I would see some of the famous Bar Harbor fog I had heard about and on day 3 I did. It engulfs the Porcupine Islands in an almost horror-film fashion. The fog is so thick it seems to be almost solid.

The Margaret Todd was sailing for its evening cruise and really gives a sence of scale to the image. I was working from on top of Cadillac Mountain at sunset with just the last vestiges of warm light hitting the bay. On a tripod, I was using a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 lens and  Canon TC 2X. Mirror lockup and an electronic cable release minimized camera movement.

Margaret Todd into the Fog – http://www.paulgrecianphoto.com

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The Maine Thing – Day 2

On our second day in Maine, my daughter convinced us to do a bike ride around some ponds and Eagle Lake. It turned into a 10 mile expedition and after not being on a bike for the past 25 yrs, my backside was not pleased. Anyway, it was a beautiful day and I had a small Micro-Four-thirds camera system with me (even a travel tripod). My rather frequent pleading to stop so that I could make a few images became old for wife and daughter, so I made mental notes for the later that day.

The image below was made at Eagle Lake with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 L lens at f22. This is late afternoon light falling on the mountain and the trees on the right. The foreground reflects the light from the sky and had interesting texture and color from the grasses growing within the shallow water. I composed to maximize the geometry of the scene and to create a balanced image.

Eagle Lake in Acadia National Park

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The Maine Thing – Day1

The second time that I visit a location is often fraught with expectations based on the first visit. This is a creativity trap! Conditions are never the same and if I’m smart, I won’t think about the first trip too much. Apparently the weather in Maine is more unpredictable than in Bucks County, PA where I live and so weather forecasts have to be taken with a grain of salt (appropriate enough for an ocean-front environment like Acadia National Park).

The first day after arriving in Bar Harbor I was up early for sunrise and placed myself up on Cadillac Mountain. The image below was made with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L lens. I used a split-neutral-density filter to control the sky exposure and of course had the rig on a tripod. I locked up the mirror and used an electronic cable-release to minimize vibration.

In August, you don’t find yourself along much on the mountain and so there was actually quite a crowd. The gentlemen nearest me asked to borrow my filter between my image making and we got to talking. It was a much more social event than I had anticipated, but fun all the same.

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Yin Yang

The image I show below is now a new print that I have titled Yin Yang. I enjoy the visual simplicity and Zen feeling that the image conveys. With its equal parts of light (Yang) and dark (Yin), I created an image with visual balance which has a similar form to the well-known Tai Chi symbol.

The image itself was made in Maine in the area around Acadia National Park on an overcast day. Working in overcast conditions allowed me to maintain tonalities without harsh highlights and deep shadow. The dark part of the image is a reflection of the mountain that towers over the pond while the light side of the image is that area in which the mountain does not reflect (just the overcast sky).

The image was made with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 II L IS lens on a tripod topped with a Really Right Stuff ballhead. For this type of imagery I also like to use mirror lockup and an electronic cable-release.

You can order a matted print here – Yin Yang

"Yin Yang" (c) 2011 Paul Grecian - http://www.paulgrecianphoto.com

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Maine On My Mind

I’ve been planning a trip back to Maine for this summer. My first visit last year to Acadia National Park was a profound experience. I am very curious how I will perceive the area differently during a second visit.

I have been working with images I made in Maine last June  and will be printing a few to include in shows and at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ. One of the new prints will be of the image below depicting the Margaret Todd schooner in Bar Harbor at dusk. The blues in the sky reflecting in the harbor waters served as a pleasant contrast to the warm tones of the sails. I composed to emphasize a sense of place, the rocky foreground providing grounding from which to stand and enjoy the scene.

Yea, I’m ready to go back!

The Margaret Todd, Bar Harbor, Maine

 

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Thinking about geology today

Today I experienced my first minor little tremor of an earthquake. It was interesting if not a bit disconcerting. It got me thinking about geology, which got me thinking about rock, which sent my mind back to Maine where I spent a week this past June. The geology at Acadia National Park is laid out for everyone to see and also offers some unique geometry with which to explore visual relationships, line, shape, and contrasts.

One of the images I made in Acadia is all about shape, texture, and contrasts. It’s an image of a single, perfectly formed, oblong rock against a weathered piece of driftwood (actually it was large 15 foot span of beached tree). Since the day was overcast, I had no shadows to deal with and so there is a softness to the light resulting in soft edges and transitions. A slight blue cast is present in the wood which adds the needed color contrast. The roundness of the rock and it’s speckled pattern also contrast with the crack lines of the wood. Somehow I find the image to be peaceful and a bit mesmerizing. I’d love to hear what you think.

Rock and weathered wood

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