-
The Mask Is The Meaning
Continue ReadingI was traveling by car with two companions along the Aegean coast near Ephesus. The driver — an Englishman with long experience in Turkey — suggested we detour through lush agricultural land. He knew this artichoke farmer personally; so when I asked to make photographs, the fellow was among friends and there was little […]
-
Puncturing the Skin
Continue Reading“Many photographs are, alas, inert under my gaze. But even among those which have some existence in my eyes, most provoke only a general and, so to speak, ‘polite’ interest; they have no ‘punctum’ in them: they please or displease me without pricking me: they are invested with no more than ‘studium.’ Roland Barthes (Camera […]
-
An Essential Cairo Image
Continue ReadingAlong the streets in Cairo, Egypt wind always blows. It rarely becomes blustery, but rather oscillates between soft currents and vigorous breezes. Every flat in the city has a clothes line, either outside a window or running parallel to a balcony. Among the tender winds and the sunlight garments dry in an hour or two. […]
-
The Three Mounted Officers
Continue ReadingMounted police geared up like this project strength and low-key swagger. In our photograph I think the isolating of certain details adds to this impression, beginning with the powerful hindquarters and flanks of the horses, and continuing among the luxurious folds of the officers’ leather jackets. Three of anything brings to mind a triangle or […]
-
Racetrack Emotions, Part 2
Continue ReadingI encountered this pretty woman one Saturday at the track, upstairs facing an array of closed circuit television screens, as official results of a completed race began appearing. Prior to this, I made two frames of her jumping up and down with both arms thrown above her head, each image interesting and well-crafted in its […]
-
Yellow, The Predominant Color
Continue ReadingYellows and light greens rule the color palette of wild desert gardens. Scarlets, pinks and purples sprinkled about make landscapes vivacious, but yellow shores up the foundation and forms the background. I offer two images for your happiness. Pictured above you find a robust example of the official pale green tree of Arizona, and […]
-
Another Of Those Mysterious Sculptures
Continue ReadingThe pedestal-balanced rock above could pass as modern sculpture, a product of the human brain. In my mind it has balance, a designed aerodynamic shape with faceting, and an engaging aggregation of forms with different colors emerging from its crown. Its location, balanced on the edge of a dramatic canyon, seems beyond a random fortuitous […]
-
Is This Spiritual Rage?
Continue ReadingI had luck enough to travel along the Nile River to the Temple of Dendera, where these photographs were taken during a restoration project. The temple dates from Ptolemaic times — in the few hundred years before Christ — and was built beside an oasis to worship Hathor, goddess of many realms including Sky and […]
-
Digital Cliché-Verre
Continue ReadingIn its original incarnation, cliché-verre (also called glass printing, or photographic etching) was a hybrid technique combining hand-drawing with printmaking and photography, but without using ink or camera. My picture above uses camera and computer, and ink too when it gets printed. It approximates the look of the earliest examples dating from about 1840. The […]
-
My Personal Favorite
Continue ReadingOf the spontaneous environmental portraits I have made, this is my favorite. He is a private tour guide, an Egyptian hustler with voluminous knowledge of travel by horse and camel in the desert. I could not have engineered this backdrop myself more perfectly. I thus caught his personality and his place in the world at […]
Latest Entries
Not Even An Honorable MentionIn Aesthetics, Art Historical, Autobiographical, TechnicalI once submitted this picture to a […]
A Most Challenging LookIn Cultural Anthropology, Environmental Portraiture, Street PhotographyIn their frankness her eyes disconcert me. She […]
Why I Came Home EarlyIn Autobiographical, Cultural Anthropology, Egypt, Middle EastAssume you are a middle-aged man born and raised in […]
A Scene From YesteryearIn Americana, Cultural Anthropology, Street PhotographyIn this slice of American history, relaxation — […]
On Visiting A Bonfire-SiteIn Art Historical, Cultural Anthropology, Pilgrimages, ReportageA Ruined Chapel in the California Desert […]