Does your art still “talk” when you strip its color?

B&W for me is still the soul of fine art in photography

People as a species are very color sensitive (except for the men who are color blind) and many forms of art use color to provide emphasis for the message being created. As a long time devote of photographers such as Adam, Smith, Modotti, and Weston, I believe that the strongest images (Photography or other wise) that are the most moving are those that still grab your eyes in monotone. Somehow I find a richness in B&W that presents textures that I don’t see in color and it is those textures that make me move deeper into the image.

Take your favorite image and remove the color, does it still convey the artistic theme you intended it to?

My Portfolio

Creative Time

Do you know when your creative mind wants its creative time? Everyone knows that there are certain parts of the day when you are “better” at doing things. For some people its early morning and for others it is late at night. But for everyone there is some part of the day when you more focused and filled with energy. Creative “slumps” often come for me when my daily rhythm is interrupted by “life stress”. In my opinion, identifying your Creative Time is one of the most important things you can do to produce art that speaks to your creative being. Protect your creative time – put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your studio/room door. Silence your phone – Don’t respond to text messages. Inspiration often comes at the strangest times, but give it a place to grow and your art will show it.

Introducing The DiPetrograph Art Concept

My family has Native American History (various nations on my Mom’s Grandmother’s side) and so the art of the various First Nation peoples has often been an interest for me. Petrographs (petrograph ‎ -plural petrographs- Drawing, writing or inscription on stone, as a painting on a cave wall) has always been of interest too me. As I explore ways to expand my artistic efforts I often try and develop a tone and style that is reflective of this portion of my heritage. I am working on a body of work which I call “DiPetrographs” and it embodies the notion of “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints”. As I see the places I visit, I’ve often thought about the records I have seen on rocks in the American West and wondered how it differed from the current Graffiti work. I think I’ve identified, for me, the difference – one is a social comment of some kind and the other is a non-destructive recording of the nature of the things -both physical and ethereal- as seen by people living in a specific place at a specific time – and in our time and our place I have started producing DiPetrographs.

One of the great beautiful places one this earth is the American West. The Southwest is often a harsh but beautiful place. Life is hard there, even today, and often when hiking I look up and see that reminder in the wonderful birds called Turkey Vultures. They circle endless for hours watch the dance between life and death from a godlike perch so far above and in an Deus ex machina moment appears on the ground. The first in my body of DiPetrographs is a memory of the beauty of this harsh land and the ever present watcher in the sky.