Anartia jatrophae

"Anartia jatrophae" is the title of a new print of mine that will be on display at the gallery opening on July 12, 2014, at the Morean Arts Center in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.

Each one of the 16 individual carbon piezography prints on bamboo that combine to create the finished 24" x 32" (60.96 cm x 81.28 cm) piece of artwork  is hand-pinned to the substrate, much in the manner of a captured butterfly in a collection.

The piece is also available in a finished size of 48" x 64" (121.92 cm x 162.56 cm).

I hope to see you at the exhibition opening.

St. Petersburg, Florida - The Pyramid Pier

The first City of St. Petersburg Pier was the Railroad Pier, built by the Orange Belt Railway back in 1889. The most elaborate was the Million Dollar Pier, with its Mediterranean revival architecture, which was completed in 1926. It was demolished in 1967, to make way for the current inverted Pyramid Pier, which was opened to the public in 1973. The Pyramid Pier was closed in 2013 due to structural deterioration.

It remains to be seen what style of architecture will replace the current pier. In the meantime, it still makes for a fetching photographic subject.

New Years Day 2014

I love photographing at Howard Park in Tarpon Springs and it's been the inspiration for many of my Floridays images throughout the years. Continuing a tradition of creating new images on New Years Day, I went out to see a very strange sight as the Gulf of Mexico was at the lowest tide I had ever seen. It was quite surreal, like an other-wordly view, as I was able to walk out for several hundred yards on what was usually the bottom of the sea. A strange start to a whole new year.

Beijing Rickshaw Driver

Although many of the quaint and culturally rich areas that I visited a few years ago have been torn down as they were replaced in an effort to 'modernize' for the 2008 Olympics, the Peoples Republic of China is still a fantastic country to photograph.

This portrait of the traditional rickshaw driver is one of my favorite images as it presents that cultural juxtaposition of the 'old' and the 'new' that I have often experienced throughout my visits to China.

Rickshaw driver, Peoples Republic of China, 2004

Source - An Ongoing Series

A series, like any body of work, is created over a period of time, which, in the case of Source, has been a period of almost ten years.

In this era of instant gratification, it is sometimes difficult to understand the concept of a project that is years in the making and development. We tend to look for the immediate and we so often forget the simple, yet extreme, satisfaction that comes with savoring the time and creating photographs, instead of merely taking snapshots.

Working with silver gelatin film allows one to slow down and actually think about the process of photography, yet you can't get bogged down in the technical, for the concept of the final image has to be constantly in the forefront of creation. It's never a simple matter of taking a bunch of snapshots and hoping you can find something worthwhile by messing around with some plug-ins or actions in some editing program or app. You have to be able to plan from the very beginning; camera selection, film selection, metering and exposure methodology, development process, and finally, the print process.

It's so very exciting to see the pre-visualization of the scene come to life in the final print.

Heartland - Texas Hill Country

I spent a few months in Austin and wandered a bit through the Texas Hill Country. The terrain is quite a bit different from that of the areas I have called 'home' which have always been near large bodies of water; the Pacific, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic.

The waves in this image of the Hill Country were created by a sea of tall grasses and the horizon was cut by the branches of a lone tree instead of sails on a tall mast. For those who have wondered if I ever use a palette containing anything beyond monochrome.

Floridays + Mangroves

There is a beautiful symbiosis amongst the microbes, plants, and animals of the Florida shorelines within the communities of red mangroves. The numerous feeding and spawning fish and nesting water birds that live within the sprawling roots of the mangroves make for delightful viewing on any day along the shores.

Peaches + Pecans - New Heartland Image

I'm rather partial to small towns, having grown up with cornfields bordering my backyard, and love to explore the backroads and byways.

This image of a peaches and pecans farmer's shed during the off-season was created close to sundown on a wintery day, as evidenced by the grey wisps of clouds in the sky.

River of Grass Revisited

I recently re-read Marjory Stoneman Douglas' book, "The Everglades River of Grass," which was first published in 1947. I was particularly interested in the Afterword titled "Forty More Years of Crisis" which was published in 1987, forty years after the first publication. In 1987, Ms. Stoneman Douglas, at 98 years of age, was still a tireless supporter of the River of Grass and still seeking to educate more people about this fragile ecosystem upon which all of southern Florida relies so much, yet understands so little.

I have been a visitor to Florida since the 1960's and a resident since the 1970's and, like Ms. Stoneman Douglas, have watched as Florida has continuously vanished before my eyes under concrete, landfills, and pavement. It is so ironic that Florida politicians, who seem to know no other commerce than tourism, are so Hell-bent on destroying the natural beauty and the natural ecosystem of the state, the very things which are the real Florida.

Shame on them for doing so and shame on us for allowing it to happen again and again and again.

The 'Other' Side of the Atlantic

The erosion of the coastline is a constant losing battle of man vs. nature and nature's overwhelming force always wins. Although Hurricane Sandy's immediate effect was hundreds of miles away from the Florida coastline, the significant erosion of the shoreline is testament to the powerful effects of that devastating storm.