The significance of THREE can be interpreted as wholeness.

Three photographs - One plant  =

Triptych

 

Matthew G Beall Photography   The significance of THREE   2012

Matthew G. Beall Photography  Three is Wholeness 1  2012

Matthew G. Beall Photography  Three is Wholeness 2  2012

Matthew G. Beall Photography  Three is Wholeness 3  2012

One of the modernist pioneers of photography. 

 Under the Darkcloth is broken into 6 parts for Youtube. Thanks Youtube and Tom Johnston Photography

Oct 25, 2012. What a beautiful day in Ulm, Germany. A day for photographing.

It was an awesome day because I got to out shooting pics with my good friend Axel Busch. Axel is an entrepreneur,  an adventurer, a sailor, a diver, a fellow photographer, a videographer, and above all, my  friend. He is someone that I greatly admire.

 A three hour tour: Axel isn't in Germany very often, so we took advantage of such an awesome day to grab our gear and shoot. It was about having a great time. Man, did I enjoy it!

Axel in action. Oct. 25, 2012

A few shots

Ulm from across the Danube  Oct. 25, 2012

Without light what are we? I am always chasing the light. There are days when the light shines through a window and creates such shadow that I am compelled to get the camera and play around with the ordinary inside the apartment.

Matthew G. Beall   Shadows on a Bathroom Wall   2012

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Her Office   2012

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Her Office Desk   2012

The Internet is AWESOME!

One of the greatest things I like about it is how one can rather easily connect with other photographers . Although I am from the States, I live in Germany, and it's far, far away from "home" physically speaking... yet, so very, very close online. Take Miami, Fl. for instance. It's is 4931 miles from where I am at. It's kinda tough to pop by to talk to someone face-to-face but online, well, it's as if it is just around the corner.  Miami photographer Jorge Ledesma - Ledesmaphotography -is an example of one of these connections.

I have been following Jorge's blog http://ledesmaphotography.wordpress.com/home/blog/  for a some time. I like what he has to say and I like his work. He and I have very similar thoughts on the art of photography. In his  Week40 post he writes, "I can assure you that cameras don’t really matter all that much." Yep! He continues to say, and I paraphrase here, it's your vision and how you make the photograph. Absolutely! I think he hits it spot on with this sentence: "Processing for me is so intimately tied to vision because it hones in on what you saw and what you want your viewer to see..."

Jorge is one of the photographers that helps me to see a bit differently when I am stuck and helps me to color outside the lines.

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Shadows on a Bathroom Wall    2012

Fall is here and winter is coming

 There's a wonderful beauty during winter when the tress are bare, the skies are gray, and fresh soft snow is on the ground. I see monotone.

Matthew G. Beall Photography   There's a Wonderful Beauty    2011

 

Iron Man by Black Sabbath is an awesome song. 

Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all,
Or if he moves will he fall?
Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
Well just pass him there
Why should we even care? 

Really old cemeteries are great places to photograph. The first lines of Iron Man seem fitting when making photographs in and of a cemetery.

Matthew G. Beall  Well Just Pass Him There  2012  Ulm, Germany

Sometimes a subject speaks very loudly yet softly at the same time.

Matthew G. Beall    Blowing in the Wind     2012

My Vision

Taking liberties using the iconic Bauhaus student dorm building.

Matthew G. Beall   Out in the Air    2012

Matthew G. Beall   Up, Up, Up   2012

The iconic Bauhaus Building by Walter Gropius (built  1925 - 1926) sits in Dessau. The outside is a beauty, and the inside is beautiful.

Matthew G. Beall   Bauhaus Window   2012

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Bauhaus Stairs and Window    2012

What is it about stairways and light & shadow?

Somewhere in Weimar, Germany is a staircase and a glass ceiling from which light bathes the walls of the stairwell.

Matthew G. Beall   Stairway to Light   2012

Matthew G. Beall   Stairway to Light 2  2012

While at documenta 13 in Kassle, we took advantage of visiting the Brüder Grimm Haus.These creaky stares are a wonder to look at as well as to climb. Of course, I couldn't resist making a black and white photograph of the staircase.

Matthew G. Beall   Brüder Grimm Haus Staircase  2012

Ingredients of a photo: 

Sun, Clouds, Sand, Beach Chairs, Old Buildings, Fauna, Light, Shadow. 

Mix together

Matthew G. Beall   Ahlbeck   2012

On the island of Rügen on the Baltic Sea coast of Germany.  The roofed wicker beach chairs (Strandkörbe) waiting for the storm to come.

Matthew G. Beall   Rügen: Waiting for the Storm   2012

Sometimes really playing around with a photograph brings about something unexpected even though you started with a certain end result vision. The unexpected can be, at times, better than the expected. The unexpected can take you into a new direction, it can open your eyes wider, it can lead you to paint outside the lines, and it can remind you that you can fun with your art, too.

Matthew G. Beall   The Chairs   2012

Matthew G. Beall   The Chairs II   2012

 Take about 13 minutes to watch what goes into making a Canon. Video from 2010.

European cities have plenty of old, old buildings and things. Some of these have been restored, some are in need of restoration, and some have no hope.

Even though I live in an old German city, I am constantly surprised by the things I see that I have not seen before even though I may have passed the thing a 100 times. I believe most of us just walk blindly through our every day life, and this includes me at times ...

So, when you go out to shoot, look up, look around, and seek out the unseen.

There is a ruin, which is built into the old fortress wall, I made a photograph of called Hidden. I asked those that live in Ulm where it is. Yes, they got it!. This ruin sits in the center of the city (Stadtmitte = city center/center of the city) close to the Danube. I am pretty sure most that live in Ulm have walked past it many times, but have never actually looked at it.

The ruin is here. Walk through the tunnel and you are in the Rosengarten at the Danube. It is next to the Meeting House - (Holy) Trinity Church. (English translation)

The Ruin

Matthew G. Beall   Uhrturm    2012

There is always an object to photograph. Sometimes the object is as plain as day and sometimes it is hidden i.e. it is not really looked at.

It was a sunny day, a sunny spring day with strong shadows. It was a perfect day for shooting black and white. Shadows and light grab me!

Limited Edition Prints available.  

Matthew G. Beall    Hidden    2012

An exquisite glow

A beautiful illumination

The Flower

Matthew G. Beall Photography   The Flower   2012

better than black and white.

Matthew G. Beall   June Leaves   2012

The Big Five

Light and Shadow = mood

 

Contrast = attention

 

Shape and Form = interest

 

Pattern = interest

 

Texture = emphasis

 

Matthew G. Beall  Lines and Shadows 5  2012

 I was out and about in Söflingen, a part of Ulm, on a slightly overcast day with camera and intent mixed with vision. There is always something to make a photograph of.

"Black and White makes a oneness ..." Clyde Butcher  ---  If you don't know Clyde's work, you NEED to have a look, a long look at it.

Matthew G. Beall   Lines and Shadows 1  2012

Matthew G. Beall   Lines and Shadows 2  2012

Matthew G. Beall   Lines and Shadows 3   2012

Matthew G. Beall   Lines and Shadows 4  2012

 The PPS American Experience  Adams: A Documentary Film is worth every second of your time.

Ansel simply understood light. More precisely he took a specific quality of light that radiated on a specific place at an exact moment in time and made art. 

And THE book to have ...

You can never have enough books. And when they are about Ansel Adams pictures, you have to spread the word to buy it.

"Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs offers an exciting survey of his development as an artist. Of the themes and subjects that animate his work and of the evolution of a style that is uniquely that of Ansel Adams -- America's best-known and best-loved photographer."

Matthew G. Beall   My Ansel Adams Pictures  2011

Composition

    vision 

Light

 and

Shadow

Shades

Matthew G. Beall   Light, Shadow and Shades   2011

So much has changed in photography over the past few years allowing us to take more photographs in a shorter space of time and to publish them within seconds. However, the fact is that sometimes less is more. In other words, you won’t necessarily become a better photographer by simply snapping off a lot of random shots.  

Although it is easy to take a photograph these days, it doesn’t mean that you can replace quality with quantity. This means it is better to critically look at your photographs, delete the ones that don’t cut it, and keep in mind what didn’t work by asking yourself, “How can I make it better next time?”

Making a photograph takes intent, knowledge, focus and, yes, hard work. Anyone who attempts to claim otherwise is being either naïve or ignorant. So, get out there and practice with intent and focus. Learn to look, see and think. Bring it all back to the digital darkroom and make that photograph you have in your mind’s eye.

Learn to be vision driven.

A day in May along the Danube on the Neu Ulm, Germany side of the river. The wonder, the beauty, the surface of leaves in black and white.

Matthew G. Beall  Leaves Along the Danube   May 2012

Matthew G. Beall  Leaves Along the Danube 2  May 2012

 A Never Ending Odyssey

 I have a new Facebook page: MatthewGBeallPhotography  I need YOU to "like" it for me, please.
Thank you for taking the time to do that!

Matthew G. Beall   The Beauty of Black and White   2012

Matthew G. Beall   The Beauty of Black and White 2  2012

Matthew G. Beall  Flowers and Leaves  2012

Matthew G. Beall  Flowers and Leaves 2   2012

In my previous post, Flowers on a Sunny Day in Ulm, Germany, I put up 3 photographs with two of them in black and white. Although I mostly do only black and white, it's sometimes necessary to use color to make the photograph as fine art work.  Sometimes color is simply more pleasing. 3 Flowers and Flowers with Yellow are the color versions of what was first B&W.

Matthew G. Beall   Beautiful Flowers    2012

Matthew G. Beall   3 Flowers with Yellow   2012

Matthew G. Beall    Flowers    2012

Matthew G. Beall    Flowers 2   2012

This morning, Friday, April 27, I took a little photography tour around the Danube River in Ulm, Germany. We have a  garden with many different types of flowers and plants. A relaxing place on a sunny Friday morning with plenty of subjects to shoot. Seeing all the flowers, especially the white ones, I immediately thought of Liz Davidson's work.

Here's my take ... and the first one is rare since I do not often work with color.

Matthew G. Beall   Flowers   2012

Matthew G. Beall   White Flowers  2012