Matthew G. Beall Photography   Shadow on Leaves    2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography    Silent Leaves    2013

 From Capturing Exposures Magazine
Making Photographs :: Quantity or Quality?

Digital cameras allow us to take more photographs in a shorter space of time and to publish them within seconds. It's literally a snap!

Less is more. You won't really become a better photographer by simply snapping off a lot of random shots. And simply snapping away doesn't mean that you can replace quality with quantity, does it.

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 darkroom and make that photograph you have in your mind’s eye.

When I think of Colorado, I always picture two things: Downtown Denver and the Rockies. 

This time round it was Denver for its highrise buildings.

Walking up and down and looking up on 16th street with my camera on a cloudy Sunday in July. 

I learned some time ago that you should always look up. Look, See, Think!

Matthew G. Beall Photography    16th Street Denver 1    2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography    16th Street Denver 2     2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography    16th Street Denver 3     2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography    16th Street Denver 4    2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography    16th Street Denver 5     2013

Black and white long exposure photography

The sea caught. Rocks wrapped in white. Time ever lasting. A Fiction of Nature.

See more here: Fiction of Nature: California Central Coast Series

Matthew G. Beall Photography
Monterey Shore
2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography
Monterey Shore Rocks
2013

Most of my work is black & white. It's fairly hard for me to break away from it. Yet, when there is no choice, you go with what works best, what makes the photograph you envision it to be. 

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Ulmer Münster :: Flowers on a Table    2013

Late fall 2012 I set up my gear on the banks of the Danube at the hydropower station in Ulm. My idea was to convey three things:  Different view, different take, different mood. 

Matthew G. Beall Photography  Ulm, Dam  Through the Lens    2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Ulm, Dam  Gritty Mood     2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Ulm, Dam  Different View      2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography      Down the River       2013

Ansel Adams is often on my mind. Two quotes of his that speak volumes.

You don't take a photograph, you make it. - Ansel Adams

 Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. - Ansel Adams

Matthew G. Beall Photography       Alps        2009/2011

The Big Five

Light and Shadow = mood

 

Contrast = attention

 

Shape and Form = interest

 

Pattern = interest

 

Texture = emphasis

 

  The QUALITY of light affects the mood of the photograph.

 

Matthew G. Beall Photography
The Old Cemetery in Ulm
2013

 

 

 

 

 

 Black & White Photography

Working with light and shadows in the late afternoon on a fall day.

Love the Light

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Wonderful Light   2013

A fine art photographer makes a photograph by interpreting what the reality of a subject will be.   

Matthew G. Beall

Photography is one form of visual language. When I use this language I am expressing, through light, form and color, my vision of the reality of the subject. 

 

Matthew G. Beall Photography    Landscape Visualized    2011

In my previous post, A Rocky Shore Caught in Black and White, I presented new photographs of Monterey. And now the next two of  Rocky Shore Monterey.

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Rocky Shore Monterey 3    2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Rocky Shore Monterey 4    2013

Two new pieces of my California. How I miss it. 

Continuing the Fiction of Nature: California Central Coast Series.

And check out: Central Coast Long(ing)

Time caught stretched 

the ebb and flow of the sea 

on a rocky sandy shore

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Rocky Shore Monterey 1    2013

Matthew G. Beall Photography   Rocky Shore Monterey 2   2013

Further to my point in my previous post,  A story about a visit to Carmel, California and the ignorant gallery employee,  Alan Ross talks about prints and how they were made.

 

Words to the wise:

“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships”.  Ansel Adams 

Back in August (2013) I visited a very well known photography gallery in Carmel, California. Wonderful work to be seen there such as the work of the Weston family and Ansel Adams. I was thrilled that they were open but highly perturbed by the young and extremely ignorant gallery worker. 

To paraphrase the beginning of our exchange as I entered.

Gallery worker: Hi. None of the work has been manipulated like digital photography. All the work is from film photography.

Me: Really. What do you mean exactly when you say none of the work here has been manipulated?

Gallery worker: All the prints are traditionally made from the negative in a darkroom. They are not digitally manipulated.

Me: You mean to tell me that there have been no 'enhancements' done in the darkroom such as cropping, enlarging, or dodging and burning?

Gallery worker: Yes.

Me: I've got news for you. ALL photographs are enhanced be them film or digital. One form is not necessarily superior to the other by the way. Although traditional darkroom work is most certainly an art in itself. 

Gallery worker is quiet. 

I was not a happy camper hearing such ignorant words come out of the mouth of an employee of such a gallery.

This gallery needs to teach their employees (maybe it is only this employee) about how photographs are really made. People like me will flock to such a gallery just to see the work made by the greats. And when such a dimwit tries to engage me with non-sense, I walk away with a giant question mark above my head. How can this gallery have such a person speaking for them?

Here's a tip for the gallery owner: Have your employees read Ansel Adams' The Print, which details techniques for enhancing images in the darkroom. 

These great fine art photographers represented at this gallery made their photographs to reflect their artistic vision. They made their vision by enhancing their work in the darkroom, and sometimes their vision changed over time with new prints. The making of a print is a combination of not only the technical use of the camera, but also creative technique in the darkroom. The film or digital negative is just one of the steps in the process of making a photograph. 



 

 Black and White Photography

After a long break from being clued to the Internet, I decided it's time to get back on the saddle.

First piece of news: I sold a print of Wrap it Up (Workers) through my website. 

I made some fine photographs during my summer trip back to the States.

• I started off by photographing lines and shadows at the Frankfurt Airport Hilton
•  I walked in downtown Denver and shot a few skyscrapers

•  I continued the Fiction of Nature: California Central Coast Series I began in December, 2012. I am still working on them.

I'll start off my showing a few of the Frankfurt Airport Hilton Lines and Shadows.

Matthew G. Beall Photography   2013    Frankfurt Airport Hilton Lines and Shadows 1

Matthew G. Beall Photography   2013    Frankfurt Airport Hilton Lines and Shadows 2

Matthew G. Beall Photography   2013    Frankfurt Airport Hilton Lines and Shadows 3

 

Matthew G. Beall Photography   2013    Frankfurt Airport Hilton Lines and Shadows 4

Distance and detail of plants and leaves affected by light and shadow is a wonder. The intimate secrets of nature's forms are powerful and compelling.

Now go have a look at the rest of the series

Matthew G. Beall Photography
Blowing in the Wind
2012
Ulm, Germany

Matthew G. Beall Photography
Fern
2012
Ulm, Germany

Matthew G. Beall Photography
The significance of THREE
2012
Ulm, Germany

Matthew G. Beall Photography
Shadow Leaves
2012

Neu Ulm, Germany

What is it about water, about the ocean that draws us? 

Time caught ever moving

Exposure set long

Time caught ever moving 

Sucking in Light

Time caught ever moving 

Fiction of nature

Matthew G. Beall Photography
Swirl
2012-2013
Shell Beach, California

 See more of this series

Intimate Nature: 

 The

form and texture as realized through light and shadow of a leaf.

See the series  HERE

Matthew G. Beall Photography    Shadow behind a Leaf      2013

I recently came across Andy Ilachinski's writings and photographs. I was taken by his definition of photography and fine art photography. It made me think about how I see it to be. So, building upon his words, I propose this:

Photography is capturing what a “thing” is.


Fine Art Photography is the art of capturing and the making of "what else" a thing is.

He goes on to state:

"Point and shoot photography is all about grabbing the shot (of something)"

'Oh, what a lovely tree... where‟s my camera?...click....let‟s go'

In other words, he is talking about the snap shot.

 He continues with, "Fine art photography is all about doing everything possible (before / during / after a shot) to communicate feelings to someone else"

'I‟m so happy here...what beautiful light...how calm everything is...

it‟s as though nothing else exists...a gentle breeze...serenity...'

 My view:
 Fine Art Photography has to begin with visualizing. It is a process  which needs to take place before, during and after the exposure. The process is made up of three simple words: Look, See, Think  It is striving for consistency and quality over quantity where 
the end result is hopefully one that conveys emotion i.e. connects with the viewer at some level. 

“One should not only

photograph things

for what they are,

but for what

else they are.”

MINOR WHITE

The importance of the overall balance of light & shadow is pivotal to composition in Black and White photography. 

Matthew G. Beall Photography
The Rocks
2013
Shell Beach, California

Matthew G. Beall Photography
The Rocks
2013
Ulm, Germany

Matthew G. Beall Photography
A Tree but Not a Tree
2013
Ulm, Germany