Pages
Categories
- Abstract (39)
- Aithérios (8)
- Architecture (41)
- Bands (4)
- Beach (11)
- Black and White (48)
- Conceptual (5)
- Desert (16)
- Diptych (5)
- Golf (8)
- Hello World (4)
- Landscape (128)
- Launch (3)
- Lensbaby (82)
- Macro (13)
- Music (34)
- Open Mic (2)
- People (126)
- Pier (8)
- Portraits (57)
- Savannah (50)
- Series (12)
- Street Portraits (8)
- The latest greatest things (3)
- Triptychs (3)
- Uncategorized (19)
- Weekend Images (3)
- Wildlife and Pets (10)
Archives
- June 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
Blogroll
Meta
Copyright © 2008 Light Diary – The Photography of Craig Tanner · Subscribe
RSS Feed
now
Powered by WordPress · Black n White Theme by Zack
Powered by WordPress · Black n White Theme by Zack
ah. Now we are getting somewhere. Moving a bit past the more literal shots earlier.
I like the tungsten blue. Throwing yourself into the mix is also great. I like how the ends of the pier slowly appear after a bit of looking.
the triptych is also effective – more so than perhaps a straightforward panoramic merge
I’m with Gordon. This is super fine.
ohhh this is breathtakingly brilliant. The mistiness, the sense of danger – no going back, the dreamlike surreal nature of the piece. Fantastic images that really appeal to the intellect and unconscious as well. I wondered how a triptych would look but could only thing in terms of progress along the path. You have used the style to reinforce the concept of journey brilliantly. At the risk of being intrusive I can only think that the sheer depth of meaning you’ve been able to depict in these images is something of a reflection of where you are at yourself.
Judy
Hi Judy,
Thank you for your very kind and supportive comments.
At the risk of being presumptive this is where I believe we are all at. On an incredible journey as players in the game for the great dweller who resides in all of us, who is us, who is all around us, and to whom we will return at the end of our journeys…. Craig
What an absolutely spectacular exhibition this series would make. I don’t know if “Self” is your concluding image, but that somehow wraps it all up for me.
(And agreed, the triptych instead of a pano for this image is a brilliant choice — very suggestive.)
Hi April,
Thank you for being here and for your supportive words. They mean a lot.
This series was like a surprise birthday party. I never saw it coming. I agree with you about “Self” being a good end piece… but I have a lot more I want to put into the middle…I have already planned a return trip to Port Aransas to shoot the Pier there again. I think more Piers are probably in my future. Its such a powerful subject on so many levels that are important to photographers…. beautiful light, simplicity of design, repetition and powerful archetypes. I also plan on shooting a lot more serial work and now that I am retiring
from commercial work for a second time I will have more time to pursue these types of scenarios…..Craig
P.S. The triptych was based directly on the idea of the archetype of the trinity of consciousness and the three layers of reality… Conscious, sub-conscious, and super-conscious.
Hi Craig,
I’ve really enjoyed the Port Aransas Pier series and I love the use of self in this image! For with this series you have demonstrated wonderfully how to explore a subject and come away with a delightful range of images, moods and potential stories.
I’ve enjoyed other series like your Monarch Dunes (great stuff especially for the addicted golfer/photographer) but this series feels like you were in the zone and absolutely hitting the mark in so many different ways with the subject. Did you feel like that when you were shooting the pier series? Did you feel any different shooting the pier compared to the Monarch Dunes series?
All the best,
Eric
Now this is really cool. Love it love it love it.
Traveling along on top of the pier is limiting…you can only go so far. But traveling below the pier is limitless. Pretty cool.
Did I miss something where you announced your retirement from commercial work?
All the best.
Steve
Very kool… I love the colors and atmosphere.
So far, no-one else caught or mentioned it; I am curious why did you not take pix of both sides of the pier, I think, and it looks to me that the outside shots are mirror images.. ??
A Blessed Easter to all… cheers from BC kk
ps- how did you take the pix of yourself, remote or self timer on the camera?? kk
Hi Everybody,
Thank you for being here and for all of your support.
Eric…. The start of the Pier series was pretty inauspicious. I was fogged out of a commercial shoot for a few days and was going stir crazy editing and needed to get out of my hotel room and shoot. Shooting a scenic shot of the Pier for my client was on the shot list. So I went out to the Pier in the fog to scout it. Usually with fog you have calm conditions but this fog was low clouds blowing in off of the Gulf of Mexico. So shooting was difficult…. everything was getting wet and it was hard to keep the camera from rattling on the tripod due to the wind. The first shooting session was just playing with the Singh-Ray Vari ND and seeing what I could do with the surf action with long exposures. It wasn’t until I got back to my room and looked at the first Pier images that I thought about shooting a few more shots there. That probably would have been the end of it but bad weather for my job continued for the next three days. It went from fog to severely clear and hazy…. so I went back to the Pier and after the second shoot I started to realize I had hit on a new project , a new subject matter with endless possibilities. My excitement is still growing and building.
Your question about the difference between the Monarch Dunes series and this one is a profound question for me at this point. At this time have so much emotion wrapped up in the answer that I know I should wait a little while to answer it. For now I will say that the Pier series was fairly effortless because it was for my dream client (me) and wasn’t dependent on the very narrow set of weather circumstances that my commercial work required. Think about it like this. I was able to shoot this whole series of images for myself during a time when none of those circumstances were right for the more literal scenic shot that I needed to shoot for my client. In the most basic sense I can say that shooting the Pier and working with the images has been amazingly energizing and doing my commercial work has mostly been intensely draining. More later when I can explain without feeling so emotionally charged.
Steve… thank you for noticing that the only image without a top is the middle frame of the triptych. This was very conscious. One of the things I have loved about the Pier as a subject is how it has let me work conceptually with archetypes of consciousness exploration and spirituality which are subjects that fascinate me the most about life. I have always been a seeker for as long as I can remember. The Pier represents so many spiritual archetypes. The over and under, the outer and inner, the above and below, the birth archetype, the death archetype, the three levels of consciousness, the trinity, the journey of the soul back to source, etc. etc..
Kevin…thank you for noticing the duplicate images. I used mirror images for two reasons…. from a visual harmony standpoint the mirrors on the outside to me work well with the very symmetrical composition of the middle frame. From a conceptual standpoint I love the mirrors on the outside because it speaks to a very powerful mystical philosophy…. things on the outside only seem diferent and seperate when we are identified with the world of objects….. when we go inside to a place of stillness we can experience the magnificent dweller at the center of our being that is the source of all existence….. in this space the objectified world of form goes away and we see it for what it is…. an illusion that mirrors back to us whatever we project into it … obviously this is just my personal belief that I am talking about here
.
And yes I did use the self timer to photograph myself under the Pier. I also used some PS techniques to put myself so far out into the scene.
Thank you again to everyone for your support and I hope everybody is having a great weekend. Speaking of spirit when I walked outside this morning spring was decidedly in the air, a full moon was setting, a chevron of geese flew in front of the moon and the song birds were out in force!… I am overwhelmed with gratitude to just be (alive)…….Craig
Craig –
This has such a powerful emotional impact that all I can say right now is “Amazing”. Amazing in so many ways.
Amazing work and amazing journey, my friend. And amazing grace from the universe.
Hi Marti,
The whole series has an extra layer of intense meaning and connection because you were there. Thank you for being such a great friend and such a fun, patient and supportive travel companion. And I can’t agree with you more about the amazing grace…. of which you are a part… Craig
This is a great photo too, but based on your earlier discription you’ve already made a self portrait in a sense. Placing yourself there makes it more obvious to the casual viewer, but it is not necessary for me. The blue tones the gestures and the way you’ve placed the figure are excellent. It looks quite different, but reminds me a lot of this Bill Viola video art:
http://www.billviola.com/images/water.gif
I can imagine the figure walking towards me.
I’m really enjoying this work. Thanks.
On my monitor there are bright near white bars between the inner pier and the outer pier shots from a different perspective. I think I like it. I’m curious about the aestetic/artistic thought behind this choice.
Sorry, one more…. It looks like maybe it was just to make it a tryptich. But when I first looked at it the close seperation of the three images made it appear to blend together as one panoramic.
Hi Randy,
Thank you for being here.
This is a triptych and I presented this shot this way based on the spiritual archetypes I discussed above in post 12.
Thank you for the link to the video….Hope everyone is having a great weekend…..Craig
What a great idea and triptych! And for once in your life, the left side looks equal to the right side – because you flipped it, probably, lol. (As I’m writing this, I haven’t read any of the 18 posts before me.) The person in the center – must be you! So here you are, balancing the left and right sides – of the triptych as well as of yourself. And you’re almost close to that window, which for me represents the future.
The single figure also probably represents mankind, perhaps the Adam Kadmon, the perfection that was, and will be again and towards which we are all striving. Your symbolic figure doesn’t seem to be striving or working hard, tho! Just acting naturally
Love,
Flo
Hi Flo,
Thank you for being here.
Its funny you mention striving. For me one of the most powerful parts of creating these images was how it mostly involved me being still and having the water and the light and the weather just roll in. Its almost the polar opposite to all of the chasing and rushing that I normally do on my commercial work….. Craig
Craig,
Hauntingly beautiful and deeply moving. To me, it was a perfect self portrait and a wonderful representation of your/our journey. This image held my attention for a very long time and once again you’ve managed to force me to look deeper within. Thank you for this series, thank you for this image and thank you for sharing every aspect of your “self” with us.
Harry Davis
Craig: As with the DC, it is terrific to hear the back story for this photo. As for quality, this one fits into the same class as Mesquite Dune Fields: the literal abstraction with deep emotional content. The realization of these images obviously comes from a level deeper than mere landscape photography.
As upcoming-Zion is billed as advanced and as attendees are all repeat-RV photog’s, maybe I could persuade you to drop the normal agenda in favor of less formal, more personal and self exploratory week of shooting, templating the agenda after what you would do for “your dream client.” I fully understand these images are extensions of your own psyche and cannot be “taught.” So I would suggest you bring along your own camera and tripod, and let’s all participate in a workshop which is less about finding the best landscape image than it is about expressing of our own selves.
Rick
Craig, gosh I take a little Easter break and it turns out I miss some of your best work
I’m not going to repeat all the kudos but I really do like your “Self” and your thinking that went into it. I love photo gifts from the gods :0) You really do have to stay open to what ever comes along, good or bad, just in case it is one of the gifts. Thanks as always for sharing your considerable talent with us!!
Murry
Hi Harry, Rick and Murray,
Harry…thank you for your very kind words. Everytime I think of your self portrait from Next Step on River Street where you are jumping in the air I am overwhelmed with emotion. I can’t thank you enough for all you added to your group’s Next Step experience which was one of the most amazing weeks of my life….Thank you for staying in touch and I hope this finds you doing very well my friend!
Rick… you just described my dream national park workshop….and in fact we are working on something very similar to the this for the future of our workshop program… it essentially involves moving some of the advanced NP workshops in the direction of the Next Step experience. After the last two Death Valley workshops (which were awesome with amazing photography and amazing people) Marti and I brain stormed for the two day drive across country about how we could make our landscape workshops even better and we came up with some ideas that we are very excited about!!!
Thank you for this encouragement to move more towards art that comes from the inside out.
Murry. thank you for what an amazing support you have been to me and Light Diary…hope this finds you having a great week…..Craig
Craig, I hope you notice this last comment: why did you not use your Lensbaby on this pier?
Love,
Flo
Hi Flo,
I did!
I just ended up not liking how those results went with the more straight shots in the series. I also shot a whole series of Lensbaby portraits of all the people who walked up and asked me what I was doing. So the Lensbaby still has a big presence in my life!!!…..Craig
P.S. In fact I shot all last night in Savannah with the Lensbaby.