Hey all:
Before I begin my all-important post for today (how's that for self-indulgent?), I owe a huge apology to Ara Lucia. I've mentioned her in a bunch of postings - she's been a crucial part of my artistic development. Well, somehow we got our signals crossed and she didn't know about the blog until she happened upon it during a web search. I told her how sorry I was, but Ara, if you're reading this, sorry again - you know you rock!
Speaking of Ara rocking - her new website is up, and y'all need to check it out. I sent a link to a video a few months back showing the "behind the scenes" scoop on the photo shoot she directed. But, the new website is great, the images from that shoot are super-cool, and she simply kicks ass. Check it out: http://www.aralucia.org/
Final piece of business - blogging music is Sugar. One of Bob Mould's wondrous creations from the 1990's - pure guitar-driven rock with great songwriting. Who could ask for more?
Ok, now that all of that's out of the way, I promised y'all something. I seem to recall saying that I would have some new images before the new year. So, I decided to shock and awe and give you 2 of them! How's that for over-achieving?
The funny thing is that they've been ready for a while, but I didn't really know it. Let me explain.
So, I'm all hot and heavy on this new watercolor-looking process I've been doing. And, I've been focusing on the water series pretty seriously. The problem is that when I get going on a style and theme, I tend to block out everything else. I find I get too distracted with other image- making prospects if I don't focus in one area at a time.
Well, that's all well and good, but sometimes when you do that, you miss some things. Sometimes, those things are pretty important.
See, one of the issues with the new style I'm doing is that only certain kinds of imagery actually work for it. Images that are mostly mid-tones without much contrast, tonal range, etc. don't work as well. So, I've eliminated a lot of images along the way. Many of them sucked to begin with, so no real loss - I had just hoped that maybe something magical would happen during the process. But, I had a few images that I really liked on their own that simply weren't working.
Last night, I spent some time working on the abstract image of the wave you see here. I was really excited about it, but after 10-15 attempts, it was clear it wasn't happening. Some prints looked ok, but it seemed like the power of the photo was completely sucked out by the process. My wife saw the image and didn't have much of a reaction. But, she saw the "original" photo on my screen and said, "Wow, I really like that!" And I said..."That's it!" Why should every image in a body of work have to be created exactly the same way? Using some images as is, without the full "process" being employed will work very nicely I think - these two new ones being prime examples. I think they still have some painterly qualities and they certainly fit into the theme. They make sense with the others - and I'm amazed about how this simple moment broadened the horizon for what this series can be. As an aside, the other shot posted here (which I'm calling "Beacon" for now) was actually another view of the "Buoy" photo on my website, but it didn't work as well during the process. On it's own, I'm pretty happy with it.
It's worth noting here that when I say "as is," that's a bit of a misnomer. All it really means is that the final step in the process is missing. The print-making process I'm using actually has 4-5 steps to it, so when you look at it that way, the image has still been through the ringer.
These two images are also now posted to my website: http://www.sirinsky.com/ I made a couple other changes to the site as well, and if you visit often, you'll probably notice. Not a major face lift or anything - just a little variety for the new year.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2009. Until next year...
-Marc
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