Deep Music Photo

I'm trying to learn some new photo processing techniques by reworking some of my photos from the past. This is a selective color photo of one of my favorite people, Dan Rubright, who is an educator, philosopher, father and lecturer. Mostly, though, I know Dan as an incredibly talented musician who has the knack of transporting himself "inside" of his music and coaxing it to do magic-seeming things. Here's a shot I took of Dan about 4 years ago while he was performing with his group, Wire Pilots. I shot this one through the drums and sticks of Dan's brother Ted Rubright, also a brilliant, multi-talented man. This image brings back vivid memories of their awesome music.



My main challenge in this photo was to pump up the edges without also exposing the noises. In the end, I had to use hand-selection of the blackness, then reverse-texture (LR) in the end, to get the totally black background. There was simply too much noise, given that I had to use high ISO to keep the image tack sharp during the shoot.

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From Photo Hobbyist to Featured Artist at an Art Gallery

This is going to seem more like a journal entry than a blog post, but it's been a fun weekend and I wanted to share my day in the sun.

Two months ago, I walked into a beautiful art gallery, the Silver Sycamore Gallery of Fine Arts in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. It's a beautiful art gallery located about an hour's drive south of St. Louis, Missouri. After looking at some of the work then on display, I showed the gallery manager (Leon Basler) some of my own work on my iPhone.

To my surprise, Leon took an immediate intense interest in my work and offered to display my photography, further offering to designate me to be the "featured artist" during  a citywide celebration: "The Ste. Genevieve Annual Holiday Christmas Festival."  Of course I said yes.  Leon eventually decided to display all 30 images that I hauled down in a van earlier this week. Displayed, they took up half of the gallery. What an honor! The gallery owners and the people stopping by the gallery treated me like a celebrity, which is serving as an antidote for my bout of imposter syndrome. More about that below.

 

The opening was this weekend. If you click on the title to this article, you will find a gallery of many photos from this weekend, including some of my displayed photos.

Also on display this weekend were dazzling paintings by at least three other artists who were in attendance, including 90-year old Charles Rhinehart and 92-year old illustrator/painter, Don Langeneckert, who still paints every day, and who will be the featured artist in an upcoming show.  Leon's own works were also on display. Leon, who also works as a pilot and an engineer, has explored so many styles of painting in so many ways, that you would be certain that a room filled with his work was actually the work of 5 or 6 different artists; check out his website.  Also at the gallery, across from my photos, one can admire the exquisite paintings of Ali Cavanaugh.  It's truly stunning work, which you will see if you visit her website. 

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Carol Carter Explores South Saint Louis in New Exhibit

Earlier this year, I attended a short beginner's water color course, where I learned how difficult it is to get the paint and the water to behave. And that's assuming you know where to put the paint. That little course has allowed me to more fully appreciate the complexity of Carol Carter's work. I've been an admirer of Carol and her work for years. Both up close and farther away, it's really a joy to see the magic on her canvas. She is as humble as she is talented. I asked her about a fractal effect she created for a swan's feathers and she merely said "It's not easy to do that."

I attended Carol's South City Exhibit tonight at her studio. In the many years she has done water color, this is the first time she has featured scenes from South STL City. Really cool work. Here is a link to Carol's website.

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Magic Places: Cappadocia, Turkey

I'm starting to plan my next trip to Istanbul Turkey in the spring (I teach law school there periodically). I'm so looking forward to seeing friends who live there. That led me to look at some of my photos from my trip in 2017. One of the highlights was driving to Pigeon Valley in Cappadocia with good friends. What a magical place, and it actually has lots of pigeons! The top photo is the iconic photo of the valley that I took in 2017. The lower photos is also from Cappadocia, from the city of Goreme.

There are certain places in the world to which I have said "good-bye" out loud, hoping that someday, somehow, it would not be the last time I would visit. Cappadocia is one of those places.



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