WISDOM LISTENS

No, we're not getting into a philosophical discussion here. It's something I found painted on a wall. Probably the most profound bit of graffiti I've seen. And they say our youth are troubled. I don't know. This tag has a great deal of intelligent logic to it.

But I have another one that's pretty much equal in the line of the mesage.

  

I particularly like LIVE. It's something to many people forget to do. In fact, I use this image on my photography/graphic design business card; just as a reminder to anyone I may hand it out to. Not that I'm some grand philosopher here. I just like the message. Unless, of course, it's actually an adoration for the now defunct group Live. I guess we'll never know.

And then there's this one - which sets a completely different tone.

I call this one DOOMED YOUTH because of the message it screams. It makes you wonder what's brewing in the tagger's mind.

All this comes about because every time I snap a shot of graffiti, the question pops into my brain - is graffiti art? I do know it makes great art. I see these three shots and could easily envision them in some retro record store, some funky used book store or a kick ass coffee shop. I like a little graffiti with my latte, thank you.

But back to art. Is it art? I know one thing about many taggers, they're usually damn good artists. Many years ago, I read an article about convicted taggers taking part in an outreach program with the sign industry. Now for those of you that don't know, I've been part of that industry for too many years, and over the course of that time, I've seen the artistry of signage turn into cookie cutter slap on the vinyl and put it up garbage. Yeah, it's gotten ugly. If you take a look in the Sign Gallery, you'll see most of the work I shoot is hand painted. At a certain point, they're also known as ghost signs. There's a definite talent with hand painting. I worked with a hand painter at one time and it was fascinating watching his skill. He tried to teach me a few things, but it was useless. I just didn't have the knack; or the patience. I also worked with a muralist. This stuff takes skill. And it's becoming a lost art. In regards to the article about the taggers, they joined up with some sign shops and found these young people to be quite talented on the hand painting side of things. There was hope in the industry that the lost art of hand painting could be found again.

So, is graffiti art? It's hard to say. Are taggers artists? Quite well could be.

But, if nothing else, taggers can be quite profound in their wisdom.

Quick Note: Take a look at the link Lost Art of Hand Painting. It's really quite interesting on how a hand painted sign is done. Not as easy as you'd think.

SMALL VICTORIES

Fine art is a funny thing. Just defining the term is trying. Sometimes I think it has more to do with not being labeled, but allowing yourself to shoot anything from landscapes to nature to portraits to wildlife to products to....

The reason this post is appearing has to do with competitions. And that's where the fine art definition either plays a huge role or no role. There are competitions for all those photographers who specialize in a particular form of photography, and there are those that have no rules. My definition of fine art. No rules.

I entered a competition last month where I impatiently waited for the results. This competition had two rounds of judging. From the first round, they chose two from the four photos I entered. From the second round, they chose one of the two. For me, that was a huge accomplishment. This competition pulled in over 6,000 entries. And to be one of the 83 chosen out of 6,000...well, it's quite an honor.

Being a photographer, or an artist of any kind requires a thick skin. A very thick skin. I remember entering my first juried competition. I had been putting it off and putting it off and I finally just resolved to do it. Send it in and forget about it. Forgetting about it wasn't so easy, but I had the rejection already set in my head. Who am I to think that I'm good enough to exhibit in a juried photography competition? Well, the notice came back and it had been accepted. Accepted! My first time entering. I think I rode that high out for a week. This was back in 2009 with a photograph I call Wednesday Afternoon in a competition titled Connections. I didn't think it was a particularly good shot, but somebody did. It was a bit blurry so I water colored the photo to give it a more artistic look. Actually felt like I was cheating by doing this. Now, you wouldn't believe what I do to some of the photos. Hey, art is art.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

I enjoy the story of that photo more than I do the photo itself. I was in Guatemala for an animal vet clinic. The group that sponsored this clinic, Mayan Families, also provides various programs for the indigenous people of the area. We were at a school Christmas party and I needed a break from the crowd after shooting all morning, so I decided to walk the streets. They were quiet. It was a hot December day (remember, we're in Guatemala) and there's this woman with, I assume her daughter, sitting on the stoop of their home. I looked at them and saw the beauty of that image. I asked if I could take their picture, which is a hard thing to do for someone who doesn't speak Spanish in a country that understands very little English. The question comes out as a basic move of holding up the camera and asking in English, "Can I take your picture?". She smiled and nodded. It's my favorite shot from the trip. And it was taken on a Wednesday afternoon.

Back to the current competition. I was strolling around Fredericksburg, VA one morning. It's a haunt I visit on many occasions and for a small downtown, I find something new every time I'm there. I saw this color, this pink wall and red chair and the white tablecloth with the simplicity of the two napkins. It was too cold that morning to dine outside, but the charm of that setting...I couldn't pass it up. I saw a romantic breakfast that morning, a ghost couple in love - Dinner for Two.

DINNER FOR TWO

This really was supposed to be a post about dealing with rejection as an artist, but you know, sometimes the small victories are just worth sharing.

BOURBON AND BARRELS

Sometimes it's about who you know, and sometimes it's about who your SO knows. In my case, it was my SO's network of people who arranged for me to visit the A. Smith Bowman Distillery this past week. I met with Master Distiller Joe Dangler. Joe provided camera access and an informative tour of the distillery. And let me tell you, Joe knows his whiskey.

We started with the difference between a distillery and a brewery. Please, my friends, do not confuse the two. A brewery makes beer. A distillery, at least this one, produces fine bourbon whiskey (and rum and vodka and gin).

DEEP RUN LAKE

Those of my friends from Fredericksburg, VA are quite familiar with the Bowman Center. Most of them are probably familiar with the distillery. The A. Smith Bowman Distillery sits along the banks of Deep Run Lake. Joe told me that the distillery was a cellophane plant before the Bowman family took over.


But the magic is inside the distillery. Upon entering, a distinct odor captures the senses. My immediate question was the nature of the scent. It's called Angel's Share (the spirits volume lost to evaporation while aging in the barrels). Inside, barrels and barrels and barrels of aging spirits reach from floor to ceiling, as do the vats, stills, whatever you choose to call them.

To this photographer, the image of the interior was heightened by the rustic age of the facility. And the building is vast. Warehouse rooms filled with barrels, and those empty, awaiting barrels.

The barrels intrigued me. Did you know that whiskey barrels are charred on the inside? Did you know a barrel maker is called a cooper? The A. Smith Bowman Distillery uses white oak barrels, which Joe said makes for the best flavor of whiskey. And you know, when you've been in business that long (they've been brewing since before Prohibition), you know what works best and you stick with it.

I'm keeping this brief because whiskey is not my specialty (hit the links to learn more). Photography is my specialty and I hope you enjoy the shots (no pun intended).

 I want to thank Joe Danger and the A. Smith Bowman Distillery for the wonderful opportunity to photograph and learn about the this fine family business. I had a great time.

AGING

...AND AGING

...AND AGING
Makes for a fine bourbon

INSIDE AN EMPTY WAREHOUSE
This warehouse was refurbished from it's days in cellophane
keeping to the original architecture as closely as possible

CUTTER USED FOR CUTTING TAX STAMPS (if I remember this correctly)
Tax Stamps are no longer in use, but the distillery uses replicas
for decorative labeling across the bottle tops of the their spirits

MAKING A BARREL

WEIGHING THE BARREL
While no longer used, this scale is kept calibrated

COOPER'S TOOLS

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE TOUR

EMOTIONS

I was reading an interview with Mitchell Kanashkevich the other day about the importance of color in photography and how it's needed in order to pull emotion for the viewer. This in turn led to quite a few black and white photographers decrying the statement. While I find Mitchell's work stunning, I have to say that I agree with the black and white photographers.

Emotional pull can be further rendered with black and white. I've been playing around with black and white photography lately. I always shoot in color, but when viewing the image, I look at it to determine what I want the viewer to see. I experiment with dark images, gritty images. I don't think everything is about happy, vivid colorful shots. I've also been playing around with industrial imagery, which to me, while it holds a certain value in color, expresses a lot more emotion in black and white. Maybe it has to do with the fact that color film wasn't available at the beginning of the industrial revolution and by processing the image in black and white, it holds true to form. The industrial age, while it made many rich and brought the world to a new stage of being, at least in my eyes, was not a pretty picture. Personally, it's effect is black and white. Gritty. Dirty. And in today's green environment, showing the beginning as it was, gritty and dirty, makes for a true life emotional image.

So, with that said, tell me, which photo elicits more emotion - color or black and white?