Aesthetics is a discipline concerned with the perception, appreciation, and production of art. Aesthetic experiences, such as looking at paintings, listening to music, or reading poems, are linked to the perception of external objects, but not to any apparent functional use the objects might have.
Atmospheric: Creating a distinctive mood, typically of romance, mystery, or nostalgia. A great way to talk about what I want to do with this work. I consider each plate that I make a study. To look at closely in order to observe or read. Observation is key. Understanding light, the conditions, and making an image “talk” to evoke emotions and tell a story.
My hope is with this body of work to be less literal. In other words to add some mystery and poetry to the work. It’s very difficult to tell a story this way, but a narrative can be told without being so straightforward. Art to me is a series of problems that need to be resolved. Words can only go so far. I want to leave the words to a minimum and allow the story to be told through the work itself.
I’ve been studying landscape painting a lot lately. I’ve also looked at a lot of 19th and early 20th-century landscape photographs. I’m approaching this work with an open mind and trying my best to work until I “see” the images that I really want. It should be a good body of work when I’m finished. We’ll see.
Paradise Cove, Colorado, U.S.A. POP Palladium Platinum (Malde-Ware Process) from a Collodion Dry Plate Negative. I really like this image. It starts to convey the ideas I talk about above.
Paradise Cove, Colorado, U.S.A. Collodion Dry Plate Negative.
Paradise Cove, Colorado, U.S.A. Collodion Dry Plate Negative.