“All Is Not What At First It Appears To Be”
The photo shown, a diptych, here relates to one of two poems I created photographs for in connection with NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery in Saranac Lake, NY’s poet/artist collaboration for National Poetry Month, currently on exhibit for the month of April. This photograph represents the second venture, as part of that project, into a world of photography which I have always appreciated as an observer, yet until now never entered as a creator – the photo essay or conceptual photography.
“All Is Not What At First It Appears To Be”
Read into it what you will. I’ve titled it “All Is Not What At First It Appears To Be”, so have at it and let it tell you whatever story you want to hear.
As I mention in greater detail in my prior post in this blog regarding this series, in many respects, the photo essay or conceptual photograph represents one of the most difficult and time consuming types of photography I have ever been involved with. It requires a huge number hours of planning, preparing for and executing the shoot, all in relationship to the story being told, or interpreted. And then there is the post-production work.
It is this sort of exploration ofdirections with my photography that are new and different to me that presents a creative challenge and sense of discovery that I find truly exhilarating.
And I know that, while my path in photography will remain deeply rooted in the type of abstract, landscape interpretive and other work I have been doing over the years, I will also be further exploring this new found, and strangely tempting, world the photo essay and conceptual realm of photography.
Thanks for reading.
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I Tell Anne Sexton about My Uterus
Darla Himeles
Everyone in me was a bird
those months I’d palm my belly
& hum down the lane,
but when they’d die, my uterus
would purge their blood
in clumps, brittle ribs and feet
filling the sad menstrual cup,
feathers smearing toilet paper
at night. Each month I assembled
bird scraps in jewelry boxes. Some
I buried in Witherle Woods,
some I burned in beach bonfires,
& others I dried on the deck
to build dream catchers with.
I’d beat all my wings to beckon
back birds each month, poised,
like you, to praise the cells
their triumphant flurry,
but then out would slip a broken beak,
a smear of brown-red feathers.
Venturing Into The World Of Photo Essay
I have always appreciated, yet until now never created, the photo essay. Photo essay photography involves making photographs which, quite simply, tell a story. They may or may not be accompanied by text. In most cases, photo essay work involves more than one photo, but in my opinion a single photograph can be a photo essay if it “tells a story”. The story could be told quite literally, as in a “how to” series, or in an abstract or conceptual manner.
In April, the NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery in Saranac Lake, NY (www.instagram.com/northwindfineartsgallery), of which I am an artist-member, will host a compelling exhibit of works in recognition of National Poetry Month, for which the gallery’s member-artists have selected poems and then created an artistic work, in their medium, that in some fashion relates to their selected poem.
The artwork could illustrate the poem or an aspect of it as literally or as abstractly as the artist choses; it could tell the complete “story” of the poem or it could portray just a single element of it. In short, it could relate in whatever fashion the artist chooses to the poem. There are no “rules”. The poems will be displayed alongside the artwork that they inspired.
For my part, I chose two poems, one dealing with a relationship which has come to the recognition that it must end, and the other dealing with the loss of a fetus during pregnancy.
The photo shown here relates to the first poem. It is made using the technique of in-camera multiple exposure, in which two or more shots are taken in sequence and merge immediately into one photo, all within the camera (as opposed to being composited in Photoshop on the computer). It is a technique I use in a lot of my work. In this case, I thought the technique was a compelling way to tell the story, in a single photo, of a relationship that once was, but has now dissolved.
I have shot the photos for the second poem, but have not selected or processed the ones which I want to use. For the second one, the photo essay will probably consist of two or three photos, or perhaps a photo collage. It will be interesting. In the photo session, I photographed the person and things identified in the poem, as I “saw” them: a woman wrapped in cheesecloth with clay slip lathered all over her and left to dry ashen white, feathers, bones, “blood”, ashes, charred material, and my grandmother’s wedding dress.
In many respects, this type of work represents one of the most difficult and time consuming types of photography I have ever been involved with. It requires a huge number hours of planning the shot in relationship to the poems, including: listing all of the physical elements in the poem that you want to portray in the photo; “story boarding” or sketching out what you want to portray and how you want everything laid out, and then making changes “on the fly” when problems arise; finding a location to shoot at; finding, buying or making costuming and props; finding a model who is interested in doing the project; lighting determinations; packing it all off to shoot; hours of set up, shooting and teardown; and, finally, post production photo-editing, printing and framing.
And, in reality, the work produced is probably something that is not likely to sell as artwork for someone’s home or office, so it is in reality something that you will lay out a fair amount of money and time to create, with no economic return. And thereby it reminds me that “Art for Art’s Sake” may be one of the truest forms of art. I loved doing it, and look forward to more.
It is this sort of exploration of directions with my photography that are new and different to me that presents a creative challenge and sense of discovery that I find truly exhilarating. Yes, there are those who counsel artists to work in a very narrow and well-defined area and to not exhibit “varied” works so that they become recognized for a particular and clearly identifiable “vision” or “style” of work. I think that’s a great idea… But I also think variety is the spice of life…So, I’m really into this new “spice” and I look forward to seeing what else it “flavors” down the road.
Hope you can make the Opening Reception of this Exhibit at NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery, 10 Woodruff Lane, Saranac Lake, NY, April 6, 2018 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
Here is the poem which inspired the photograph
A Writer Takes Leave of a Difficult Situation and Creates New Material
By jim bourey
“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt”
From “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut
Her morning breathing is so relaxed. Restless
dreams have been put away. Calm came with daybreak.
As white curtains whisper, giving sound
to warm October breezes, I let her sleep.
A romantic picture. My bags wait by the door. And so I go.
It is her wish. We’ve waited far too long, she said.
I wonder if I’ve packed all the honest chapters.
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