Month: March 2014

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I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! Fiction

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Life in a Hamster Wheel

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Life can sometimes feel like one is inside a hamster wheel.  Always running furiously but getting nowhere.  This is especially true of artists who find themselves always trying to stay in the game.  Making a living selling ones artwork is a tough prospect and the aspects of trying to market ones work is daunting. There are constantly new social networking trends to keep up with, competition to get noticed and simply trying to find time to produce new work.  Two performance artists in New York, Ward Shelly and Alex Schweder know this feeling all too well and have produced a piece in which they are actually living in a giant “Hampster Wheel”.

The 25-foot wood and metal structure features narrow beds, desks, a fridge, basically a two bedroom apartment.  The two artists living in the wheel have to counter balance their movements.  The live performance “The Orbit” will last for 10 days at The Boiler, the Pierogi gallery’s performance space in Brooklyn, NY.

According to artist Shelly its like being told to stand in the corner when you are a kid.

 

Hip to be Square – Embracing the Square Format

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In the past the square format in film photography was really only achieved by either using 6x6cm format medium cameras and film or cropping your images at the old paper cutter. (BTW: Medium format was prized by magazine photographers because the results could easily be cropped for horizontal or vertical images.)

Some photographers made a name for themselves using this distinctive square format like Diane Arbus whose off-beat characters looked even more off beat in the square format.   Diane’s brand of street photography with a TLR Rolleiflex in the square-format, allowed her to look down into the camera so that she wasn’t staring ahead at her subject, who were typically those marginalized people in society — including transgender people, dwarfs, nudists, circus people.  Nothing puts a person “on guard” more than having a camera thrust in their face or pointed at them like the barrel of a gun.  The Rolleifliex being a twin lens reflex camera like this one:

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So the photographer looks down into the prism and looks out through the top lens.  The bottom lens is the one actually used to take the picture.  A lot less threatening to the subject compared to a big zoom lens held up at eye level.  These medium format cameras took short rolls of really big film – 6×6 cm nominal. Keep in mind not all medium format cameras took only squares, as different backs could be purchased which would give different aspects such as the popular 645 (6×4.5cm nominal) or 6×7 (6x7cm nominal).

Now with digital processing and even cameras that can switch aspect ratios, the square format is even more of a viable option. Plus there are plenty of ready made mats and frames in the 8×8 or 11×11 range.   Not every image fits comfortably into the square format of course.  We typically view the world has a wide horizontal like panoramic landscapes and cinema.  Or we see a lot of verticals like in magazines or book covers.  On the web we see a lot of horizontal banners but also smaller square images in ads.   Web designers love the square because it fits so well and doesn’t cause a lot of formatting problems.

A square is very versatile.  You can stack squares and form larger squares.  You can pair squares and form horizontals.  Or stack them up and form skyscrapers.  Squares can become throw pillow or get their edges cut off to become clock or other circle products.

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Composing in the square format can be the same or different than horizontal.  Rule of thirds is fine but the square allows the subject to fit very nicely smack dab in the middle of the image.  Lines and shapes become more pronounce in the square format.  The square heightens the graphic quality of the image.

To some the square is preferred for fine art photography because it goes against the norm.  Its unexpected in the typical world of photography so it stands out as perhaps different than the typical snapshot.

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE SQUARE FORMAT IN PHOTOGRAPHY

  • The first square format camera was made by Rollei in 1929.
  • Some famous square format camera photographers: Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Diane Arbus.
  • There are no current digital cameras that have a square sensor. But digital photography makes it easy to crop your images to any aspect ratio you want.

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Man Shoots Dog

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Man Shoots Dog – Photographer Edward M. Fielding creative journey with man’s best friend

Etna, New Hampshire www.edwardfielding.com

Local artist Edward M. Fielding never really considered himself a dog person.  Growing up his family had a series of dogs, a pointer, a boxer and a golden retriever, but he never really felt a strong bond to them –  a lot having to due with his allergies.

It wasn’t until his wife and son convinced him that it was time to have a dog.  Knowing full well that that as the one working from home, he’d be the one most responsible for the care-taking, he agreed to let the little white, hypoallergenic rescue dog into their lives.

Tiki the West Highlands White Terrier made his journey from a backwoods illegal puppy mill in Tennessee in a van full of scared and barking dogs to the Petsmart in Manchester and then into the arms of the Fielding family where he became the newest addition to the family.

At the time Fielding was honing his craft by producing work for the stock photography market which required a large volume of work and thus a large variety of subjects.  Tiki being the only model available during the day became a natural partner in the creation of a series photographs that grew into the publication of a book “the Quotable Westie” and some of the most popular images on Fine Art America the online art store.

Tiki has modeled in a variety of photographs ranging from Aladdin to appearing inside a Halloween Jack O’ Lantern.  Often the images are inspired by trips to the local Listen stores where Fielding buys bags full of toddler clothes.  These are often cut and pinned to the canine figure.

Recently Tiki’s fame as a model has increased as he landed his first magazine cover for Pet Junction Magazine distributed throughout Florida.

The question that comes up most when people see the series of photographs is how do you get him to sit there like that?

Fielding explains, “I started working with Tiki when he was a puppy.  It was like any training, treats were involved so eventually Tiki has come to believe that flashing studio lights mean that a treat is coming soon.  Anytime I set up the studio, he’ll be around even if I’m just setting up a still life or something.  He is such a good model that I’ve put him in a scene and then forgotten something like a memory card in another room.  I’ll leave the room, come back a few minutes later and he’ll still be there waiting patiently.”

“Of course shooting with split second flashes helps also.  Especially when working with other dog models who are not as calm in the studio environment.  I also have a few tricks up my sleeve, a bit of bacon grease on the muzzle if I need a tongue shot or hiding a treat somewhere.  One of my most popular images is Tiki pretending to be a photographer looking into a vintage 4×5 press camera.   What the viewer doesn’t know is that there is a doggie treat sitting there in the viewfinder and Tiki has his nose pressed up smelling it.”

Fielding works out of his home which he has dubbed “Dogford Studios” and sells his work through various stock agencies for commercial usage and to the public via his website www.edwardfielding.com as well as doing private studio sessions.

Besides canine photography Fielding works with a variety of subjects including mysterious images for the book cover market through Arc Angel Images and is working on an ongoing series looking at traditional maple sugar production in the region.  Four images from the maple sugar series will be shown at Gallery W at the Whitney Museum in Pittsfield, MA this March.

Fielding also teaches a popular series of Lego Robotics classes for children at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH.

Links for this article:

Man Shoots Dog

Uncategorized

Man Shoots Dog

Photographer Edward M. Fielding creative journey with man’s best friend

Etna, New Hampshire

www.edwardfielding.com

Local artist Edward M. Fielding never really considered himself a dog person.  Growing up his family had a series of dogs, a pointer, a boxer and a golden retriever, but he never really felt a strong bond to them –  a lot having to due with his allergies.

It wasn’t until his wife and son convinced him that it was time to have a dog.  Knowing full well that that as the one working from home, he’d be the one most responsible for the caretaking, he agreed to let the little white, hypoallergenic rescue dog into their lives.

Tiki the West Highlands White Terrier made his journey from a backwoods illegal puppy mill in Tennessee in a van full of scared and barking dogs to the Petsmart in Manchester and then into the arms of the Fielding family where he became the newest addition to the family.

At the time Fielding was honing his craft by producing work for the stock photography market which required a large volume of work and thus a large variety of subjects.  Tiki being the only model available during the day became a natural partner in the creation of a series photographs that grew into the publication of a book “the Quotable Westie” and some of the most popular images on Fine Art America the online art store.

Tiki has modeled in a variety of photographs ranging from Aladdin to appearing inside a Halloween Jack O’ Lantern.  Often the images are inspired by trips to the local Listen stores where Fielding buys bags full of toddler clothes.  These are often cut and pinned to the canine figure.  

Recently Tiki’s fame as a model has increased as he landed his first magazine cover for Pet Junction Magazine distributed throughout Florida.

The question that comes up most when people see the series of photographs is how do you get him to sit there like that?

Fielding explains, “I started working with Tiki when he was a puppy.  It was like any training, treats were involved so eventually Tiki has come to believe that flashing studio lights mean that a treat is coming soon.  Anytime I set up the studio, he’ll be around even if I’m just setting up a still life or something.  He is such a good model that I’ve put him in a scene and then forgotten something like a memory card in another room.  I’ll leave the room, come back a few minutes later and he’ll still be there waiting patiently.”

“Of course shooting with split second flashes helps also.  Especially when working with other dog models who are not as calm in the studio environment.  I also have a few tricks up my sleeve, a bit of bacon grease on the muzzle if I need a tongue shot or hiding a treat somewhere.  One of my most popular images is Tiki pretending to be a photographer looking into a vintage 4×5 press camera.   What the viewer doesn’t know is that there is a doggie treat sitting there in the viewfinder and Tiki has his nose pressed up smelling it.”

Fielding works out of his home which he has dubbed “Dogford Studios” and sells his work through various stock agencies for commercial usage and to the public via his website www.edwardfielding.com as well as doing private studio sessions.

Besides canine photography Fielding works with a variety of subjects including mysterious images for the book cover market through Arc Angel Images and is working on an ongoing series looking at traditional maple sugar production in the region.  Four images from the maple sugar series will be shown at Gallery W at the Whitney Museum in Pittsfield, MA this March.

Fielding also teaches a popular series of Lego Robotics classes for children at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH.