Exhibit at New TV Studios

Photographs by Ellen Fisher and myself are now showing at New TV Studios in Newton through the end of August. Included are several from my recent trip to Utah as well as other recent work, and response has been very positive so far.

The opening reception last Saturday was somewhat unusual: besides the exhibit and refreshments there was live music by Shir Madness klezmer band, in which I play flute. This was taped by the studio, providing them with material for an educational show and giving us a nice DVD that we can use for demos. Once we get a copy of the DVD, I expect we will put some tracks up on the band's website (http://shirmadness.org) to replace the older material that is now up.

If you are in the Newton area during the summer, do stop by the exhibit. The New TV Studios are at the end of Easy Street, off Needham Street, just west of the National Lumber sign. Hours are:
Mon-Thurs10am to 9:30 pm
Friday 10am to 6pm
Sat-Sun 12 to 6pm

Back from Utah

I've been too busy to blog lately. Anyway, I had a great two weeks in southern Utah, with visits to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef National Parks, and Escalante/Grand Staircase and Pipe Spring National Monuments.

My Print of the Month for May is a black-and-white photo of storm clouds over Long Canyon on the Burr Trail in Escalante/GS National Monument. I expect to have a gallery or two of Utah photos up within a couple more weeks.

All of these places were stunning, but my favorite was Capitol Reef, which provided great opportunities for abstract images. I have heard many people rave about Zion, but the photos and descriptions I had seen didn't move me. Being there, just as the Cottonwood trees were beginning to leaf out, made a huge difference. Zion was truly inspiring. The next time I am there I will rent a bike, take the shuttle bus (with bike) to the top of the scenic park road, and use the bike to wander back down, stopping often for photographs.

Bryce was much more as I had imagined it: quite stunning. We took the Navaho trail to get down into the rock pillars, and it was worth it. We weren't able to do the Bristlecone trail because it was snowed in, as were most roads to the north. Thus, we couldn't get to Powell Point or drive the Hell's Backbone road.

We did get caught in a blizzard driving from Boulder to Torrey, but made it through OK. I now understand why Minor White spent several summers at Capitol Reef National Park. On our last day there we took a guided jeep tour of spectacular Cathedral Valley. Do look for photos from some of these places, as well as Devil's Garden and other locations in Escalante/Grand Staircase in a couple of weeks.

The photo with this entry is of Lower Calf Creek Falls in Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument.

Utah in April

In April I will be making my first ever photographic trip to southern Utah, visiting Zion, Bryce, and Capitol Reef National Parks as well as interesting canyons in the Escalante-Grand Staircase region. In planning this trip I had invaluable assistance from photographer Harvey Halpern, who has explored, hiked, and photographed in the most remote parts of Utah every year for a great many years. You can see some of his work at his website, Endangered Canyons of Utah.

It was a delight to make the acquaintance recently of Harvey and of his friend and fellow photographer Karin Rosenthal, who does remarkable abstract nude images. You can check out her work here.

In other news, after attending the Epson Print Academy in Boston recently (a very valuable event), I decided it was time to retire my aging Epson 2200 inkjet printer in favor of a new Epson 3800. I am quite pleased with the new printer, which should give me additional flexibility and image quality, especially in black-and-white, as well as enabling me to make prints up to 17x25". All my photos from the upcoming Utah trip will be printed on this machine.

The Blanket

My website has been updated (improved, I hope), and I have added a page called "Blanket" that gives some of the history of the image I use for an icon on each page.

Also, my new "Print of the Month" for February 2009 is now up on the home page and the "Print of the Month" page.

I think I am done fiddling with the site for a while, and I expect to get back to making more photographs so I can add new galleries and expand the existing ones.

My Website is Renovated

One day ahead of my personal deadline I have just uploaded the new version of my photography website (click the title of this post to go there.) The new version gets rid of frames and uses CSS to format almost everything, which should make navigation and usability better. I have also added several new galleries, and the home page photo is a new "Print of the Month" for January, 2009. There is more new content in other areas as well, and more will be added soon.

R.I.P. Barbara Morss Marshall, 1926-2008

I met Barbara in 1966 at the first of two Minor White workshops I attended. She had previously attended one other workshop of Minor's and at least one of Ansel Adams'. She worked for a while as a still photographer for Boston'e fledgling public television station WGBH in its early days and did commercial portraits. Architecture , animals, and landscapes were her favorite subjects.

After Minor's workshop ended, a number of members decided to continue meeting about every four to six weeks to show and discuss our photographs. These meetings have continued for over forty years, with occasional group exhibits, and Barbara has always been a backbone of the group. David Wunsch, Elaine Fisher, Barbara and I are the four from the original workshop who have still been getting together recently.

At the reception following a memorial service for her last Saturday, a family member put on display about a dozen excellent framed photographs from one of her most recent exhibits. She was always fiercely independent in her views, willing to listen, but following her own photographic path. She was a good friend and a discerning critic. She will be missed by many of us.

The only alcoholic beverage she could drink was Scotch. I don't care for it myself, but I keep a bottle of it handy just for her. Tonight I shall drink a toast to her memory.

New website is up!

My newly redesigned website is now up, a few days ahead of schedule. The site features the first of my new "Photo of the Month" selections for December, 2008, as well as nine galleries of photographs. I would be happy to receive feedback about the site's appearance and usability.