Included in the “gallery artist section” during the
Stillings’ exhibit were photographs by Michael Levin and David H. Gibson. The Stillings exhibit has come down, but the Gibson and Levin images will be up for one more week. If you are in Santa Fe stop by and take a look. As usual we can always pull the work from the flat files after the work comes down - just ask.
Both photographers have agreed to tell us a little more about the images that are on display.
Michael Levin
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| Ginseng Farm -- Michael Levin |
It’s a challenge to look at the obvious and see something more. Not every common object will rise up off the page just because you take its picture. I sometimes think that I have to feel the rhythm of a scene before I think to take the shot. Something sparks me and all of a sudden I can see the place and the photograph together. I see it whole in my mind before I see it in my camera frame. But I’m never sure when and where things will come together, and it happens less often than I might like.
Ginseng Farm was shot in South Korea after many days of not finding anything interesting to shoot. The unusual arrangement of black tarps draped over the rolling hills protected the delicate plants from the intense sun. I knew I had captured the uniqueness of what was before me. I spent the afternoon into the evening shooting the many possibilities, but alas only one would fit my vision of what the scene felt like to me.
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| Watch Tower & Reveal -- Michael Levin |
Watch Tower and
Reveal are from the same area along a remote stretch of Sea in southern Japan. The bamboo sticks hold up the seaweed nets as they adjust to the different tidal levels. A heavy fog was sitting just off the coast and the bamboo posts looked like they were vanishing off into the distance. I was immediately drawn to the photograph the nets that seemed to have more weight in the foreground. It was the perfect visual anchor for me to compose my shot.
Watch Tower was almost the identical scene except that I used a wide lens and then it made its appearance. I'm still unsure as to what the purpose of the tower is but I think it adds to the whole mystery of Japan.
You can view more work Michael Levin
here
David H. Gibson
I like to return to places where I have photographed. It always presents new opportunities to make further discoveries depending on light, seasonal differences and/or profound changes in the landscape.
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| Cypress Island, Village Creek, Texas, 1987 -- David H. Gibson |
Cypress Island, Village Creek, Texas, 1987
My favorite time to photograph is at early morning light. Roaming along Village Creek's wide white sand shores one encounters islands formed by the changing course of Village Creek. The cypress trees were on an island formed by one of the rearrangements of the sand. The early mist was an exciting aspect. It was a poetic moment. Later a major flood along Village Creek removed the cypress trees on the vulnerable islands of white sands.
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| Grapevines, Cypress Creek, Wimberley, Texas, 2000 -- David H. Gibson |
Grapevines, Cypress Creek, Wimberley, Texas, 2000
Along Cypress Creek is one of my favorite places to be and so I usually return several times a year. There is always something of interest. The silhouette of the grapevines created by the mist rising for the creek was an ephemeral moment that resonated.
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| Lotus Pond, Texas Gulf Coast, 1998 -- David H. Gibson |
Lotus Pond, Texas Gulf Coast, 1998
The lotus pond is another place of many returns. The early morning in the quiet at the beginning of the day is a meditation. The lotus pond was profoundly changed after hurricane Ike. The areas of open water are almost all gone and the lotus pond barely remains. The trees were killed by the salt and the water birds have found other places of open water. The photographs are a reminder of another time. Changes continue and I keep looking.
You can view more work by David H. Gibson
here
For more information about Michael Levin, David H. Gibson or Jamey Stillings you can reach me by phone at 505-988-5152 x121 or by email at
anne@photoeye.com.
Thank you!
--Anne Kelly, Associate Director, photo-eye Gallery
