Honorable Mention
Sumac and Snow
DESCRIPTION
Freshly fallen snow clinging tentatively to the branches in a stand of sumac, awaiting the morning's first winter breeze. AUTHOR
Born: Camden, Maine in 1952I have been a habitué of classic car boneyards ever since
I bought my 1936 Pontiac at age 15. While rummaging about for parts
I discovered incredible visual compositions in the distressed iron and glass
that inspired me in the same way as did some of the best abstract art.
This experience was a sea change; I swapped my toolbox for a camera.
I was fortunate to study with Aaron Siskind at Rhode Island School of Design
and graduated with a BFA in Photography in 1974. I have further studied at
The Maine Photographic Workshops (now Maine Media Workshops), taking workshops
with Paul Caponigro, Arnold Gassen and John Loengard.
I hunt and capture wild art: abstract details of found objects.
While the shots are straight-forward, they are contrary:
• they are abstract, yet concrete found objects.
• the subjects as a whole are generally considered ugly,
for example; a dumpster, but when taken out of context can be
beautiful and visually stunning.
• These objects have changed slowly over many years to get to the point
at which I find them, but despite seeming permanent & static,
they, can (and do) rapidly change or disappear. I often capture them days
before they disapper. My photographs are frequently all that is left.
People are taught to recognize and categorize all that they see.
Abstractions reach deep into personal experience and imagination.
My images may evoke a memory, an emotion, or a reminder of something
visually similar. Anyone viewing my photographs is unencumbered
by the influence of certain recognition and has a free range
of imagination with which to appreciate their visual essence.
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
Henry David Thoreau