Photography Showcase
June 2012
In this day and age when everyone with a digital camera or smartphone considers themselves a “photographer” the ability to capture a quality photographic image is still a complex and magical process. This month we present five distinctly different takes on contemporary photography. Featured images run the gamut from film captures to digital composites and everything in between.
Sean Bagshaw
Sean Bagshaw is Southern Oregon's premiere fine art landscape, nature and travel photographer. His images have appeared in local and national publications (Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Ashland Directory, Travel Oregon Magazine, Distinctly Northwest Magazine, Digital Photographer Magazine), marketing campaigns and private image collections.
"My photography reflects my passion for venturing into the landscape to explore and be inspired. It's an ongoing quest for the raw materials of my images: light, color, texture, shape, motion, geology, meteorology, biology, physics. To be honest, the real reason I do this is to have the experiences themselves. The photographs are secondary. They are a way to hold on to the moments and attempt to communicate them to others. I attempt to “paint” my images in a way that communicates how I experience the world. Are my images real? They are to me. As an artist, I'm not so interested in the camera's mechanical view. I want to communicate a deeper human experience, something that evokes wonder, inspiration, imagination, emotion and scientific understanding. The challenge is to anticipate how the camera sees and learn to overcome it's limitations and exploit its strengths so that the the final photographs are better than what it initially records. Perhaps Ansel Adams said it best: “When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my minds eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without"."
"My photography reflects my passion for venturing into the landscape to explore and be inspired. It's an ongoing quest for the raw materials of my images: light, color, texture, shape, motion, geology, meteorology, biology, physics. To be honest, the real reason I do this is to have the experiences themselves. The photographs are secondary. They are a way to hold on to the moments and attempt to communicate them to others. I attempt to “paint” my images in a way that communicates how I experience the world. Are my images real? They are to me. As an artist, I'm not so interested in the camera's mechanical view. I want to communicate a deeper human experience, something that evokes wonder, inspiration, imagination, emotion and scientific understanding. The challenge is to anticipate how the camera sees and learn to overcome it's limitations and exploit its strengths so that the the final photographs are better than what it initially records. Perhaps Ansel Adams said it best: “When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my minds eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without"."
Ann-Britt Malden
Ann-Britt Malden was born in Sweden and spent her childhood on the southern Swedish coast where her backyard was an open meadow by the sea. At age seven, she moved to the U.S. with her family, but her resonance with the Scandinavian landscape, seasons and culture have always remained close to her heart, and continue to be some of the biggest influences in her artwork today.
Ann-Britt studied photography and illustration at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona where she earned a degree in English/Creative Writing. She later earned a degree in Photography from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where she lived and worked as a Photo Editor for many years. In late 2001 she moved to Ashland, Oregon and has called it home ever since.
Through both photography and printmaking she finds magic and connection, and is always learning more of what wants to be revealed. With the awareness that nothing is permanent and everything is always changing, Ann-Britt loves to capture life's fleeting moments through clicking the shutter of a camera lens or moving ink around. She continuously finds inspiration wherever her travels take her; internally and externally, in the depths of the nature or around the neighborhood, in the heart of faraway cities or walking the train tracks with her dog Tuula.
**The photographs in this show have all been captured on film with an old trusty rusty Pentax camera.
Ann-Britt studied photography and illustration at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona where she earned a degree in English/Creative Writing. She later earned a degree in Photography from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where she lived and worked as a Photo Editor for many years. In late 2001 she moved to Ashland, Oregon and has called it home ever since.
Through both photography and printmaking she finds magic and connection, and is always learning more of what wants to be revealed. With the awareness that nothing is permanent and everything is always changing, Ann-Britt loves to capture life's fleeting moments through clicking the shutter of a camera lens or moving ink around. She continuously finds inspiration wherever her travels take her; internally and externally, in the depths of the nature or around the neighborhood, in the heart of faraway cities or walking the train tracks with her dog Tuula.
**The photographs in this show have all been captured on film with an old trusty rusty Pentax camera.
David Lorenz Winston
David Lorenz Winston is an award winning photographer, internationally recognized for his nature photography. His crisp winter landscapes and stunning images of trees enhance art and photography collections around the world.
Winston’s images, however, are not limited to the natural landscape. He is equally at home reflecting on the human condition and uncovering surprises in the ordinary. He brings a unique way of seeing to his work, which is expressed through humor, irony, timing and mystery.
"My imagery is about discovery. It takes me to places I have never been, places that free me from the pressures of a clock driven world, places that heal. I'm most excited when in tune with the underlying flow and energy of the ordinary. I seek to reveal the essence of a moment or place gone unnoticed. I love showing things in new ways, using the elements of surprise, mystery and playfulness, fused with design and movement".
Peter Stanley
Peter Stanley grew up in Tanzania, Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Ashland Oregon and his travels have taken him to over 30 countries.
At age 14, he was given a simple SLR camera and was thrilled with the magical experience of capturing an image and watching it come to life in the dark room. During his high school years, he experimented with photojournalism and street photography. Before graduating from the University of Colorado, he spent a semester abroad in Tanzania, focused on Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Studying lion behavior in the Serengeti and teaming up with elephant researchers at the base of Kilimanjaro left a lasting impact that would see Peter return to Tanzania many times and he currently lives in Dar es Salaam.
These diverse experiences have focused Peter’s photographic style around scenes that inspire an ethic of respect for cultural diversity and environmental conservation.
In 2011 he had an image from Ethiopia published in the September issue of National Geographic Magazine and in December the BBC selected one of his wildlife photographs as the cover to their 'best photographs of 2011'.
At age 14, he was given a simple SLR camera and was thrilled with the magical experience of capturing an image and watching it come to life in the dark room. During his high school years, he experimented with photojournalism and street photography. Before graduating from the University of Colorado, he spent a semester abroad in Tanzania, focused on Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Studying lion behavior in the Serengeti and teaming up with elephant researchers at the base of Kilimanjaro left a lasting impact that would see Peter return to Tanzania many times and he currently lives in Dar es Salaam.
These diverse experiences have focused Peter’s photographic style around scenes that inspire an ethic of respect for cultural diversity and environmental conservation.
In 2011 he had an image from Ethiopia published in the September issue of National Geographic Magazine and in December the BBC selected one of his wildlife photographs as the cover to their 'best photographs of 2011'.
Zach Ehlert
Zach Ehlert is the owner of Bohemia Framing & Fine Art Gallery and has been infatuated with the photographic process ever since his two sememters of high school instruction in the mid-90s. His photography is based on the natural landscape but also includes elements of experiementation.
"Photography is a blend of the real and unreal; a record of a brief point in time and space. The moment the shutter clicks open—exposing film or digital sensor—is a moment captured for all eternity. In capturing these moments I like to explore the relationship between order and chaos, recognizability and ambiguity. Long exposures, movement and light allow me to create images in my camera that I can only imagine.
"While I do shoot digitally and utilize Photoshop to edit my images (and for stiching multiple images into a panoramic), I'm more interested in what I can create with a camera than with a computer. All of the images in this show were captured at night under a full moon with a single exposure."
