Remarkable Early Portrait Photography

Harry Pollard/Provincial Archives of Alberta

While I am not a portrait photographer — I specialize in landscapes and color abstracts only — I was struck by these remarkable early portraits of members of several First Nations around Alberta and western Canada photographed by Harry Pollard circa 1910.

As the Mashable article also highlights, “Also included are portraits of the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani, the three 'original people' of the Blackfoot Confederacy, a group of related nomadic nations who traditionally hunted bison across the vast plains of northwestern America and Canada but were forced to settle on reservations by the start of the 20th century.”

The Age In Which We Live

Although the subject matter of this delicious video (pardon the pun) has a somewhat tenuous connection to photography, I found it to be quite clever.

Microburst Photographed from News Helicopter

As first reported by PetaPixel, "Photographer Jerry Ferguson was shooting from a news helicopter this week when he spotted a microburst over Phoenix, Arizona... A microburst is like a reversed tornado. While a tornado has winds that move inward and upward, microbursts have strong winds that move downward and outward. During wet microbursts, winds can be accompanied by massive downpours."

Incredible capture indeed. Talk about being at the right spot and the right time.

Google's New Arts & Culture App

This new app from Google looks impressive.

Pilot Captures Remarkable Nighttime Thunderstorm Over The Pacific Ocean

As reported by the Washington Post, a commercial pilot was able to recently photograph an extraordinary thunderstorm occurring over the Pacific ocean. Santiago Borja, a 767 pilot for Ecuador Airlines, captured this storm at 37,000 feet on the flight's trajectory towards South America.

“I like this photo so much because you can feel the amazing size of the storm and its power,” Borja said.

Incredible.

Simply Amazing 360° Video

This 360° video is simply astounding. To watch this eagle soar over the landscape of a particular region of Scotland is to begin to appreciate just how far technology has come with regard to cameras and optics.

Bird handlers strapped a 360° camera to Tilly the Eagle and let the magnificent creature soar over an area of terra firma I would very much like to photograph some day.

And to provide just a quick fact regarding Golden Eagles: their wingspan ranges from 6-7 feet for fully adult raptors.

Be sure to toggle the 360° camera operation in the upper left-hand corner of the video. You most likely will find yourself playing the video more than one time.

"Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico" & "Black and White No. 3"

Ansel Adams is the most famous landscape photographer in the history of the photographic medium. “Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico” is Adams’ most famous work.

In this fantastic video, both the photographer and his son speak about the events surrounding the capture of this fine art photograph, one of the most celebrated in the history of fine art photography.

While I would never compare myself to the truly incomparable Ansel Adams, the specific events pertaining to the capture of my own fine art photograph, “Black and White No. 3,” are actually very similar to that which surrounds “Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico,” as are described in the video presentation.

While on the highway and traveling at about 75 mph, I saw the beginnings of what would constitute “Black and White No. 3” very quickly emerging before me. Not more than 20-30 seconds later I had abruptly pulled off the side of the highway, jumped out of the vehicle and began hastily grabbing my gear.

As Adams’ son recounts in the video, the remarkable landscape scene which was captured by his father — that which now and forever constitutes “Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico” — very quickly evaporated after light had been allowed to do its magic on the film negative.

So it was with “Black and White No. 3,” but this time light was impacting a medium format sensor. Only 2-3 minutes after this scene presented itself, the moon began to hide behind quickly gathering clouds. As a result, much of the dynamic range which I was fortunate enough to capture in this work was nearly lost.

I feel most privileged I was able to shoot this scene at the exact point in time in which it appeared — to be so fortunate as to simply be in the right place and at the right time (precisely). To say that such a confluence of events do not happen very often is to dramatically understate the rarity of such occasions.

Tetrachromacy

I want to be a tetrachromat!

...But wait, maybe I am... Maybe you are as well. It's quite rare, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed; because especially in my line of work, being a tetrachromat would be amazing.

Professional Artist Magazine

I'm on the cover of Professional Artist Magazine. Click here if you would like to purchase the digital edition.

I'm also one of the featured artists in the current edition (June/July 2016).

Painting With Light

"Painting With Light: Art and Photography From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age," represents a pioneering exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London. The exhibit runs until September 25 of this year.

As the Tate Gallery explains, the purpose of the innovative exhibit is to "explore the painters that inspired early photographers and the photographs that changed painting. This exhibition celebrates the visual links between early photography and British art, bringing together fascinating vintage photographs and stunning paintings including Pre-Raphaelite, aesthetic and impressionist works."

The Gallery also notes, "Spanning 75 years across the Victorian and Edwardian ages, the exhibition showcases the experimental beginnings of photography right through to its flowering as an independent international art form. These are displayed alongside the paintings which they inspired and which inspired them. This is the first time works by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, JAM Whistler, John Singer Sargent and others will be shown alongside photographs by pivotal early photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron and Alvin Langdon Coburn."

Julia Margaret Cameron’s ‘Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die.’ PHOTO: ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY — Julia Margaret Cameron’s ‘Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die.’ *PHOTO: ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY*

The Wall Street Journal highlights this gallery exhibit in its own Arts in Review piece. Art critic Richard Cork notes, "The images produced by women photographers look especially impressive. Julia Margaret Cameron, who based many photographs on poems by her great friend Alfred Lord Tennyson, stands out with 'Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die' (1867). The young woman pictured in profile is Tennyson’s dying heroine Elaine, longing for the knight Lancelot. With her blanched face turned up and eyes almost closed, she looks completely withdrawn from the life of the world. Cameron may well have been inspired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s 'Beata Beatrix,' a painting begun several years earlier. It was intended as a portrait of his wife, the artist Elizabeth Siddall, but Rossetti put it aside after her death in 1862."

This is one exhibit I'd love to see firsthand.