When the artists of the Main Gallery decided that our next exhibition would be dedicated to displaying the artists’ old favorite pieces (ones that had not been displayed at the gallery for some time), I was in a dilemma. Which photographs should I choose for the show? Should I choose the more popular photographs that have some sale potential, or pick up the photographs that I personally like the most? This is a constant tension among all fine art artists. Artists create works of art because they feel a deep creative urge to express themselves. However, some pieces may become personal favorites. It takes time to form this emotional bondage. On my living room wall, I have a place for three large photographs to display. However, over the course of the last five years or so, I have displayed only a handful of photographs on that wall. These are the best of the best, my personal favorites. It does not matter whether these are my best selling photographs or not.

To select the photographs for the show, I decided to go through all of my prints. I stacked the prints against my studio wall and started short-listing. Finally, it came down to just four photographs that seemed pretty cohesive to a central theme. In each of these four photographs, color plays a central role. Color plays a significant role in my life, too. I live and breathe color. In spring time, when wildflowers decorate the landscapes with a myriad of hues and colors, I feel enchanted. In autumn, when the leaves turn yellow or orange, I start feeling the colors with my whole body. Using the color in a photograph that expresses a central theme is not easy, however. Painters have the liberty of selecting the color palette of their choice. We, the poor photographers, have to be satisfied with whatever color palette Mother Nature provides us. Painters start with an empty canvas and fill in the content with the color of their choice. Photographers start with a crowded canvas and make it meaningful through the process of selection and elimination.

After the photograph is captured, the color photographer toils to refine the image further, mostly by changing luminosity, color balance, and sometimes saturation. In this regard, crafting a fine color photograph is more challenging than crafting a fine black and white photograph. A color photograph is like a very complex symphony with hundreds of instruments. Every  instrument has to play harmoniously and in unison. If a single instrument is out-of-tune or louder than needed, it will ruin the symphony; the photograph.

But, I digress. Let us come back to the photographs for the show. The first one is titled “Enchanted Adobe.” I took this photograph in 1994, while visiting Santa Fe during Christmas time. I was wandering through downtown Santa Fe looking for subjects to photograph. Suddenly, the sky started changing color. The famous New Mexico sunset color filled the sky and the buildings in the most wonderful soft glow of pink. I was in front of a building with the Adobe style of architecture. Suffused in the soft pink light, the building started dancing with joy. I set up my tripod and had enough time to capture just one photograph. I never printed this photograph until now, because it proved to be very hard to print the soft pink glow, that was so apparent on the piece of the color transparency film. Hopefully, I have done the print some justice this time–you are the judge.

The second photograph is named “Poppy field and cloud.” I was visiting the Antelope valley   poppy preserve in southern California during the spring of 2007. We reached the preserve in the afternoon. Poppies were in full bloom. I parked my car, took out my heavy tripod and my large format film camera and started looking for a vantage point for taking a photograph. Suddenly, a beautiful cloud caught my attention. I immediately set up my tripod, opened my view camera, composed the image on the ground glass under the focusing cloth and tripped the shutter. The photograph contains a segment of the colorful poppy field, a lone human figure on the field, and the voluminous cumulus cloud in the sky. Does it signify an impending doom or a sign of hope? I will let you decide.

You all are cordially invited to the reception of the exhibition “Another Look”  this coming Saturday, March 24th, between 4 to 6 pm. If you can not make it to the reception, the show will be on display from March 21-April 22, Wed-Sun, 10 am – 3pm. Here is the link for the gallery for details. Thanks for your patience! Please leave your comments.