Harold Davis's Blog, page 142

Patterns in Fishnet

The quest for an interesting photographic image is in large part the need to find order in an inherently chaotic universe. Even if that quest ends up showing disorder, it is usually in an orderly way. The search is a search for patterns, for that brief moment when the entropy of life reveals itself as not random after all.

Fishnet Stockings and Gloves © Harold Davis

The subject matter is irrelevant. If the patterns are exciting, they can range from Manarola and the Rooftops of Paris to the arms and legs of a model in fishnet stockings (shown in this story)—and beyond!

These fishnet stocking photos are fairly straightforward from a photographic technique perspective. I placed the model on a black background, and used two diffused strobes (one on either side) for lighting.

It’s not hard to make out the subject matter—arms and legs of a model in fishnet stockings and gloves.

Fishnet Stockings © Harold Davis

What’s a little less obvious is that the intent is essentially sculptural. These are not particularly suggestive or erotic photos. The idea is to use the pattern generated by the rectilinear stocking design to create a sense of sculptural volume. The model’s arms and legs can easily be seen as abstractions, and I like to imagine what these would be like if they were recreated on a big scale as literal three-dimensional sculptures. The feeling would be rather different than as photographic prints in a photo frame!

Leg and Arm © Harold Davis

Manarola and the Rooftops of Paris

I am particularly fond of the patterns of buildings and rooftops you see in European towns and cities. Above, the town of Manarola in Cinque Terre, Italy, photographed this year (2015); below, the rooftops of Paris, France, photographed in 2013.

Manarola © Harold Davis

Rooftops of Paris © Harold Davis

Papaver Nudicaule

A bright flower for a gray day in the East Bay! For more about photographing this Icelandic Poppy, click here.

Papaver Nudicaule © Harold Davis

A Tale of Two Cities

I was in New York City just now for 48 hours, give or take an hour or two. It’s hard for me to visit New York without sensing a bit of personal dislocation. It’s as though there is one Harold who stayed in New York, where I grew up, and had a photography studio for a number of years. There’s another Harold who moved out of “the city” twenty-odd years ago, as in fact I did on the time line that feels most like reality. It is possible, of course, that all the hours on the plane getting to New York, jet lag, and internally being confused about the time zone may have added to my somewhat incoherent feeling that the universe had jolted, and that part of me was on one timeline (the Harold that stayed in New York) while most of (the happily married Harold with four kids living in California) never looked back.

Manhattan from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade © Harold Davis

Incoherent tears in my personal space-time continuum to the despite, I had a great time in New York City, and it was a good trip both from a photographic viewpoint, and also the professional meetings I had went very well. I met with friends both old and new. New York City in holiday season can be a fantastic place, with great food, and wonderful things to see and touch. Breaking away from friends and business meetings, I photographed Manhattan from the Brooklyn Promenade (above). I made abstractions using the mirrored windows of the Hudson Yards construction. This massive project consists of twelve skyscraper towers, with the master plan designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, my photos will follow in a later story. And I visited upper Manhattan, where I walked across the newly reopened High Bridge to the Bronx at sunset, and made a photo of traffic jammed like a pinball game on the Cross Bronx Expressway (and, why isn’t “Cross Bronx” hypenated?), shown below.

Cross Bronx Expwy © Harold Davis

My real sense of dislocation in New York doesn’t so much have to do with my personal history. Of course, today’s New York city is not the city I grew up in, or the city whose art scene I was a small part of, or the city where I was married and divorced, or drank and got sober. Of course the world has moved on. New York is one of the greatest cities the world has ever known, and as such of course it is both very beautiful and terribly ugly.

The dislocation I sense in New York is a tale of two cities, even more so than when I grew up here. In other words, it is the best of times, and the worst of times. There’s an infinite amount of luxury high-rise construction. Folks drop mind-blowing sums on fancy dining and clothing. The homeless sleep on the streets of New York. If you look carefully, homeless people are everywhere. Outside the gilded towers and a few fabulously wealthy areas, it is a hardscrabble existence, with most people running double-time not to lose their place on the ladder. It is the best of times and the worst of times.

Two Icelandic Poppies

Phyllis and I like to take out slices of pizza, and eat them in the beautiful garden at Berkeley Horticultural Nurseries. The other day, after having our lunch while sitting on a bench, we wandered—and I admired some Icelandic Poppies, Papaver nudicaule, in first bloom. Imagine my surprise when Phyllis came home the next day with two pots for me to enjoy and photograph!

Two Icelandic Poppies © Harold Davis

Two Icelandic Poppies (above) was photographed for transparency on a light box using a high-key series of bracketed exposures. Yum (below) was photographed somewhat more conventionally on a white seamless background using my nifty Zeiss 50mm f/2 macro lens.

Yum © Harold Davis

I am heading to New York for several days for meetings with my publishers and sponsors, so most likely I won’t be posting stories for a little while. In the meantime, let me leave you with the thought that when news seems dark and gray, it is so important to remember the beauty and joy of the world as well. We stand up for ourselves when we do what is joyful, and don’t give into those who would enslave the human capacity for freedom and delight.

In that light, please consider traveling with me to Paris the first week in May (my group has room for just two more photographers), to Tuscany in October, and Venice in November. The Italian destination photo tours have a nice early-bird discount for registrations through the end of the month. Click here for my 2016 Works & Events Calendar as it is shaping up.

Three Graces

The Three Graces are actually a three-in-one trinity: this is one model (Anastasia Arteyeva), via an in-camera multiple exposure.

Three Graces © Harold Davis

Processed for the distinctive—almost cave painting look—using the Da Vinci filter in the Topaz Impression plug-in.

Related image (same model): And now for something completely different.

Photograph Venice with Harold Davis (Early Bird Discount)

There’s no place in the world like Venice, and in particular no place for photographers like Venice with its maze of streets, canals, bridges, and ever-changing light. Please consider joining Phyllis and myself and our small group, hosted at a charming boutique hotel just footsteps from San Marco. Completed reservations by December 31, 2015 receive a $500 per person early-registration discount (click here for details)!

Click here for full details and itinerary, and here for the Reservation Form.

In a Blue Hour

Over the weekend on Saturday I led a fun workshop sponsored by the Point Reyes Field Institute on Point Reyes photographing Waves. I had some very enthusiastic participants and I think we all had a good time. It was fun to be leading a workshop so close to home compared to my recent travels, and there is no doubt that Point Reyes National Seashore is a visual resource and national park second to none, no matter how far one might roam.

In a Blue Hour © Harold Davis

I was able to make some of my own images during the course of the workshop, and I found that this year I was mainly interested in created abstractions using longish exposures and motion. The top image, In a Blue Hour, was a ten second exposure, with my camera on tripod. Here’s the full exposure data: 44mm lens, circular polarizer, 10 seconds at f/29 and ISO 200, tripod mounted.

Wave Study © Harold Davis

Wave Study in Color © Harold Davis

The two versions of Wave Study (above) were shot handheld at 1/2 a second. I stopped the camera down to f/22 and used both a polarizer and a neutral density filter to enable the longish exposure despite the day light. The full exposure data is: 300mm, circular polarizer combined with +4 neutral density filter, 1/2 of a second at f/22 and ISO 31, hand held.

Stormy Sea, Point Reyes © Harold Davis

Stormy Sea, Point Reyes (above), was also shot hand held. The full exposure data is: 150mm, circular polarizer combined with +4 neutral density filter, 0.6 of a second at f/29 and ISO 31, hand held.

Related stories from some of the previous Waves workshops in years gone by: Photographing Waves (2014); Photographing Waves (2011); also Faces of the Deep.

 

Paestum

Paestum, on the Gulf of Salerno, is probably the best-preserved site of Greek ruins on the Italian mainland (there are also some notable spots on Sicily).

Paestum © Harold Davis

To make this image with its sunburst effect, I stopped the camera way down (to f/36), and positioned the composition so the sun was about half covered by the peristyle on the Temple of Poseidon. My thought was to use the shaft of light to illustrate a divine visit—as apparently happened all the time at temples in ancient Greek times!

Classic Harold Davis Prints

We are offering four prints of my most iconic images at a very special price. Each print is hand-crafted in my studio using archival inks, hand-signed using acid-free ink by yours truly, and printed on archival Moab Juniper Baryta Rag 305 gsm. Your choice of print is $250 (including shipping within the continental United States). This represents a substantial discount (roughly 75%) compared to our standard retail pricing by way of thanks for buying directly from the artist (that would be me!). The quartet of four Harold Davis prints can be yours (for a nice additional discount) at $795 for all four.

Please also keep our art editions in mind: We have limited hand-made copies of our acclaimed Botanique and the Kumano Kodo portfolio available!

Some details: Click here to learn more about Harold Davis prints. Alone I Stand and Road Less Traveled are printed roughly 11″ X 14″. Camellia and Nautilus on Black are printed roughly 12″ X 12″. More about the images below. Each print is $250 including shipping within the continental United States (contact us for international shipping costs), or $795 for all four including shipping. California residents add sales tax.

Placing a print order: To place a print order, send us an email or contact us by phone. We accept checks, credit cards (MC and Visa), and Paypal.

About Alone I Stand

A book contract brought me back to Yosemite Valley for several successive winters. Exploring the valley floor following a massive snowstorm, I found this indomitable old tree standing tall against the weather in Leidig Meadow. Mindful of the great artistic and photographic heritage of art depicted Yosemite, as I created this image I kept the heroic paintings of Albert Beirstadt in mind—as Beirstadt’s romantic view of Westward expansion echoed the theme of the ancient but indomitable tree standing tall against the weather.

Alone I Stand © Harold Davis

About Camellia

Photographing this image of an almost perfectly symmetrical Camellia Japonica was a controlled exercise in using a bracketed sequence of photos to build up a low-key image, starting from the darkest image. Technical concerns aside, as an artist my goal was to create a feeling of softness that enhanced and complemented the gradual shade into darkness, bringing out the sensuality of this gorgeous flower.

Camellia Japonica © Harold Davis

About Road Less Traveled

In his famous poem, Robert Frost wrote about two diverging roads, and about taking the one less traveled. The Green Dragon Buddhist Monastery nestles under the bluffs on the north side of the Marin Headlands, California. Departing after a retreat from the Monastery, I looked back at the road and saw two paths, one less traveled. Considering my own life as an artist belonging but apart from the society around me, I realized that my path would always be one that is less traveled. My way would be different, and not for the faint of heart. With these thoughts, I composed my image, and made my photo.

Road Less Traveled © Harold Davis

About Nautilus on Black

This image of a cross-section of a Nautilus shell represents to me the symmetry and order that can be found in the heart of nature, which paradoxically combines order and disorder in a most anarchic but orderly way. In the imperfection of the world lies its perfection, perhaps nowhere better exemplified than in the famous Nautilus spiral.

Nautilus on Black © Harold Davis