Harold Davis's Blog, page 59

Peonies mon Amour on Washi

The image shows a print of my 2012 Peonies mon Amour, one of my most popular botanical images, as printed on simulated Awagami Unryu washi, distributed in the United States by Moab Paper. My hand-stamped inkan (a Japanese version of a “chop” that can be used in place of a signature) is shown on the lower right of the print.

In this simulated view, the inkan is a bit larger than actual life size in proportion to the print. The inkan roughly translates to “Photographer as Poet.”

For collectors who are interested in one of my botanical prints on washi, I offer the option of including a stamp of my inkan in addition to my signature.

Peonies mon Amour © Harold Davis (2012), print on Unryu washi with hand inkan stamp

Most of my images are available as prints. Please inquire.

Print Sold

Print of Through the Rabbit Hole © Harold Davis

I am grateful to a longtime collector and friend who recently purchased this print on Moab Juniper Baryta of my Through the Rabbit Hole.

Most of my images are available as prints. Please inquire.

End of Days

End of Days © Harold Davis

Soon the hot wind from on high is among us, and we feel the devil’s riding crop. What unknown blasts fuel the motion of an already unstable and pockmarked sphere? Give me a marble and you never know what I’ll do!

Hidden Worlds (within marbles); more impossible imagery; the Eye of Sauron in his cups; marbles below.

Forging Worlds © Harold Davis

World on Fire © Harold Davis

Most images available as prints. Please inquire.

Leek and Lichen

Leek & Lichen should perhaps be the name for a pub on the outskirts of London, somewhere past Elephant & Castle and nearby to the Queen’s Head and Artichoke. Alas, the reference here is to photos of two prosaic subjects (although hopefully the photos themselves are anything but prosaic): a cross-section of a leek that later became part of our dinner, and lichen scraped from a tree and then dried. It is interesting that one need not travel anywhere exotic to make photos; photography is about seeing, and vision is just as valid close to home as it is abroad.

Leek Cross-Section © Harold Davis

Lichen © Harold Davis

Snows of Yesteryear

Yosemite Snowstorm © Harold Davis

Thinking about the upcoming photography conference in Yosemite led me to browse through some of my archives of work of Yosemite in winter’s past. Digital means never having to say one is sorry, and that it is always possible to reprocess. Contemporary advances in software interpolation means that even fairly low resolution images can be enlarged and printed at decent sizes. So maybe it is worth going through one’s files to see what was captured at the dawn of the digital photography era!

The color version of the image above was originally blogged in 2006 in But Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear.

I think the three images below, of a snowstorm in Yosemite, ice on the Merced River, and a somewhat hair-raising view off the spine of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park were never blogged—they do not appear in any of my books—and date to roughly the same time frame. The image of the Blizzard takes a little looking at in the larger size (and maybe squinting) before the shapes of the snow-laden trees become fully apparent.

Blizzard © Harold Davis

Skim Ice on the Merced © Harold Davis

View from Angel’s Landing © Harold Davis

X-Ray Floral Medley Fusion Print Sold

I’m pleased to sell a print of X-Ray Floral Medley Fusion (an iPhone snap of the print is shown below) to a longtime collector. Printed on Moab Juniper Baryta, one of my favorite “go-to” papers.

X-Ray Floral Medley Fusion Print © Harold Davis

 

Platala

Platala © Harold Davis

My goal with an image like Platala is to create a field that is so visually lush that it is distracting. This kind of image should be beautiful, with so many decorative elements, that no one is much concerned about where it comes from. Platala is not the creation of linear thinking, nor intended to appeal in a linear fashion. The making of Platala took flexibility of thought and process, as well as a central curvilinear shape, good music and drugs (I may be kidding about the drugs). It will repay consideration from the viewpoint of receptivity rather than as a straight linear progression from subject to post-production and publication.

Most images available as prints. Please inquire. © Harold Davis. All rights reserved.

Happy Hydrangeas

I added some red carnation petals to the Hydrangea Blossoms composition. The result is a really emotive light box image: this piece says “happiness” to me.

Hydrangea and Carnation Petals © Harold Davis

Progression

Progression 1 © Harold Davis

Progression 1, shown above, is an image designed to be visually to be read from left to right. Creating this kind of fantastic decorative imagery takes more than a little obsessiveness. Since the treatment involves faux curls, I like to think an interesting use of the image would be to print it as an actual wrapping—with virtual curves on the surface of an actual curve.

Click on the image or here to view it larger.

Printed, Signed, and Curing

This batch of prints are signed. We’ll let them cure a couple of days, then they will be ready for their new homes! Printed on Juniper Baryta, with special thanks to Moab Paper, and to my collectors.

“Bixby Bridge at Night” curing © Harold Davis

Prints curing © Harold Davis