One of the final classes within my MFA program at the Academy of Art University was “Plastic and Pinhole Cameras”. I developed a large body of work along the coastline of Northern California for this class that I call “Out of the Blue”. I have included the artist statement and some of the images from this series.
Out of the Blue focuses on the sea. More specifically, I embarked on a photographic study of the widely varied northern California coastline. My intent with this body of work was to strip the San Francisco Bay area’s cliff, beach and coastline areas down to their essential components. I chose not to include many large elements such as architecture or people within the frame. While small remnants of these subjects may appear within the frame, the goal was to pull the viewer’s focus to the sand, surf and sky. It is within this concept of simplicity that we find the real essence of why people are so magnetically drawn to the ocean.
The hero within this body of work is the component of color. Color plays a large role in my work as a whole, but more particularly within this series as the majority of people who live near a coastline commune at the area’s beaches around the transitional times of dawn and dusk. These are the times of day when the shoreline truly expresses its personality. In order to enhance these qualities I used expired transparency film. Transparency film provides an added element of saturation that negative film cannot and using expired film adds an element of the unpredictable. Expired film can cause small or large color shift depending on many factors including storage conditions, film types and the age of the film.
I chose to use the Holga camera for this project because it adds to the overall narrative and aesthetic of the series. The Holga inherently has a color shift that is exaggerated by the expired transparency film and its low-fi plastic lens. The Holga also has a dreamlike effect that contributes to the series by providing a focal plane that drops out around the edges and a heavy vignette that frames the image.
Since I am in the final semester of my graduate degree at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco I decided to take a fun class to escape the pressure of my thesis, at least for a few hours a week. The class I chose is “Plastic and Pinhole Photography”. I mostly find myself gravitating toward the Holga in this class, although I have also run quite a bit of film through the Zero 2000 and Blackbird, Fly as well.
I grew up in Dallas, Texas and as such didn’t have access to the ocean. I have now lived in California for just over ten years and I am still awestruck every time catch a glimpse of the Pacific. At the risk of sounding too much like a San Francisco hippy, there is an inescapable force that the ocean carries with it. When I plant my feet firmly in the sand and allow the tide to slowly wash around me I experience a feeling that is simply too difficult to describe. The mood on the coast is vastly different with each visit. I can go to the same cliff or beach every day at the same time for a week straight and have very different light and character each time.
It is with this background that I decided there is no better place to focus on for my class project than the northern California coast line. I photographed the following nine images within the same week at various spots around the Bay area. The project has since changed slightly and I will post updates throughout the semester, but this is the genesis.
Recently I have been dabbling in the art of pinhole photography. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is essentially about bringing photography back to the basics. And when I say basics, I mean basics. Pinhole photography entails putting a piece of film inside a light-tight box or can and exposing it through a pin-sized hole for about 30 seconds to a minute. No lens. No viewfinder. That’s it. The images come out fairly soft and dream-like. The fun of this process is never knowing what you are going to get until you run the film through the chemicals. The following are three images that I created using this method this week.
Rayko Gallery in San Francisco is hosting the opening reception for the 2010 International Juried Plastic Camera Show this Friday, February 26th. I was very fortunate to get a piece in the show alongside some really amazing artists. If you are in the Bay area and are available this Friday I highly recommend you swing by the gallery to check out the incredible work. If you aren’t available, fear not… the exhibit runs through April 17th. Further information about the exhibit and gallery can be found on RayKo’s website. The image that I have in the show, taken with a Holga plastic camera, is below. I hope to see you at the gallery this Friday!
Last week I took a short drive out to Point Reyes National Seashore, about an hour north of San Francisco, for a photo shoot. While there are certainly closer beaches, nothing matches Point Reyes. The large preserve that juts out into the Pacific Ocean features miles of uninterrupted beaches below looming cliffs, green rolling pasture land with black and white spotted cows, beautiful historic farmhouses and one of the most picturesque lighthouses that the west coast has to offer. As I meandered along the coastline snapping shots here and there I couldn’t help but think about our family on the east coast currently digging themselves out of blizzard conditions. Here I was on the beach in February in near 70-degree weather and I was once again reminded of why we live in California.
Inspired by a lot of the iPhone images I have seen lately, I decided to share some of the abstract images that I was able to create with my iPhone. I took advantage of the camera’s slow shutter speed, particularly in low-light situations, to infuse some motion blur and obtain some interesting results.
I put together a list of some great sites that cover getting the most out of your iPhone camera. These are definitely worth a peek!
Squeezing Decent Photos Out of an iPhone
100 Great iPhone Photos
From the Pocket
iPhone Photo
iPhography
iPhone as Art
While a relatively new term for me, iPhontography has existed as a bit of a cultural phenomenon for the last several years. In fact, as a reaction against the newest, shiny piece of digital brilliance with its 700 megapixel sensor and its 4×6″ LCD viewing screen (or some such specs), a large faction of photographers have embraced the low-tech. This demand has manifested itself in a resurgence of the Chinese Holga or Diana plastic cameras and it only stands to reason that due to accessibility, the iPhone has joined the ranks. What makes the iPhone low-tech is its simple point and shoot design, not that dissimilar to the previously named medium-format cameras.
iPhontography.org is a great site dedicated to the art of the iPhone image and describes the concept as this: “The eye of the artist is always more important than the technology in the creation of beautiful art.” I have to agree. iPhontography.org is currently running a contest for iPhone art that will result in a gallery show in Berkeley, California. I have attached the iPhone images that I took for this contest below. If you have created some unique and artistic photos using your iPhone then you should enter your images. Just click on the following link to take you there. While you’re on the site, please take a moment to vote for my images, if you are so inclined.
iPhontography.org
Filed under Photos, Travel
Okay, so I am not one of those photographers who posts a picture of their baby every time they spit up or make a solid #2 (although as a parent I can’t help but feel the obligatory sense of pride). From a blog point of view I try to keep family and work separate, mostly to spare those tuning in for photography news and updates the foisting of the baby details. However, if you are interested in having stories of our life with a baby being foisted upon you then you are in luck! My wife does an amazing job writing her own baby/toddler blog where she finds interesting and creative ways to share tales of our little boy Ethan, family trips and other adventures (ugh… swine flu in October). Of course, my photography seeps into that blog as well. Let’s face it, once a photographer, always a photographer! You can check out our family blog at: babynotch.blogspot.com
Alright, as an added bonus (mostly because I couldn’t help myself), here are a few shots from our trip to the Sierra Nevada cabin last week.
A quick Merry Christmas from Ryan Notch Photography. I hope that your holiday and new year is full of perfect lighting, great timing and magical compositions. Enjoy those moments both behind and in front of the lens. Happy 2010!
Okay, you didn’t actually think that I would
travel all the way to Arizona without my
digital camera in tow, did you? No, sir.
As an added bonus to the Sedona post,
here are a couple of shots that I took with
my 5d MkII of the Grand Canyon. I have
been to the Canyon a few different times,
but it is a uniquely awe-inspiring and
breath-taking experience each and every
time. There are some natural wonders that
no matter how great the photograph, will
never compare to the experience of
standing there and taking it all in. That
said, I will upload these images anyhow.
If only 10% of the impact of the moment is
conveyed with these photographs then it is
well worth it.
