Extended Thursday: Back to Beber’s natural beauty
Happy April to all you faithful readers! For those of you keeping score, my Extended Thursdays series has officially been running for over a month. I don’t know about you, but I’m very impressed with my consistency. I’ll keep it up as long as I can.
Anyway, let’s get back to the photography….
One of the many benefits of documenting life at Beber Camp every summer is an opportunity to experience the area’s wonderful natural beauty. I had the privilege of watching the light, clouds, and environment shift from day to day and hour to hour, giving me a strong appreciation of both the power of nature’s beauty as well as its transience.
These two landscape extensions capture a range of time, as daylight disappears and night approaches. Traditional dusk photos, or any traditional photographs for that matter, usually capture a particular moment. These extensions not only capture an expanse of space, but perhaps more interestingly in this dynamically shifting end of day period, they also display an expanse of time.
(And yes, for you avid readers who pore over every post, both of these shots have been on the blog before. I couldn’t resist pairing them together here to illustrate the concept of time extension. Thanks for understanding!)
Extended Thursday: Beber staff get to know each other
After returning from Honduras, I had the honor of spending another beautiful summer on the shores of Lake Beulah in rural Wisconsin as Beber Camp’s Director of Photography. You can see a fun sampling of images from my time at Beber in my WI PotD series.
To start the summer, the staff spent a lot of time getting to know each other. I took advantage of these moments to explore how large groups of people translate into time and space extensions.
I also started to scout some potential spots for landscape extensions as the summer progressed. I’ll post a few of the more successful examples next week!
Extended Thursday: Travels to Honduras
After my breakthrough with “Chicago River Winter (Extended)”, I was excited to keep the extensions concept in the back of my mind as I traveled to Honduras for a client project. On the inside, Tegu’s factory provided a variety of graphically interesting aspects (you’ll notice that the fluorescent lighting is reminiscent of my much earlier grocery store extension).
And looking out through the loading dock, I was surprised to find dusk transforming a drab parking lot into a beautiful urban landscape.
This parking lot shot translated beautifully into a fine art print and was included in my David Strawn Gallery show.
Extended Thursday: Trail Ridge Road
For the third installment of Extended Thursdays, we’re going back to Colorado. The Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park is a photographer’s dream (and because of the frequent stops, his travel companion’s nightmare). I shot six different sets of potential composites, and eventually decided to construct two of them:
All in all, I left Colorado with 17 potential extensions. These four made the final cut, but I hope to return to the archives one day to see what how the others turn out.
Extended Thursday: Mt. Audubon’s top and bottom
Welcome back to Extended Thursdays. I have to admit that I’m impressed with myself for delivering on last week’s resolution. Today we jump ahead a few years to a trip to Colorado. The extension concept had been bouncing around my head for a while, and I took advantage of the amazing panoramas to test out my ideas.
Here, you can see Mt. Audubon from down below
and up on top
Needless to say it was a fantastic hike with great views.
Extended Thursday: In the beginning…
I know, I know, I know: I haven’t posted a single thing since my 2010 recap, almost two months ago! Bear with me, dear readers, because I’ve seen the error of my ways and I vow to be better. I’ve been cranking away at tons of new content, some of which can be seen on my recently updated website. There’s a lot more still in the works, and I’ve committed myself to regular blog posts moving forward. A “March 2011 resolution”, if you will.
So without further ado, I’m announcing a new series. Every Thursday until I run out of material, I’m going to post a new addition to my “Extensions” series. I plan on showing early examples of the concept in my work, through to the Extensions premier at the David Strawn Gallery, and onwards to new pieces that have been shot but not yet pieced together. This is very much a sketchpad of photographic ideas, and I welcome any and all feedback.
Starting from the beginning – way back in 2006 – here are a few examples of my very first attempts at extending space and time in my photography:
(And yes, that’s me looking at the parasols.)
Stay tuned for more extensions, as well as other bits and pieces from my photographic life…
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all of my faithful followers! 2010 was an amazing year, and I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for contributing to its success.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com helped me create a 2010 summary. The year’s 36 new posts and 84 new pictures were viewed about 5,400 times. That’s amazing!
2010’s most popular posts and pages were:
1) Nelson: Announcing a new series
4) Winter on the Chicago River
5) Extensions at the David Strawn Art Gallery
So I guess I need to take more pictures of my dog and amputation surgeries (hopefully not in the same shots, though).
Thank you again for all of your help and support last year. I can’t wait to see where 2011 takes us!
David Strawn Extended
As promised, here is an extended composite panorama of my David Strawn opening. And don’t worry, more people attended the opening than you see here. I was too busy talking with guests to take these shots before the end of the night. I swear!
Also, I want to take a quick moment to wish everyone a very happy holiday season. It’s been a phenomenal year, and I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings us. I’m taking advantage of a few quiet weeks to rest, reorganize myself (which will hopefully lead to new blog posts), and prepare for some exciting changes in the new year.
Sights and Sounds from David Strawn Gallery
Thank you so much to everyone who has expressed their support for my latest show at the David Strawn Art Gallery, especially Director Kelly Gross and the Jacksonville Art Association for hosting me. It was a huge success with tons of great feedback and sales that exceeded my expectations!
For those of you who couldn’t make it to Jacksonville, IL for the opening, luckily enough I have a few clips and pics from the evening. First, I’m swallowing my embarrassment and posting a video of my artist’s talk.
Many thanks to my wonderfully supportive wife for doubling as my videographer.
I’m still working on the latest installment in my “Extensions” series, a composite from the show’s opening. These composites take a while to build, so keep an eye out for it in the next day or two.
Extensions at the David Strawn Art Gallery
Needless to say, the past six weeks have flown by without a blog update. I’m excited to be back online with plenty of updates and exciting news.
First and foremost, I’m thrilled to announce my upcoming gallery opening at the David Strawn Art Gallery in Jacksonville, IL. I’ve been feverishly working on a new body of work, aptly titled “Extensions”, to add to my existing travel collection. “Winter on the Chicago River” was so popular that I’ve created five large scale composite panoramas from my recent travels. They just came back from the lab today and look amazing!
If anyone’s in the Jacksonville/Springfield area this Saturday night, December 4th, please stop by. Here’s a sample piece to whet your appetite:
Pittsburgh surprises
My first visit to Pittsburgh lasted only 24 hours, but I was pleasantly surprised by the city. Here are a few shots from my afternoon wanderings.
Water + glass + sunlight = photo fun
I recently visited the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the the Art Institute of Chicago. Sadly it ended a few days later, but the good news is that it’s opening in San Francisco next month for anyone who’s motivated and heading in that direction.
Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment” has always been a strong inspiration in my documentary work, and as a result of seeing so many classic images, my creative juices were working overtime. It turns out that a little sunlight, some glass bricks, and constant flow of falling water provided all the material I needed.
Nelson: Announcing a new series
I’ve resisted as long as I could. While dog photos range from the boringly over-done to exceptionally well-done, I can’t help but add my two cents to the mix with a new ongoing series featuring my dog. So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to Nelson:
A view from above
Instead of looking up, the other day I managed to find myself in a position to look down. I love how the drastic change in perspective creates new images out of our everyday landscape. In particular, here’s a view of an interstate overpass.
Eyes still on the skies
Another cloud shot. It turns out that walking around with your eyes glued to the heaves isn’t the safest way to travel. Especially while trying trying to walk your dog.
Eyes to the skies
Last week’s geese got me looking skyward, and I’ve found some amazing cloud patterns lately. It’s always nice to be reminded about how easy it is for nature to create unparalleled beauty. Here’s one from a recent storm rolling into Chicago.
The geese are on the move…
…and I’m back in the blogosphere.
After a whirlwind summer in Wisconsin, during which my best intentions of regular blog posts quickly went up in smoke, I’m back in Chicago and ready to pick up where I left off. I’m currently sifting through the ashes of over 50,000 new images from the summer’s adventures. Stay tuned as selections and edits gradually make their way out into the world.
To start things off, I’m keeping it simple with a recent shot of migratory birds on the move. Something about it inspired me to start blogging again.
WI PotD: June 20
The campers are here!!! 300 kids aged 7 to 17 joined us yesterday to start the first session of the summer. After a week of training, our staff welcomed them with open arms, lots of energy, and a great song session to wrap up the day.
WI PotD: June 19
Staff week at camp has brought together 100 counselors from all over the country and around the world. The group learned to work together and trust each other, while acquiring new skills and still having fun. Here are a few shots from the week.
Marc Altman Photography Blog 