semillerimages.com - Image(s) of the Week 3.15.06 Seven Sands of San Simeon
Steve
After a period of heavy work, heavy contemplation, heavy laziness, I am
back with the program.
I had a conversation quite awhile back with my mentor about showing
only the best of what I could produce and the conversation put me into
quite a funk. I am still not finished examining the options nor the
implications of the conversation, but I had to pull something out just
to be able to continue with this one-sided Image of the Week dialogue.
It's kind of funny considering the beginning here that I was at
Linnaea's Coffee Shop looking at my mentor's show when I bumped into
Linnaea herself. After some talk and debate of which image we each
liked the best, she asked if I could put together a show for the front
of the shop in March. I agreed to it, and of course postponed the work
until the last minute. Walking the line of cliche and originality, I
decided I would put to the test a variant of mounting photographs that
I had played with previously... a photograph mounted on canvas with
painting around it.
I was not sure of the subject matter until the last month or so before
I was supposed to hang the show. Taking a random walk along the beach
in San Simeon gave me the required inspiration and the images. I
remember when I was flying back from Puerto Vallarta a year and half
ago I was completely absorbed by the landscape of northern Mexico and
the southwest US from 30,000 feet. It is so obvious the work of the
elements of water and wind from such a high altitude, and it is also so
obvious the timeless beauty of the forces that have been at work for
thousands of years. I recognized this same force at play as I wandered
along the San Simeon beach. Sand being so much more pliable than stone
creates with water similar patterns as ten thousand years of water on
rock. Snap Snap Snap. The images accumulated on my compact flash card.
I went back again at least three times and managed to see only a
fraction of what I did originally. The sand did not respond well with
differing water saturation conditions due to tide and weather. The
inital images I captured were fleeting, they only existed for the short
time before and after I discovered them. Footprints were all over the
place, I wondered whether the other people noticed the intricacies of
the patterns, or were they more absorbed in some other activity? I
would tend to believe the latter.
I finalized the grouping of images, I did not want too many as it would
dull the presentation. I settled on seven images, only one really
departing from the rest because of orientation. I bought the canvases
prior to the shoot, so I had plenty to play with. I bought some paint,
some paint thickener, and I dug up a bucket of sand from the beach to
mix with the paint and the thickening agent. I was a little rushed
because I only had a couple of days to get the whole showing ready.
Managing to pull it off in time, I went down to Linnaea's to verify
when I should hang the show - only to find out that I had apparently
been forgotton... the time was not written down even though I could
have sworn I saw Linnaea do it...
Now I have these seven pieces sitting in my living room, strange little
pieces wanted to be shown as a set but no place to show them... someday
perhaps. In the meantime, I will show them here on the Image of the
Week. Not in their form intended, but it's ok...
http://semillerimages.com/iow-link/7sands/
If you would happen to like a print of these, I would be happy to sell
the complete set of images as 6x9 prints only for $350.00. The mounted,
painted versions, which are ready to go... $750.00. Single versions,
drop me line and I will quote you a price :)
More images to come soon...
Thanls for reading!
*steve