Make The Time You Need To Develop Depth

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Revelation XXXV

In 1996 I completed a series of new images – Revelation. Impossible symmetries drawn forth from desert landscapes, they were unlike anything I’d seen before. Looking at these images, day after day, was like having a dream that never faded. They reminded me of the artifacts I liked so much from the sacred traditions of many primal cultures – totem poles, figurines, costumes, masks, and paintings – not just from the cultures I was exposed to as a boy growing up in New Mexico. The series was good and stood on its own, but I knew then that I still had much more work I wanted to do.
The series has been ongoing for more than twenty years. The series was on my mind when I first went to Antarctica in 2005; I started shooting deliberately for it on a return voyage in 2007; material slowly accumulated in subsequent voyages in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015; and then in 2016 it all came together. It wasn’t so much that the material I had gathered that year was just right, what really made the difference was the special point I had come to in my life and work.
These more recent images have an added quality, not solely because they were drawn from a different location, but also because of the passage of time and all the things that happened during it.
In part, this comes from sleeping on it; the subconscious offers many rich and fertile territories.
In part, this is the result of a significant amount of conscious thought; studying craft and composition were only the beginnings for preparing this ground; related reading and viewing enriched me further; having more special experiences with land planted more seeds; digging into my deepest thoughts and feelings about the subject and my approach helped me cultivate them.
In part, this work waited so long is that there was other work to do, including a harvest of related bodies of work (Inhalation and Exhalation). Making that work influenced this work.
In part, this is the result of my inner state now; contrary to what some have suggested, I’ve found this isn’t something to overcome no matter what the current conditions but rather something to be nurtured. These images would have been different if I finished them earlier – because I was different.
While one needs to guard against procrastination, one also needs to guard against rushing through experiences and not developing the necessary depth to fully engage them and do your best work. To reach its full potential, a great wine needs time, neither too little nor too much.
So when is the best time to move forward? This is a question that is best approached with awareness and deep contemplation. Though there are repeatable patterns and common tendencies, there is no one definitive answer to this question for all situations. I’ve found some work gets produced very quickly, sometimes a whole series is made in one shoot, while some work gets produced very slowly, over decades. Ultimately, you have to go with your gut. This doesn’t rule out the possibility and potential benefits of a great deal of research and forethought before you do. The two working in concert together often yield the most powerful combination. However, the single most important ingredient is, not mere spontaneity, which can be short lived, but a true effervescence of spirit, and it’s particularly important to pay attention to this quality if it can be sustained over longer periods of time. You need to be alive to your work to make it come alive.
In our increasingly fast-paced societies, there is a tremendous pressure to produce more and produce it more quickly. This can create a pace that is unsustainable for most creatives, at least when it comes to releasing work with real depth. However well-crafted or clever, there often seems to be something missing in the final results. Good fully developed work takes time … because much like creating deeper relationships with people, it takes time to develop a deeper relationship with your work and your self. Make that time. Savor it. It can make all the difference in the world.
Questions
How many ways can you enrich yourself before you move forward?
At what point does preparation become procrastination?
What signs suggest that this is or isn’t the time?
Find out more about this image here.
View more related images here.
Read more of The Stories Behind The Images here.

My Top 12 Images Of 2016

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Incubation XV

Antarctica CXCII

Antarctica CXCII

Antarctica CXCIV

Antarctica CXCIV

Antarctica CXCV

Antarctica CXCV

Revelation XXIX

Revelation XXIX

Revelation XXXIX

Revelation XXXIX

Revelation XXIV

Revelation XXIV

Revelation XXXVI

Revelation XXXVI

Revelation XXVI

Revelation XXVI

Revelation XXVIII

Revelation XXVIII

Revelation XXXVII

Revelation XXXVII

Revelation XXXVIII

Revelation XXXVIII

This is a selection of my top 12 images of 2016. This selection doesn’t reflect sales, publication, or activities on the web. It simply reflects my opinion. Click on the titles to find out more about each image.

Geography

While I visited most of the biomes in one year (all seven continents in 18 months), the images I released were drawn primarily from the artic and antarctic regions.

Process

Straight images from Antarctica were processed on location, mostly in Lightroom. Composite images were created in studio, mostly in Photoshop after launching from Lightroom. I date “straight” shots based on the date they were exposed and composites on the date they are completed.

Concepts

I focussed on a long-standing theme, creating symmetries drawn from the land to better reveal the spirit within. The final resolution has prompted me to remaster many related files made in 1996. I released multiple related series of studies, including a series of digitally rendered inkblots.

Magnificent Moment

There was big magic in 2016! In Antarctica there were moments of extreme quietude amid the lifting fogs at Black Head and the glassy reflections in Antarctica’s Plenneau Bay. We experienced the epically varied lands of New Zealand; in one day we moved from a waterfall strewn fiord, through a rainforest, up to a high arid plateau, and finally to the base of a glacier. Sublime light filled hours and hours, as we flew helicopters over Namibia’s Sossusvlei dune fields, which roll out to the Skeleton Coast. All of these adventures were long-held dreams come true.

It’s challenging to choose so few images from so many – but it’s insightful. Try selecting your own top 12 images. Try selecting the top 12 images of your favorite artist(s).

View more of my Annual Top 12 Selections here.

View more images in my ebooks here.

View my full Works here.

View my Series videos here.

View new images in my newsletter Collectors Alert.

Taking The Time You Need To Develop Depth

Budh
Secret Flower
Spirit of the Squash Blossom
Censered
Enchambered
Jonahs Apprehension

This is a selection of the images that started my series Revelation over twenty years ago. I had been planning on making related images in the arctic and antarctic for more than ten years. The series Revelation was on my mind when I first went to Antarctica in 2005; I started shooting deliberately for it on a return voyage in 2007; material slowly accumulated in subsequent voyages in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015; and then in 2016 it all came together. Part of the reason this work waited so long is that there was other work to do, including the completion of other related bodies of work including Inhalation and Exhalation. Doing that work influenced this work.

The images I recently released (arctic and antarctic Revelations) have a different quality as a result of waiting. they would have been different if I finished them earlier. In part, this comes from sleeping on it; the subconscious does a lot of work. In part, this is is the result of a significant amount of conscious thought; studying craft and composition were only the beginnings, digging into my thoughts and feelings about the subject and the approach were the real keys; related reading and viewing supported it. In part, this is the result of my inner state now; contrary to what some have suggested, I’ve found this isn’t something to overcome no matter what the current conditions but rather something to be nurtured and cultivated. While one needs to guard agains procrastination, one also needs to guard against rushing through content and not developing the necessary depth to fully engage it, fostering an intimate relationship with it. Doing the work develops depth.  And, the work doesn’t just happen behind the lens or in front of the computer.

So when should you make work? This is a question that is best approached with awareness and deep contemplation. Though there are repeatable patterns and common tendencies, there is no one definitive answer to this question for all artists and all situations. I’ve found some work gets produced very quickly, sometimes a whole series is made in one shoot, and some work gets produced very slowly, over decades. Ultimately, I think you have to go with your gut. That doesn’t rule out the possibility and potential benefits of a great deal of research and forethought before you do. The two working in concert together often yield the most powerful combination. However, the single most important ingredient is, not mere spontaneity, which can be short lived, but an effervescence of spirit, and it’s particularly important to pay attention to this quality if it can be sustained over longer periods of time. One needs to be alive to the work to make it a living thing.

In the era of social networks, there is a tremendous pressure to release work quickly and to keep releasing work on a regular basis.  This can create a pace that is unsustainable for most creatives, at least when it comes to releasing work with real depth. Good fully developed work takes time … because developing a relationship with your work and your self takes time, much like creating deeper relationships with people take time. Savor it.

At the same time, the unfinished work we make along the way has it’s own value, a very different value, and it can be fascinating to watch how we get to our final destinations. It’s important to know the difference and make the distinction between fully developed images and unfinished images, between work and play, both when we are producing our own images and enjoying others.

View new images in my series Revelation here.

View more images in the series Revelation here.
View the 360 degree interactive exhibit here.
View related Studies here.

Is It A New Or Updated Edition?

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Revelation XLIII

Digital technology offers interesting new possibilities for print editions.

The appearance of the print may change.

It has long been an accepted practice that artists will change the rendition of their images over time.

Ansel Adams famously remarked,  “The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.” You can view the changes in Ansel Adams’ classic Moonrise Over Hernandez here. Some collectors search for the optimum print made in an artist’s lifetime, while others collect multiple prints to create a meaningful comparison.

The composition may change.

Similarly, it’s been accepted that a composition may vary if cropping is adjusted during printing, though typically this is a matter of fine tuning rather than dramatic change. Today, with composites, the composition may change by replacing components, often dramatically changing the composition.

I’ve released composited images and later changed the composition substantially.

In the following to image, Voyage Of Grace, the feather at the top of the waterfall was at the bottom of the waterfall in the first print sold. I chose not to start the edition again because it was not a substantially different statement. The one collector who has that print has a unique item with exceptional value. (I do offer print replacements for a fee, which the collector has not chosen to exercise.)

Voyage of Grace

Find out more about this and related images here.

Updated Or New Edition ?

For me, the question of whether to replace one edition with another or to issue a new edition is an interesting one. It’s one that my father – a traditional analog photographer – and most photographers of his generation do not have to address. New possibilities bring new challenges.

There are times when related but distinctly different images warrant a new edition.

The following two images are made from separate single exposures of the same subject made at approximately the same time, but their compositions and intent are quite different; one is straight and representational, the other is composited and surreal.

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The straight image

View the straight series here.

Revelation XLIII

The composite

View the composited series here.

The two editions both complement and contrast with one another in ways that build value in each edition. In general, when you can align the interests of the artistic statement with the interests of the market, you’ve got a winning combination.

Find out more about my print editions here.

Sign up for my newsletter Collectors Alert here.

Download my free PDF on Editions here.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Dreamlike New Images From Antarctica

Antarctica CXCV

Antarctica CXCI

Antarctica CXC

Antarctica CXCII

Antarctica CXCIII

Antarctica CXCIV

Antarctica CXCVIII

Antarctica CXCVI

Antarctica CXCVII

During our 2016 DPD Antarctica Workshop we had beautiful weather – foggy mornings, sunny days, and calm waters. I’d been looking for clear reflections like these for years; it is the windiest continent. All of the eight voyages I’ve made to Antarctica have been defined by weather, which has never been the same twice.

View more images here.

Find out about my exhibit New Work 2016 here.
Preview my ebook Antarctica here.
Get a free ebook Antarctica Two Visions here.
Find out about our 2018 DPD Antarctica workshop here!

iPhone Experiment – Antarctica & Greenland Now & Then

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Now And Then Greenland 7

Two of my recent studies (experiments made and processed entirely on an iPhone) combine historical photographs with contemporary exposures.

Exposures for Antarctica Now & Then were made at Whaler’s Bay, Antarctica on the active volcano Deception Island.

View more here.

Exposures for Greenland Now & Then were made in the East Greenland village of Ittoqqortoormiit.

View more here.

I’ve been wondering if there was any connection between these explorations and the work that was foremost on my mind during these voyages.

At first glance we seem to make many unrelated images, but often it’s just a matter of finding the connections. Sometimes we find the connections between what we were thinking and feeling while we are having the experience; sometimes we find the connections long after; sometimes we never find them. At the very least, doing one thing provides a rejuvenating break from the other. There’s usually more going on than we are consciously aware of.

What connections have I found? I was looking into the spirit of the land in these locations and these two experiences provided stark contrasts to that sensibility. People concerned with the spirit of a place wouldn’t kill whales in the way they were slaughtered in Antarctica; thankfully this activity has stopped. That bygone members of Greenland’s indigenous population had a stronger sense of the spirt of the place and practices for interacting with it than the quickly westernizing current members do was made evident in the art they left behind. Was my experience limited by my cultural inheritance and current circumstances? Could I, a westerner living today, also participate in more sacred ways of relating to the earth? I think so.

The finished images I produced on these trips, for my series Revelation, are evidence of this.

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Find out about my exhibit New Work 2016 here.

New Images From Antarctica 2016 – Contact Sheet

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Our 2016 Antarctica voyage was stunning!
After several delays our flight to Antarctica finally found a window through the low lying fog. Moody mists continued in the early mornings, lifting by mid-morning, revealing clear skies during the day, creating a marvelous daily transformation. Temperatures were unusually warm. Winds were unusually low. The still waters yielded fabulous reflections. I focussed on symmetry and minimalism punctuated by the imaginatively sculptural forms of ice.
Stay tuned to my social networks for more images.
View images from seven previous voyages here.
Preview my ebook Antarctica here.
View more Contact Sheets here.
View Seth Resnick’s images from the same voyage here.
Find out about our next Antarctica digital photography workshop here.