archived posts
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 by Kate Inglis 
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001), "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
+++
Share with us wonder and questions and eyes bigger than ordinary. Share with us faith and unfaith and how it looks to wonder what happens next.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by stephanie roberts 
One of my favorite photographers is John Loengard. His "As I See It" book of black and white images sits on the table beside my bed in good company with Annie Leibovitz's "A Photographer's Life" and a borrowed copy of "The Family of Man." I keep it there for inspiration and I can't tell you how many times I've flipped through the pages and poured over his photographs, finding something unique with each view. In his preface to the book John Loengard writes about discovering photography at the age of twelve and goes on to say...
"Since then, I've met many others who fell in love with photography at around that age. Invariably, magic is the word we use to describe what we discovered. Still, the fact is, photographers work only with what's present. I suspect our chief emotions are anticipation, frustration and patience (if that's an emotion) – balanced by a marvelous sense of elation when things go right: when we think we've captured in a photograph some missing feeling, or hidden beauty, or bit of mystery from the fabric of life."
When I went through the process of selecting just twelve images (from easily a thousand options) to share in an open critique with long-time, well-respected ASMP photographers a few weeks back, I was intriqued to discover a common theme in my favorites – a tension or uneasiness. Question marks. Perhaps a bit of mystery from the fabric of life.
Share an image from your collection that gives you pause and makes us think.
Saturday, April 25, 2009 by Paige Balcer 
Have you ever spotted a scene so bizarre and other-worldly that you couldn't get your camera out fast enough? Your fingers fumbling with the camera settings at lightning speed, fearing that the moment might disappear. I don't know about you, but it's moments like these when I don't care how ridiculous I look - on my knees with my head 3 inches from the ground. As long as I get the shot.
Or is that just me?
Monday, March 16, 2009 by Kate Inglis 
Colville paintings fit comfortably with fiction because they often hint at an imagined world of relationships and a subliminal level of emotions. His symbols register as fragments of stories that are never entirely told, rather the way Paul Simon writes lyrics as fragments of narrative.
What Colville shows is engaging, but he hints that something even more gripping is happening offstage, not that he would be so literal as to show it. ... He quotes with evident pleasure a French critic who remarked that in Colville there is always something terrible happening, over the horizon, just out of sight.
(The National Post, October 31, 2000)
+++
Ever taken a photo and watched as it took on some unspeakable, barely-there hint of something else? Has bokeh felt like impressionism? Has visual staccato or abstract line or repetitive pattern or blocks of colour in your photos reminded you of modern art?
Today, share with us a photo that -- intentionally or unintentionally -- feels like art. Feel free to get specific, as to a particular period or artist (a painter, another photographer, any medium) or simply share with us something that feels artful to you.
Friday, March 6, 2009 by Shutter Sisters 
I found this in my fridge the other morning. Before I tossed it in the trash—it was long past the point of being still edible—the insides this bell pepper caught my eye. Mesmerized by the patterned intricacies of the seeds I sat it on the kitchen counter. Once I got the kids off to school I came back to study, and yes photograph this strange and surreal object.
Later that afternoon I showed my 11-year-old the images. She was bewildered.
You took that picture? What in the world?
Indeed. There is nothing about this that feels familiar. That’s what makes it so curious and compelling.
The smooth and shiny bright outside of a pepper is interesting in itself but until one peels back the layers and looks at what lies within, part of that story remains untold.
So, what about looking behind the curtain today? What do you see?
