The Walls Have Eyes

When I am out with camera in hand, I walk with my eyes. I find walls covered with graphics and eyes that seem to be peering back at me.

This series of images are the walls with eyes. While I use my eyes to scan the wall graphics...the wall seems to be scrutinizing me. Their eyes stare out at the viewer through multiple layers of paint daring you to solve the puzzle they present. We all have heard the expression that eyes are the windows to the soul...and what do these walls see in all that pass by.

One Church

One South Church Street in Tucson, Arizona is one of the tallest buildings in downtown Tucson. You could say it is the only tall building in downtown Tucson. I have no real good explanation for the number of photos I have taken of it, except to say that every trip downtown I found this building dominating the horizon wherever I seemed to be. Therefore, it just became a photographic obsession.

The more I became aware of this seeming lonely structure - the more I would try to capture it photographically through reflections, inside other buildings or street view. The question is why did I do this? It is a way to train my eye to be aware of various things around me, and how they change as the perspective changes.  Simply put, it was another method of exploring shapes and lines and various spacial aspects.  We can all look at the landscape around us, but do we really see it?

Designing with Light

I firmly believe that design (composition) is an important element of a photograph. However, it is the use of light that helps to define this element.  Light can create strong shadows, which define the shape and form of the subject and therefore the composition.

My preference is natural light photography - therefore since I do not own this light nor can I control it, the time and where I choose to shoot are my only controls. Most of the examples of light and subjects I am presenting are all using natural light at different times and directions.  I have chosen black and white images because it better demonstrates light and its properties with relation to the subjects.

While light is one of the elements of the eight elements of design, it is really light and how it is applied, regardless of the other elements in the photograph that can make or break what the photographer wants you to see and react to.

 A way of viewing a photograph is how the photographer used light in capturing the subject.  Is the light falling from the back, side, and front or above?  How does this light help in defining the subject and what the photographer wants you to see or not see?  How does the light bend, envelope or twist around the subject?  Therefore, it is what you want to say or show that determines how you use the light that you find available.