Ten seconds
Ten seconds.... I have just figured out that ten seconds is my optimal exposure for these 'Painting with Light' photographs I have been discovering this morning from last week. If you have heard me speak or read my writing for a while, you know I let my work sit for a while. Actually letting them sit for only one week is a rather rare for me. It is usually months if not years.
Why am I so excited by these art works?
These are what I used to dream of creating with watercolours and mixed media. I look at the work of Loyd Rees, particularly in his later years with such inspiration and even a little envy. You know I met Loyd when I was still a teenager, and he congratulated me on my watercolour painting, that was highly commended (or was it second prize - I can't remember now) in the Loyd Rees Youth Art Awards. I remember being disappointed with Murray, my father, who held the camera that night, because he didn't photograph me with Loyd.
I never found my abstract mojo, nor the right teacher I suspect, to draw this sort of work out of me. I am, was, always too much of a realist. Trying to capture realism, photo realism if you like, in my art works. It is funny, as I probably started with more creative painting. The first painting I sold was in two colours, Prussian Blue and Raw Sienna and was so free and loose. Where did it go?
We loose so much creativity with our conscious left brained logical thoughts. A whole life time to get back to feeling like a child again.
Well, there is a series here, and it isn't finished yet. Am out and about in the South West Rocks region to continue these.
See, I learn as much as my students on a workshop, as well as from the other teachers. The Abstract Photography Workshop with Shirley Steel was an amazingly successful week. Her work is inspirational. To think only a handful of years ago she was my student in the Masterclass. It is truly a blessing to be involved in the growth of others.
Little Bay Impressions, Arkroon near Trial Bay, South West Rocks. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2018
