Painting is just another way of keeping a diary ~Pablo Picasso

Monday, February 16, 2015

Mt. Hood Study

My cropped version
Michael Kenna: Huangshen Mountains Study 47 (2010)
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this week my artistic photography class is working in black and white.  And our teacher suggested that if we had been studying artists so far, we should try studying a photographer this week.  So I am studying photographer Michael Kenna, who does very ethereal, high contrast, black and white images. There was a bright, thick fog at the Washington State campus when I returned Thursday morning, and I was particularly interested in the scene I've captured here, because fog created such a large tonal range from white to dark. That range made this a good photo to use for a Michael Kenna comparison!  It reminded me the most of the series he did from Huangshan, China, because all those images were diffused with fog and mist. I've read that his photos are often made during nighttime, with exposures up to 10 hours long!  This accounts for the dreamy quality his images achieve.  Mine certainly lacks that feel. He also shoots with a medium format camera, giving a square image, so I've cropped my photo to a more squarish format (which is against the law in my photography class, so we'll see what comes of that!)

6 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

10 hours! wow! i think you did very well!

Folkways Note Book said...

Great tones of grey and black -- beautiful -- barbara

Gail Dixon said...

Bah! Rules are made to be broken and there are always exceptions in photography. It's art so do what you please. I think you came very close to Kenna's mood in your shot. Well done!

Linda W. said...

I like your cropped version of Mt Hood.

Giga said...

For me, pictures are great. :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely! Love mountains with mist. To see, not to walk in ;-) !