I'm getting ready to pick up my Life Form work from its Sacramento showing. There are always mixed feelings about seeing such things come to a close, but I'm bringing the work back to my studio for a special expanded installation here and that is a big undertaking. So, on I go...

— Steve

This month's View From Here column explores exhibiting work, senses of beauty and some nuts and bolts of improvisational photo traveling. We hope you find the column interesting and will consider sending us some comments.

Moth Orchid Lifescape. Shelldance. 2018.
Canon EOS 5DSr.

9.5x14 Pigment Inkjet Print on Cotton paper
$195 each.

Complex topography.

We're offering a 9.5x14 inch print of the photograph, matted to 20 inch wide board and ready to frame for $195, framed in silver for an additional $75, wood for $150. This print at this price is offered through April 30. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by May 15.

Custom Workshop Scheduling: We have set up polls for recently requested workshops to see who might be interested and able to make some dates:

Image Editing
Fine Art Printing
Photography Critique Session

The Studio, Scholarships and Mentoring

As part of our ongoing commitment to photographic education, there is one student scholarship spot in many of our classes. Please pass the word along.

For discounted time studying with Steve, keep in mind our Mentoring Program.

With all of our busy schedules and limited budgets, destination workshops or classes become a challenge, but many of you still have questions you need answered, or feedback on some new work. We want to remind you of our Virtual Online Consulting Program. This service allows all of you out there around the globe to consult online live with Steve on technical, aesthetic and workflow issues using Skype and your webcam.

Our Essays and Tutorials from the past couple of years can now be found on our Newsletter Archive and some on Google Blogger.

We hope you can come by the gallery and see the original prints in the National Parks Gallery, and the Exquisite Earth exhibition with its accompanying very special Exquisite Earth Portfolio 1. We invite you to join us on a workshop, rent lab space, or just say hello and let us know what you are up to photographically and what you might like to see us offer. We value your input.

Workshop Testimonials

Life Form Reactions, Conversations and Reflections

The opening weekend of the Life Form Exhibit was busy and exhilarating. It was a great time to see old friends and meet so many new people. The graciousness of the Viewpoint Gallery staff was deeply appreciated.

During the Life Form opening, someone came up to me commenting that the work is very "Wabi-Sabi." I had to ask what that meant. Her answer, and some research I've been doing since, has been interesting. It seems that embracing the real world, with its "flaws," evidence of age, imperfections and character, possesses some qualities that evolved down through time in Japanese culture that had associations with the tea ceremony. The wabi-sabi concept seems to have now become a respect for those very reality-based real world qualities that I have been talking about preserving in our photographs for decades now.

Wabi-sabi is often described as earth tones, without embellishment, simple and unencumbered organic form, nowadays certainly without Photoshop embellishment. It seems some of the Life Form work may be compatible with these concepts. On the non-visual level, thoughts that are intuitive, ambiguous, sometimes contradictory, embrace nature, sensual, incomplete, imperfect, primitive, temporary and embracing of change, decay and regrowth are more "wabi-sabi" than their opposites.

That the Life Form work has appeal to a way of thinking that embraces appreciation of life for life processes, it's roughness, it's ragged, spotted, real existence, resonates with me deeply.

I know I've barely scratched the surface of the wabi-sabi concept, but it feels like a good exploration that may well match much of my intuition. A quick search found a few videos on YouTube that further illustrates the concept.

I can't help but reflect on this work a bit more now that it is up on gallery walls. My notions of beauty and the purpose of art come into play. A new book by one of my favorite photographer/authors, Robert Adams just arrived "Art Can Help" together with my upcoming "Seeing Beauty" Lecture has stirred some thought. A past Tutorial features some quote form Adams.

After all of the work of putting a show together, never fully knowing its impact, a post-opening challenge can set in, questioning the why of such an effort. The years of photographic work, the printing, the money (and fund-raising), can all easily add up to real meaning of art (life) questions. 

The impacts of artwork are rarely sudden and dramatic. Even with much praise during openings, holding that encouragement to do the very hard work of promotion, follow-up and additional venues is plain hard work. I am not saying the good and kind words I heard didn't matter, quite the opposite, they were deeply encouraging.

Of course, the purpose of the work primarily was to satisfy my curiosity and exploration of the life forms that led to the photography. That I was able to make prints I felt proud of, added to that sense of satisfaction. It also matters to me that I understand more about the work now, looking back at its beginnings, more than I did at the time. All of these feelings led me to start seeking venues to show the work last year.

As we gear up for installing the exhibition at my gallery in the Pacifica Center for the Arts, I intend tweak it. I will take some weeks to do that without undue time pressure on myself. I'm not thinking about photographic changes, although there will be more large prints on display here, but more along the lines of supportive materials, more stories of the plants, perhaps a few of the 3D lenticular prints, groupings other than just visual relationships.

It may seem a little strange that after 60 years of living very connected to the natural world, surrounded by flora, that I need to know more about these fellow living beings of this earth. By any real measure, my actual knowledge is superficial at best. I want to know more of the why, the circumstances of their evolution and adaptation, our relationship to plants, not just as food, but the whole notion of gardens and paradise.

Consequently, I'm reading about 4 books simultaneously, gradually enlarging context for the work and slowly learning more about my subject matter. I know that learning will be long term, but I do hope the next few months will bring some insights that are now only hinted at. I think it is fair to say, there is much more plant life than animal life on this planet, it is a complex world.

Exhibit Transportation

I built in to my Kickstarter Project, some funds (thank you supporters), for shipping crate construction, but decided I need to take some time to construct those carefully. Consequently, we drove the show to Sacramento from Pacifica in a rented van, prints wrapped in paper, bubble wrap and moving blankets. For the pick-up this weekend, I've purchased mattress bags (the nearest size that would fit) and a huge roll of 48 inch wide bubble wrap that we couldn't even get in the studio door. It was actually a bit hilarious seeing us try to squeeze it through the door. I ended up off-rolling about a third of the roll to reduce its width, to fit it through.

I would not reccomend my bag and buble wrap soluion, but it was the practical short- term choice. Once the crates are built, driving the work anywhere become almost impossible for the weight and bulk. From that point forward, it is likely trucked by commercial carrier and the costs obviusly raise. We will see what the next venues need.

A Review of the Viewpoint Show

We had some nice moments from the opening weekend. Many good friends showed up, and many new acquaintances were made. I was very encouraged by how many folks said they were touched by what felt like a new insight into the plant world.

I think we reached about 500 visitors for the weekend. The Lecture on Sunday April 11 was standing room only. I will be editing some more of the video to share.

Thanks again to all of my Exhibit Construction Kickstarter Project supporters who funded a substantial amount of the framing costs for the exhibition. Thanks are also due again to Canon for the first six prints framed and so much help along the way.

Next Venue at SJ Photo

The Life Form Exhibition will open at my Pacifica Gallery in the Pacifica Center for the Arts in late April or early May. The date is a little uncertain at the moment as there is a lot of work to do to prepare the space.

Seeking Good Venues

We are seeking good venues to show this work. The Life Form Series is now available for museum and gallery exhibition.

Next Studio Workshop

The Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog

As I've been on a roll on fixing bodies of work into POD books, I decided before the Exquisite Earth show could come down for new upcoming show, I wanted to create a printed record. So, now available is the 56 page 11x17 wire bound book, 5 years of work from 2005 to 2010 traveling this wondrous planet.

• Photographs from 2005-2010

• 56 pages

• 11x17 wire-bound book

• $50

• 74 pages

• 11x17 wire-bound book

• Pacifica Trail Map

• 32 years in Pacifica

• 10 years of calendars

• $75

Pacifica Trail Map by Pease Maps special to the Pacifica Land Trust.

11" x 17" folded
$10 (free shipping) proceeds go the Pacifica Land Trust a non-profit 501c3.