My Portfolio-Celebrating the Vernacular and the Abandoned

I was putting together a submission about my work for a wonderful new online magazine (see Fraction Magazine) and visited some "vintage" and new images. The upper "morada" (a chapel of the secretive Catholic "Pentitente" brotherhood) in Abiquiu, New Mexico. from a 4x5 b&w negative, Tri-X, #15 orange filter, (1988).
















and the interior of the Cuervo, New Mexico schoolhouse, a 3 frame stitched image from a Canon 5D, 45T/S lens (2008):















Successful images are as much about light as subject matter. Though very different (one dramatic and one meditative), in each of these two examples, the light drapes the structure in mood and focuses attention while illuminating important secondary details (look at the shade crosses in the background, very bold and stark). Technique and patience supports the mood of the light. By the use of an orange filter, the top image gains drama and contrast and in the lower image waiting for a thin cloud to pass over the sun softens the light (and hence the contrast).