Univers d'Artistes: February 2018

February 28, 2018

Scott James Prebble, his BW outdoors

Member since 2008

Honestly, I live to shoot. Art is what keeps me alive and keeps my mind active. Art is everything to me. I can’t get past photography, I do sometimes take a break and hit the brushes with painting or the plaster with sculpture, but I always come back to my cameras.

"Realities"

"Devils kitchen"

"Introversion"

"Never fear the unknown"

"Only a few more steps"

"Spin"

"The world is curved"

"Wind"

February 24, 2018

Welcome Michelle Mondragon, Winner of the photo-artistry UdA Awards

Michelle Mondragon

Winner of the photo-artistry UdA Awards

Her Facebook

Member since 2018

The 9 others Winners to come

Her camera ?

"I prefer the term creator to artist.

"Artist" always seemed a bit lofty, something one must attain, rather than be. Everyone is a creative in some way or another, and as a teacher I strive to encourage others to follow their instincts and their vision to form their own path. I once asked a mentor if there was a difference between having an imagination or a vision. She told me there was no difference.

I wondered why people with visions are considered a bit crazy, while we compliment others on their imagination. I have visions all the time. I always have.

I am just now learning how to take what I see and make it real. It’s a slow process, but a worthwhile journey. Technology has been another mentor, allowing me to explore my visions in a way I never thought possible."

The winning composition of the photo-artistry UdA Awards

After I received her beautiful photographs and photo-compositions :

My dear Michelle, you impress me. I love the figurative series where you excel. Of course, I've some questions. How did you find your style ? Do you consider yourself more a painter than a photographer ? What inspire you ? Friendly. Chris

Chris, I am very flattered by your kind words. My style is a bit eclectic in that sometimes I lean towards painterly other times more photo realistic. The subject decides for me which way to go.

I’d like to be someday a mixed media (organic materials mixed with photography) painter but have much to learn. The textures I use in all my work I do paint with real paint, watercolor, acrylic, and inks mostly, then I scan them in and combine with my photography.

"Caged"

The still lives were all shot using a small flash light and literally painting with the light on the subject. This took long exposures which resulted in more noise in the images.

So by combining painted textures and digital techniques I attempted to hide the fact that my camera is not so good in low light situations. I just experimented with different recipes until it looked intentional.

I’m inspired by nearly everything around me. Other artists often inspire me. I teach in the photography department at the local community college and an art school where my students inspire me.

Thank you for asking those questions. Sometimes I need a reminder to just pause and reflect about why I spend so much time trying to create.

Warm Regards,
Michelle

Warm regards too Michelle. Again bravo from Dave, Dan and myself, you deserve it. And never hesitates to send me your new works at pelierc@yahoo.fr

The photographer and poet

Abandoned series

"Who was here?
What did they do?
Were their dreams fulfilled?
I’d like to think there was laughter and joy.
It’s wonderful to imagine their presence in this place made a difference.
That someplace in the world there are others who remember them with fondness and appreciation. They were here and they mattered."

The beautiful visions of a creator

"BookTree"

"Bottles"

"Book forest"

"Torched"

Three unreal pieces of her series " Tree Study"

February 19, 2018

My tribute to Jeanloup Sieff

Jeanloup Sieff
30 novembre 1933, Paris, 20 septembre 2000, Paris, France

"All aspects of photography interest me and I feel for the female body the same curiosity and the same love as for a landscape, a face or anything else which interests me. In any case, the nude is a form of landscape. There are no reasons for my photographs, nor any rules ; all depends on the mood of the moment, on the mood of the model."

Dave Rudin, UdA Editor met him :

I met Jeanloup Sieff at a gallery in New York a few years before he passed away. He signed three of his books for me. The one thing I remember was when he was signing his book "Derrieres." In the book, he wrote that he had some personal favorites, but that he did not want to say which ones. So when I met him, I mentioned that he had some favorites derrieres of his own in the book, but then he waved his finger at me and said with a smile :
- No, no, no! I cannot tell!

Auto Portrait

"His interest in photography was first piqued when he received a Photax plastic camera as a birthday gift for his fourteenth birthday.

He recalled his holidays in Polish winter resort of Zakopane as a period when photographing newly met girls he got really hooked on photography.

In 1953 he attended the Vaugirard School of Photography in Paris, later on moved to the Vevey School in Switzerland, and in 1954 he was already working as a freelance reporter, leaving aside his brief interest in cinema.

In 1956 he began shooting fashion photography, and in 1958 he joined the Magnum Agency. His work for them made him travel to Italy, Greece, Poland and Turkey. He settled in New York for a number of years in the 1960s, where he worked for Esquire, Glamour, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, becoming extremely popular in America."

Landscapes and Life and Dance

The impulse that led you to make an image is a thing that you cannot share with anyone, even if you explain it. What remains is a surface that will live its own life, that will belong to everybody. I accept that surface.