Imaginings

Artificial is a lovely word, etymologically constructed from the Latin Ars and Facere, meaning “To make art.” The making of art means the intervention of a human mind to show the world a perspective never before seen. Until quite recently, photographers have had a more limited expression because of the assumed “reality" of the medium, though some brave and adventurous souls have shown us ways in which the unexpected can be fashioned from the expected. Some are called Impressionists, a title not meant to flatter. Some are called Surrealists.

One of the aspects of my life was having been brought up in a colonial port city, Cape Town, in a colonized country.

If one can't find the right cliffs, or the right model to do the climbing, there's always hope. The "cliff" is made from the leftovers clinging to the inside of a glass after drinking a breakfast smoothie of whipped fruits and vegetables. The "climber" is my favorite model (my wife) whom I photographed seated on a chair in my studio. I had a choice with the aircraft: I could spend months learning to fly a biplane and trigger the camera with a remote control as I flew by; or, I could do what I love best: haunt the local second-hand toy store.

Children, Actors and Musicians are not the only ones who play.

"You've perfectly captured the multi-dimensional aspect of music, and its depths of texture, and the flowing movement of it!  I love the figurative element of the string instrument fiddle-heads (bass viol?), because their coiled energy adds a hint of both vortical strength and a subtle symbolism of eternity.  That's where we are, isn't it, when we lose ourselves in music -- both right here and anywhere/everywhere... - Anne Hammond, D.Phil (Oxon)

Narrow parameters often make for greater creativity. In this image, the combination consists of rose petals taken from a bouquet sent for my wife's birthday, and eight AA batteries. A complicated process to make an energy field.

For more than 30 years, Karine has been the love of my life and my favorite model, always willing to lend parts of her body for the sake of art.

Created for Easter and Passover, 2019, Hands of Friendship across the earth.

I love flowers and hate most flower photography, much of which is only useful as illustrations on seed packets. Occasionally, a friend has given me gifts of floral beauty, and another contributed one of her lovely eyes for the sake of art.

You may not know this - few people do - but on full-moonlit nights, Jinns, the spirit survivors of those who labored on the Taj Mahal, come out to play, deconstructing the Taj and then carefully putting it back together again before dawn. I photographed there one night, pretending to be one of them, hiding my camera in the folds of my Jinni cloak.

Six hundred years before it became a tiny northeastern corner of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867, the Kingdom of Schach was ruled by King Rudolph “The Rapacious,” abetted by his conspiratorial Bishop, Sacramento “The Slimy.” A coup, led by gallant knight Sir Equus “The Exalted,” offed both king and bishop, and restored Queen Justitia “The Just,” to the Leaf Throne. Now part of the European Union, Schach retains its traditional single-note currency, the Bauer. Schach hosts the annual World Chess Tournament.

Virtually all artists who work with two-dimensional media attempt to create the illusion of a third dimension with uses of perpsective, light, shading, color and texture. In this piece, time, the fourth dimension, is also included.

Pushing the envelope is what I love to do. The envelope in this image was designed by Gus DiZerega. It helps to have access to my grandchildren's toys, too.

For my birthday, my wife gave me a beautiful vase made by our friend, master ceramicist Catharine Hiersoux. Intrigued by the glaze, which suggested the rings of Saturn, I spent hours looking at this object and wondering how I could incorporate an image of it into my photography. Eventually, by repeating the image in a way that implied a vanishing point in infinity, I created a new galaxy.