For me, the best thing about photography is being out taking photographs. You are immediately surrounded by a pulsing, 360-degree-multi-sensory environment. The art of photography is reducing this mind’s- eye sensory experience into an aesthetically pleasing, two-dimensional image by blending technology with deliberate, intentional, and personal artistic seeing. The beauty and interest of a scene is what first pulls the photographer in, but eventually the image comes somewhere from within the artist—quite literally from the inside out as a kind of self-portraiture. This subtle, and at times, unconscious process, transcends the photographer’s personal style and becomes the first level of “meaning” the photograph may have.
In this presentation, we will consider the personal and artistic side of the photographic process by visualizing the “many images” that precede releasing the shutter. Why do we release the shutter when we do?
Lastly, the next best thing to taking photographs is to talk about them. Those who are willing will have an opportunity to project their images and say a few words about each. This should be an interesting evening and I invite you to join the discussion!
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I have taught university-level ancient Greek and Roman history for twenty-plus years. But I also take photographs. My company, Wild Basin Photography and Gallery, is located in the North Boulder Art District. My portfolio is filled with images of Boulder, Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain West, but also images from Rome, Florence and Northern New Mexico (Santa Fe, Abiquiu, and Ghost Ranch—-Georgia O’Keefe’s landscape).