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| Tucson Mountains - February 2012 -- by Wanda Hayes Eicler |
Second Post in the New Eyes Series
The new eyes that I'm finding in art and photography classes at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum ushered me into a black and white mode this week. I'm taking Stephen Buchmann's "The Ansel Look" photography class and learning how to convert my color images into black and white.
Photography feels like a far cry from my usual quilt and knitting design work, yet the technicality involved in photography echoes the precision that is employed in needlework. Ansel Adams used rich blacks and bright whites in his iconic images of National Parks and the High Sierra. Those contrasts were a result of his incredible eye and his darkroom techniques. I'm learning new ways of producing similar black and white images in digital photography, both in the camera and today's darkroom, the computer.
A quote from Ansel Adams that instructor Steve Buchmann (a fine photographer and an entomologist at the University of Arizona) shared with the class is this: "A good photograph is knowing where to stand." Steve showed us a photo of Ansel Adams standing on his woodie station wagon with camera and tripod, photographing from on top of the vehicle. Here's a sketch of that photo, taken from my daily art journal.
My new eyes are seeing new contrasts in black and white. That's good. That's what classes are for -- learning new ways of seeing.
First Post in the New Eyes Series
Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler
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