safe haven for tiny formats

[chassis]

The first image of the tree is cool, Austin. I might have printed it down a bit more, or with a touch more contrast.

[Scott Schroeder]

[Scott Schroeder]

Soap stone yucca

[Scott Schroeder]

Portrait of a yucca

[Scott Schroeder]

Desert Garden

[Scott Schroeder]

Death

[austin granger]

The first image of the tree is cool, Austin. I might have printed it down a bit more, or with a touch more contrast.

Thanks Chassis. Lately, I've had this idea in my mind to print certain images as high-key as possible, so that the subject almost appears to be transmuting into light. I think ethereal is the word. Sometimes I probably take it a little too far, but anyway, that's where I'm coming from. Also, the above picture was posted from flickr, which I've found tends to deaden things down, so I try and out-flank it by going too bright. Thanks again. -Austin

[austin granger]

Austin your last images here are heart breaking. The zoo series is very effing sad.

Yeah, I know. I'm sorry to put you through that. I'm serious. Sometimes I wonder about my morality of inflicting myself on other people this way.

I'm not sure if you're interested, or in the end whether it really matters, but as far as my intentions with the animals pictures go, I don't really look at the them as being primarily about the animals, but as being representations of human conditions, of interior states. The animals are metaphors. They're stand-ins. Of course, that doesn't make the pictures any cheerier, does it? But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't really have an agenda, other than to make pictures of things that make me feel something, that resonate with the feelings that I have inside myself. I do this not to wallow in misery, but in the hope that these photos, though indeed very sad, have some kind of cathartic quality, the way listening to good sad music can make us feel better.

[jcoldslabs]

But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't really have an agenda, other than to make pictures of things that make me feel something, that resonate with the feelings that I have inside myself. I do this not to wallow in misery, but in the hope that these photos, though indeed very sad, have some kind of cathartic quality, the way listening to good sad music can make us feel better.

Austin,

Were you at the zoo with your kids, or did you go expressly to take photos? I ask because I've never been to the Portland Zoo precisely because it saddens me to see animals in cages. Regardless, I admire your ability to confront the issue with photographic delicacy. And despite their sadness, I enjoyed the photos very much. Then again, I am one of those people for whom sad, dark music helps banish melancholy.

Jonathan

[austin granger]

Austin,

Were you at the zoo with your kids, or did you go expressly to take photos? I ask because I've never been to the Portland Zoo precisely because it saddens me to see animals in cages. Regardless, I admire your ability to confront the issue with photographic delicacy. And despite their sadness, I enjoyed the photos very much. Then again, I am one of those people for whom sad, dark music helps banish melancholy.

Jonathan

While I have mixed feelings about zoos myself, I do take my kids there sometimes. This was a solo excursion though. I've started a mental list of places to go when it's raining (essential in Portland as you well know) and the zoo has a lot of inside spaces. Actually, I went specifically with the intention of photographing the crocodile exhibit (the "Bamba du Jon Swamp"), but liked the elephant and orangutan pictures better. Here's the crocodile:



One nice thing about the Portland Zoo is that they don't care if you bring in a tripod and hang around all day. In fact, if you go there on a rainy morning, you're likely to almost have the place to yourself. I might go back with the big camera. I'm especially interested in the way some of the underwater tanks distort and fracture things in kind of a cubist way.