Year: 2017

My “Moai, Sitting for Portrait” series will be featured at the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland, CO for the month of June with an opening reception on June 9th. 

Here is the artist statement for this series:

In January of 2015 I spent two weeks photographing the Moai of Easter Island. This fulfilled a lifelong dream, one that started when I was 17 and read the book “Aku Aku” by Thor Heyerdahl. I became fascinated with the Moai and they have been on my mind and influenced my art for these many years.

As I traveled to Easter Island and tried to imagine what I would encounter, something interesting happened: I fell asleep and dreamt that I had invited the Moai to come and sit for a formal portrait. 

When I awoke I thought “why not?” 

I knew there would be challenges: the Moai are reserved, aloof and almost unapproachable. They had suffered greatly at the hands of outsiders and the question was: would they come to trust me? 

Distance was the first hurdle to be overcome: the island is small by automobile standards, but when we are talking about the Moai who walk everywhere, traversing the island to get to my makeshift studio could be difficult. Then there was the Moai’s physical condition: many were incapacitated by war and the ravages of time and could not make the journey. And how would I accommodate the size of the Moai, with some towering 33 feet tall? 

Facing these challenges and armed with nothing more than a dream and hope, I issued the invitations…but would they come?

Initially only a few came; the younger and less suspicious ones. But slowly, as word spread of their experience, others started to arrive.

Photographing the Moai created some interesting situations: one older Moai refused to allow me to photograph his face and turned his back on the camera. Another arrived with a hawk and insisted on having his portrait taken with the bird atop his head. Several Moai with bullet wounds, inflicted by outsiders, insisted that I document those scars.

And there were tense moments, as two rival Moai came together face-to-face in the studio, but which ended well when they agreed to be photographed together. And there were touching moments as old friends were reunited after years of separation.

The Moai are quiet, stoic and could even been described as “stone-faced.” And it’s true, not once was I able to photograph a Moai smiling, but instead they have a dignified poise that transcends time.

Here are the exhibition details:

The Lincoln Gallery, 429 N. Lincoln Ave, Loveland, CO

Opening Reception: Friday, June 9th from 6 – 9 pm

Artist Talk: Friday, June 9th at 6:30 pm

If you are in the area, I hope to see you there!

Cole

Over the last couple of weeks I have had the pleasure to speak with Dasha from Alter-View.

The result is this interview:

https://www.alter-view.com/magazine/photography-showcase-cole-thompson

Cole

If you’ll recall from a couple of weeks ago, I sent a print of this image to the Plant Manager of the Jim Bridger Power Plant. (you can read the story below)

I just received a nice note from him:

Cole

P.S. Here’s the original story:

I was heading to Death Valley by way of Wyoming when I spotted a huge steam plume to the north of I-80. It turned out to be the Jim Bridger Power Plant.

It was a cold and sunny day and the white water vapor almost glowed against the dark blue sky. I shot three exposures. My practice is to name my image the first thing that pops into my mind and so I named this “Jim Bridger Power Plant.” But what I wanted to name it was:

“No You Can’t, Yes I Can.” 

And here’s why.

I was photographing for only a short time before a security guard drove up and said that I was not allowed to photograph the power plant. I’m used to this protective (yet ignorant) behavior and politely asked if I was on a county road or a private road, to which he responded “a county road.” 

I then explained, still politely, that I was allowed to photograph the plant as long as I was not trespassing. The next exchange went like this:

“No you can’t. Yes I can.”

I could see that I was getting nowhere and so I asked him to call out the Sheriff to settle this dispute. I was hoping that he would be better versed in the law than the security guard, but from past experience I was giving it only a 50/50 chance. 

About 20 minutes later several men arrived and one approached, introducing himself as the plant manager. (I was feeling bad now, for disrupting his day over something like this)

He proceeded to tell me that I could not photograph the plant, and I again asked if this was a county road or a private road to which he responded “a county road.” I again made it clear that I could photograph anything I wanted as long as I was not trespassing. Again the verbal dance:

“No you can’t. Yes I can.”

It was clear that this conversation was going about as far as the other and one so I offered to show him the images, to put his mind at rest that my activities were harmless. He accepted my offer and was quickly satisfied that there was no “clear and present danger.”

We ended the encounter by him explaining his post-911 concerns and I acknowledged those as legitimate. But I said, I still have the right to photograph the power plant….and around we went again!

“No you can’t. Yes I can.”

And that is why I wanted to name the image 

“No you can’t, Yes I can.”

We ended the standoff, by agreeing to disagree.

I’m going to send him a print of this image, he was a nice guy who was just trying to ensure the safety of his power plant.

I love photography, but I also love flight. From birds to the Wright Brother’s first flyer, from the SR-71 which my father worked on to the V-22 Osprey that my son flies on. I love flight and airplanes.

And so it was a special treat to see my first B2 over the Mesquite dunes of Death Valley! It made several passes and fortunately I had my 100-400 lens on and was able to get these shots.

It is very impressive but my first thought was: this shouldn’t fly!

There was a companion aircraft that I at first thought was a tanker, but it didn’t look like any tanker that I was familiar with. It looked as though it had a radome on the nose and something odd on the tail. 

Does anyone know what this plane is and what it does? I’m guessing that it is measuring emissions to see how stealthy the aircraft is, perhaps after some modifications or new equipment?

I was also lucky enough to see my first V-22 Osprey refueling over Death Valley! My son Caleb is a Crew Chief on this aircraft. I was not lucky enough to photograph it however.

Cole

I’ve been posting an image a day on social media and have noticed that certain images are very popular and others are not. Often I find that my least favorite images are more popular than my favorite ones.

Let me give an example. There are two of images in my “less favorite” group that are very popular, they are Diminishing Cliffs (above) and Road to Nowhere (top). Don’t misunderstand, I do like these images, but I consider them two of my less creative and more mundane images. However they generate a lit of “likes.”

Here’s my dilemma: each time I post one of those images and get a flurry of “likes,” I am tempted to post more images like those. I am tempted to create more of the images that people want to see.

Why? Because I love the praise and the attention…I’ll admit it, I like the “likes!”

So what do I do? How do I respond to this conflict of interests?

I stop and ask myself: why do I create?

When I first started creating images, when I was a 14 year old boy, I created for the pure joy of creating. I created to please myself.

But over time other motives crept in. I found myself creating for positive feedback.

Then I started trying to win contests.

Then I argued that I needed to build a resume in order to be taken seriously as a photographer.

Then I was creating to be famous and to be respected as a photographer.

Then I was creating to make money from my photography.

And now, after some fifty years, I have come full circle and am once again creating for the pure joy of creating. What a long journey I have taken to learn the lesson that my 14 year old self knew!

The truth is that “likes” (or fame or fortune) are not bad, but I could never be happy producing work just to please others, no matter what the reward. The buzz from a “like” only lasts a moment, while loving my images produces an internal satisfaction that lasts a lifetime.

Life is much more simple when I try to please just one person…myself.

Cole

I use Singh-Ray Neutral Density filters to create my long exposure images and occasionally write blog articles for them. 

They have just published my article that explains how I created the “Melting Giants” series. 

You can read the article here:

The Story Behind “Melting Giants”