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cole thompson photography
newsletter
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Hello Cole,
In this
newsletter:
·
New
Images from Maui
·
Simple
·
The Story
Behind Old Car Interior
·
Where
You Can See Me Next
·
Print
Drawing
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So often
we think that the "experts" have the answers. And when it
comes to plumbing and proctology, I do think we should listen to
the experts! But when it comes to art, we must find and trust in
our own voice.
Art is
not about winning or earning a living, it's about expressing
what's inside of you. And no one is more of an expert about you, than you.
Here are
a few quotes that I love on on this
subject:
·
"Sometimes
you have to be able to listen to yourself and be okay with no one
else understanding." Christopher Barzak
·
"What another would have done as well
as you, do not do it. What another would have said, do not
say it. What another would have written as well as you, do
not write it. Be faithful to that which exists but in yourself
- and thus make yourself indispensable." Andre Gide
·
"I
decided to accept as true my own thinking. I have already settled
it for myself, so flattery and criticism go down the same drain,
and I am quite free." Georgia O’Keeffe
·
"Believe
in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but
reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful
or happy." Norman Vincente Peale
·
“Be
yourself, everyone else is already taken.“
Unknown
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I hope that you are well!
Cole
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The Road to Nowhere, Maui
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Even
though I’ve been photographing since 1968, I consider the years
from 2004 to present to be my important ones. It was during these
years that I found my Vision and pursued my Passion.
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Poudre River Spillway
During
the last 15 years my work has changed in many ways and I’d like
to illustrate one of them: my work has become more
simple.
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Railroad Tracks
I've
always loved simple images but it wasn't until the last few years
that I consistently started to create them.
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Swimming Towards the Light
It
wasn’t really a conscious decision to simplify my images, it just
"sorta" happened as a
by-product of another decision.
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Chuzenji-ko
Several
years ago I decided to simplify my equipment and processes.
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String of Pearls
I was
spending too much time tinkering, adjusting and fixing things and
I wanted to instead focus on what was important. I think that this
philosophy of simplicity spilled over into my images.
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Lone Man No. 35
So what
do I mean by a simple image?
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Gull and Moon
For me,
it’s an image with fewer visual elements and less detail.
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Lone Man No. 7
Like in
the “Lone Man” image above, there are only three elements and
very little detail.
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Four Silos
The
fewer the elements and the less detail, the simpler the image is.
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Dew on Feather
Even
though this image has a lot of detail, I have darkened the sand
so that it doesn't compete with the feather, but rather makes it
stand out.
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Beneath the Clouds
Simple images
are, well, simple.
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Monolith No. 27
And I
generally don’t find them this way, I create them this way.
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Minneapolis Power Lines
Sometimes
“simple” comes from the composition: what you include in the
frame, but more often what you don’t include.
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Five Sticks
Sometimes
what you don't include is just as important as what you do
include.
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Iceland No. 12
I always
ask myself two questions: what do I want the eye to focus on?
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Fluid Water No. 45
And:
what’s not needed?
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Deep Snow
Another
element of “simple” is to eliminate detail.
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Separation No. 2
Yesterday
I was looking at an HDR image and it suddenly occurred to me why
I don’t care for them. The wide dynamic range includes too much
detail, I find it too busy and distracting.
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Hana
That
certainly would have been the case with this image if I would
have preserved all the shadow detail in the rock, it would have
overwhelmed the image.
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Melting Giants No. 22
One of
my oft used tools to remove detail is the long exposure. I use it
to smooth out detail in water and sky.
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Isolated No. 15
This
image, without the long exposure would not be nearly as clean or
effective.
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Faroe Islands No. 6
Another
technique I love to use is burning down detail. While many
photographers work to preserve shadow detail, I purposely
eliminate most or all of it. When I do leave some shadow detail,
it’s very subdued.
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Monolith No. 62
Many of
my images are very dark because I burn out all of the detail.
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They Walk Among Us
And
sometimes I’ll do the opposite and dodge up the image to
eliminate or reduce detail except where I’d like your attention
to go.
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Lone Man, Zabriskie Point
This
image has a lot of detail, but it's been pulled way back into the
background by lightening it, leaving the lone man as the focus.
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Dunes of Nude No. 73
And
sometimes I both dodge and burn, bringing up the subject and
burning down the surrounding area.
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Isolated No. 20
That's
what I did with this image, I darkened much of it to reduce the
amount of detail and brightened the areas I wanted to focus the
eye on.
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Run Aground
However
I do it, simplifying the image always seems to make it
better.
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Dunes of Nude No. 86
It is
true that sometimes, less can be more.
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St Louis Arch
I like
it simple.
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The Story Behind the Image: Old
Car Interior
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It’s
ironic that I should tell the story of Old Car Interior in this
issue of my newsletter
Why?
Because
it follows my article on creating simple images by reducing the amount
of detail in the image. And of all of my images, this one
probably has the most detail.
Right
after I returned to photography in 2004, armed with a new 8 mp digital camera, I had "new eyes"
and I was photographing everything. Everything was seen anew and
was exciting!
My
neighbor down the road had several acres of old cars and trucks
in various stages of disrepair, and it seemed a gold mine to
these new eyes. I introduced myself to Frank and asked permission
to photograph in his yard.
The
image above is from a 34 Chrysler, shot through the back window
(sans glass) with a very wide angle lens. The inside was dark and
the outside was very bright. so much so
that I could not properly expose for both.
Not
knowing how I "should" solve this problem, I did what
made sense to me: I took two shots, one for the outside and one
for the inside. Then in Photoshop I cut out the window from the
one image and pasted it into the other image.
Even if I had been aware of HDR back then, I would
not have used it. My approach gave the natural look I was after.
For the
inside of the car, I spent over 50 hours over many days working
all of the detail with a dodging and burning brush. Those many
hours were not indicative of how hard the task was, but rather
how inexperienced I was with Photoshop and dodging and burning.
Today I'm certain I could do the same job in just a few hours.
It is
interesting that in today's world 8 mp's would be considered woefully
inadequate and the equivalent of a child's point-and-shoot camera.
And yet I have printed this image as large as 40" X 60"
and it is looks magnificent. That's just another reminder that
better equipment is not always the answer to a better image.
This
same day I also created these two images:
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Frank's Stove
Something
else I came away with this day; a friendship with Frank and his Donkey
Alvin, who now lives with me (Alvin, not Frank!)
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Alvin, a great joy in my life!
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Where You Can See Me Next
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Moai at Rano
Raraku No 4
Here's
where I'll be speaking (and holding workshops at some locations)
this upcoming year:
·
7/2/2019
at the Boise Photo Club
·
9/9/2019
at the West Shore Photography Club in Mechanicsburg, PA
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9/10/2019
at the Livingston Camera Club in Livingston, NJ
·
9/24/2019
at the PSA Annual Conference in Spokane
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9/27, 28
and 29 at my home for the Fort Collins Studio Tour
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11/1/2019
at Nature Visions in Manassas, VA
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4/4/2020
at the Light and Creativity Workshop in Harrisburg, PA
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4/23/2020
at the Photographic Society of New Zealand in Christchurch
It's
always nice to have friends at these events and so I hope to see
you at one of these.
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Isolated No. 6
The
winner of my last drawing is Albert Bronson who will be taking
home a print of "Harbinger No. 22" from Easter Island and
who amazingly, just recently visited Easter Island.
Congratulations
Albert! Please contact me and arrange for your print to be
delivered.
____________________________
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Email Cole and Enter the Drawing!
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