I’ll never get over black and white! Before the days of digital, making black and white prints in a wet darkroom was one of my specialties. I had a bit of a reputation among fellow journalism students at the University of Iowa where I earned my B.A. degree. One day a classmate suggested that I could make a decent print from a cardboard negative! I doubt that, but can’t help but be proud of the sentiment. The earliest digital printers were not good for black & white. Most prints were afflicted with a magenta cast. Over and over, I heard…

For the 3rd year running, the mayor of West Monroe has mounted an art show in the lobby outside her office on the 2nd floor of the West Monroe city hall. And… for the 3rd year running, I am happy to be in the show! This year’s theme is “Your Happy Place.” Before I moved to Louisiana some 20+ years ago, the idea that swamp could be a “happy place” for me was…, well, a non-starter. Period. And I think I have said before in this space that coming to think of Louisiana’s swamps as “beautiful” took a few years….

The Midwest likes my art. Makes sense. I’m a Midwesterner by birth. And still talk like one, according to my Southerner friends! Yesterday I sent Peace Offering II on its way to “Art of Photography 2022,” hosted by the Prairie Village City Council at 7700 Mission Road, Prairie Village, Kansas. This is their 5th annual juried photography competition. It opens May 9 and runs through the end of June. This year’s juror was Angie Jennings. Two pieces made it into the “April Group Art Show” at the Jones Gallery in the Crossroads arts district of Kansas City, Missouri. David Jones’…

That’s what photography is all about! Well, I also argue it is all about framing, because imposing a camera frame on a continuous universe is a creative, disruptive act. But that’s another post, sort of. Actually, both framing and light/shade are totally important to Boudoir for a Beast, don’t you think? Because light & shade work together to emphasize those lacy Spanish moss curtains that form this boudoir, and framing because the beast lies in wait off to the side. Any other framing and it would be just another of millions of photos of ‘gators. This image has received two…

A couple years ago, after we had had a rather mild winter in Louisiana, I was greatly amused to see a meme on Facebook that said, “Dear Louisiana, Thank you for participating in winter (dates of our several most wintery days listed here). Love, Mother Nature.” Yes, we have winter in Louisiana and I have long appreciated the subtle hues of Louisiana’s winter landscape. Thus I was delighted to find a “call for entry” to a national juried exhibition with the theme “The Winter Palette.” So of course I submitted and Flight of the Egrets was invited to the exhibition….