Clickers & Flickers Photography Network: Mad at the Clouds: Landscape Photography is Deceptively Difficult

MAD AT THE CLOUDS: LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY IS DECEPTIVELY DIFFICULT
Presented By: MICHAEL MINER * Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 * Time: 6:30 - 10 p.m. * Location: The Castaway, 1250 Harvard Road, Burbank, CA 91501 MAP * Reservations: (626) 794-7447 (Required at least 5 days prior to the event)
“One Thousand Words – Landscape Photography by Michael Miner,” a solo exhibition of stunning black & white images, along with color images from the Billboard Study, was recently on view at A&I Photographic in Hollywood. Miner received his Bachelor of Arts degrees in English Literature and Theater, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from UCLA. His professional career includes time as a director of photography and director/cameraman of twenty music videos. As co-writer of ROBOCOP, Miner received the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Screenplay and a nomination for Best Screenplay by the Mystery Writers of America. He also co-wrote the pilot for ROBOCOP: the Television show; Anacondas: Search for the Blood Orchid; and Lawnmowerman II. Miner made his debut as a writer/director with Deadly Weapon. Most recently he directed The Book of Stars. He has written screenplays for Oliver Stone, Sylvester Stallone and Michael Douglas. Miner relishes the restorative effects of landscape photography and finds the mobility of the Canham MQC57 with its interchangeable 4 x 5 and 5 x 7 backs well-suited for remote locations. He muses that “visual complexity is much like jazz, classical music, abstract painting and cinematic montage, in that it resists analytic interpretation. “Landscape photography is deceptively difficult” states Miner. “Some might think that the picture presents itself, you aim the camera and capture the image. That’s what the majority of sightseers and tourists do, so it would make perfect sense that is what professionals do. But I can’t number the times I see a picture materializing and set up the large format camera, only to have the cloud move in the wrong direction, or a blinding rainstorm drive me back to my car (if it is parked close enough). Sometimes I wait for hours, only to have the clouds block the sun, and I must pack up, satisfied at having spend some time in the great outdoors. For a while I was getting mad at the clouds… MAD AT THE CLOUDS. Until I realized the absurdity of such a pursuit. Now I simply mediate on world peace, waiting for an image to materialize. Other times, the image is there, rock steady and waiting, for centuries, and all I have to do is set up the camera and take the picture. Still other times I watch a small cl oud head straight for the sun, set up the camera and, right when the sun is slightly dimmed, take a perfect picture, just before the cloud disperses and the picture is no longer available. And COLOR. How difficult color is. Contrast is the most fascinating part of back and white photography. But color has a whole range of new dimensions that make taking a fine art color picture a near-impossibility. Combine that with the plethora of postcard images we are inundated with and you can see how difficult capturing a good color image can be. The one area I find producing unfailingly interesting color images is my BILLBOARD STUDY. Random pieces of billboards, distressed by the weather, fall off and “editorialize” their content every March and April in Los Angeles. It is a stunning spectacle, when you look closely enough. Words are often hard to conjure, when it comes to pictures, so when all else fails, I resort to a comment Diana Arbus made, “a photograph is proof that something existed, which is no longer there.””
RESERVATIONS AND PAYMENT REQUIRED IN ADVANCE C&F members: $49 at least (5) days in advance. $55 less than 5 days prior to the event. Non members: $59 at least (5) days in advance. $65 at the door, only if space is available.