Category Archives: Photography

digital photography: techniques: thoughts: photographs

Eiffel

Reviled when it was built as a fun house rocket ship and aesthetic monstrosity, it’s amazing how the Tour Eiffel in fact manifests visual grace with decorative flourishes and curls in the ironwork. Seen from a distance with the lights of Paris turned on, the spectacle is a bit amusement park—but up close there’s an almost decorative art nouveau feeling, despite an anachronistic and blatant attempt at modernism.

Eiffel by Harold Davis

Eiffel © Harold Davis

To make this image, I turned my camera up towards the tour. To exaggerate the open and lacy feeling of the structure, I overexposed by about 2 EVs. This made sure that the darker areas of the tower didn’t go entirely black, and allowed the filigree patterns in the less dense areas to emerge.

The final settings at 22mm focal length and ISO 200 were a 1/80 of a second shutter speed and f/4.5.

Also posted in Monochrome, Paris | Leave a comment

Katie Rose is Five

Yesterday we celebrated Katie’s fifth birthday with parties at Step One (her preschool) and at home. Katie Rose is a charming, wonderful little girl—and living proof that there are miracles.

Katie Rose is 5 © Harold Davis

Katie Rose is 5 © Harold Davis

How time flies! Five years ago we were caught in that country where the boundaries of life and death come close. How reassuring it would have been to look forward those years to see her now.

Click here to read more about The Story of Katie Rose.

Also posted in Katie Rose, Kids | Leave a comment

Au Sauvignon

Across the street from the hotel and down the block, Au Sauvignon, a modest brasserie offered simple food and seats to watch the world go by. In the back, these narrow and steep stairs, lined with framed etchings, led to the toilet. This iPhone shot is looking back down towards the main floor and good cheer of the brasserie.

Brasserie Stairs by Harold Davis

Brasserie Stairs © Harold Davis

Also posted in iPhone, Paris | Leave a comment

La Tour Eiffel

At night, the area under the Eiffel Tower turns into an exciting display of lights, colors and people—as you can see in this iPhone shot of this small carousel in the shadow of the Tour Eiffel, the king of all amusement park rides!

La Tour Eiffel by Harold Davis

La Tour Eiffel © Harold Davis

Also posted in iPhone, Paris | Leave a comment

Beside the Seine

Amazing that one can leave San Francisco and in one day be photographing in Paris! This is a view of the Seine River from the Ile St Louis in the center of Paris.

Quai de Bourbon by Harold Davis

Quai de Bourbon © Harold Davis

Also posted in Monochrome, Paris | 2 Comments

Piggyback Waterdrop

The simple pleasures of waterdrop photography can be entrancing, and there is often ample complexity close to home, as in this composition of a waterdrop on a leaf, piggyback on yet another leaf!

Piggyback Waterdrop by Harold Davis

Piggyback Waterdrop © Harold Davis

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Keeping in Touch

I wanted to touch base before I leave for France on Sunday. As you likely know, I will be leading a photography workshop in Paris. This is one of my dreams come true! My plan is to keep in touch by posting photos and stories from Paris about the ongoing adventure. You can also check the Photograph Paris with Harold Davis meetup group for updates and photos from the workshop.

Before I leave I also wanted to alert you to a few opportunities related to Botanique, my Monochromatic Visions Kickstarter project, and my workshops.

Thanks always for your support, interest in my work!

My very best wishes for adventure and photography,

Harold Davis

 


Copies of Botanique ARE available

Acclaimed as “origami in a box” and said to be “destined for major museums,” Botanique is an innovative artist project that astutely blends old craft and cutting edge new technologies to create an exquisite limited edition art book and art object that is completely unique.

Here’s how one viewer put it: “That would have to be the most beautiful floral photography I’ve seen…evident in the fact that I sank down onto my keyboard, totally relaxed thinking “oh how beautiful”. I can only dream of owning such a beautiful book.”

A washi Unryu spread within Botanique

A washi Unryu fold-out print within Botanique

Although Botanique is selling well, and despite some stories that the edition has been sold out, we do have some copies still available. The current price (for numbers 12-15) is $1,200. The Botanique presentation ships with white gloves for handling and a signed print of Red Poppies on Kozo Washi. The fine print: $50 shipping is additional. Sales tax is also additional (for CA residents only).

According to Popular Photography Magazine, the floral prints of Harold Davis “border on the spiritual.” Botanique contains twenty-one luscious floral prints that emerge delicately and seductively from the hand-assembled presentation box. The clam shell box measures approximately 9.25″ X 12.5″ X 1″ deep.

Click here for more information about Botanique.

If you are interested in a copy of Botanique, please contact Phyllis, phyllis@bearhome.com.

Red Poppies by Harold Davis

Red Poppies © Harold Davis

The Monochromatic Visions and Beyond

The original idea of my Monochromatic Visions Kickstarter project was to fund the creation of a new monochromatic portfolio edition of my prints. This goal was very quickly reached, so I added a second “stretch goal”—to go to Japan and create a second washi portfolio of images from the old Japan road, Kumano kodo.

This goal is well underway, and I’d appreciate any support you can give it.

Currently, the Monochromatic Visions portfolio is available on Kickstarter for $1200, and there are two $650 copies available of the Kumano kodo portfolio.

I want to point out that prints from the individual portfolios are also available, starting as low as $200 including shipping. You can choose any of the prints from the Monochromatic Visions portfolio at this price, which represents a very substantial discount off the normal price for prints from my studio (it is $550 and up).

You can only take advantage of this offer via the Monochromatic Visions Kickstarter project.

Click here to visit the Monochromatic Visions Kickstarter project.

Workshops

I have rescheduled the Composition in Night Photography webinar for Thursday, July 11, 2013. Click here for information and registration.

There are currently limited spaces available in the following workshops:

Ancient Music of the Stars by Harold Davis

Ancient Music of the Stars © Harold Davis

What folks have said about Harold Davis workshops and events:

  •  “A great artist and speaker!”—W. Anglin
  •  “Harold is genuine, generous, and gracious – He has a world of knowledge and expertise that he loves to share – his wonderful books show his monumental talents and skill set- his workshops shows the depth of his connecting with others in a very real and personal way.”—P. Borrelli
  • “Awesome! He patiently addressed questions from the audience which contained photographers of all levels , molding his answers to the level of understanding for each of us. His presentations covered a wonderful range of technical knowledge as well as emphasizing the need for images to have an emotional quality. The images he shares are breathtaking and he is generous in sharing many facets of how he captures such beauty.”—J. Phillips
  • “Not all photographers are good verbal communicators. Harold is someone who can DO and TEACH. A rare combination of talents.”—B. Sawyer
  • “Inspiring!”
  • “He was very giving of his talents and time. The course was very organized and thorough. Loved it! Learned so much!”—L. Beck
  • “Very creative and a marvelous instructor.”—Kay S.

About Harold Davis:  Harold Davis is a professional photographer whose work is widely admired and collected. He is the author of many bestselling photography books. Harold Davis is a Moab printmaking Master.

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The Unphotographed Photos

What happens when a photo is a file that languishes in a folder? It may be a little like the tree falling in the forest without recognition. Here are some of my “unseen” photos, published for the first time on my blog.

Granite Sea by Harold Davis

Granite Sea © Harold Davis

I shot this image of rolling, and roiling waves, from the pier in Pacifica, California the other day. Roaring towards me in a steady wind-blown progression, these waves look almost like a rock face—hence the title, Granite Sea.

Bolinas Beach by Harold Davis

Bolinas Beach © Harold Davis

A bright winter day found the clouds reflected at low tide on Bolinas Beach, California—captured with my lens aided by a polarizing filter to bring out the strength of the reflections and contrast in clouds and sky.

Ruined Stair by Harold Davis

Ruined Stair © Harold Davis

Near sunset, I found this ruined stair under a crumbling pier in the old harbor of Port Richmond, California—looking for all the world like something out of an etching or drawing by M.C. Escher or Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Also posted in Monochrome | Leave a comment

New Harold Davis Kickstarter: Monochromatic Visions

We’re pleased to announce my new Kickstarter project, Monochromatic VisionsMonochromatic Visions is a highly collectible, limited edition portfolio of twelve prints by master photographer Harold Davis. The Monochromatic Visions portfolio presentation is strictly limited to twelve numbered copies, plus three artist proofs. Here are thumbnails of the twelve images in the portfolio:

The photographs in Monochromatic Visions were created using high-dynamic range (HDR) techniques that will be explained in my forthcoming book Monochromatic HDR Photography from Focal Press. This process involves sequential multiple digital RAW exposures, or a single RAW exposure processed multiple times. The blended exposures or processes are then rendered into a single color master file. The final color version of the image is then remastered to monochrome, using innovative layering and processing techniques of my own invention.

Check out Monochromatic Visions on Kickstarter.

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Smoking Gun

There’s one somewhat discordant element in this tableau of a metallurgic assayer’s desk, shot at Laws Railroad Museum near Bishop, California. What is the gun doing in the image?

According to the docent I spoke with, most assayers tended to deal in gold and other precious metals as well as to assay it. The natural tendency for miners hitting what passed for civilization out of their stakes in Death Valley or the Panamint Range was to want to get some ready money quickly—no doubt for some to spend on booze and women in wild boom towns like Bodie. These miners would often come to feel that they had been low-balled by assayers who had taken advantage of them; hence, a revolver to defend against disgruntled small mining stake-holders was standard equipment for most metallurgists.

Assay by Harold Davis

Assay © Harold Davis

Exposure data: 52mm, ten exposures at shutter speeds between 1/80 of a second and five seconds, each exposure at f/13 and ISO 200, tripod mounted; exposures combined using Nik HDR Efex Pro and Photoshop, and converted to monochromatic using Photoshop, Nik Silver Efex and Topaz Adjust.

Also posted in Bemusements, HDR, Monochrome | Leave a comment

Shell Spiral

This is a photo of a very small shell sometimes called a “Sundial” (of the architectonica genus). It is less than an inch across, and shown elsewhere on my blog in color.

My idea in making this photo was to create a monochromatic image that emphasize the contrast in the shell’s spiral between the white lines and the darker portions of the spiral, and implying the color gradations in the shell’s spiral, and the patterned nature of the shell as a whole.

Shell Spiral by Harold Davis

Shell Spiral © Harold Davis

Exposure data: 85mm macro lens, six exposures with shutter speeds ranging from 1/8 of a second to 4 seconds, each exposure at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted; images combined in Photoshop, and converted to monochromatic using LAB inversions in Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex.

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Remembering Jack Tasoff

Recently, my friend and photography student Jack Tasoff died in a four-wheel-drive accident in a remote area of the Anza-Borrego desert.

I first met Jack a number of years ago. I was scouting a location for a photography workshop in the Patriarch Grove of ancient Bristlecone Pines in the White Mountains of eastern California. My camera was on a tripod, and I was shooting the textures and folds of the bark of one of these 4,000 year-old trees.

Jack came up to me and asked, “Do you know anything about the photography workshop that is going to be happening here in a few days?”

“Well,” I replied, “my name is Harold Davis, and I am leading the workshop.”

Jack looked at me and considered for a moment. Then he said, “Hm…I thought ‘Harold Davis’ would be lean and handsome like Calvin Klein, not an overweight patzer like the rest of us!”

Seeing the Light by Harold Davis

Seeing the Light © Harold Davis

Those who knew and loved Jack probably realize that tact wasn’t his strong point. But as time went by, and Jack and I continued to correspond every week, I truly began to appreciate the breadth of his knowledge and insights, and how much he savored life. We discussed everything, from Ming vases and Titian paintings to botany, biology, and individual motivations. Every interaction with Jack was entertaining, and every discussion gave me unusual insights. Jack saw the world in his own way. He was a true original, and in my book no greater compliment can be made.

Jack had a gentle side. He could be loud, and carried a big lens, but he cared deeply about little creatures. He enjoyed most of all seeking out and photographing small, endangered animals.

I miss Jack already, and know that this sense of loss will only grow as time goes by. One consolation is that he was out doing two things he loved—photographing wild animals, and travelling in the desert. May his wonderful spirit find beauty and joy.

You can find some of Jack’s photography on his website wee tim’rous beasties.

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Botanique on the Moab Paper blog

In “Botanique”: Harold Davis’s Origami in a Box on the Moab Paper blog you’ll find a story about a mystery package. Here’s how the story begins: “A mysterious package arrived in our office the other day. After carefully unwrapping the paper, the most beautiful portfolio of images was unveiled.”

The story continues: “Acclaimed as ‘origami in a box,’ Botanique is a hand-made, limited edition artist book that astutely blends old craft and cutting edge new technologies to create an exquisite limited edition art book and art object that is completely unique. Holding a print of a delicate floral image printed on Moenkopi Unryu felt as though I was holding the actual flower. The portfolio shipped with white cotton gloves, which reinforced the book’s museum-quality.”

Thanks Moab Paper!

Read the full story on the Moab Paper blog; find out more about the Botanique limited edition artists book.

Star Magnolia by Harold Davis

Botanique includes three oversize pull-outs like the Star Magnolia panorama shown on Unryu washi paper

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Making Tracks

There’s an almost infinite appeal to me in photographing railroad tracks—appropriately, because the visual metaphor of the railroad track is to show rails that are parallel and never touch. They go on forever, or seem to. So railroad tracks are, in other words, a representation of the infinite.

Railroad Tracks near Gaviota, California by Harold Davis

Railroad Tracks near Gaviota, California © Harold Davis

The crucial point in railroad track compositions is the vanishing point. The viewer’s eye will proceed along the tracks to the point at which the tracks seem to come together and vanish. Of course, the tracks never really come together, and a vanishing point is a trick of perspective rendition. But to do an effective job of making a railroad track image one needs to accomplish something interesting at the supposed vanishing point.

In my image of Railroad Tracks near Gaviota, California this interest is generated by the stormy sky, and by the bend to the right in the tracks towards the distant hills and beach.

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Dragon Dawn

In the Anza Borrego desert the hard-scrabble town of Borrego Springs, California loses most of its population in the summer, when temperatures soar and stay above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. One part of the indigenous population stays put—the creatures created by metal sculptor Ricardo Breceda. My favorite is the huge dragon,or serpent, shown here photographed at sunrise using my fisheye lens.

Dawn of the Dragon by Harold Davis

Dawn of the Dragon © Harold Davis

The serpent in the Anza-Borrego reminds me somewhat of the Serpent Mother (a creation of the Flaming Lotus Girls).

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