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 © 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.

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 © 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.

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.

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

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 © 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.

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 © Harold Davis

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

The display font used in Botanique is derived from Walt Whitman’s handwriting

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.

Working together in their studio, legendary photographer and digital artist Harold Davis his wife, graphic designer Phyllis Davis, have combined advanced digital pigment printing with the luscious botanical art of Harold Davis. Every aspect of the project has been carefully designed and hand-crafted.

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.

The Botanique project was originally successfully funded and crowd-sourced via a Kickstarter project.

Uniquely conceived and handcrafted using a blend of new and old techniques, Botanique is expected to be the first of a number of limited edition artist projects from the creative Davis photography and design studio.

Here’s what some of the collectors of Botanique have said:

• “I didn’t open it until last night because I was really busy and wanted to take time to savor every page. It’s BEAUTIFUL! Thank you very much.”—S.M.
• “I had time today to sit down and slowly admire each and every page of your amazing book. It is absolutely gorgeous…a true collector’s item…and is a reflection of the beauty and light within you both. I’m honored to be one of the people who has the privilege to own this book and will treasure it always.”—B.A.
• ”Arrived home from France this evening to find my copy of Botanique waiting for me . . . the book and accompanying prints are indescribably beautiful.”—B.G.

Click here for more information about Botanique, a limited edition artists book by Harold Davis.

I guess by now I am notorious for using Photoshop as part of my digital photography. After all, I’ve described my work as “painting using digital photographs as my medium.”

When giving a  workshop, when asked whether an image has been “Photoshopped,” I reply, “Yes. Whichever image of mine you pick, the answer will always be, ‘Yes’!”.

So there is something that some people will find a bit unusual for me when I show a special-effect image that was  created in the camera such as the Dance of the Tulips. Of course, good (and creative) camera technique is always important—whether Photoshop is involved or not!

Dance of the Tulips © Harold Davis

Here’s how I made this image: First, I started with some beautiful Tulips from Thomas Farms, bought at the North Berkeley Farmer’s Market. I placed the tulips on a black background.

I’ve written previously about using my 18-200mm zoom lens with a 36mm extension tube to create a kind of poor person’s macro lens. This kind of setup can get you very close, and it has a neat soft focus feeling and cool bokeh. Of course, I wouldn’t use it if I wanted end-to-end precision macro sharpness. The odd thing is that optically what works best is to set the lens manually on infinity, find your distance, and then “focus” using the zoom ring.

My next step was to add approximately 8 f-stops of neutral density to the front of the lens so I could make quite long exposures, in the 5 seconds to 30 seconds range with the lens stopped down.

Finally, I timed each exposure so that the lens was fixed and “in focus” for about half the exposure, and then a carefully and smoothly rotated the zoom dial to get an out-of-focus effect for the remainder of the exposure.

In other words, the effect combines the hardness and definition of a fully stopped-down in-focus lens with the soft focus of a motion blur and an image thrown intentionally out-of-focus.

Exposure data: 18-200mm zoom lens, starting at about 135mm, 36mm extension tube, 15 seconds at f/36 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.

Read about Bokeh and the Zen of Blur on my blog.