Monthly Archives: August 2022

The Eternal City: Albumen Print Simulations

August 29, 2022 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

I’m excited to be headed back to Italy this autumn, and have been looking through my archives. What work have I done in Italy, and how can I make progress from there?

These digital simulations of albumen printing are based on images I made in Rome. I had forgotten this series, from 2016, but now as I revisit it I am pleased (if I say so myself!).

Rome from St Peter’s Dome © Harold Davis

I briefly mentioned the image above in a blog story about a workshop I gave: “The sepia image of the eternal city (Rome) shown above was a classroom demonstration, with the file drawn from my recent trip to Italy.” I think what happened is that I liked the in-class demo so much that I worked through the other images (shown below) using the same set of techniques, and style!

Forum of Rome © Harold Davis

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi © Harold Davis

Posted in Monochrome, Photography

Dancing with the Pasta Stars!

August 25, 2022 by Harold Davis | 2 Comments

It’s amazing what one can do with pasta stars, a light box, and LAB color. Dancing with the Pasta Stars was created using LAB in Photoshop from the version of the pasta spiral photographed on my light box (below) and then inverted (bottom).

Dancing with the Pasta Stars © Harold Davis

Spiral Pasta Nebula © Harold Davis

Spiral Pasta Nebula Inversion © Harold Davis

Posted in Photography, Photoshop Techniques

Long Live Monochrome Memories!

August 23, 2022 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Here are a few of my favorite monochromatic black and white images that I haven’t posted in a long time.

Bolinas Beach (2012) © Harold Davis

Apparently, despite its success as a large-sized print, Bolinas Beach has been resurrected from my files once before!

Reflections in a Maine Pond (2015) © Harold Davis

My original blog story on Reflections in a Maine Pond quoted the journals of Thoreau:

“To be calm, to be serene! There is the calmness of the lake when there is not a breath of wind. . . . So it is with us. Sometimes we are clarified and calmed healthily, as we never were before in our lives, not by an opiate, but by some unconscious obedience to the all-just laws, so that we become like a still lake of purest crystal and without an effort our depths are revealed to ourselves. All the world goes by us and is reflected in our deeps. Such clarity!”

Chateau de Nazelles (2013) © Harold Davis

The Chateau de Nazelles was a really fun place to spend a few days in the heart of the Loire Valley; more about my thinking in making this image here.

Posted in Monochrome

Seize the Day

August 15, 2022 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Having been occupied by family matters lately, it is hard to make the time for flower photography. Work on a light box does not respond well to impatience. The time to slowly understand the composition that the flowers themselves would like is required.

In this work, not all the time is spent arranging or photographing. Sometimes I find myself in front of the light box staring into space—or, more politely, meditating.

The flowers in Seize the Day (above) were among those that survived from the recent and very pleasurable Photographing Flowers for Transparency workshop held here in Berkeley, California. Click here for upcoming workshops (they will be listed as they are scheduled).

Posted in Photography

Composition & Photography Workshop at Maine Media

August 8, 2022 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Please consider joining me at Maine Media Workshops on mid-coast Maine in September as autumn has begun for a 5-day photography workshop. The dates are September 12, 2022 – September 16, 2022.

In this hands-on workshop we will approach composition as an instance of open-ended two-dimensional design. Photographic exercises will start with simple shapes, such as lines and circles, and proceed through patterns and repetitions, and onwards to spirals, fractals, and abstractions.

Field sessions will take advantage of the “target-rich” mid-coast Maine scenery. Classroom discussions will be intended to provoke thought about composition basics and continuing to enable individual integration of the process of composition into each participant’s creative practice.

Click here for more information and registration!