Small Tools | Big Looks

Barbed Ball,  Knoxville TN 2016 © jwl

I have gone back to shooting 35mm for the past couple of months. It began because I wanted to use my smaller Pocket 35s (Olympus 35RC or Rollei 35, etc), but then the feeling of the cameras took hold and the Way Of Seeing began to show through as I got the film back. IE, what I look at and how I present it varies a little with each camera I use. I always tend to be drawn to certain aspects of my environment, that won't change, it is who I am. Depending on where I am going or how long I will spend making photographs I choose different tools for the job.

Keep in mind that I have been primarily been using either medium format film cameras or a digital camera for my work for the last few years. After seeing the sharpness of the images I have made, I more or less left 35mm film alone. It didn't have the punch that I was used to. However, now that I have been only using 35mm for a few rolls of film, I am beginning to remember the power of the format. It has a compact and personal nature (at least with the cameras I use) that lends itself to the composition and stance from which the photograph is made. For me it is a bit more personal work.

Fence Cup, Knoxville TN 2016 © jwl

These two images were made in the last month or so with my new favorite little camera, the Nikon FM. I have owned 3 or 4 of these cameras in my life and I always sell them or put them down and leave them alone after a while. After a while there's an the occasion when I want to feel that shutter/mirror slap and go back to the basics. It has been a good way to take short walks and look at things. I am pretty happy with some of the new work that I am making. So much so that I bought some more 35mm film!!

These images in particular have been coming into my mind in the last few days. I can't articulate exactly why other than they are very satisfying to me. I enjoy seeing them and I hope to make more like them. I feel good things in the works...

I am working on assembling a new book for Late Summer or Fall, I am getting really excited to get this work out there on some walls and into people's hands.

Subversive Vernacular On View In September

 Danger!, Apalachicola, Florida 2015 © jwl

I am excited to shake off the cobwebs and get some art on the walls for this upcoming First Friday event in Knoxville, Tennessee. I will be showing new prints in 2 locations on the 4th of September.

Pulling from mostly new work, I am creating a body of images I call Subversive Vernacular. I feel these newer photographs speak to me in the way that short story fiction often does. As though the viewer can sense that something has gone down in the space or has shown up just after the action stopped and is wondering 'what happened?' or 'what's next...' I'd like to think that the photographs have a quality of mystery to them. The subject matter keeping true to my wanderlust of the American Vernacular Landscape, especially in the Southeastern States.

I am compiling images for a book later in the year and I am considering including some poems or stories to go along with the work. I believe it will enhance the work quite well.

Shed, Highway 25W, Tennessee 2015 ©jwl



For now, you can see some of these pieces on the evening of Sept 4th at

CBI

128 S. Gay St.

Knoxville TN

You can also stroll on up and see more work throughout September at

Hops & Hollers

937 N. Central St.

Knoxville TN

 I look forward to seeing you on First Friday or sometime soon!!