diffused

The name “Church Key” came about because of the old style bottle openers shape resembling keys used to open old church doors, and eventually the nick name was adopted to cover many different types of bottle and can openers. For several decades I have used this tool to open bottles, cans and just about anything without a pull tab. It has traveled with us on various vacations, picnics and camping trips. I think the original cost was barely over a dollar, and it has been lost and found several times over the years. Let’s face it, I’ve got history with this thing, and time has left it’s tell tail sign in the form of patina on the surface. The set for this image was a simple sheet of white paper for the background, with low afternoon cross light being diffused by a piece of sheer cloth. I knew that the slight shininess of the church key would reflect me and the camera and show a abstract variegated pattern in the metal. I created a thin soft dark edge to frame the subject. The uncomplicated set and modest lighting was used to show off the character in the metal and to create a portrait of a simple but useful tool.

Walking down the hallway out of the corner of my eye I saw a silhouette through a newly installed window. Turning back to watch the rhythmic motion of the painter outside as he went about his task was mesmerizing. Watching this painter move with brush in hand from left to right with the grace and agility of a seasoned dancer on a stage, I had to capture this performance. The color of the blue sky, the Salmon colored concrete block wall, and the painter’s body with his white shirt, all these colors diffused and muted, appeared as a contemporary stained glass window. The thought of my great fortune of being at that exact time of day with the light just right and that being the only window in the whole house that had obscured glass…well that thought was not lost on me. I was gifted with a one time performance and that captured moment brought me happiness. This is only one of the myriad reasons I love to make images.

I was setting up for a shoot that would happen later in the day and decided to take some time and play a bit with the assistant before starting with the model. Doing this often loosens me up to new ideas. When playing fun happens, and usually a different way of looking at things appears. Play seems to release the creative spirit. Play is a big part of creativity. Einstein said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Creativity can start with a simple idea or just an observation. This “out take” became as important to me as the shot that followed it. Playing earlier in the day sent me in a different direction and changed the “Official Shoot” later that day. So, play on !

  Seeing David’s clouds and rays of light got me thinking about some old camera equipment I haven’t used in a long time. I pulled out my Hasselblad just because I love that square format and went down to the beach here in Santa Barbara. It was one of those days when the clouds just seemed to go all the way to the horizon and dead calm on the ocean made the reflection perfect. I hardly had to do anything but get the film developed and scan the negative. I colored it blue just because, and because Blue will be following my image. This is a lie.