blue peach

This is a photo I shot this week. I normally don't like to "invert" photos to produce a negative image or alter its color rendition - I think they tend to be gimmicky at best - but in this case, I liked the clean white background that resulted from this technique and the idea of a blue peach.

The first photograph to inspire me to explore photography as an art form was just such an image. Entitled "Magenta Horse," Pete Turner, the then pre-eminent photographer, manipulated an image of a magenta horse set in a bright red background. It was very graphic, bold and beautiful. I can't remember the exact technique he utilized to achieve this effect, but he is known for re-copying his slides multiple times to increase color saturation and contrast. I think he may have cross-processed his film (either developing negative film in slide film chemicals or vice-versa), then re-copying this image onto positive film multiple times perhaps even using colored filters to enhance the color. In any event, all of my initial attempts at photography were greatly influenced by his work. I'll post some examples shortly.

I am still excited by a Turner photograph and happily, he still produces images. Over time though, the graphic nature of his work, although clean and crisp, began to feel a little sterile to me. I think his images lacked texture (and still do). In general, a lot of photography lacks texture to me, so this is not just an indictment of Pete Turner's work. I think it is a general criticism of the inherent nature of photography. I continue to work on techniques to imbue texture into my images and think I’ve done a relatively successful job with my latest work. I’ll includes some of these images shortly to allow you to be the judge. All in all though, I am still inspired by Turner’s work and continue to be re-vitalized whenever I see one of his images. It hearkens me back to that initial excitement I felt at the possibilities. It is like hearing an old song on the radio that re-kindles all of those same emotions you felt with your first love.