I take pictures and then work on a few in Lightroom or Photoshop and then even less frequently print them. Sometimes I give the pictures as gifts but much more often than not I put them in a photo binder on a shelf. End of process. Why? Fear of rejection is the stereotypical answer, and for good reason. As an artist I crave affirmation of my skills and fear rebuttal or worse indifference. (Is it worse? I don't know. I'll get back to you.) So far the scale has tipped to fear.
How does that advance me as an artist? Clearly we can all succeed in a vacuum. I'm great until someone says I'm not. Hell, just calling myself an artist (twice in two paragraphs) makes me squirm more than a little. Insecurity is a bitch.
That equation doesn't work for me anymore. I hope you like my images but I've decided to stop being controlled by an imaginary response from a fairy-tale audience. I'm going to post what I've made that I like, some that works and some that doesn't but that I like anyway and let my fragile ego man-up.
So here's the deal: I'll post my images and if you like something (enough) or dislike something (enough) then let me know. No obligation and not often ("Unless you really really like it" my ego insists). I'll save back the images too special to be put out there as a form of self-preservation and probably include a few stories along the way because, as Sophia often reminds me, I have the right to remain silent, just not the ability.
Thank you for your help and encouragement.
Mitch
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Casablanca, Morocco
2019
Casablanca has always a special, almost mythic place in my imagination. I was working in Malaga, Spain, and took a long weekend in the Moroccan metropolis for pictures and food exploration.
I had a dozen great pictures to choose from but decided on these cats as my favorite. I wandered the kasbah for hours and it was everything your imagination suggests. The people were accommodating and the food was wonderful!
There were cats throughout the market, beloved safeguards against rodent overpopulation. I saw a hundred cats but not a single mouse or slow bird. Most stalls have a feline throne arranged where they could oversee their domain. I've lived with cats my whole life and these are two perfect examples. Their affection for each other is almost palpable.
Thank you!
Ribe, Denmark
2018
Touring Denmark with Henrik in 2018 was one of the highlights of my travel life. Earlier I posted a picture from Copenhagen but this one is completely different. A good picture is one in which the subject and the style compliment each other and I believe this image does that. We met these young men in Ribe, a city many hundreds of years old. To give you some idea our inn has been in business since 1528.
These men are known as Wandergesellen, craftsmen that have finished apprenticeships in various trades and travel Europe practicing their skills until they return home as accomplished Journeymen. Traditionally they aren't allowed to pay for transportation or food and work to pay their way. Many older towns, including Ribe, have special hostels where they can stay and find work. Some of these accommodations date back 1200 years when itinerant stonemasons moved from town to town building cathedrals and monasteries.
Their clothes are uniforms, identifying their trade and position. Their pants, Kluft, are black regardless of trade but the jackets can vary. They often have gold earrings or buttons in case of emergency or, perhaps as an acknowledgement of dangerous times,to pay for a funeral.
I asked if I could take a picture and that's exactly what I got: one image. They immediately wandered off and soon disappeared into the quiet Sunday morning streets. I'm glad it turned out as well as it did.
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Cassie
2020
This is the essence of my Golden Retriever Cassie. I was sitting outside on my lower deck and I heard heavy breathing and felt eyes, then drool, on the back of my neck. She is everything I want in a dog: companion, joker, car co-pilot, infinitely patient when I am not and expresses an unlimited capacity for love and popcorn. I am blessed that she's in my life. I have literally hundreds of pictures of her but this is my favorite. My life was less without her in it and one of the many reasons I count myself unbelievably lucky.
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Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
2015
One of the best parts of travel are the unexpected opportunities. In 2015 I was on an assignment in Sturgeon Bay, a really nice small town with cold beer, fried cheese curds and fresh perch. The buildings were plastered with posters for a circus featuring performing cats. I've lived with cats my whole life and I've seldom associated "performing" with their behavior so going became an imperative. There was an announcement the day of the show that the cat performance had been canceled due to a complaint lodged by a local Cat Rescue Mission. This was all explained by the Ringmaster who very apologetically said that the performance had been tongue-in-cheek which would have been self-evident had they been allowed to perform.
On with the show! It was clearly a family act with a few roustabouts (how often do you get to use that word appropriately?) thrown in. Jugglers, acrobats, wire-walkers, a magician, plate spinners and for the finale - a hula hoopist. Hula Hooper? She was terrific and brought down the house. I took many dozens of pictures to get this one, which isn't unusual. I'm still waiting to see the performing cats.
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Copenhagen, Denmark
2018
One of the reasons I started this Gallery is to display the wide range of the types of pictures I take. I have to push myself to take random people I see, such as the street person in Guadalajara and dozens of others. Landscapes and sunsets are soft targets requiring a different eye to set the images apart from all the others. Still Life is another thing entirely. Staged without being obvious (hopefully). Introspective.
I was fortunate to go to Denmark in 2018 with my great friend Henrik. I made a photobook of that trip, which I'll send you if you ask. It was a splendid experience. We wandered Copenhagen for many hours, at one point exploring a side alley lined with private entrances. It was an oasis of serenity in a bustling city.
As for the orphan tire, my Photoshop skills are insufficient to the task of removing it. It was chained and therefore unmovable. I decided then, as I decided again today, that the rest of the picture was worth it.
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Aguascalientes, Mexico
2018
This is how I saw this picture when I took it and now my post-processing skills have caught up. I like Aguascalientes very much, which is a good thing because I go every year for 10 to 12 days. I took this picture during my first trip which extended over two weekends. This singer was terrific, putting himself out there Saturday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. The street was closed to cars and there were many food stands so the air was filled with music and the aroma of grilled peppers and chorizo. The little girl was always there so I think her mamma worked inside. She checked on her daughter from time-to-time but she wasn't going anywhere. Later she held the singer's hand while he sang.
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Paris, France
1982
This is the first picture I ever took that I later said "Now that's a good picture". I'd gone to Europe in October with an open-ended return flight and a freshly printed Eurail Pass. After landing in Munich I took the train to Paris, eventually finding a room then went exploring. My first destination was The Louvre. I'd intended to spend only the morning there but soon decided time was inconsequential. It was late afternoon when I left, following the Av. des Champs-Élysées to it's logical destination. It was almost dark when I arrived causing me to radically slow the shutter speed. I can see by the previous pictures from the negatives everything was blurry. I leaned against a building and as I was getting ready to shoot the lights came on. I was thrilled, raising the shutter speed. You can see that the pedestrians are still blurry but the Arc is perfectly lit. This is a scan of a recently printed picture from the original negative. I haven't changed anything. The original print has been displayed somewhere in every house I've lived in since except where I'm living now. I'm confident it exists and will be displayed here, too.
The great majority of my pictures are snapshots of friends and family. Keepsakes. I believe this one stands on it's own as a pretty good picture
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2015
This was taken on my last day in Ho Chi Minh City after a 10-day tour of Vietnam, which had long been on my list of places to visit. I'm sure to post more from this trip but this is my favorite. I was sitting in a bar (imagine) taking random shots of the street and eating my last bowl of authentic Pho and the camera was in my lap. I shot literally from the hip and it wasn't until I was home that I saw what I'd captured.
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Guadalajara, Mexico
August 2018
I found this street person fascinating and terrifying, pitiful and powerful. We saw him when we first arrived to the area and I couldn't get him out of my mind. I saw him again as we were getting ready to go back to the hotel and I asked my Mexican friend and guide Manuel if he would ask the man if I could take his picture. I took a total of four before he lost interest and started to stagger off. There was a taco stand across the street where we had eaten dinner. I asked Manuel to see if we could buy the man dinner. He nodded but the taco stand owner looked dubious as he approached and began pointing to various selections. I nodded and opened my wallet which was good enough to get a To Go box filled to the brim and a Coca-Cola. The man shambled off to sit under a tree in near total darkness.
I have worked this image dozens of times in dozens of ways but always return to this near-original version. All I've done is lightened it up to better see his face and warmed the color from the cold street lamp. I believe it speaks for itself. As my mother would say, "There but for the Grace of God...".