Skylands Project - Top 5 B&W Images (ok... 10 images)

This morning I set out to pick my five favorite b&w images I photographed at Skylands in 2010. I really only started shooting b&w at Skylands after I got one of my cameras converted for infrared b&w in the middle of the year. After a late start I did a lot of b&w work there this year. The same subject can change dramatically based on the lighting conditions. Some of the subjects like the little cottage I probably photographed ten times and they all look very different. Whittling these images down to five favorites was a tough task. Somewhere around twenty two it really got tough. I ended up cutting some of my favorite images of the year to get it down to these ten.

Here is where I need your help. Which are your favorites and why? I am curious to see what you think.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Skylands Project - Top 5 Color Images

With most of 2010 in the rear view mirror I started looking at my photographs from this year. Much to my surprise I found that the Skylands Botanical garden in New Jersey was my most photographed spot. I first went there and shot once in 2008 and discovered how great a location it was with the scenery changing with what was blooming on an almost weekly basis. In 2009 I started to make frequent trips there shooting a total of six times that year. In 2010 I found I had been there more than fifteen times and took photos in both b&w and color. Last week I decided to go through all those images and find my five favorite color and five favorite b&w shots from 2010. This was a tough process to go through that many photos I had taken and liked to get down to 5 that I felt were my best for this year. I can tell I am growing and getting stronger as a photographer and artist, because shots that in 2009 would have made the top of the list were not even close. After much review here are the five images that I think best represent my color work at Skylands this year. I think I have more than enough to make a really nice calendar too. Hmmm that's an idea...

Tomorrow I will post my favorite b&w images from Skylands in 2010. That will be a lot of fun as I was able to get some really great infrared stuff there and next week I will really turn the looking glass on myself and talk about the goals I posted myself as an artist a year ago and talk about where I have done well and what goals I will need to carry forward to 2011.

Enjoy the photos!

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Skylands Project Update

This project of picking my five favorite color and b&w images from 2010 at skylands has been tougher than I thought. Mostly that is because I took so many photos. It is taking time to go through them all.

I will post on Saturday my five favorite color shots and on Sunday my five favorite b&w shots.

Next week I will post a wrap up to 2010 including a review of my goals for 2010 and what I actually able to accomplish as well as my favorite photos from a great year with the camera. There is stuff from all over NY, there is Cape Cod, Italy and a bunch of other locations.

It has been a really good year for me with the camera and I have really enjoyed sharing the journey with all of you.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

2010 - Five Things

2010 is just around the corner....

As Wenderina has a whole new blog based on projects around our little "yellow cottage" I have been thinking of what I would like to achieve artistically in 2010. Here are my five goals for 2010...

1. Open an online store to sell my art - This is in testing now. I am working on getting the tax ID and finalizing the store. It should be online and reachable from artistic balance by the end of January.


2. Show my work in more venues- Now that I have my stuff hanging at a gallery on the cape... I am looking for a gallery to hang my Hudson Valley / Catskills images.


3. expand the areas I photograph and paint... Move out of my comfort zone a little- I would like to venture further up into NY in the finger lakes area as well as some of the National Parks and canyons out west. Italy or Ireland are on my list... but maybe not in 2010.


4. Paint more - Try to advance my painting to the level I have taken my photography in 2009. I big task... but one I'd like to try.


5. Donate some time to some of the artistic organizations I belong to - Cape Cod Art Association and Hopper House will be my focus to donate some of my time back to some of the places that continue to inspire me.

What are your 2010 art goals?

Keep Makin' Art

Carl