Archive
Change is Inevitable: Here’s To New Beginnings
Rainbow to the Sea, Treasure Coast, Florida 2019
CHANGE IS INEVITABLE. Decide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe you deserve it and believe it’s possible for you. And then close your eyes and every day for several minutes, and visualize having what you already want, feeling the feelings of already having it. Come out of that and focus on what you’re grateful for already, and really enjoy it. Then go into your day and release it to the Universe and trust that the Universe will figure out how to manifest it.” Jack Canfield (Who wrote “Chicken Soup for the Soul).
I choose to believe that I deserve happiness and additional success with my work and that it is possible for me. Universe, here I come…
Lensculture Posts BSG’s Niagara from Thousands of Worldwide Images
Niagara, Barry Steven Greff
is one of the largest destinations for curated, contemporary photography from around the world. Will Coldwell, writing in The Independent in 2013, described LensCulture as one of the ten best photography websites, calling it a “definitive resource for anyone who wants to keep up with the latest trends and debates in contemporary photography.”[4] Critic Sean O’Hagan, writing in The Guardian in 2012, listed it among the eight best photography websites or online publications, calling it “one of the most authoritative and wide-ranging sites.”[5]
Barry Steven Greff’s Niagara has been selected by Lenscultures’ editors to be featured in their Black & White Photography Awards 2019 Competition Gallery, visible to everyone who visits the website. “The Competition Gallery is a highly curated group of images selected by our editors to showcase only the best photos from entrants who are creating very strong work among our global community of photographers. This is an impressive accomplishment considering we get thousands of submissions from 160 countries.”
Varying Techniques used to Photograph Supermoons Over the Years
A supermoon is a full moon (opposite Earth from the sun) that closely coincides with perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its monthly elliptic orbit. When the moon always swings farthest away from Earth once each month; that point is called apogee. These perigee, or
Nuclear Supermoon
supermoons, result in what seems like a larger-than-usual apparent size as viewed from Earth. There are 4-6 supermoons a year on average and can cause real physical effects, such as
Supermoon Reflected
larger-than-usual tides. From a photographic standpoint, supermoons also take on a deep reddish tint as they rise from the horizon, lightening in color to yellow and/or tan and then, eventually
Supermoon and Cruise Ship
to the regular, although a bit brighter, white. Due to the unique nature of this phenomenon, I have tried to capture supermoons in various ways over the years. In order of presentation here:
Supermoon and Distant Bird
(1.) has an effect similar to a nuclear explosion as the moon seems to be exploding from the horizon, (2.) within a second or two after that, the moon has risen above the horizon and
Birds Eye View
leaves a glint of reflection underneath, (3.) a cruise ship’s embarkation timed to pass the supermoonrise, (4.) a dusk supermoon also has a very distant bird silhouetted against the
Clouded Supermoon at Dusk
bottom, left corner,(5.) several birds silhouetted against a blurred, high rising moon offers another take on how to capture the scene. Finally (6.) a clouded moon framed as it rises between the silhouette of two trees at dusk.
Clearly, the phenomenon offers countless possibilities to capture a…super image.
What a Difference a Day Makes / Hurricane Irma’s Wrath
What a difference a day makes…The image below was created on a beautiful evening in Coconut Grove at Florida’s Dinner Key Marina. The water was perfectly calm and the sailboats were lit by natural light from a full moon… Fast forward to Sunday as Hurricane Irma came ashore on the
Moonlit Sailboats, Coconut Grove, FL 2010 / ©Barry Steven Greff
west coast of Florida some 100 miles across the state on Marco Island. Notwithstanding how far away the eye of the hurricane was, her intensity and strength had significant impact on much of the east coast because the storm stretched further than the width of the State itself. Below are a couple of news images of what Dinner Key now looks like after the storm. The moorings of the
sailboats that were secured specifically for the storm, were no match for her. The winds and surge of the water dislodged many of the boats with some of them winding up on the shore as seen above while others capsized in the water.
As a resident of a state that has gone through many hurricanes, Floridians are a resilient bunch. No doubt, given enough time, Dinner Key will once again be restored to its natural splendor. It’s been done before and… I’m sure it will be done again.
You can help those affected by the storm by contacting the Red Cross at 1-800-HELP NOW or online at: http://rdcrss.org/2y1q1VV
_________________INDEPENDENCE DAY 2016__________________
“Whose broad stripes and bright stars, Through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, Were so gallantly streaming”..More stars than in 1814 when Francis Scott Key wrote those words, but this is my version of the image upon which they are based.
Broad stripes and bright stars, so gallantly streaming, 2014
Here’s to independence….it cannot be overrated.
Diary of a Fine Art Print / Amongst other things, it’s all in the Details
Niagara, 2006
(Cropped portion of people and bird from- Niagara, 2006)
The discussion as to what makes a Fine Art photograph is one for the ages. I have long respected the genre and have worked diligently to hone my craft. Although there are various definitions of what makes a photograph fine art, I subscribe to a more tradional theory that such an image is created with an aesthetic intention, that the value lies primarily in its beauty, rather than for journalistic, editorial or commercial purposes. I also believe that the image should tell a story, be unique, iconic, powerful…or all of the above. As beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, so goes a fine art photograph which usually entails vetting by those respected in the field. Knowing this, I fearlessly spent my early years placing my work in front of some of the most well respected photographers, gallerists, curators and collectors in the business. With the help of their support, the work was widely published in fine art magazines, exhibited in galleries across the U.S. and over time, a significant resume was built.
I believe that one of my signature images, Niagara, clearly exemplifies these equalities (shot from atop a hotel two miles away to capture this angle)… It has countinously been singled out by many of those alluded to above, in that the composition juxtaposing the grandeur of the falls with the minutia of the toursists indicates just how small we humans are in comparison to the forces of Mother Nature.
After getting past the composition (and then lighting, both of which cannot be adequately discussed in a blog post, if at all), I personally take significant pride in capturing the exacting details of a scene, whether it be the people in this image or the fine feathers in one of my close-up animal portraits.
Then, finally, and consistent with the teachings of the great Ansel Adams himself, capturing the image is only one half of the process. The printing (again, not something that can be covered here), is crucial to the creation of a fine art photographic print. Being true to the process, I hand print each of my images (up to 17″ x 22″) on a professional Epson 3800 printer using Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl paper and I personally oversee the larger prints to make sure they are color correct (again, another significant concern for another day) and that they print without a single unexpected blemish.
Finally, I pride myself on the key details of my images being “tack” sharp, as exemplified by the enlarged cropped portion of the image above. Although some of the older images can go only so far, as a perfectionist, I have gone through an entire roll of paper (athough thankfully not often) in order to ultimately create a single large print for a collector, and to my exacting standards. When a gallerist who regularly sells the work of masters such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston calls my prints “magic,” I know that I am doing something right.
Hence, there are many sources by which one can obtain a Fine Art print. I simply offer one that is created in my mind’s eye…and always from my heart. It is universally accepted that the first rule of collecting fine art photographyy is to actually enjoy the work. Hence, I strive to create images that make the viewer not only think…but feel, and I have been honored to have satisfied a wide array of selective collectors, and look forward to doing so for many others in the future.
Birds of a Feather / Flamingo Triptych
Flamingo Triptych, 2009-2013
While we are on the subject of Flamingos (from my last post), an additional Triptych available to collectors is the Flamingo Triptych which was created from 2009 through 2013. Three images of three different birds exhibit the diversity in color and design of the beautiful feathers seen on different animals. This piece can add some beautiful color to the right residential or commercial space.