I did the same walk around the harbor that I do every day when I am in Wilhelmshaven. But today I felt exhausted afterwards, and it wasn’t from the physical weight of the camera. I felt tired because I used my out-of-shape “photographic vision,” a special way of looking at the world through a camera. It took about half an hour of walking and shooting to get into “photographic vision,” and it now persists for some time after I put down the camera. “Photographic vision” lets me take photographs without using a camera, in a sense. I assume all the photographers have this; probably the professionals live with it all the time. For an amateur like me, it yields a sort of “mental muscle ache,” something like what you feel when you first start exercising muscles that you didn’t realize you had. All the more reason for the daily workout!

We have had much discussion about painting from photographs (e.g. here, here and here). What about painting on photographs? Artist Erika Meershoek and photographer Dennis Moet of Haarlem have teamed up to do just this. Their work is a powerful synthesis of the two media, which, beyond its visual impact, turns the photography versus painting discussion on its head.

Everyone knows about Photoshop and its power to manipulate images. What painters realize, however, is that the tools in Photoshop are impoverished compared to what an artist can do with real paint. Why digitally manipulate a photograph, when you can paint on it directly?

The answer is that when painting directly on a photograph, you arrive at something which is neither a photograph nor a painting, but a conceptual and physical blend of the two. A traditional photographer or painter might not feel comfortable with this new form. But looking at the great results (and presumably fun) that Erika and Dennis are getting, I find myself asking, why don’t I do this also?

Of course, beyond getting over the intellectual barriers of thinking of photography and painting as separate art forms, there is the issue of how to do it well. Erika and Dennis each bring special talents to the work. It would be a mistake to assume that one could casually achieve such powerful results.

Painting on photographs has a long history and is enjoying popularity now as well. Erika and Dennis would never claim to have invented this technique. Their contribution is in pushing it to a new level.

What do you say, photographers and painters? Should we collaborate, or stick with our traditional media?

Paul Butzi recently showed this photograph on Art & Perception. I fell in love with it at first sight. There was no discussion of the image in the post itself. I asked Paul if he could write something about the picture, and he did. At that point, I decided to buy the print.

This weekend Paul’s print arrived in the mail. I was not sure exactly what to expect, because Paul uses an Epson printer to produce his prints, and I had no idea what the result would be. Now that I have it here, I am surprised but pleased with the result. The print is crisp (despite my lousy photo of it above) and has lovely gray tones. It is not like a “normal” photograph, however — it is matt rather than glossy. This does not diminish its beauty, but does give it a different feel — say, like a fresco as compared to an oil painting.

Am I ready to “upgrade” to the 40″x50″ print for $2500? I’d like to Paul, though I’ll have to wait on that one. But I am most encouraged with my first foray into the online art market.

I’m in San Diego. I will spare you the ten million sunset photos, the paraglider photos, the wave and ocean photos, the nifty rock formation photos. Below are some images straight off the camera which I find interesting.
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(click images below to enlarge)

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Here the man we saw in the previous photo is sitting in his car looking at the couple ahead of him. We see him in his mirror. Not great, but sort of neat. The point is, this would be a tough one to get with plein air painting.

[UPDATE: As I mentioned, these are jpeg files straight from the camera (only reduced in size). If you would like to work with these files further (or the 4 MB originals), please feel free to do so and use the results for any purpose you wish. If you create something interesting with them, I'd be interested to hear about it.]

I see this building each time I visit Hanneke van Oosterhout’s nearby studio in Haarlem. The building speaks to me. I recorded its message with the press of a button.

I would be pleased if I had painted this condemned building. But why should I paint, when I can make a photograph?

Photography is associated with all aspects of Dan Bodner’s cityscape artwork, a connection which he finds appropriate. Bodner explains:

I want to use photography as a source for my work because we cannot separate how we see from the way photography has informed our vision. I think photography allows painting to be what it is today.

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first part of this interview

Question: When you work from photographs, do you ever ask yourself, what is the point of making the painting, when the image already exists in the photo?

Bodner: No. A photo is a record of a moment that has passed, a dead moment. I don’t feel that I own the image as a photograph until I paint it as a painting. The photo itself always refers to the past. But a painting of the photo is a creation, which goes on living. The painting defines its own continuing moment in time.

Question: Does painting go beyond the goal of simply making an image?

Bodner: What painting is for me is part of human desire. Every kid smears his food, or shit, and that is really connected to what painting is. A kid makes a mark and has the satisfaction of knowing “I made this and it will stay there.” For an adult I think it is connected to fear of death, which is innate. And it is connected to the desire to procreate. As you get older it gets existential, of course. To take things out of you and put them into the world, there is an absolute satisfaction in that. To do this from a photo emphasizes the act of creation, bringing life to something dead.

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In the next post, more about how Dan Bodner uses photos, his subjects and his methods