The public is invited to a reception to celebrate the release of Johsel Namkung / A Retrospective, the latest publication from Cosgrove Editions. If you love nature, this is a must see book!
When: Saturday, May 26th from 3 – 6 PM
Where: Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall,2nd Floor,UW Campus
Admission: Complimentary
Johsel Namkung has long been considered a Master of Landscape Photography. His entire exhibition at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in 2006 is now part of SAM’s permanent collection. At 93 years of age, this book represents the culmination of Johsel’s life in photography.
Johsel Namkung / A Retrospective, includes 100 of Johsels best photographs, a third of which have never been exhibited. Published by Cosgrove Editions, the book comes in a standard hard cover edition plus two special editions: a Slipcase Edition of 250 signed and numbered copies, and a Deluxe Clamshell Box Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies that also includes a CD of vocal performances by Johsel, plus a 16 x 20 inch archival pigment print chosen from any photograph in the book.
The book is beautifully bound with Chinese Silk fabric, and printed with ultra high resolution technology as befits Johsel’s extremely detailed images. This oversize monograph is 13.5 inches high x 17.0 inches wide. It contains a Foreword by Art Wolfe, wildlife and nature photographer extraordinaire, a Foreword by Elizabeth Brown, former chief curator at the Henry Art Gallery, plus a portrait of Johsel by Northwest iconic photographer Mary Randlett.
Note that parking in the underground garage off of 15thAve N.E. at NE 41st Street is free on Saturday afternoon.
While not required, an RSVP would be most appreciated to dick@cosgroveweb.com.
Early May is a great time to catch the migrating shorebirds as they fly up the coast from California, or the Pacific Flyway as it is called. Sanderlings, dunlins, and other assorted shorebirds pause for a couple of weeks at Bowerman Basin in Grays Harbor on the Olympic Peninsula. Boardwalks provide great access. When the tides are high, and there are no exposed mud flats, all the birds are densely packed together. It is quite the spectacle to see a million birds in a tight area. Also, if there happens to be a bird of prey near, they fly around in tight bundles turning in all directions with great precision. It looks like many bodies, but one brain operating them all. It is definitely worth a trip out to the coast if you are in the Pacific Northwest in those two weeks.
The Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival is May 4-6 this year:
What to do with April Showers? – Get an umbrella, grab your camera and get outside.
I spent 2 days photographing in the Columbia Gorge and along the Southern Washington Coast, in the rain, and I couldn’t have been happier. The previous 2 days were beautiful. Blue skies, sunshine, unseasonably warm temperatures – and I wasn’t at all interested in getting outside with my camera.
While I’m always open to any subject, on this trip I had very soft, high key, moody images in mind that I could render in black and white. The coastal and inland waters of the Columbia Gorge in addition to having one spectacular waterfall after the next are littered with old pilings from a bygone era of wealth and prosperity from the timber barons of the late 1800 and early 1900s. I have photographed these subjects in the past and knew they needed the right atmospheric conditions, namely fog, to be successful. Here in the NW fog isn’t all that predictable or persistent, but when you don’t have fog, rain can be an excellent (and even better) substitute.
The overcast skies provided the perfect soft box to light the subject, the falling rain softens the image and disturbs the water such that the long exposures necessary with my smallest apertures render the image as a high key, mysterious and quiet, yet powerful image. I knew I would be rendering these in black and white and positioned myself to maximize the white background where the sky was indistinguishable from the sea. I could have stayed with these as a subject for the entire day working different angles, focal lengths and exposures. It was food for my soul and I felt like I was at an all you can eat buffet.
I wasn’t going to overlook the waterfalls as this was the perfect time of the year to photograph them through the fine lines of the trees. The leaves have only just begun to come out adding a touch of color while not obscuring the view of the falls. Most people would say I was “too early” to shoot the falls but you’ll find in about 2 weeks time the trees will have leafed out to where the shots I was able to create with patterns of lines and positive and negative space would be impossible to replicate.
Lastly I met up with friends early in the morning to photograph the Portland Japanese Gardens. With an annual pass you can visit the gardens 2 hours ahead of the general public and photograph largely unencumbered. Again the time of year allowed for some subtle color in the maple trees as they had only begun to leaf out while not obscuring the fine details and patterns of the intricate under-story of their branches. Yes it was a bit too early for bushels of blossoms but when you look at the patterns in nature, the energy contained in a balance of positive and negative space, you’ll find there is rarely ever a bad time to photograph areas like the Japanese Gardens. And when you realize the potential you may never look at a rainy day the same way again.
For the month of April, you should head back to the Skagit Valley to the tulip and daffodil fields. Many people don’t realize that they grow as many tulips in the Skagit Valley as they do in Holland. The rows and rows of brilliant color is a spectacular sight. Thousands of people from the Seattle area venture north to see this beautiful display of bright colors. One of the best ways to see this fields is from the air; the rows of flowers abstract into bands of color. In Washington, it is how we welcome the spring!
One of his favorite locations, Art has revisited Devils’s Marbles south of Tennant Creek. It’s famous for the gigantic granite boulders arrayed across a the flat landscape.
There is a very nice spread in the University of Washington Alumni Magazine “COLUMNS” this month. The University is celebrating 2012 as their 150th Anniversary and featuring noteworthy Alumni.
Art Wolfe graduated in 1975. This spread also celebrates the beautiful and unique natural environment of the UW campus as only Art can see it.
Begins at the birding paradise Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary, winds through a truly dazzling array of bazaars and ends at one of the oldest continously inhabited cities on Earth, sacred Varanasi on the Ganges.
