Adirondack birches

Usually when I stop on work I try to visit a persons portfolio to understand what they are about. I have to say that, overall, I am very impressed with your vision. A lot of order from chaos and unique views of landscape.

Your triptychs are generally well put together, a hard thing to consistently do. A couple seemed a little unbalanced, but overall, very nice. The balance on this one seems ok, but I am trying to decide how I feel about the center photo, especially as part of the series. I really like the Tamaracs triptych, but there is just something about this center photo that I am left wondering if it fits. I see how the crack in the rocks echoes the birch, but I don't know if that is strong enough to carry it for me. Sometimes it takes a bit of digestion, so I will try to visit again. Very nice work.

hey Mona Chrome - Thanks very much for the thoughtful feedback and for taking the time to look around my portfolio. i appreciate it very much.

A thought on how i approach my triptychs (and photography in general). i - like some, but not many - believe that one of photography's most interesting qualities is the abilility to record what you don't see - emotion and feeling. With that end in mind, i don't always asssemble triptychs strictly by their visual qualities. Most often, i put them together by feel.

i am especially pleased when one of my triptychs combines both a visual flow and an emotional/intellectual flow as well - something i call Illustrative and Illuminative.

In this particular case, visually, i like the left-to-right flow of cool to warm (color and season), i like the 2 complete "v"s bracketting the "broken" v (a little discord never hurts), i also like the l-r flow of hard to soft subject texture.

This triptych resonants for me emotionally and intellectually as well, but i always like to leave it to the observer to draw their own connections on this level.

Thanks again for the comments

Mark, thanks for taking the time to comment on your working style and this triptych in particular.

It is actually these qualities that drew me to your work. Paraphrasing Minor White, it is not what the photograph is, but what it becomes-(a little sloppy, but I am being too lazy to look it up and quote it right) Too many people never get that. Your work seems to be mandala like in many cases. What I think is unique in your work is that you play between the pictorial and order from chaos, rather than the pictorial and abstract like so many other "equivalent" photographers.

I will be sure to visit you postings regularly, Excellent.