Just three days after my initial hire date at San Jose State University, in December, 2008, my brother Eric and his bandmate Aaron performed live in SJSU's radio studio. (See this prior blog entry.)
After their gig was up we trolled the as-yet-unfamiliar-to-me campus environs and, as the sun was setting, strolled famished into a largely empty eatery. During the ensuing mastication conversation the day's last rays began streaming into the dining space through a large bay window.
The low slanting photons accentuated the wall's texture magnificently and the deep yellows cast a glowing warmth to the ambiance. The oddly abandoned chair -- seemingly exiled to facing the wall as if being punished -- served as the pivotal element required for the tableau presented below.
This image was originally published in a test gallery on my first website; after seeing it Eric wrote an email to me stating that, not for the first time, he found himself quietly puzzled and amused over [my] seemingly unfathomable photographic interest in what seemed an ordinary scene . . . and after seeing the resulting photograph he was impressed yet again by my "vision".
My brother happens to be the most artistically gifted human I know -- musician, writer, programmer, sketch artist and photographer too -- thus his praise was and is deeply meaningful to me. Oh: it just so happens that I consider this to be one of my very best images as well.
Iguana Room, #1971
© 2010 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.
(click image for larger version)
Details: December 6, 2008; Canon 20D; f/6.3 @ 1/60 sec; ± 0 EV; ISO 200; 30mm.
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WOW! If you blow this up to say, 6 x 9, I'd happily hang this in my house. LOVE the color and contrast.
ReplyDeleteIguana Room, #1971: Um- Tasty. It's got a Jan-Vermeer-y feel to it- The colors and contrasts are rich, pleasing to the eye and heart; there is an almost-memory of the feeling of the plaster, roughness and and a smell of dust.
ReplyDeleteA chair in the shadow, facing the wall- Is it a meditating place? A denial of the world? Koan? What? It is this ambiguity and clarity of image which continue to delight me, tease me, and lead me inward.
Green, Hornet, #9601: Wow! this piece is a roller coaster ride of strong lines, drawing the eye inward to the presence in the center; there is a pleasant feeling of 'zooming in' on a small moment, a small slice of business in the life of a wasp. It is this quality in James' work which arrests. One cannot 'skim' this picture- It wants to be dwelt upon, seen complete; its colors soothe and calm the viewer into a quiet space, with the soft rustle of leaves and small doings.
ReplyDeleteRed Handle, #9464
ReplyDeleteUnlike many of James' pieces, this one is redolent of a specific time and place in my life, many years ago when I worked on my grandfather's farm. There was just such a wheel on a standpipe valve, which was painted in this color red, with this uncompromising shape, which said to all who passed, 'This is the part you turn', long ago, on hot summer days on a farm...
Another of James' visual challenges; there is this delightful moment between when the eye has seen the shapes, the angles, the grays and blacks, and the time when the mind says 'aha! this is a...', when the image is pure image- Not the representation of anything, but a pattern, pure, untrammeled by rules of depth, shadow and form. That moment is the space between heartbeats, the silence between thoughts. the most pleasant thing about these images is that, even after the mind has resolved the mystery, the memory of the mystery remains.
ReplyDeleteAbstract (Homage to Siskind), #9203
ReplyDeleteThis one is a kind of visual prestidigitation- The subject has no secrets, there are no tricky shadows, there is nothing hidden. The focus is sharp, almost pitilessly so.
In spite of this, the eye/mind insists upon movement- The eye replays the stroke of the brush, and its direction is inviolable.
The eye will not willingly unpaint the stripe. While time stands still in the shot, it will not stand still backward
Abstract (Homage to Dante), #9203
ReplyDeleteThe delight and trouble with abstracts is that they are, well... abstract. The piece itself is one of violent change and movement- One can see flickering, dancing light and shadow, a sense of something reaching upward toward the unattainable.
The photographer knows what he has photographed; to the viewer it is a wonderful mystery, a vast field of possibility-
What better feast for the eye and heart than the orange and umber picture of... A planet falling onto the sun? The flames of hell, buoying up a higher circle of torment? The center of the earth, all magma and molten iron? Pity the poor photographer- He knows what it IS.
Independent Streaks, #5955
ReplyDeleteThis is one of James' 'musical' pieces. There is a strong rhythm, a sense of of the line of a melody. If music could be seen, this is what it would look like.
The color and magic in this piece please me very much. It is one of those pieces that lifts the heart, and draws it along with the parade of light and motion.
James,
ReplyDeleteI'm serious!!!