color

Fall 2022: Group Shows in CA and MN

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California

The Coachella Valley, like Santa Fe, is an artists’ mecca. The nine municipalities in the Valley are home to 370,000 permanent residents and this swells by another 100,000-200,000 during the “season,” the winter months that attract snow birds. There are numerous creative arts centers, collections of studios, and galleries across the valley, extending from Palm Springs to Coachella. Art walks, gallery openings, studio tours abound and I was pleased to be able to participate in two exhibitions happening in October and November this year.

The CREATE Center for the Arts in Palm Desert hosted an 8 week community show of mixed media work by its members as well as an invited group of artists to which I belong. These two old favorites of mine were hung.

Saguaro
Sunnylands I

The second show, all photographers, was by invitation from the Old Town Artisan Studios in La Quinta. It was called In Focus and lasted only a couple of weeks in October. Here’s what I submitted.

Bunker Hill

Zabriskie Point Sunset on the left and, on the right, A Proper Perspective.

Minnesota

The Praxis Gallery in Minneapolis has continuously changing international photography exhibitions. These shows are juried and cover a wide range of themes. I seem to do best with my black and white images and was happy to be included in the latest Black and White exhibition. The image juried in is below.

Manly Beacon (Death Valley National Park)

A Note About My Books

On the right panel, at the top, you see a block about books of my photographs that I have published over the years. The image shows three early books published using Blurb software and I have added three more to that collection: Monkey Business: Wildlife Sightings on the Osa Peninsula, Superbloom 2019, and The Big Picture: Panoramas. These are all still available from Blurb but the four other books I’ve published, using Zno software, are no longer available. It seems that Zno has updated their software and no longer is willing to archive books made with the old software.

I chose Zno at the time, 2015, because they were the only one offering the lay flat option, the feature that allows for a image to go across two pages without the distortion of the center fold. Since then, other publishers, including Blurb, offer this option. There may be other advantages to Zno but given my recent experience with them I’ll stick with Blurb for future books. I’m sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.

Sky’s the Limit: New Mexico

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The New Mexico Art League’s latest exhibition features representations – in a variety of media – of the  fabulous skies in this state. All three of my submissions were accepted (a first) and the one above was taken right up the  street from my house. It’s titled Eldorado, the name of our little unincorporated community about 12 mile southeast of Santa Fe.

Another image, A Proper Perspective, is a variation on a theme. You’ve seen it before in black and white. Here is the color version.

 

A Proper Perspective (410 x 600)

A Proper Perspective

The third image, Virgas, may also be in a gallery on this site, called there Into the Rain. It was taken in NE New Mexico, near a town called Roy,  where the land begins to become plains. I changed the title because on closer examination I thought the rain wasn’t actually reaching the ground, hence virgas. What do you think?

Virgas (aka Into the Rain)

Virgas

Trees: A Show at the Vista Grande Library

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Some thoughts about trees

Most of us are familiar with Joyce Kilmer’s poem with its vivid imagery of trees suckling at the breast of mother earth and his self-description as a fool for trying to describe in words such a magnificent creation. I share his frustration.

I am always attracted to trees, to the patterns and textures shown by the bark, the limbs and sometimes even the leaves. Their visual complexity is alluring, especially in the spring when the gloriously complex structure of deciduous trees are tinged with a delicate yellow green halo of small leaves.

I’m often tempted to anthropomorphize: trees “hide” their structure with a covering of leaves or needles; some “show off” with stunning coats of color in the Fall; all “go with the flow” of wind and weather. But here is a lovely example of the opposite:

“When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreen and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You’re too this or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”

-Ram Dass

I hope you will enjoy the woods that I have created.

Here are some images of trees that do not appear elsewhere on this site.

Look Up!

 

Angkor Province, Cambodia

Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show

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Each year hundreds of photographers submit thousands of photographs to the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show (ANMPAS) which showcases the finest photographic work being done in New Mexico. A jury of professionals selects only the best photography from Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque, and elsewhere in New Mexico for inclusion in the annual show.

I read that somewhere and saved it for an occasion like this. I probably would not have been so extravagantly boastful. I’ve known about ANMPAS for about 8 years now, since I began to show my work but have managed to submit entries only half those years. Traveling in the RV during the winter I either forgot or didn’t have the right images with me.  When I did submit I usually got at least one entry juried into the show. This year I was determined to not let the deadline slip by and got a couple of images accepted:

Yellowstone Magic

YELLOWSTONE MAGIC     The hot springs and pools at Yellowstone National Park provide           endless variations of color and abstraction.

Bunker Hill

BUNKER HILL                                 Not Boston’s, LA’s!

Here are images accepted in previous ANMPAS shows , 2011-2013.

Great Sand Dunes NP
The ruins of the original church of San Geronimo are reminders of that brutal deed.
Near Garfield, NM, the springtime flood irrigation of the groves promises pecans.
Bundles
Jin Mao, Shanghai

 

The show runs from April 1 through April 23 and the Fine Art Gallery at EXPO New Mexico will be open  from 10 am to 5 pm. Opening reception is Sat., March 31st from 2-4 pm.

Ta Da!

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This post opens my web site to the public. It is not the first post as I  created many in the process of learning how to use this site. I have left a few that I thought might be fun and  give you a sense of who I am besides a photographer. The primary purpose, though, is to  provide a place online where others may view my images. The Galleries are organized by theme and each has 7-15 images relating to the theme. The images that are there now will stay the same for quite a while but I will either replace them eventually or add sub galleries with different images. I will also add new themes as they arise.

Each gallery features a collection of images in a grid. Clicking on any one of them will launch a slide show that you control using the forward and backward arrows on either side of the image that appears.

More Recipes

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Summertime

and the livin’ is easy….Who wants to cook?? I mean really cook, over the stove, in the oven. So here are a couple of recipes that minimize the heat and maximize the flavor.

Thai Sesame Edamame

  • 3 T. water
  • 4 cups edamame pods (I use a package of TJ’s frozen fully cooked edamame)
  • 1 T. brown sugar
  • 1 T. dark sesame oil
  • 1 T. rice vinegar

    6042401_DTSCJ_205_shadowfill

    Cooking Light July, 2016 Photo by Jennifer Causey

  • ½ t. kosher salt
  • ½ t. freshly ground black pepper
  •  1 t. toasted sesame seeds

Mix the brown sugar, sesame oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a small bowl.

Bring 3 T. water to a boil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add edamame; cover and cook 2 min. or until pods are thawed.

Add the brown sugar mixture to the skillet and cook, uncovered until the liquid evaporates and the pods are coated.

Place in a bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Summer Squash Carpaccio

Using a mandolin, thinly (1/16 inch) slice one medium yellow squash and one medium zucchini lengthwise. Arrange a few slices in a single layer on a plate. Sprinkle with minced shallots and chopped mixed herbs. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Repeat in layers. Top with grated pecorino. Let marinate 20 minutes.

images

Recipe courtesy of Food Network Magazine- Photo by Antonis Achilleos

Variations and suggestions:

  • Use minced scallions or chives instead of shallots.
  • For the mixed herbs try mint, parsley, oregano in equal amounts; or try cilantro, oregano, and chives.
  • If using dill be sparing with it unless you really like dill.
  • Use garlic infused extra virgin olive oil.
  • Make in advance and marinate in refrigerator for several hours.

Cucumber-Tomatillo Gazpacho

I made this recipe recently and people who like tomatillos liked it a lot. I discovered I don’t particularly like the taste, preferring the traditional tomato gazpacho. Thus I am not saving this recipe but thought you might like to check it out.

Possible Categories for Portfolio Images

Imagejoan biordi, photographer

Introduction

I will eventually want to create collections of images that speak to an idea or theme. Several come to mind. I want each to be accessed by a link within the site and each to be a slide show, assuming the slide show can be manually operated by the viewer. What follows are some of the themes I have in mind and, for my benefit, the titles of the  images that might be included.

Black and White

   A.  New Mexico in Black and White

  1.    Soon, Pecans!
  2.    Folsom
  3.    On Johnson Mesa
  4.    Quebradas
  5.    Helices
  6.    Yucca Moon
  7.    Sugarite
  8.    Rio Grande Gorge
  9.    Taos North
  10.   No Sanctuary – Taos, 1847
  11.   San Geronimo
  12.   Clouds Over Deming
  13.   Wild Rivers
  14.   Across from Black Mesa
  15.   Cerrillos Hills
  16.   Santuario
  17.   White Sands
  18.   Ninety Degrees   
  19.   Abandoned
  20.   Into the Rain &/Rain
  21.   Burn Area 1
  22.   Burn Area 2
  23.   Burn Area 3
  24.   Pebble Place “River”
  25.   San Geronimo
  26.   Marc’s Garden
  27.   Eat Your Heart Out, Henry Moore
  28.   Judy’s Trees
  29.   Bisti Wings
  30. Bisti to Heaven

  B. Trees

  1.      Helices
  2.      Sugarite
  3.      Dance
  4.      Drama
  5.      Dance II
  6.      Soon Pecans

    images

    Enter a caption

  7.      Burn area 1
  8.      Burns area 2
  9.      Burn area 3 
  10.     Reflections
  11.     Madera Canyon
  12.     Guajome
  13.     Joshua Tree
  14.     Joshua Tree II
  15.     Mammoth Springs I  & III
  16.     Reflections C
  17.    Gunnison
  18.    Judy’s Trees

Continue reading →

Well, I’ve got to start somewhere…

Imagejoan biordi, photographer

 

I’ve been noodling around for days now trying to figure out what to put in this first post. I really hate that fake Latin stuff so I’ll just have to write my own, natter on about this and that.

I doubt I will be doing much posting in the future but you never know. Perhaps I’ll want to tell the world about trips, adventures as well as images. Still, that’s not why I’m here.

So why am I here?

I’ve been saying for years now that I need to get/do a web site. Friends, family who are not local often ask where they can see my images and, aside from a few shows and the now defunct Red Dot Gallery, the answer is only if I send you a file. Further, colleagues say “if you want to be in the game you have to have a web site.”

My impression, from taking numerous advanced project Media Arts classes where there was an astounding mix of disciplines, is that creating a web site, even the ones that are supposed to be all set up is an incredible amount of work. Not that I object to work; I do it all the time, slower these days but continuously.  It’s the old language applied to peculiar concepts that I shied away from. I just didn’t get it.

A couple of years ago a friend, a photographic artist, took this course and created a web site she uses mostly for travel blogging (she recently created another for her HOA). She had good things to say about the course, even offered to help me set a site up via WordPress, but it never happened. I knew, though, that I could do this if, when, the course was offered at a time I could take it.

So???

OK, so I want to make a portfolio web site. I want to upload images that I’d like others to see and, perhaps, comment on. I am not creating a vehicle for selling images although I will offer then for sale if anyone is interested.

I want to be able to show a variety of images in one place. I mostly do landscape photography, in color and black and white. Some abstracts, some portraits, some composites, some nonsense. I’d like to organize them and present them in such a way that they hang together nicely, that they make sense as a whole as well as individually.

So with that in mind I think I’m try putting an image in this post, just for starters.