Breaking Away to Enjoy Art 
ArtExpo NYC and New Aluminum Prints

To think, to feel, wonder and dream about art likely means more than quickly scrolling through Instagram or checking posts on Facebook. Instead, you might choose to make the time to visit a local museum or a gallery or even spend time on an artist’s website and start to know more about them and their work.
 
For me, that time to reflect often means picking up the camera and focusing on the things around us that we sometimes overlook or that can be captured and made into something that gives us pause -- a moment to reflect (often using infrared light).  Some new ones are here on the blog and on Instagram.
 
Breaking away to ArtExpo NYC: Complimentary passes to ArtExpo NYC are available. It is being held the weekend of April 5^th at Pier 90 in NYC.  This could be a great chance to get away and enjoy art.  With more than 1,000 established and emerging artists, galleries, art publishers and 35,000+ attendees this is a chance to see the newest, brightest faces of the art world and to purchase works from exhibitors in person. If you are in the New York area that weekend, please let me know as I have complimentary passes and would love to see you there.  
 
Art Talks: In addition to exhibiting new works at ArtExpo NYC, I will also be participating in the Art Talks Topics & Trends Education Program where I will be discussing aspects of my art, inspiration and career as an artist.
 
New Dye Sublimation Aluminum Prints: The new works that will be exhibited at ArtExpo NYC include experimenting with a new printing format beyond the limited and personal editions I currently print myself.  I am working with Blazing Editions and will exhibit a large (30’’ x 40’’) dye-sublimation aluminum print of the photo above, titled "Cactus in the Sky." 
 
The black and white infrared image is printed on clear gloss aluminum (the image is burned onto a silvery metal aluminum surface).  It not only “pops” because of the glossy metal surface but also has a sort of 3-dimensional feel to it.  The image “changes” as you walk around it going from a flat gray photo negative appearance to the popping 3-dimensional infrared image (this is influenced by the light reflecting off the aluminum).  

I am both excited by this new print format and how it impacts the image, as well as a little nervous since the infrared image on clear gloss is a bit “out there" as it changes with the light.

Worth a Look
Five other items may be of interest 

The Legendary D-Day Photos: If you know about the legend and stories of Robert Capa's famous D-Day photographs and how his negatives were lost in the darkroom, you might be interested to read this post by the respected photography critic, A.D. Coleman.  He dives into the history and story.  I'll leave it to you to judge, but it is quite an investigation and interesting read.
 
Infrared Photography: If you are interested and want to know more about infrared photography, I put together an overview including some of the technical aspects of shooting black and white infrared photographs.  It's on the blog.

On photographic prints and learning to see: Long time photography and photo book collector Manfred Heiting talks about what is an "original" photograph noting that to see something and tell what it is in a plain photographic way is "to see clearly, is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one."

Questions to ask a photography specialist: Here is a post covering everything from how to discover the kind of photography you want to buy to researching artists and photography terminology.

Photographer Showcase: I have started a new feature on the blog called “Photographer showcase”.  It’s fun to share other people’s work and my interest in photography beyond my own work. The first one features Geoff Livingston’s isolation series.