R.F.Rennoldson
Twelve Tree portraits: November 2020 - April 2021
Contents Background The portraits Biography
Background
These twelve portraits are the result of the many taken during the months of November 2020 and April 2021 while in lockdown.
Given the lack of available people to photograph during this period , I thought I'd try photographing trees, and, rather than documenting the particulars of a species, I thought that it would be challenging to take photographs as one would a portrait of a person: tying to capture the essence of that individual tree in the manner that Richard Avedon did while documenting the workers of America.
Finding the character or history of an inanimate object is challenging but here are a 12 Trees; a white background or aggressive lighting seemed to work well, the difficulty lay in finding a solo tree or group of trees unencumbered by context so that the intricacies of form becomes the focus.
1: A near white out. sorbus aucuparia - mountain ash
2: White out in heavy frost crataegus monogyna - hawthorn
3: Misty with the sun burning through. aesculus hippocastanum - horse chestnut
4: Overcast fraxinus excelsior - ash
5: Low sunlight on a cloudy day aesculus hippocastanum - horse chestnut
6: Overcast at dusk aesculus hippocastanum - horse chestnut
7: Rain by a riverside salix alba - white willow
8: A very sunny day pinus sylvestris—scots pine
9: After the municipal arboriculturalist. pinus sylvestris—scots pine
10: Overcast yet clear tilia cordata - small-leaved lime
11: In full sunlight (Autumn) cedrus libani - cedar of lebanon
12: In full sunlight (Spring). fagus sylvatica f. purpurea –copper beech
Biography
An early photo of me taken by my father
Born in Germany to army parents, Ronnie initially studied under the Scottish colourist, John Nelson, at the newly opened Stevenson College in Edinburgh. Living in garrison towns in both England and Germany, summers were spent in Berlin with his German family and while negotiating the impact of both a divided Germany and the Berlin wall, he developed a taste for modernism and an understanding of place; admiring the work of the architects Hans Scharoun and Mies van der Rohe as well as the art of Robert Motherwell and Franz Kline. Moving to Dundee he studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design before graduating with degrees in Architecture from Dundee University. Setting up the award winning architectural consultancy CODA Architects, he was able to explore themes that would also inform his Art; themes that were intellectually generated, poetically inspired and reflecting the ’genius Loci ‘ of a place. Now working full time from his Bristol based studio he produces just twelve to fourteen paintings a year exploring memory and a sense of place and photographs in four main themes : Incident (the everyday stuff of life), Landscape, Architecture and Abstracts .
Biography
An old photo of me struggling with my Korelle Reflex
“
I’ve always taken photographs, probably inspired by my father who, although a chef, was a week-end wedding photographer, (baking the cakes and photographing the event seemed like a good combination). I remember my first photos taken with an Agfa Iso Rapid cassette camera, I remember the anticipation while I waited for them to be developed and I remember the crushing disappointment of how bad they were when I opened them in the chemists. From the ubiquitous and brick heavy Zenith E, I then moved to a vintage 120mm Korelle Reflex dated 1936 and made by Franz Kochmann, Dresden with a 135mm Carl Zeiss Jena lens and was introduced to the joys of the dark room at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, the importance of in-camera composition ( thinking before taking the shot) and the impact that ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture have, although I am not averse to using my phone camera. My photos now vary between the reportage of the everyday to stylised and graphically composed Architectural shots and dreamy Abstract photographs but are rarely spontaneous : What I think a photograph says is not what a viewer might see and while a photograph has an immediacy, once an experience has been fully assimilated, it takes on a new personal meaning.
”
Biography
Vaping : 2020
Ronnie's photographs have been published, used in corporate web sites, selected for public realm use and exhibited in Museums and solo shows. His Paintings has been exhibited in Royal Scottish Academy and Royal West of England Academy. In 2020, he had two paintings exhibited in the acclaimed 20 Contemporary Painters exhibition in Centrespace gallery, Bristol and in 2021 three paintings were shown at Creates Gallery .
www.ronnierennoldson.com