PALM SPRINGS
EARTH DAY PHOTO CONTEST
2010 The Earth Through A Lens
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. - Native American Proverb
www.earththroughalensps.com
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“Earth Through a Lens” a national photographic competition and exhibition was established by the Sustainability Commission of the City of Palm Springs to address a Commission mandate: to enhance public education regarding development of a sustainable society. A side goal of this project is to encourage photographers, both amateur and professional, to document how human activity impacts the earth. “Earth Through a Lens” is a key piece of the Palm Springs’ Earth Day celebration and commitment to make Palm Springs a sustainable city. By holding the exhibit on Palm Canyon Drive, the heart of the City’s business district, we seek to make this show truly a public event that is accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The exhibit presents roughly 10% of the 300 plus entries that were received through a nation-wide contest. This exhibit portrays aspects of the natural environment with emphasis placed on deserts, mountains, and perhaps our most precious and limited resource, water. In juxtaposition with such images, we also present photos of environmental degradation as well as attempts to remediate past damage. We hope you enjoy our inaugural exhibit and we urge you to consider actions you can take to maintain the environment for future generations. Larry Fechter Chair, Earth Through a Lens
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
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Brian Brewington
Fort Collins, CO brian.brewington@gmail.com www.brianbrewington.com
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4x5 Fuji Velvia 100, 90mm, 20 sec at f/45 , $200
A Snowy Range Sunrise
Brian Brewington is an amateur landscape and nature photographer from Fort Collins, Colorado. Brian works with both digital and film, although he prefers the sharpness and intense colors that are part and parcel of a well-executed shot on his 4x5 Tachihara camera and Fuji Velvia.
Wyoming’s Snowy Range, capped by 12,013’ Medicine Bow Peak, is at the northern end of the Medicine Bow Mountains. The steep, fractured quartz ridge catches intense red sunlight the moment the sun clambers above the horizon.“A Snowy Range Sunrise” was captured at the height of the valley’s flower season, on the morning of August 9, 2008
The Earth Through A Lens
Tucson, AZ www.thewildlight.com
Laurent Baig
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Chollas aren’t the most loved of desert flora. They hurt, they are mean, and bury thorns deep into our skin. The only way to remove them is with a comb or a pair of pliers if we’ve remembered to bring one or the other. But there’s a majesty to them too as I found with this chain fruit cholla in Saguaro National Park. This made me think of a matriarch guarding over her children keeping the usually dominant saguaro at bay. Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Warrior Queen
Unspecified Media, $345
Laurent Baig has been rock climbing, hiking, and mountain biking in the desert southwest for the last 14 years. His eyes are always full of wonder for the little bits and pieces of natures full glory.
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Michael E. Gordon
Long Beach, CA www.michael-gordon.com
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Unspecified Media, $450
Joshua Trees Indian Summer Sky
Michael Gordon is an award-winning fine art landscape photographer of unusual and overlooked natural landscapes of California and beyond. He is best known for his black and white ‘Desert’ series. Awards and recognition include International Photography Awards, Prix de la Photographie, Paris, and Black & White Spider Awards.
I am a lifelong student of nature and wilderness. My long-standing relationship with the landscape yields photographs of depth and clarity. It is not my desire to document or record what I see, but to create expressive works of art that reach well below the surface of my subjects to reveal their character and soul.
The Earth Through A Lens
Surprise, AZ Kcpla3@yahoo.com www.kcpla.com
Kenn Coplan
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My current project is a photographic survey and documentation of my local desert. I am photographing the Purgamentum that covers what once was an unmolested desert.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Bad Year Tire
Unspecified Media, $950
I am from Chicago, obtained my BA from Southern Illinois, and went on to get my MFA at Savannah College of Art and Design. I worked as an Art Director in the film industry for 12 years. Recently I moved to Phoenix and started to travel the “Uncelebrated Arizona Landscape� hunting for artifacts to photograph and rust to sculpt.
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David Seccombe
New York, NY davidseccombe@earthlink.net
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Unspecified Media, $600
Landing Gear, Tucson AZ
David Seccombe’s work has appeared in the NY Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, Arts et Lettres (Paris) and the Staten Island Advance. He is a free-lance photographer on the streets of New York, at Ground Zero, and at commercial sites across the U.S. His work is in the permanent collections of many museums and private collections. He currently lives in NYC and is represented by O.K.Harris Works of Art, NYC.
Replacement parts can be very expensive and difficult to find. Aero salvage yards supply cheap used parts, which can be refurbished and made good as new, with less expenditure of labor, energy, materials and money.
The Earth Through A Lens
Joshua Tree, CA turquoise6@verizon.net www.spelmanevansdowner.com
Spelman Evans Downer
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This image is of the extensive windmill farms in the Palm Springs area. The photo was taken just before sunrise on December 29th, 2009 during a break in a winter storm that brought much wind and rain to the Coachella Valley. By using a long telephoto lens the pictorial space is compressed with the myriad windmills appearing all clustered in close proximity. Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
At Sunrise Windmills
Unspecified Media, $400
Spelman Evans Downer is a Stanford graduate, and has a MA from San Francisco State University. Currently the Art Chair for Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree, he teaches classes in digital photography, multimedia, graphic design, and the History of Photography. He is the owner of Turquoise MultiMedia, specializing in desert landscapes, fine art nudes, and music video productions.
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Gene Pembroke
Philadelphia, PA geniephoto@yahoo.com
I am a Philadelphia-based photographer. I travel with a beat-up Nikon F3 five months of every year and try to capture the ‘wow’ and wonder of our marvelous world. All of my images come from 35mm slide film, and are not manipulated or altered in any way. Unspecified Media, $350
Fractures In A Frozen Lake II
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“Fractures in a Frozen Lake” was taken in a remote corner of western Mongolia. I was walking on a snow-covered icy lake when a sudden intense windstorm cleared the surface of all of the snow, revealing this amazing network of white cracks and air bubbles woven into the deep blue of this unpolluted lake. The Earth Through A Lens
Mark Lyon I grew up in the Rochester, NY suburbs. I attended the School of Visual Arts and completed my undergraduate degree at SUNY New Paltz in 2003 and my master’s degree in 2008. I teach art and photography at Beacon High School. In 2008 I received a Fellowship from The Center for Photography at Woodstock and I am a runner up for the 2009 Aperture Portfolio Prize.
“Cell Phone Tower Trunk, Albany Post Rd., Garrison, NY”, was taken in the backyard of a residence in the Hudson Valley. This image is part of a series, Conversations with Trees, which documents cell phone towers that have been disguised to look like trees. These camouflaged towers attempt to beautify one of our ubiquitous technological advances, but also mask the controversy over potential health hazards of cellular radiation. Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
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Cell Phone Tower Trunk
Digital Archival Print, 12”x18”, 2009, $350
Marlboro, NY marklyonphotography@yahoo.com www.marklyonphotography.com
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Steve Immel
Ranchos de Taos, NM steve@steveimmelphotography.com www.steveimmelphotography.com
Good Luck
Unspecified Media,$700
A fine art photographer for forty years, Steve Immel is best known for his classic black and white images. He has had numerous solo and group shows and is featured in the February 2010 issue of B&W magazine.
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This teardrop trailer is both tragic and humorous as it decays on the shore of the former Owens Lake. The Owens Valley was an agricultural utopia until its farmers sold their water, and some would say their souls, to Los Angeles in the 1920s. The lake is now an alkaline, windblown blight on the land and Keeler, CA has declined to 66 humans with a median age of 57. The Earth Through A Lens
Davis, CA trnathan@ucdavis.edu www.terrynathanphoto.com
Terry Nathan
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Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park, which borders Northern Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is a vast, pristine wilderness. Carved by glaciers, the region is a mosaic of rivers, bogs, and lakes. I made this image while on a 10-day wilderness canoe trip through Quetico Provincial Park.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Tao Of The River
Digital Pigment Print, 30”X 24”, $380 (print plus mat)
Terry Nathan is a professor in the Art/Science Fusion and Atmospheric Science Programs at the University of California, Davis, where he teaches “Photography: Bridging Art and Science” and courses on climate science. Terry’s fine art work, which centers on architecture, landscape, documentary and art/science fusion, has been published in a variety of magazines and shown in several national juried exhibitions.
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Terry Nathan
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Digital Pigment Print, 24”X 30”, $380 (print plus mat)
Cloud Splitter
In this photograph, the serrated edges of the Grand Teton Mountains split the clouds to reveal a rugged massif of cliffs, snow and rocks. In “Cloud Splitter,” what you see on the left and diagonally to the bottom right is the facade of Teewinot Mountain. Peaking through the clouds in the upper right is Grand Teton Mountain.
The Earth Through A Lens
I made this photograph while roaming through Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park. I watched for over an hour as an isolated thunderstorm drifted through the region. As the storm dissipated, I waited for a small cloud remnant to drift over the oxbow, providing a singular moment when light and form united to reveal the sublimity of nature.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Oxbow And Cloud
Digital Pigment Print, 24� X 30� $380 (print plus mat)
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Joseph Kovarik
Colorado Springs, CO josephpkovarik@hotmail.com
Seasons Clash
Unspecified Media,$189
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In the Mid-90’s Joe Kovarik restarted his photography career, but was interrupted by a severe genetic heart disease leading to a heart transplant in 2001. With a new gift of life and an appreciation of the beauty of nature, he switched to digital photography and resumed his pursuit of unique images to illustrate the gift of nature’s beauty. In late September I traveled to Aspen in hopes of an iconic image of the Maroon Bells. I stayed at the lake’s edge for 3 hours hoping the sky would clear and I could capture the hues of the mountainside against the crisp blue sky. Suddenly, the sky to my left opened up for a few moments to cast a shaft of light on the mountain lasting only about a minute. The Earth Through A Lens
In 2002 a Forest Service Employee caused the largest fire in Colorado’s recorded history. The fire she started eventually burned 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes, and forced the evacuation of 5,340 persons. Seven years later the desolation of the burned trees is still evident. The land is gradually recovering, but it will be 50 years before the land is fully restored.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Fire And Desolation
Unspecified Media, 20�X16�, $475
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John Hans
Greenwood, MO jwhans@gmail.com www.jwhans.com
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Unspecified Media, $950
Oroville #25
My first exposure to fine art photography was at Southwest Missouri State University where I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I look at photography as a way to create different views of the everyday, and to create aesthetically pleasing images from ordinary, often overlooked surroundings. My personal works include images from nature as well as man-made subjects.
My personal works include images from nature as well as man-made subjects. I find that origin in photography is ambiguous. An inorganic structure, when viewed in a different context, can defy the pre-conceived notions of the naked eye and transform into something completely different.
The Earth Through A Lens
Don Whitebread Recent exhibits have been at the Yosemite Museum and the San Diego Museum of Natural History. Black and White Magazine will publish a Spotlight Portfolio Feature of my work in their February 2010 issue. Recent Exhibits and Events include: Honolua Mauka portfolio Black and White Magazine Silver Award, Landscape/Nature Category for “Star Tracks Over Yosemite Falls” Single Image Issue, December 2009 Honorable Mention Award for “Star Tracks Over Yosemite Falls”.
“Joshua Tree Outcrop”, was made recently in the soft light soon after sunset just as the shapes and textures of the rocks came to life. This area of Joshua Tree National Park, called Jumbo Rocks, is a perfect example of how simple things like rocks, erosion and light can combine to create great beauty when nature is left unaltered.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
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Joshua Tree Outcrop
Archival Pigment Prints, 24” X 30”, $450 (print plus mat)
Mountain View, CA info@donwhitebread.com www.donwhitebread.com
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Don Whitebread
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Archival Pigment Prints, 30” X 24”, $450 (print plus mat)
Dumont Sand Dunes
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“Dumont Sand Dunes, Before Wheels”, was made in 1976, on a winter camping trip with college friends. We camped at Dumont Dunes on the way to Death Valley, so I was able to walk through the dunes in rich early morning light. We had this stunning area completely to ourselves for days This was long before that area was turned into an ATV/Jeep park. The dunes are usually covered with tracks and RVs now. Images were captured on black and white film, and were finished as Archival Pigment Prints. Image size is 16 x 20, matted to 24 x 30.
The Earth Through A Lens
Paul Gannon is a working artist concentrating in the medium of photography. He got his Bachelor of Fine Art in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Currently he has many bodies of work underway. He has exhibited work at a one-man show in London, and group and juried shows in Europe and the US, as well as having appeared in various publications. As I photograph aerials across the US, I am amazed at the palette below me and the many facets of our existence on this Earth that are revealed. One minute I am drawn to the beauty of our incredible natural world, ten minutes later it is the beauty of our own design interacting on the surface that intrigues me. Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
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Green River, Uintah Basin, Utah
Paul Gannon
Unspecified Media,Edition of 8, 19.5� x 26�, $3500,
Miami Beach, FL Drpaulgannon@gmail.com www.GannonArt.com
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Richard C. Saxon
Lafayette, CO stuffeyesee@aol.com www.stuffeyesee.com
Frolic
Unspecified Media,$625
I have been a photographer for over 30 years. I’ve won numerous awards and contests through the years and have found photography to be a deeply satisfying endeavor. The focus of my work is landscapes and outdoor scenes but will occasionally capture images of people in a natural setting.
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Gas Works Park is what remains of a coal gasification plant built in 1906 that was used to provide power and light to Seattle. Later the plant switched to oil. After extensive site cleanup and landscaping the Gas Works Park was opened to the public in 1975. This photograph is meant to convey a spirit of optimism over the possibility of renewal under impossible circumstances The Earth Through A Lens
San Clemente, CA gary@cc.occoxmail.com www.chromaconcepts.com
Gary Zuercher
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“Rock Fantasy” photographed near Jumbo Rock in Joshua Tree National Park. Nikon D3 with an AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 lens. Printed on Ilford Gallery Gold Fibre Silk with an Epson Stylus Pro 9900 with UltraChrome HDR Inks.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Rock Fantasy
Digital Archival Print, 24” x16”, $400
I am originally from Central Illinois. In 1961, I traveled to the deserts of the Southwest and California. My fascination with the beauty of the deserts and coastline and the diverse cultures of California have provided my artistic inspiration. I especially try to record the fractal patterns in nature.The capture of movement in still images continues to be one of my main objectives in photography.
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Julie Brookman
San Francisco, CA julie@juliebrookman.com www.juliebrookman.com
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Unspecified Media, $600
Limited Expansion
My work uses photography to explore the dichotomous nature of plastic bags: their beauty and imperfection, the ease in which they are acquired and the difficulty in which they are discarded. Julie Brookman lives and works as an artist in San Francisco after living in South East Asia and working as a SCUBA instructor.
While living in Southeast Asia, my anticipation of an untouched and unchanging paradise was interrupted by a disturbing amount of trash. It struck me how introducing plastic—a seemingly simple and innocuous artifact—into a community can forge such a lasting impact on the culture and landscape. Archival digital photograph of plastic shopping bags.
The Earth Through A Lens
Setauket, NY quinnd@sunysuffolk.edu www.dquinnphotography.com
David Quinn
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Our oceans and beaches are constantly changing and in motion. This image depicts this state of flux and its mesmerizing effect and “pull� on us.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Gilgo Beach
Unspecified Media, $175
My goal is to create photographs which compel people to linger and contemplate the visual drama in our world. Many of my landscapes are presented in a straightforward manner; however, on some occasions I create images using various techniques to create a sense of movement and mood.
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David Quinn
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Unspecified Media, $175
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Moonlit, NC
Moonlight on a dark empty sea provides a shimmering magical view that seems to go on forever as there are no reference points to limit our imaginations.
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The Earth Through A Lens
David Nasater
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David Nasater is a photographic artist whose images deal with the concepts of place and time. His works have been exhibited predominately in the Sacramento area of California. Nasater has a degree in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is self-taught in the art of photography. He currently lives in Davis, California with his wife Paula. These giant structures with their constant movement seem out of place in the idyllic farmland. That’s what draws me to them. My goal is to give the viewer the sense of a continuum of existence around the subject instead of a static image. This image was taken in the Montezuma Hills outside of Rio Vista in the Sacramento River Delta.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Past And Future
B&W Pigment Print on Rag Paper, 20”X10.5”, $250 Matted Print
Davis, CA david@davidnasater.com www.davidnasater.com
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Rich Frishman
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Langley, WA rich@frishphoto.com www.frishphoto.com
Unspecified Media, 30”X13”, $1000
Garbage Dump, Essex, CA
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Rich Frishman’s photography is regularly featured in national and international magazines and annual reports. His clients range from Anadarko Petroleum to Zurich Financial and include National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and the Smithsonian Institution. He specializes in fine art landscapes, portraiture and illustrative photomosaics. His portraiture and fine art photography is included in numerous private collections. The remains of an incinerated truck adds to the waste in an abandoned garbage dump along Route 66 in Essex, California. This high dynamic range panoramic image is actually constructed of over 100 separate meticulously masked and assembled photographs. The landscape of the desert is often paradoxical. Absent of masking vegetation, the liminal zone between nature and society is revealed. Here we can see the delicate balance in which our entire ecosystem hangs. The Earth Through A Lens
Unspecified Media, 30�X12�, $1000
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Remains of former dwellings dot the mudflats along the Salton Sea in Bombay Beach. A resort haven in the 50s and 60s. A series of floods and environmental disasters have left the town and the Sea itself in ruins.This high dynamic range panoramic image is actually constructed of over 60 separate meticulously masked and assembled photographs.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Bombay Beach
Many of my landscapes are presented in a straightforward manner; however, on some occasions I create images using various techniques to create a sense of movement and mood. In my nature and landscape photographs I try to encourage the viewer to linger and contemplate the more subtle beauty of our natural world.
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Rich Frishman
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Imperial Sand Dunes
Unspecified Media, 30�X7�, $1000
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This panoramic image of the Imperial Sand Dunes is actually a composite montage of over 200 separate photographs. Shot over a 2-day period with a 400mm lens, the individual images were painstakingly masked and assembled in their true relative positions, resulting in an authentic representation of the dune landscape, but with a hyperbolized presentation of the human activity.
The Earth Through A Lens
Patrick Appel
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Unspecified Media, $150
San Ramon, CA patrick.appel@comcast.net www.appelimages.com
Patrick Appel is a nature photographer from San Ramon, California. A transplanted Texan, Patrick fell in love with the deserts and mountains of West Texas on his many trips, and has been photographing desert flora and scenery for many years. This print is a high dynamic range photograph stitched from multiple shots.
Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Pure Water
Pure Water. The purest water on earth sits in Crater Lake, Oregon, on the crest of the Cascade Mountain range, 100 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. The lake is confined in a caldera created when the 12,000 foot high Mount Mazama collapsed following an eruption nearly 8,000 years ago.
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Victor Gonzalez
Cathedral City, CA meant4more3@yahoo.com
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Unspecified Media
Potential Beauty
My name is Victor Gonzalez and ever since I was a child I’ve been attracted to stimulating photography and magazine ads. When I entered high school in 2007, I joined the Digital Arts Technology Academy at Cathedral City HS. I am now in my third year of the Academy and am constantly learning new techniques to manipulate imagery and creative ideas.
I was trying to find the potential beauty of the desert behind the Dream Homes of Cathedral City. I live in this neighborhood and see each day how people neglect it and leave their garbage for others to put up with. This photo was selected as the outstanding work by a high school student in the Palm Springs Unified School District. The Earth Through A Lens
Toledo, OH raz2tri@yahoo.com
Karine Avanian
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Stepanakert, the Capital of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, has no regular power supply. People use wood stoves as an alternative to electrical and gas heating. So every autumn families prepare for the winter by collecting firewood for their wood stoves. And every day at 5 o’clock the air in Stepanakert fills with the unforgettable aroma of burning wood and Armenian BBQ. Palm Springs Earth Day Photo Contest 2010
Firewood
Unspecified Media, $150
I’m originally from Yerevan, Armenia. I have a bachelors degree in Radio Engineering. I moved to Toledo, OH 3 years ago, and am currently employed at FedEx as a Production Operator. My photos have been exhibited in various shows, including a solo exhibition at the Museum of Nature of Armenia in October 2007.
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Lewis Francis
Long Beach, CA lewis@lewisfrancis.net www.lewisfrancis.net
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Unspecified Media, 16�X20�, $475 (framed)
Barker Dam #1
I was born and raised on the Rock of Gibraltar and moved to the US in 1994. Growing up in what was effectively a tiny island, the sense of space and the scale of the landscapes and cities of the US still amaze me.
Barker Dam #1 Joshua Tree National Park near Barker Dam. The skeletal remains of trees and bare rocks in this harsh desert landscape stand out against a backdrop of clouds brewing in the early afternoon sky.
The Earth Through A Lens
20 Steps to Take Use compact fluorescent light bulbs Turn your thermostat down Clean or replace your air conditioning filter Conserve water Reduce, reuse, recycle Use energy efficient appliances Turn off & unplug lights, computers,TVsafter use Leave the car at home – bike, walk, carpoolor take the bus Incorporate shade into your landscape Install insulation in your home Get a home energy audit Use low or no VOC paint Buy and use local, sustainable foods andfood products Get a water audit and incorporate changes Consider replacing lawn with low wateruse “desert friendly” landscape Use alternative fuel or hybrid vehicles Use green or sustainable buildingtechniques when building or remodeling Drink tap water Get an annual tune up Full loads for both clothes and dish washer
Towards Sustainability
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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTICIPATING SPONSERS 1st Gallery