Keith Dotson Photography Newsletter - Spring 2016

The Newsletter of Photogra pher Keith Dotson

Spring 2016

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Headlines

Bacara Resort and Spa Selects Two Keith Dotson Photographs for Its New Angel Oak Restaurant In a deal arranged by Hatch Deign Group, Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara, California will feature two of my black and white photographs in their new oceanside restaurant, Angel Oak, which opens in May 2016.

I’m delighted that my photographs were selected for the restaurant’s new branding and interior design revamp. I can’t wait to see them in person the next time I’m in California! A big thank you to everyone at Bacara and Hatch Design Group who facilitated my involvement in this deal.

See a photo of the restaurant interior showing my work on the next spread or on Bacara’s website (link below). My photographs can be seen at the right, somewhat obscured by the foliage.

Visit Bacara’s website at www.bacararesort.com See more Hatch Design Group’s work at www.hatchdesign.com

These tree photographs will adorn the walls of the new Angel Oak Restaurant at Bacara Resort and Spa, Santa Barbara, California.

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Keith Dotson Photo “The Enchanted Forest” Goes on European Tour with Danish Singer Ida Gard Super-talented Danish musician and singer Ida Gard selected “The Enchanted Forest,” a black and white landscape photograph featuring a mysterious forest in fog, to serve as the stage backdrop for her tour of Germany and Denmark this Spring.

The photograph, reproduced on fabric at the size of three meters by two meters was enhanced by varying light effects to suit the nature of the performance. The tour supported Ida’s new album, and the performances were themed around the novel Popular Music From Vittula by Mikael Niemi. The book is set in the North of Sweden.

Many thanks to Ida for taking my work along on the road. Maybe I can’t live the rockstar life, but at least my photograph did.

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Client photos of my work

Dubai, UAE

Santa Barbara, CA

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Virginia, USA

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New Work Dark Botanicals Drying roses passed their prime. Dimly lit weeds.

Curving and swirling strands of grass.

These dark and moody photographs offer a different slant on the typical style of floral photography.

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Dark Botanicals Drying roses passed their prime. Dimly lit weeds.

Curving and swirling strands of grass.

These dark and moody photographs offer a different slant on the typical style of floral photography.

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Intimate and beautiful. At the same time cracked, twisted, dried, and bent. I wanted to appreciate everyday weeds and flowers in a new way.

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The Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi acknowledges that transience and imperfection are beautiful. The tea cup need not be perfectly formed and made of gleeming porcelain to be an object of art. Rather, according to wabi sabi, the tea cup may be uneven in its shape and in its glazing, yet still be desirable.

The main appeal of flowers is color. Without color, flowers can rapidly lose appeal. The photographer may rely on contrast, as is often seen in images of white tulips or irises highlighted against a dark background. Or the photographer may rely on texture, which is not so obvious in fresh blooms.

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As the petals age and begin to wither, the color darkens and fades, but their surfaces come alive with drama, shape, and texture. Suddenly the bloom becomes more than a flower. It becomes a metaphor, made more precious by it’s transience. Its tiny cracks and curls become a world unto themselves.

History Edward S. Curtis In this issue we’re looking at Canyon de Chelly — Navajo, photographed in 1904 by Edward Sheriff Curtis. Yes, his middle name was really Sheriff, and he was one of the first rock stars of photography, with a 30-year career of traveling the American West, making over 50,000 glass plate negatives of the vanishing native cultures. Even aside from photography, E.S. Curtis was an interesting guy with quite a life story — many highs and lows. I encourage you to find out more about him.

Canyon de Chelly — Navajo was published in Curtis’ epic 20-volume series of books called The North American Indian, and this image shows Curtis’ landscape work at its finest. The Native Americans nicknamed Curtis “Shadowcatcher” and in this print, it’s easy to see why.

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Curtis’ landscape photographs had a profound impact on movie directors like John Ford, who made many classic westerns with stars like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart.

As a documentarian Curtis legacy is a little dicey. He was known to alter scenes and pose his subjects in romanticized ways that were not always authentic. It has been said that what Curtis wanted to photograph no longer existed, so he recreated it. Still, his photographic record of Native Americans is unrivalled.

Here we see across an expansive flat basin, seven Navajo riders on horseback with a faithful dog, slowly trekking through the floor of the sacred Canyon de Chelly in Arizona.

The riders are dwarfed by the magnificent cliffs of the canyon walls behind them.

We can tell by their shadows that it’s slightly before or perhaps slightly after midday.

This particular print of Canyon de Chelly — Navajo is a gold-toned platinum print, from the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The size is 9 3/4 x 12 3/4 in. Looking closely at the surface of the paper, you can clearly see the texture because, unlike silver gelatin prints, platinum prints require no gelatin emulsion coating. That gives the print a really luxurious matte surface, and shadows which are less black and dense than the shadows found in silver gelatin prints. The choice of platinum indicates that Curtis viewed his work as artistically important, and he was fond of gold-toning.

Canyon de Chelly — Navajo remains one of Curtis most popular photographs. More than 111 years after it’s creation, it still attracts tourists who want to view the location as photographed by Curtis, but the area has long since become overgrown with cottonwood trees and no longer looks the same.

At bottom left, we can see a blind emboss that reads “Copyrighted 1904 by E.S. Curtis”.

At bottom right is Curtis’ signature.

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New Work

Clarksdale, Mississippi

The Mississippi Delta’s shabby but authentic home of the blues. In its heyday, countless blues musicians lived or played

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in Clarksdale, and its seedy juke joints. The legendary John Lee Hooker was born in Clarksdale in 1917.

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“Now I see twelve white horses yeah walking in a line Moving east across the metal bridge on Highway 49. . .”

— Jimmy Page & Robert Plant “Walking Into Clarksdale”

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My Instagram Daily photos from my portfolio, from my travels, and from my life.

Connect with me keithdotson

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About Keith Dotson is a contemporary photographer living in Nashville, Tennessee.

Specializing in black and white photography, his favorite subjects include landscapes, cityscapes, and abstractions from nature. He seeks evocative subjects with an especially powerful spirit or essence — often objects or places with a strong connection to history.

Keith is a single parent of two young adults. Originally from Texas, he graduated from St. Edward’s University in Austin and studied art in Houston. After military service, he worked as an art director and creative director for many years, while exploring painting, drawing, and finally settling on photography. An avid traveler, he has carried a camera across the US and to many spots around the globe, from Europe to India, and even above the Arctic Circle in Greenland. For several years, he taught art and design on the adjunct faculty at Austin Community College (Austin, TX) and at Texas State Technical College (Waco, TX).

He currently resides in the vibrant Nashville area, where he enjoys the city’s live music scene, good southern cooking, and nature’s beauty in all four seasons.

Exhibitions Keith’s photographs have been exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Nashville, Minneapolis, Toronto, Madison (WI), and Knoxville (TN).

Collections In addition to many private collectors across the US, Europe, and Australia, photographs

by Keith Dotson can be found on the walls of major hotels, financial services firms, high tech companies, universities, and fine restaurants.

Have You Seen Keith’s Work on TV? Keith Dotson’s photos have also made appearances on the sets of many TV shows like Melissa and Joey, Gossip Girl, The Mindy Project. His work has also been seen in dozens of major national TV commercials for companies like Wendy’s, Spiriva, Marshall’s, and DirecTV.

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