Music To My Eyes; Sites Full Of Soul

"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here."--J.K. Rowling

Like many photographers, some of the artists featured this month have a musical background. Many people forget that Ansel Adams was a pianist; maybe the black and white keys on the piano were the inspiration for his Zone System. "Achromatic," sounds like a type of lens, but also describes musical notes that occur naturally in a scale, without being modified by accidentals. So whether these photographers are using Apochromatic lenses or playing achromatic sounds, it's still rock 'n roll to me.

Sean Perry's site is a quiet oasis providing a rest from the Flash-based, multimedia, commercial experience the web has become. It's a place to meditate.
© 2004, Sean Perry, All Rights Reserved

In Search Of The Muse
Sean Perry (www.seanperry.com) has a background in music and studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the heart of Perry's low-key website are four Series that are found in his Images gallery and when clicked reveal photographs that might generously be called "medium-sized." Like the others on the site, his Still Life Series contains a collection of tiny thumbnails, that when clicked reveal luminously crafted images of the kind of everyday objects you might find in your kitchen. He provides captions with the kind of information that collectors are interested in, such as titles, media, and print and edition sizes. His Portraits are monochrome images with a few color shots tossed in to keep you off-balance. All of them are wonderful, with "The Friend" (monochrome) and "The Muse" (color) being particular standouts.

Found Images could easily be called cornucopia since it includes images such as the magical monochrome photograph of a butterfly, "Found," to "Dreaming," a study of light and shadow that becomes a Rorschach test. His Current Series is a collection of images of satellite/microwave/radio telescope dishes that may be interesting to fans of the film Contact. Perry's site is a quiet oasis providing a rest from the Flash-based, multimedia, experience the web has become. It's a place to meditate.

Guy Tremblay is a traditional fine art photographer who uses medium format and fine-grained film for black and white images that are on display in his Portrait, Nature, and Flora galleries.
© 2004, Guy Tremblay, All Rights Reserved

The View From Up North
You can view Guy Tremblay's bilingual site (www.guytremblayphoto.com) in English or French. He's a traditional fine art photographer who uses medium format, fine-grained film, and "the silver print for its unequaled qualities." And there is lots of quality in the black and white images on display in his Portrait, Nature, and Flora galleries. Yes, Monsieur Tremblay shoots flowers as monochrome images of such striking simplicity that they allow you to focus on their shapes and shadows instead of being distracted by color. When perusing the galleries, micro thumbnails (is this a trend?) leap into larger sizes when rolling your mouse over them.

His nature photography is nice but Tremblay springs into creative life when photographing people in his Portrait gallery. From two children hiding in some rocks to a young person being kissed by a cow to pensive moments of a girl holding a bunny, these images are full of surprises and love. That's because Tremblay prefers to photograph people he knows well. Some of his newest portraits were made outside an abandoned building and his goal was to "create an ambiguity...as to which were the street workers and which were the street kids." It doesn't matter to me if he reached that goal because the sensitive, meticulously crafted photographs reached me, and will reach you, too, I bet.

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