The presence of
water as the subject or background of a photograph has been a common theme throughout my
photographs. Waterworks was compiled to highlight those photographic works where water was
an element of the image. Compared to other exhibitions, these photographs are much softer.
The tone is not as extremely black and white compared to the previous Greece exhibition.
The photograph of the wheel on the beach was taken in Australia at Royal National Park just south of Sydney. As we approached the wheel, I immediately shut out the friend I was hiking with and started seeing the world in 35 mm format. He was quite surprised as I snapped photo after photo of the wheel, even asking why it was so special. It is probably one of the more popular photographs in the exhibition. I think what is so interesting about it is the composition coupled with the total incongruity of a wheel sitting in the middle of a rather pristine beach. It just doesn’t make sense.
The photos from the Salton Sea were taken in one day, and from only one roll of black and white film. There are many rolls shot where I can’t get one single picture that I think is worth printing. And on the Salton Sea roll, I had a hard time choosing which ones to print. I guess it shows the fickleness of inspiration or creativity.
The photograph in Prague is shot
from a bridge south of the Charles Bridge. I was in Prague in December of 1994. It was a
long time after the velvet revolution and just past the time that it was being touted as
the expatriate-artist hang out of the 90s. Even though spring may be the best time to see
Prague, I was very interested in the dark gray winters of northern and eastern Europe. At
the time, bad hotels were relatively expensive and amazing hotels were relatively
inexpensive, so we chose after one night in an expensive bad hotel to spend the rest of
the time in a relatively inexpensive nice hotel between the Vltava River and the Mala
Strana bridge towers. The room had windows immediately facing the tower and facing the
bridge. The weather did not disappoint and more than once we were caught in snow showers.
Crossing the bridge multiple times going to and from the hotel, I noticed that the view
from the other bridge was probably nice. My suspicions were correct and I got a number of
acceptable photos and the one presented here. This photograph is probably the most popular
image in the exhibition.
The exhibition was first shown in Santa Monica, California in 1995.