by Matthias Pfau
This will be a short post. North west of Santa Fe is Diablo Canyon, you reach it on Rt 77, passing through some ranch land and finally stopping at a dramatic gorge. It is the entry way to a nice hike down to the Rio Grande. I headed out there on a grey day but towards evening the sun came […]
This is a bit of a personal journey back in my own history. Some 25 years ago I spent a year in Strasbourg France, the year and place where my oldest son was born. From my parents I had learned a little bit of black and white darkroom technique using two old folding cameras, one of them a Zeiss Ikon […]
Over the past two weeks I got a lucky break and was able to take some quick morning trips, while kids where still sleeping, and an evening trip to do a little shooting in medium format. Of course whenever you leave home the first thing that you encounter are these never ending roads. Along the road you run into some […]
As you can see I am taking a short break from my Greek travel posts, to create a post from my morning drive. Usually I get up before sunrise, kids are still sleeping, and for an hour or two I can practice some photography . This morning I headed south on HWY 285. This route takes you immediately away from […]
Leaving Kos by ferry we headed to Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese islands. The benefit of travelling by boat, you get to see other islands along the way. In our case the ferry had one stop over in Symi. Symi harbor is a sight to behold. All buildings in the small harbor are painted in warm, red and orange […]
Before covid, when travel was still a low risk proposition, I spent a summer touring some of the Greek islands with my boys. We started in Kos and continued by ferry to other destinations. I was interested how much of the Greece, which I came to know as a child, was still out there and could it still be found. […]
Eldorado, a small community, south of Santa Fe was my home for the past 2 years. So it is about time that I put together a small collection celebrating its colors. Here I decided to focus on its pueblo revival style architecture. The neighborhood is quiet to be sure and with Covid the sense of silence and emptiness grew even […]
This post is a series of black and white images of boulders and rocks only. Clearly black and white is the obvious choice and with it texture becomes the dominant theme. Texture means detail and detail requires large size to be appreciated, which explains why I opted for large images even though I run the risk of making all flaws […]
A few days ago I came across the newly released photo book “Sam Shepard: New Mexico”. Much like many road pictures taken along route 66 most images where in black and white celebrating the vast landscapes of New Mexico. In general pop culture focuses on the barren landscape with its impoverished looking pueblos. Ansel Adams “Moon rise over Hernandez, New […]
So I had a prior post showing you the sugar coated, candy side of Chicago. Yes I plead guilty to this charge. To redeem myself I promise you, this post will be different. The photography style is inspired by the Japanese photo magazine “Provoke” (プロヴォーク) from the late 1960s. I suppose “Provoke” intended to use style in support of a […]
Chicago, due to its location, was and remains the industrial hub for the mid west. Accordingly there are many active and abandoned industrial sights to be found. Most industries have been pushed out of the city. In my time the meat packers were expelled to make place for gentrification just west of the loop. I am sure some developers pushed […]
Architecture is one of the most important legacies of Chicago. Walking through town you are treated to a history tour or you can just book a tour with the Chicago Architectual Society. Here are some samples of images I took in my almost ten years in Chicago. But don’t be mistaken, this is the glossy side of Chicago and we […]
Take the B or Q line down to Brighton Beach, the southern end of Brooklyn, and spend a weekend afternoon watching Russians enjoy life in the American diaspora. The one block walk from the station to the beach shows already something is a little different here. Typically you don’t find this type model on American streets. Right at the entrance […]
A random collection of images from the city of big shoulders. Calder’s Flamingo sculpture, right in the center of the loop, is a fun location for photography. Surrounded by the legacy of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture it stands out in bright red. The Chicago Air and Water show used to be a fun event. Now, with Covid keeping us […]
Some preliminary thoughts on how to capture color or by extension light rather than using color to enhance an image. Many great photographers taught us how color can be put to good use in photography, too many to list them all right here. Far fewer photographers go out to capture light, or color for their own sake. This is hardly […]
(Making a case for photo cubism aka joiners) Many times I witnessed photographers vehemently objecting to images like David Hockney’s famous “Pearlblossom HWY”, California Just to show how far such objections go, recently a portrait photography group on FB, a group with many professional photographers contributing, took down this portrait with no explanation offered. Tobias, Chicago 2013 It just so […]
