When I first began thinking about this post I thought I had a clear argument, but now as I write it – not so sure. In this year’s Toronto Contact Photography Festival catalogue it seems a lot of the publicized exhibitions are photography…
I spend so much time wrapped up in my own mind trying to work out what to say with my images I forget it’s not really necessary to do this. What I do photographically is what comes intuitively – as it should be,…
I recently read some advice – sort of, from 5 different artists. Sort of, as in not all of them were necessarily spoken by the artist but perhaps gleaned from their work and statements. Reading the lessons made me happy and calm. They’re…
Still not entirely certain where my ideas or reasons for making this work come from, although I wonder if some of this might resemble some raw internal visual input. Perhaps this is akin to the raw signal from our optic nerve before processing…
The Convergent series is up on my site — (click here to have a look) – which includes a new group of previously unpublished images! I’ve got a lot of work ahead preparing all the Convergent image files for printing but feels good to have the…
In considering ideas for my next project, I’ve been thinking about the city as a living organism or perhaps a living reef. The inert infrastructure is ever morphing from the efforts of us the living inhabitants – we are like the city’s life…
Yesterday I completed work on the final edit of my latest body of work – the Convergent series. I’m aiming to have all the images up on my site by next week’s post but there are 40 images so it may take a…
One of the few things that has really stuck with me from my Computer Science Degree is the concept of iteration. When you’re writing a program often times in order to solve a problem or to complete a task you have to adjust…
This is a confusing time of the year – lots of year-end preparation and attempts to complete commitments. Lets just say, like everyone else, I’m working on it – Ha! And the pastel pieces continue.
By Chance this morning I saw an exhibition postcard for a print maker Lorna Livey whose prints remind me of my own pursuits. Just beautiful atmospheric images reminiscent of skylines as seen from airplane windows. Feels good to see another artist arrive at similar…
Had some visualizations on how to approach the Intersection project. Generally, I like to make long exposures and I often use pinholes, but this time was thinking – something a little more stuttered. They may be long exposures also but I think I’ll…
I’ve been contemplating my next project for a while now. It’s a long anxious process, but this morning while observing an intersection on Dundas west – the same one I’ve been seeing weekly for two months, I began to consider intersections as a…
Wait a sec – I’m not interested in the intersection of time and rhythm, like I said last week – it’s just rhythm. Time is a factor of rhythm not a separate element – so are cycles, so is movement, so is pattern. This…
This morning I was considering what shape my next project might be. While I’m still very much interested in the intersection of time and rhythm I’m not certain how else to address them. They’re both fairly abstract concepts photographically and well, the resulting five…
At long last I’ve begun posting on Instagram. I know, I know – what took you so long? No idea. But I’ve started – at least now vs never. My Instagram is @williamoldacre and there is a second account @dreamgeometry. @williamoldacre will have…
Time is a peculiar thing for me. I’m beginning to wonder if I have some form of memory issue. I kind of need images as a key to remember or perhaps I should say – images act as a key for memories. Today…
It’s been really difficult for me to articulate thoughtfully about the images I make. I realize now it’s because I largely operate intuitively. Much of what I do and everything I pursue is all based on intuition. I do it because it feels…
Been doing more thinking about why movement is important in my latest bodies of work. It’s not just movement but time, rhythm and pattern. I think it distills down to this – geometry. As a kid I was really good in math and…
Been thinking a lot lately about my creative work and how I’m going to get it out to a wider audience – honestly I’ve been thinking about that for … well, years. My reticence about doing this is my own personal demon to…
Made some small progress these past weeks and actually taped up the mould so it’s ready for the first pour – of the second attempt. Hoping… to get to that next week. Been a busy summer – for a change. But still working…
Just got back from a week of vacation back country canoe camping at Bon Echo provincial park – Northeast of Belleville. There was one night I got up at 2am while everyone was asleep – there was no wind, the fire was out,…
So much of how I photograph has become second nature. Most of what I shoot is my family with my cell phone. They’ve become much more self conscious and aware that I’m making photographs so I’ve had to get stealthy. But even that…
I’m very easily influenced by others and so it’s difficult for me to find my own path. This is true for all aspects of my personality. It can be good when it fires my imagination but it can be bad when it leads…
Despite my drive for faster gear and work processes, it’s odd – after making source images I sit on them for weeks or months before combing through and finishing them. In a way this is no different from the long slow process I used…
Back years ago when I was shooting both panchromatic and infrared black and white film, it was a lengthy process to get from shooting to an image. I had the film processing down to a consistent procedure that I could largely do while sitting…
There’s always an urgency for me when I’m shooting. Most of what I see in the world is fleeting and short lived – a momentary alignment where the light, the shadow, the subject, the colour, the framing – all of it are perfect….
When I first began shooting black and white in grade 9 the camera club had no flash units – just 35mm Pentax cameras. So I got used to shooting using available light. Over the years as I bought camera equipment it was the camera…
For some reason I’ve never spent a lot of money on camera gear. I suppose it’s something that began in my student days of limited money but then became a habit. Although, when it comes to anything shiny new and technical, I do tend…
I was speaking with a client yesterday about alternate photographic printing processes – gum bichromate, salted paper, and cyanotype. In the early 90’s I took a bunch of different workshops at Gallery 44 where they taught alternate printing processes like these. Looking back…
