Just in time for February, my print collection of some of my favorite Astro-landscapes, nightscapes, and sunrises are available for purchase. You can see and purchase them at Creative Liberties Studio, located in the Lime Street Art District in Sarasota, FL.
901 Apricot Ave,
Sarasota, FL 34237
Store hours are:
Thursday - Monday - 10 am–4 pm
Tuesday & Wednesday by appointment only.
(941) 799-6634.
The collection includes three 20x30, four 16x20, two 12x18, and one 12x36 Metal Aluminum Print. Along with twenty-two 16x20 and twenty-five matted prints.
What makes these my favorites, or more simply, why did I take the shot? The collection is a culmination of several years of traveling the country and a lot of thinking. Way back at the beginning of my photo education, my photography said at the end of every class that we needed to "think before we click." One day, a student asked him why he said that every time. He smiled and said, "I want you to not just think of the mechanics of taking a photo, which is important, but not as important as why you think you need to take the photo." Someone else asked him, "What?"
He went on to say that anyone can take a photo. "It's not that hard. You push the button and the camera does all the work. What I'm teaching you in class are the steps involved in that process. Once you've learned the process, you need to ask yourselves why you are taking or making the photo."
I've learned the process of taking and making landscapes, and more recently, Astro-landscapes. But why take them at all?
Landscapes are a way for me to connect myself to the world. Like most of us, I work and pay bills will probably do so until the day I die. However, that's not living; that's a process of getting by. Landscape photography is, for me, a spiritual connection. The spiritual that I seek isn't religious or a belief in a guiding spirit. The closest I've found that describes how I feel when I look at a landscape is Carl Sagan's - A Pale Blue Dot.
In the end, I'm just a tiny human being walking along the surface of a pebble in the universe. When I'm watching the sun, the moon, or stars rise and set, I can almost feel our tiny world drifting through the "great enveloping cosmic dark." For me, there is no more humbling experience.
My landscape work aims to remind the viewer how small humankind is. How important that we try to be kinder to each other and to this world we live in. We are just stories at the end; we only need to make them a good one.
The collection of photos here is my attempt to "think before I click." Creating them is a way to leave a good story for my son. I hope. If I could change anything about my photography work, I'd print them in bigger sizes than what you'll see there.
If you like any of the work you see here and would like a copy, don't hesitate to contact me directly. Print sales help me pay the bills and put food on the table. Remember, I have a family to feed, and I would rather have them eat something other than me.