queen wasp sarcophagus

I think that the philosopher Rousseau was correct in his critique of Descartes “Critical Historical Method” (Cartesian Method) when I see this picture. Rousseau might have said, if we kill the frog to understand it in terms of science, we can’t really understand the frog in its complexity. A frog is made of more than muscle and sinew, which is all you have when it is dead and under the microscope. It jumps from lily pad to lily pad catching its food, sunning and generally doing Froggy things. Even in understanding the frog’s behavioral aspects, it may also have something unique and immeasurable such as a soul.

This dead queen wasp’s sarcophagus lies on my studio window ledge, to remind me of my own temporal existence. I had to kill this queen’s nest last summer, in order to trim a tall cedar hedge where its very large paper hive was hung. Devoid of life, its empty shell lays here collecting dust. It saddens me.
If art is catharsis then here is my celebration of this queen’s life gone by.

Nikon D300, AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
1/60s @ f/22, ISO 200
SB800 Flash TTL-mode
cropped, CS3ext post processing, sized

_______________________
I feel better already – thank you camera and thank you lens.

Gerard

wildlife photography

I came across this beautiful Mallard Duck today while walking in Gibbons Park, London, Canada.

Nikon D300, AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED
1/125s @ f/16, ISO 400, aperture priority

decay in the core

The old Capitol Theatre
London, Canada 2008

I went into to the studio here in London and seemed to have secluded myself for the better part of a decade.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve lived in New York as an artist in residence with CrossPathCulture. I’ve worked in South Africa on a major project for a few months. I’ve been to London to see the Tate Modern. I relaxed with my family in Portugal, Vermont, and Ottawa. I hiked through the beauty that is the Queen Charlotte Islands Canada (Haida Gwaii) with my wife, as well as cruising the West Coast of Canada from the border of Alaska to Vancouver. I have visited Spain and the beautiful city of Seville. My wife and daughter went to Morocco. In simple words it is not as if I locked the door of the studio and did not come out because of a Rip Van Winkle deep sleep (sleep is good).

What I mean is that while I’ve been living in London Canada, I’ve secluded myself from downtown London where I spent my youth. Sure, I’d go downtown from time to time for an exhibition, dinner or an event but I haven’t really ambled around the core streets in the daylight. Like most I’d often just drive to a suburban mall and shop there. When in New York I’d be out much of the time but here in London I very much lived like a hermit.

I went downtown today to jury a student work to receive a small prize for a 2nd year Fanshawe College exhibition. While downtown, I noticed that the much of what I loved about our centers architecture has fallen into decrepitude or changed into a post-modern nightmare of generic modern buildings none of which has any lasting beauty. It made me sad for the buildings.

I love my current job as student consultant and graduating student instructor because it took me downtown. Sadly / happily, it opened my eyes to the decay in our core.

Gerard

flowers in my studio

Hibiscus have been blooming in my studio all winter long. I'm happy with that as there is still snow on the ground outside.

Nikon D300, 105.mm f/2.8 Nikkor VR
0.8sec @ f/36, ISO 200, Focal Length 105mm
SB-800 & SB-28 Flash
tripod mounted

first day of spring not last day of winter here

Dusk at Peggy's and Marvin's

Nikon D300
18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lens
18mm 1/5 @ f/3.5 ISO 800
Photoshop CS3 Infra-Red application

a grey day in my yard

Nikon D300, 12 - 24 mm f/4 lens,
f/8 @ 1/400, 200 ISO

new scultpure detail

A Nikon D300, 105mm f/2.8 lens,
f/3.2 @ 105mm, 200 ISO
SB800 Flash set to Auto

straight out of the camera only sized with Photoshop CS3ext

---

It's all about the glass with the camera and this is very sharp and bright lense. It's all about the desire to stop ? in the new sculpture.

This new work promises to be interesting, I'm excited by it from these macro-photo perspectives.

a new rig and glass

I bought a new rig and some new glass and thought I’d give you a photographic taste. This is the first image that I have published from this new camera and lenses. This photo is straight out of the camera except that I had to size it down for the internet. The image is a detail from one of my recent works in progress in the studio. I don’t want to show much more of the work as it still has a way to go before completion and I’m superstitious about showing unfinished work. But this post is about my new camera and lenses and not the studio.

A Nikon D300, 105mm f/2.8 lens, f/3.5 @ 105mm, 200 ISO
straight out of the camera only sized with Photoshop CS3

---

I get very intimate with my camera, as we do a lot of things together my camera and I. It is always with me; damn we even go on holidays together. I learn to love my cameras or I get rid of them. I still own every one that has been good to me from the last 35 years.

This new rig: a Nikon D300 12.3 megapixel D-SLR camera is pretty……. well it is; simply put, it is amazing. It is not necessarily the nicest camera I have ever bought as I have some nice cameras with amazing pieces of German optics but it could easily become the nicest. It is certainly the smartest camera body I’ve ever owned. This new D300 feels like it is going to be a great friend and serve me well.

Cameras are really nothing though if you don’t have some decent glass to put in front of them. I’m trying three focal lengths on this new body.

For Macro --- AF-S Micro NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8D (used in above image)
For Wide Angle --- AF-S DX Zoom NIKKOR 12-24mm f4G
For in between --- AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-70mm f3.5-4.5

All this precision made glass and this incredible camera body still need a human eye and brain to make anything-worthwhile come out of it. Without the artists mind and eye, all you’re really left with is some very, very expensive bling, bling --- but it sure makes you look good wearing it.