Immense, Silent, and Sacred

I have released a beautiful 46-page 8″x8″ softcover book containing eighteen of my photographs exhibited during The National Park Service:100 Years-California Dreaming exhibition at the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento, California. These eighteen images span many years of my work in Death Valley National Park and Joshua Tree National Park.

Books purchased through my website are signed/autographed. Immense, Silent, and Sacred can be fully previewed at MagCloud. Please note than purchases through MagCloud are unsigned/not autographed. Digital downloads are also available.

It has never been easier or less expensive to own my photographs in print form (that’s a little more than $1 per photo). Many thanks in advance for your support and purchases!

You are visiting the blog of fine art landscape photographer Michael E. Gordon. For additional photos and information, please visit his official website. You can also find Michael

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Desert Portraits

Riz Orkestra

I had great fun on Monday making portraits for two longtime creative friends. D.R. Lunsford (Douglas) will soon publish his first collection of short stories featuring one of my portraits on the cover (I’m looking forward to reading it, Doug!). ‘Riz Orkestra‘ is an amazing self-described “one-man-folk-roots-blues-band” who will hopefully soon be releasing another CD (we listened to fresh takes while driving) and I hope he’ll consider using my portrait of him. This article describes Riz as a musical “savant” – check him jamming on the Dobro, beautifully soloing on a Steinway, tearing it up on the vibraphone, and grooving on the blues slide guitar – Riz has immense talent. I’ve known him for

D.R. Lunsford

more than 20 years and he is one of the most gifted musicians (and people) I’ve listened to and with whom I have had the opportunity to jam with, record with, and photograph. Riz is The Master.

Doug’s portrait was made mid-day at Thousand Palms Oasis in Coachella Valley and Riz’s was made in Joshua Tree National Park near dusk. I used a single strobe, light stand, and umbrella for both. Enjoy, and please keep an eye out for D.R.’s book and Riz’s CD.

You are visiting the blog of fine art landscape photographer Michael E. Gordon. For additional photos and information, please visit his official website. You can also find Michael on Facebook, Google+, and  Twitter.

The Joshua Tree Fine Art Folio

I am very pleased to announce the official release of my new The Joshua Tree collector’s folio. This beautiful folio features twelve of my photographs from The Joshua Tree collection and measures 11×14” – conveniently sized for easy framing – with each image measuring approximately 8×10”. These beautiful prints are a delight to hold in the hand and they’re made using the same archival materials and techniques as all of my gallery prints, featuring rich warm/sepia tone carbon pigment inks on delicately textured fine art German Etching paper (a perfect match to the texture of the Joshua tree). Each open-edition folio is sequentially numbered with a title page, artist statement, and all twelve photographs arriving in a handsome embossed die-cut art paper enclosure.

My good friend and fellow photographer Guy Tal had some flattering things to say about this new folio on a recent blog post: “I can say without hesitation that this collection is among the most beautiful things I own…If you are one who appreciates the power of an exquisitely conceived and printed photograph, you will cherish this portfolio.” Thank you, Guy!

The Joshua Tree and  Desert fine art folios make wonderful holiday gifts for those who appreciate fine photography and the well-crafted print. Order yours today in time for the holidays!

You are visiting the blog of fine art landscape photographer Michael E. Gordon. For additional photos and information, please visit his official website. You can also find Michael on Facebook, Google+, and  Twitter.

Photo: Salvation: The Joshua Tree

Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia); Mojave National Preserve.

I’ve lived within a short drive of Joshua trees my entire life. Only a handful of years ago did I begin to consider these “trees” (it is a Yucca plant, not a tree) as something more than ordinary blips on the landscape – they are very common throughout the Mojave desert. I began to observe tourists posing with beautiful specimens, and realized that all along I had been taking for granted the remarkable Joshua tree. I’d spent years walking among them and recreating and photographing in their shadows, yet I had rarely trained my camera on the Joshua tree itself. They all looked ordinary and the same. And then one day my eyes were suddenly opened to their incredible uniqueness and individuality, and I began to seek out extraordinary specimens to photograph.

It’s quite difficult to find unique qualities in individual pines and aspens, for example; they all look very similar, and the unique aesthetic qualities each tree might possess are primarily hidden by their sameness. Quite the contrary with Joshua trees. Take a walk in any Joshua tree woodland and you will immediately observe that almost no two trees are alike. My wandering imagination got the better of me, and I began to see these specimens as individuals like humans, and sought to capture them in a portrait-like fashion. The Joshua Tree series was born.

Technical details: The Joshua Tree photographs are made with a 4×5″ view camera and black and white sheet film. Almost all the photographs have been made with a century-old Wollensak Verito lens which lends a soft-focus pictorial quality to the photographs. Why this approach over a modern lens and complete sharpness throughout? I like to involve and engage viewers. Sharp and detailed photographs don’t often leave much room for the imagination; there are no spaces to fill, no questions to ask, no thoughts to ponder. Easy ingestion and easy abandon, if you will, with one quick sweep of the eyes. I find that combining a mixture of sharp and soft elements side-by-side keeps my eyes and mind engaged; collectors and fans of these photographs seem to agree. I hope that you’ll enjoy them, too.

Purchase a print of this photograph for as little as $39…

You are visiting the blog of fine art landscape photographer Michael E. Gordon. For additional photos and information, please visit his official website.

Making the Photograph: The American Dream

The American Dream

The California desert is littered with the abandoned homes of prospectors, vagabonds, and dreamers. Some came to strike it rich; some came to escape the city; some came to get away from others. All became too familiar with the trials and tribulations of living on the desert – it ain’t easy. The money runs out, the water runs out, or the patience runs out, and what’s left long behind are the forgotten possessions and stories of those who tried but failed.

A few years back, during the midst of the summer monsoon on the Mojave Desert, I used the often useful WWW (indeed, there is more to it than just Facebook and Twitter) to watch radar and satellites to determine the locations of the fattest thunderheads. And then I went chasing.

Some have assumed that this photograph is a composite. No way! This was the scene as I found it; I have not digitally added or changed the clouds. The unusual lighting adds in some part to the suspicion, I suspect, as the entire foreground is in open shade, while the cloud structure receives full sun. This beautiful Cumulonimbus cloud structure was fortuitously “parked” behind the abandoned structure and building in volume, and the addition of the Joshua trees on the left side made me excited (the desert equivalent of an old oak tree in the yard!). I used my 4×5″ large format view camera, black and white film, and an orange filter. The final look of this photograph came at the printing stage, where I turned the sky black for maximum impact and imparted the overall look and feel I was after.

Just in time for the holidays: purchase a beautiful 8″ Mini-Print (made with pure carbon pigment inks on archival cotton rag, mounted/matted to 11×14″) for only $50. Larger prints are also available.

You are visiting the blog of fine art photographer Michael E. Gordon. For additional photos and information, please visit his official website

Lean

Joshua Tree, Death Valley National Park

I’ve just returned from an eight day sojourn into Death Valley National Park. Here’s a new image of a Joshua Tree (Lean) made on the rim of Perdido Canyon, overlooking Hidden Valley (just east of Racetrack Valley).

My vintage Wollensak Verito lens, combined with camera movements and shallow aperture (f11) gave me the historomantic effect I desired (historic + romantic; my newly invented word; perhaps you can find a use for it in your vocabulary :)).

Thank you for your thoughts.

You are visiting the blog of fine art photographer Michael E. Gordon. For additional photos and information, please visit his official website.