The road into the Wisconsin woods, October 2009

I always loved the Paul Simon lyric, “She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes.” It seems most appropriate in Autumn when the fallen leaves are all varieties of flaming red and yellow. On a recent excursion to the woods, I found myself feeling guilty for walking on the rich carpet of fallen leaves because I felt almost as though I was treading on a priceless collection of precious gems, not just diamonds but all kinds of rubies and garnets and other brilliant stones, and all of them sparkling with drops of freshly fallen rain. All alone, with the silence broken only by the rustling of the leaves as I shuffled through them, it was one of those spiritual moments of perfect beauty when all of the senses are fully alive. My challenge as an artist specializing in black-and-white photography, was finding a way to capture the stunning beauty of that cold, rainy fall day when the most spectacular stimulus came from the vivid colors.

The carpet of fallen leaves, sparkling with fresh raindrops, reminded me of a layer of precious gems

Then I noticed a few stray leaves that had blown off by themselves — lying face down — their silvery undersides sparkling with truly diamond-like beads of rain water. I saw many of the ingredients I rely on for a black and white photograph: contrast, amazing light, texture and form.

Rain drops on the underside of a fallen leaf

To me, these images of beaded, fallen leaves perfectly capture the moment I felt on that chilly, wet, quiet October day. These are the diamonds on the soles of my shoes.

See more of my photographs at www.keithdotson.com

Six of my photographs are available as 18” square art prints for only $19.99 from Fathead.com. Click here for more information about those.

Blog words and pictures copyright 2009 Keith Dotson. All rights reserved.

Just in time for the holidays, Fathead.com is now offering a special discount price on my SM/ART Square photographic prints, when you purchase four or more. At just $19.99 each, SM/ART Squares are already an incredible value. These are high-quality, 18-inch square black-and-white prints that can be framed or hung directly onto the wall.

I love the SM/ART Square concept because it offers affordable  art prints by famous artists like Monet and Van Gogh, and by art photographers such as William Wegman (the dog photographer), and myself. In fact, I was honored to be selected to participate in the inaugural launch of SM/ART Squares, alongside such esteemed names from the art world.

These prints make great gifts. You can see all six of my SM/Art Square photographs on my Website at http://www.keithdotson.com/Fathead.html, where you can also link directly to the SM/ART Gallery page on Fathead.com to make the purchase.

This print is one of my six SM/ART Square photographs available from Fathead for just $19.99

Abraham Lincoln at Mt Rushmore, with snow on his forehead and obvious marks left by the stone carvers' work.

Most travel photographs of Mt. Rushmore play up the grandeur, the patriotism, or the beauty of the place with vivid blue skies, blazing sunsets, or perhaps fireworks overhead in the night sky. My photographs of the awe-inspiring setting would probably have been similar, but I visited on New Years Day, when the sky was dead white and the faces were dusted in fresh snow.

Mt. Rushmore seen from a break in the rocks below

Visiting Mt. Rushmore in the middle of winter has obvious disadvantages (it’s really, really cold), but it also has some real advantages: I had the place all to myself… literally. Except for a few frosty park rangers, I was alone on the trails. That kind of solitude provides the opportunity to experience the majesty of the park in an almost zen-like reverence.  As a photographer it was amazing to shoot where I wanted, taking my time to concentrate and enjoy the scenery without crowds or interruptions. The unexpected advantage is that the combination of the snow and the soft light allowed me to see the carvings in a whole different way.

By looking at those gorgeous travel photos of the monument, you get the impression Mt. Rushmore is polished smooth, but it actually displays a lot of evidence of the carvers’ work. I was struck by the drill marks and lines, both in the faces and in the debris at the base of the mountain. Even if my photographs of the monument aren’t calendar-worthy, I’m glad I visited when I did, for the light, for the experience, and for the new way of seeing this incredible monument.

View more of my photographs at www.keithdotson.com.

Tool Marks on Debris Below Mt Rushmore

Autumn is well underway here in the northcentral US.

Honking, squealing chevrons of Canadian geese have been flying over for weeks. The air is getting nippy and the trees are starting to go aflame with color. Every farm and market is bursting with big, orange pumpkins, and assorted varieties of wrinkly, bumpy, or otherwise oddly shaped squashes.

Soon, front yards and forest paths will be carpeted with a lush, rusty layer of leaves, and the bare trees will signal that winter isn’t far behind.

George Eliot said, “If I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

I discovered this feather under a tree. It’s not very large and relatively unremarkable as feathers go, but I found it interesting. It’s both simple and incredibly complex. It’s so aerodynamically perfect it almost blew out of my hand while I carried it home. Not until I photographed it did I see the true beauty of its design and form.

To see more studies of this feather and the rest of my black-and-white photographs, go to www.keithdotson.com.

I find these little dried blossoms — which nature gave wings to help with dissemination of the seeds — to be incredibly beautiful. I have photographed variations of these many times. I love the texture and the sheer ingenuity of the design. When they drop they spiral through the air like tiny helicopters. Functional and fun to watch. However, one guy who saw the photo said, “Oh, that’s one of those things that clog my rain gutters.” I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

See more of my photographs at www.keithdotson.com.

Six of my black and white photographs, including the shot of the Chicago River at Night (below), are now available very inexpensively as SM/ART Squares from Fathead.com.

I love this SM/ART Square concept because it makes art and photography available to everyone. SM/ART Squares come in 18-inch squares and sell for just $19.99 each, which is a great size and price for dorm rooms and first apartments, or for anyone who wants low-cost home decor.

And speaking as an artist relatively new to licensing, the folks at SM/ART Squares are great to work with–open, fair, and artist-friendly. I’m thrilled to have my work available on Fathead.com.

All six of my SM/ART Square photographs can be viewed on my Web site here.

This night shot of downtown Chicago is one of my six images available at fathead.com

My black-and-white photographs will be on display beginning in mid-September.

I’m really happy to announce that, beginning in September, I’ll join the stable of artists represented at Bradley Art Gallery in beautiful Stoughton, Wisconsin. I’ll have 12 black-and-white photographs framed, along with a batch of others in mats ready for framing.

Bradley Art Gallery isn’t one of those awkward, stuffy establishments where the attendant shadows your every movement, waiting to scold you for touching something. Owner Laura Bradley — herself a painter — is a warm, friendly person, and the gallery reflects her spirit. The art is colorful. The music is lively. And she hosts lots of events and happenings in support of her artists.

My black-and-white photographs will make an interesting counterpoint to the colorful works that fill the space, and they’ll be in place just in time for the huge 14 South Artists Fall Studio Tour.

Stoughton is a quaint but vibrant community of predominantly Norwegian heritage, just a short drive across the lovely Wisconsin countryside from Madison and Milwaukee, and not too far from Chicago. Stoughton is home to a number of galleries and antique shops, many restaurants and taverns, and the incredibly beautiful restored Stoughton Opera House.

Visit Bradley Art Gallery online at www.thebradleyartgallery.com.

See my work at www.keithdotson.com.

People like looking at other people. It’s just human nature. It’s why we buy magazines with celebrities on the covers, and the reason portraits are very popular in fine art photography these days. But even in landscapes, we are comforted and intrigued by some signs of humanity. In writing about the instinctive human preference for savanna-like terrain, Denis Dutton¹ explains that humans across the world share a common preference for certain types of landscape (imagine a golf-course), and that the preference increases with evidence of human control over the landscape – inclusion of a road for example.

A Human Face on Mars. Photographer unknown.

There’s the man in the moon, smiling down at us. Early American settlers saw faces in rock formations and on mountainsides. Everyone has enjoyed searching for familiar shapes in clouds. And, someone even recognized a human face in a photograph of the Martian surface.

But for me as a landscape artist, trees often add the most expressive, human quality to landscapes. They can be majestic, frightening, graceful, powerful, and even decrepit. They can represent birth or death. They can stand together in a unity or alone in isolation.

Below are a few of my own landscape photographs where the trees add very human-like expressiveness. To see more of my photographs, visit my Web site at www.keithdotson.com.

¹ Dutton, Denis. The Art Instinct. Pgs 13 – 28. Bloomsbury Press. NY. 2009.

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Yearning, 2009. Keith Dotson

Texas Hill Country Trees in Fog, 2007. Keith Dotson

Winter Landscape, South Dakota, 2009. Keith Dotson

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Wired.com reported on Twitter today that Apple’s iPhone became the most popular (meaning most uploaded) camera on Flickr.

But why would a humble camera phone be more popular on a photo enthusiasts site than the best DSLRs ever made? Wired credits this surge of photo uploads to the quality of the camera in newer iPhones and the ease of mobile uploads. I have a different theory.

Sure, the new Nikons and Canons take amazing images even in very poor lighting situations; of course there are lenses than can resolve the tiny hairs on the back of a house fly, but those kits are large and heavy and intrusive in public. So much so that they often get left at home, whereas we take our phones everywhere.

So while the iPhone may not be the most capable camera available, it has one very important quality that makes it useful: it’s there when we need it.

P.H. Emerson (American, active in England,1856-1936): A Rushy Shore. www.photographymuseum.com

Inventing Modernism, an online exhibition of historic photographs at the American Museum of Photography, explores the early photographers who predate, yet influenced the transition to Modernism. The exhibit defines the style and elements that made these photographs unlike the prevailing trends of their era, and explains their role in influencing Alfred Stieglitz and others credited with founding the movement of Modernism.

Shown above is “A Rushy Shore” by P.H. Emerson, who was an early proponent of the idea that photography was an art in its own right. Inventing Modernism explains that he “discovered and encouraged” the young Stieglitz.

If you’re interested in an illustrated primer on the history of photography leading up to the introduction of Modernism, you’ll find this exhibition worthwhile.

See Inventing Modernism here: www.photographymuseum.com

See my photographs here: www.keithdotson.com