Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Classic Reflections

Not my typical subject matter, but I like shiny things...





Monday, December 7, 2009

Scott Carlin Photography on Facebook

While it has been entirely too long since I have updated my blog, I have been busy shooting! I am in the process of setting up a blog on a new platform and updating my website, but in the interim felt the urge to keep posting photos, photography news, and gallery information. For the moment, My Facebook Fan Page will be where I post my latest work and announcements.

Please join us there! On the right column of this blog, in the Facebook Widget,
click on "Become a Fan".

Also, to those of you who signed up for my newsletter months ago, rest assured that will be in your inbox soon!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

My photo in the Ansel Adams Gallery Photography Contest

If you like this image, please give me a vote at this link:


The Ansel Adams Gallery


The most popular images in the gallery go on to the final judging round.

Many thanks for your support! More posts coming soon.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Open Spaces

When I tell people one of my favorite shooting locations is the farmlands and eastern plains of Colorado, (which I often do), I am typically met with a look of absolute confusion, as if the person I am talking to is being punked. I'm a nature photographer - what on earth would interest me about the open plains and farmland??

It all goes back to my formal graphic design training, which permanently engrained in my brain and imagination the concept and beauty of minimalism. Less really is more. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains; a land of magnificent peaks, rugged terrain, and vast forests of Evergreen, Pine, and Aspen, yet I do not have one single photo in any gallery of this type of landscape. I do have a few photos that I may share someday, but overall find it extremely difficult to compose a strong image in the Rockies, whereas in the farmland and desert, it's as if I have to pick from so many exciting and accessible options. For some reason the mystery of big skies, old trees, farm relics, decaying barns, and open land really are what connects me and my art.

Here's a few of my photos from eastern Colorado from the last couple of days. It seems the thunderstorm season is a bit late this year, but incredibly magnificent as the ominous clouds roll over the vibrant sunlit wheat fields. While shooting, I find myself playing a game of hide and seek with the sunlight through the clouds, trying to position myself in areas where the foreground is illuminated, while the sky is obscured by the daunting thunderstorms, creating a surreal contrast.

Some of this is very temporary land, and as urban development is sure to encroach upon and swallow many of these wonderful places within a few years, conforming them to urban sprawl and strip malls, there will be barely a memory of the natural peace and wonder that existed here previously.




You can see some of my previous journeys to eastern Colorado here , and here as well.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Beauty in a Yucca

The Yucca, commonly thought to be a type of cactus, is actually
a plant within the agave plant family and is an evergreen shrub.
Those who have spent time in certain desert climates in the
Western United States and Mexico know about the Yucca plant.

While they are visually unobtrusive, and often growing around
other small shrubs and bushes, they have long, very rigid
needle-tips that are ridiculously sharp. Throughout
the years, they have always provided a wealth of jokes
(and pain) for myself and my friends. If there is a Yucca
anywhere in the close vicinity, it is inevitably
going to stab someone.

Never have I had any desire to spend much time around them
until recently. Once I resigned myself to the fact that I was
going to lose some blood that day, I put the 100mm macro
lens on my camera, on a mini-tripod, laid myself on the desert
floor, and got up close and personal with one. Within a single
Yucca plant, I found a surprising beauty. Within this hostile
and vicious product of survival-of-the-fittest plant-evolution
lies the most wonderful tiny little world, delicate and whimsical.





The second image shown here has been juried into, and will be on display at the 18th Annual Louisville Arts Association National Photography Show, of which I am also the co-chair for. Please join us for the opening reception of the show on Saturday June 27th, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, at the Louisville Art Association. More information can be found at http://www.louisvilleart.org .

07/04/09 Post Note:
The second photo on this post won 2nd Place in the in the Louisville Art Association- National Photography Show (Color: Still Life, Scenic, and Abstract Category) on June 27th, 2009.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Afternoon Abstractions










...of days long past; through the veil of the conscious mind...

Thursday, March 26, 2009

The High Desert is calling; it wants me back.

It has been an interesting and challenging few months. Delays caused my house remodel to drag on longer than I expected. My business is feeling some effects of the limping economy. I am learning many new technologies, and have jumped full-force into SEO analysis as well. I am learning new studio lighting techniques. I am learning to multitask more than ever. The final piece (for the moment) of the four-month remodel was having the carpet installed yesterday! I will finally get to move in upstairs, have a bedroom, and set up the office.

For the last four months I have lived in about 400 square feet of the house, sleeping on a mattress in the living room, next to my "office"; a shanty-town of a studio which consists of two computers on the dining room table surrounded by ever-increasing stacks of paperwork, computer accessories, printers, scanners, headphones, and hard drives . I feel like it is consuming me. This all changes today! Nice new bright carpet now adorns the base of my new office. Ample space, and a beautiful view out the window make a perfect new beginning.

Just in time for spring. I am emerging from a long winter's hibernation, and have really missed being outside, hiking and shooting. With the critical parts of the remodel complete, I can get back outside with my gear and soak it all in. My body seeks to awaken. My mind and spirit long to breathe and reconnect. The buds are on the trees. I need to embrace every day, and keep things moving. I miss nature photography. With my new dwelling now habitable, I can get a bit of the balance back. The balance that feeds me.

I am starting off the season spending another week in the desert around Moab again at the end of April. For a few of the days of the journey, I will be attending the Moab Photography Symposium. If you are attending this event, please contact me and I will look forward to meeting you there! It will be an amazing few days with an impressive line-up of photographers and artists.

Here's a few photos from last year's personal Utah expedition (unrelated to the Symposium), that have been gathering binary dust up until now…

Holeman Spring Canyon in a Sandstorm

Scattered clouds over White Rim Canyon

Strata and Erosion

A Warning to be taken very seriously on this road: "Soft Shoulder"




Digg!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Justice on the Rails

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Saturday, January 10, 2009