03/03/2020
Intimate photographs of lines, curves and texture made from weathered pine stumps.
These images were created by using a process referred to focus stacking. This is accomplished by focusing at different levels and combining all the images. Sometimes there may be as many as 20 images that a special software program has to combine.
Larry Richardson June 20, 2015
LINE AND TEXTURE
It was cranberry harvest time here on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Ponds, teeming with bright, floating berries, stood in sharp contrast to the azure sky overhead. Being new to this area, I was anxious to explore and photograph some of the local cranberry bogs.
While on one of my photography excursions, I discovered a collection of weathered tree stumps. They had been bulldozed into a huge " heap" after the area had been cleared for the development of a new cranberry bog. Because they were all the same species of pine and exposed to the same conditions for years, they were all weather-beaten to about the same degree of neutral gray.
As I investigated my find, it occurred to me that I was probably the first and only photographer to work with these particular stumps and broken chunks of trees. It was virgin territory -- it was my own photographic turf. I took a few initial shots before my attention suddenly turned to the visually riveting details on the old wood itself: dramatic whorls of line and texture. The visual patterns created by the diversity of these compositional elements had an overwhelming impact on me. They begged to be captured with a close-up lens!
One of the most powerful, attention grabbing compositional elements of design is the curved line. Perhaps that is why I was especially captivated by the swirl of knots scattered through the stumps. The grain of the wood "flowing" in and around the knots generated an almost dizzying variety of dramatic patterns.
Later, when I evaluated my first set of images from that day, I realized that I was about to pursue my first true photography essay. I had never been motivated to take on a project like this. The lines were fascinating, piquing my psyche to the point that I knew I would return to my "heap" in search of still more of the compelling images. Indeed, selecting which creations to photograph was, itself, a daunting task. I based my final picks on those visual aspects that seemed to best express the unique configuration of each stump.
The second compelling attribute of the stumps for me lay in their intricate textures. The roughness of the bark against the smoothness of weathered wood, the fracturing of gnarled grains and the splintering from stress all provided character depth and complexity to each of the photos.
Some images were composed to intentionally draw out only one texture, while eliminating competing surface qualities. Others contain powerfully competing textures giving them equal dominance in the frame.
Producing this black and white study has afforded me an opportunity to grow as a photographer. This was my first major experience in converting color images to black and white. For many years I have wanted to work with this aspect but had been reluctant to attempt it. Perhaps it was the fear of failure or dread of facing yet another learning curve on my personal photographic journey. However, creating this work with close-up images has given me the gift of a new respect for those enduring elements of visual design: line and texture.
