LOOK3 (general)

 image (c) george elsasser

On the Road, I am not with Yoda or Carlos Castaneda but I am certainly enlightened.  Finally a post, more when I get home to my studio.

I am out in the wonderful Shenandoah Valley, just spent 4 days in Charlottesville, VA at LOOK3  - fantastic do not miss these if you are a serious photographer living in the Mid Atlantic (A MUST).  No mistake this is the real deal about photography not cameras. Yes all parts of US, even some Europe and Asia people show up for this fine festival, but Mid Atlantic people missing as I have in the past is a bad idea. Loved all of it especially being with so many like minded people was very powerful.

For now just wanted to thank the many people I met, and post a link for anybody that might want to view my dummy book "Tips & Tales"

A massive thank you to the tireless efforts of the many people who put together this enormous labor of love. Get on the LOOK3 email list now - be ready for 2013.

about the photography blog

This photography blog provides links for emerging and unknown photographers. I am also trying to include festival and photobook observations. My primary focus here is on fine art photography and some journalistic work. On occasion I like to write about my thoughts on certain photographers and art in general. This blog also currently has a section called "field notes" which is intended to keep folks updated on my current work and news.


(update 8-24-12)

Many new submissions links added - see right side scroll.  It has never been so good. It is a great time in photography it has never been better for unknowns - NEVER! There are literally 50-100+ very easy opportunities to get your work seen. Trust me from 1977 till into late 90s getting your work seen was mostly very difficult. Photographs of photographs (as expensive slides - I spent bundles of money on) return shipping, copies of copies endless effort for 10 opportunities. If you did get your slides looked at, sometimes the gatekeeper might hold them up to a light source if you were lucky. People would mostly not look at work, getting a foot in a door required a personal  recommendation and ad infinitum.

Something has changed maybe I have been under a rock on my personal journey but I am shocked.  It seems the interest in photography has exploded, or is it just the Internet, blogs, web zines, twitter and so on bringing people together. Not sure but it seems there are tons more places everywhere to show work.  This is a great time to be alive.

about the author

George Elsasser holds a BA in Art, had early recognition from Robert Heinecken, Emmet Gowin, and George Krause as juror's in shows at venues such as the Chrysler Museum of Art and NYU. His work received six solo and has been included in eleven group shows. In 1997 he received a 20-Year Retrospective at the Hermitage Foundation Museum.

You can find more about the author below:

www.georgeelsasser.com

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to be moved:

 Art for me thrives in small dark overlooked corners where discoveries seem fleeting and are hard won but nothing is ever finished or cornered, authentic journeys are necessary but not necessarily seen, and things out of reach always call and flicker in a darkness one can never fully illuminate. If one could we would lay, rest and have lost all curiosity.

Thanks for visiting. My primary or longest running body of work has been smallish urban landscapes emphasizing abstract qualities of light and form. These images from 1977 to about 1984 were primarily b&w. Around 1983 I was feeling a strong need to add more emotion to my work and began to work in color. It was very challenging to use the colors found in the world to convey my messages. It was a massive transition having to now create images with all the additional information color brought to the images. The images still held a similar mystical quality as the b&w images, but now spoke with a stronger and more multi-textured voice. This work continues to this day.

From1994 till about 2001 there was a major shift in my work as I became very interested in exploring the aberrations and distortions inherent in the photographic lens (as asset rather than a thing to avoid) as they broke down areas of focus. To my way of thinking these were certainly part of the photographic language, even if they were a less modulated voice they were still certainly part of what elements came together to create the standard photographic language we are accustomed to. One might think of them as simply voice, tones, or the sounds of a source but not yet words. I wanted to see if I could use the previously unanimously considered negative aspects of a lens's personality as the most dominant voice (or across the entire surface) of an image. 

I wanted to see what kind of images I might wrestle out of working in this manor. My intent was to create an all over composition of flowing lines filled with light and color. The natural landscape was where I worked. The pictures were certainly not “nature photographs” but maybe images that spoke of the energy behind nature. At this time I spent a great deal of time both drawing and painting in an effort to loosen my photographic vision.