Canadian Kitsch

March 13, 2013March 13, 2013 | drawandshoot

I admit Kitsch is not ~~ever~~ usually what I’m after photographically, but this image just somehow seems to me an embodiment of landscape sentimentality and it got me thinking about how we perceive images and how difficult it is to make something new.

I photographed the landscape (slow shutter speed and camera movement), and the duck separately and then merged them together in Photoshop. It immediately made me uncomfortable and it took me a little while to figure out why.

Here’s the thing; I feel like I have seen the essence of this image a million times in a million different ways over my lifetime. As though it holds the spirit of so many images (sculpture, painting, photography, …) that came before it. I realize, also, that the composition is imperfect and I think it adds to that sense of kitsch.

Most images echo back to the past in some way, but this photograph seemed particularly striking to me. How does a bird in flight hold so much meaning? And why does it make me feel a bit wobbly? I suppose it is the idea of finding that you have made something that has been made a million times already. The same , only different.

By Degrees

March 4, 2013June 28, 2013 | drawandshoot

We are creeping ever so slowly out of winter and these pale robin’s egg blue tones seemed to have a little whisper of spring in them, (which I am craving today!).

(Water reflections of trees and frosted winter flowers)
© Karen McRae, 2013

it’s been a winter,

March 1, 2013March 1, 2013 | drawandshoot

he said

yes, it has been
a winter

The First Throw

The thing to consider about weeping willows, is that they are inherently mischievous.

There are many stories to support this thought. Tales of entanglement, trickery and enchantment. Stories also, of their wisdom.

If you lived much of your childhood beneath a graceful willow, you know the stories of wisdom are true. You will know, too, of their affability.

But, when you stop beneath a snow-laden willow on a day in late winter, you might be reminded of their playfulness. For the trees are awakening.

And while you are veiled in its beauty – when you feel encompassed and safe; it will start the battle then.

For what is wisdom, without humour?

it’s been a winter,
he said

yes, I love that it’s been a winter

Flurry

February 22, 2013 | drawandshoot

The essence of a day etched by falling snow.

Similar to the previous post, these photographs are made using a slow shutter speed and camera movement, but with very different weather conditions and light.

Blurring the Lines

February 19, 2013February 19, 2013 | drawandshoot

Sketching the landscape with photography. These photographs were made using a slow shutter speed and camera movement. Other than some minor level adjustments they are as the camera saw them.

Animate bar(k)odes: the data of the landscape.

listen

February 15, 2013June 28, 2013 | drawandshoot

It’s not just what you see but also what you hear. This water moving in the cold of winter, it is not soundless. There is music here.

Photographs of surface reflections on moving water from the series Surface, Submerge.

Open Water

January 27, 2013January 27, 2013 | drawandshoot

The ephemeral beauty of open water and very cold temperatures.

Water vapour rising and coating the nearby flora in thick frost.

Even the ice, struggling to form at the fringes, finds the air so cold it has coaxed downy feathers to grow on its surface for keeping warm.
Of course, there are more interesting and scientific explanations…here and here…

A Deep Breath of Winter

January 24, 2013 | drawandshoot

The water is restless in this part of the river. It pushes on all winter.

The ice tries to stretch over the surface like a cold blanket, but it cannot. The water persuades it to break apart, to keep moving.

The ice talks to the river with deep groans and quiet thuds. It rocks gently, waiting. An indolent heartbeat.

The river finds a crack, heaves a deep breath, and replies.

The river’s edge in -25c.

Winter Fog: The River

January 20, 2013 | drawandshoot

There has been quite a lot of painting happening here the last couple of months. Brushstrokes and thin layers, glazing and blending.
Trying to find the essence of a seascape in a slow build.