In The Field

September is just flying by! Each year I set my sights on savoring its splendor and it's gone, just like that...This month I've been besieged by a series of "fix-it" projects--updating my online gallery (almost done!), repairing hurricane damage to my chimney and roof, and reconstructing a few teeth--keeping me from getting outdoors with my camera.

So here's another autumn image taken some years back that's inspiring me to get out in the fields, so full here on the East End this time of year. Again, notice the square format and the diagonal lines of color that pull the eye into the image. By stepping a few feet to the right, I was able to make a very still subject come alive. Check-out the long island collection on my site, to see more examples.

Brush Fire

As summer comes to a close and we edge toward the first day of fall, I recall this image taken several years back in a nearby park. That autumn afternoon when I tromped around with my medium format camera (notice the square frame) in the late afternoon as the sun dipped down, the light skimmed through the trees illuminating this burnt orange brush.

And as I'm apt to do, I stopped down to a wide aperture, f4 or 5.6, to accentuate the foreground and throw the background into a blur.

With the drought continuing in Texas and the wildfires still burning out of control, this image seemed to signify the coming season when mother nature unfurls her unrelenting fury as well as her most exquisite beauty.

Hope

A few months ago at around 6pm on a June evening, I heard a crash in my backyard. The trunk of a tree had cracked and fallen just over the fence from my neighbor's property onto mine. No storm, no wind, no warning; a giant maple was strewn across my lawn just like that.

Fortunately it hadn't fallen on my house, my dog, or on anyone outside. But was it some kind of warning? Were the gods trying to tell me something? And now I had a major mess to deal with just as I had finished sprucing up my yard for the summer. Who was going to clean it up? How much was it going to cost?

The following weekend my grandson came to sleep over. When he ran out back to play, he screamed "Grammy what happened?"

As I explained, his eye grew wider and wider. "Can I climb up there?" he grinned with glee.

For a few moments I hesitated. What I had viewed as a catastrophe (albeit minor) and a major nuisance, this child perceived as wonderful. The next morning he jumped out of bed, slipped on his sneakers and ran outside in his pajamas to play.

On this hallowed day, this image gives me some hope for the future. No matter what befalls us, what we must face in this life, the human spirit does prevail.

Balance

This week I'm feeling quite grateful. Grateful for the bulb that burns on my desk while I work and read day or night; grateful for the flame that flickers to boil water for coffee or tea; grateful for the warm water that flows from my faucet to wash my hands and hair.

Yet, although Hurricane Irene spared us here on Long Island, I can't help but fret about the future, that nature's fury will continue to accelerate.

Yes, the water didn't rush up the one block from the bay to my house and flood my first floor as I feared it might for the first time since living near the coast for almost 20 years. And although I spent just one night away from home and lost power for just two days, I'm concerned about those affected in other areas, especially those devastated upstate and in Vermont.

Unless we heed nature's warnings and work tirelessly to find a better balance between consumption and conservation, we'll have to hope that we all can learn how to walk on water.

Hanging Out

As I cover my office equipment, pack up my photo albums and before I move my computer upstairs to higher ground before Hurricane Irene hits tomorrow, I thought about this collage completed last month and now hanging over the reference desk at the Westhampton Library until Sept 1st.

Called Hanging Out, its background is a composite of three images taken in Guatamala of a volcano. Yes, that's real lava that we were allowed to hike up to and even touch if we dared on a group trip taken there in 2008. And the characters floating on its crest are people I've come in contact with over the years.

Anticipating the course of the next two days, it seems that after we've bought flashlights, batteries, candles and peanut butter, there's not much more we can all do but hang out, hope for the best and see what happens...

Rain

After a week of the most glorious weather of the summer, it's a rainy Sunday when I have to admit I'm content to stay indoors, catch up on my reading, my blog, and perhaps do not much more than watch the rain fall.

Here's an image taken with my telephoto lens through my front window at f5.6 to emphasize the drops of water falling on the leaf. I could get much closer with a macro lens, but since I don't need to get super close (and don't own one), a telephoto is sufficient. Another reason this lens is a good choice is that the longer focal length further enhances the shallow depth of field.

Following a busy summer of framing and mounting work for several shows, it's nice to get back to making new images...

Purple Ponds

The hum of the crickets, the scent of the sea spray, the intensity of the light are all signs of August. Here's an image taken in 2005 not far from Orient on the North Fork around this time of year.

It's currently on view as part of an exhibit, THREE WOMEN--Photographic Renditions, now hanging at the Westhampton Library in Westhampton Beach thru Sept.1st.
It features many of my Long Island landscapes--http://www.merylspiegel.com/longisland.htm--plus exquisite hand-painted photographs by Mia Wisnoski and Elizabeth Holmes, two fellow photographs from the area.

My new triptych collages including Romp posted here last month are also on view. It will be fun to pop into the library this month and see how the patrons are responding to the new direction of my work. Details regarding the show are listed here in the News section on the right.

Also Phantoms at Art Sites has been extended an extra week, so if you haven't made it to Riverhead, there's still time!

Scissored

Here's another image from my Phantoms series now on view at Art Sites in Riverhead thru August 7th. This Saturday I will be giving an artist talk at the gallery at 5:30 about my process and what inspired me to create these images. I hope those of you in the area can come!

This one called Scissored seems to be one of the favorites of the exhibition. It was taken at the Lincoln Road Mall in South Miami last February. I stationed myself in a particular spot where I had a view of the shoppers strolling by, then I watched and waited.

When this young phantom came along, I took notice. Her dark hair, glasses and trousers contrasted with the bright background. But it was her scissored arms and legs moving across the frame accentuated by a slow shutter speed that make her so dynamic.

Romp

About a year ago, I had the urge to start cutting up the piles of test prints I had stored in boxes over the years. The result is a new series of collages entitled Out of Whack mounted on wood that I will be exhibiting at Galerie Belage, 8 Moniebogue Lane in Westhampton Beach this week thru August 1st as part of the Artists Studio Tour.

Here is one called Romp--a triptych--that I completed last week featuring my favorite subject, Copper. You might recognize the background image as a photograph I posted here last year not long after I adopted him.

What's wonderful about this new work is that I get to revisit, recycle and revise my images into narratives that tell new stories depending on who is viewing them. Take a look at this one and comment below telling me what you see and think...

Passerby

Here's another image from my Phantoms series on view now at Art Sites, 651 W. Main Street in Riverhead. I hope those of you not too far away can make it to the opening reception this Saturday evening, July 9th from 5 to 7 pm.

This phantom was taken in Miami on the strip in South Beach as I ate my breakfast and watched people pass by. And here's my artist statement which came out more like a poem about what inspired the series:

As I move through life, human beings seem to be disintegrating. I see a face here, hear a voice there, but then they're gone. Blurred, garbled, disjointed... they're all around me. Sometimes I see them, smell them, touch them, sometimes not. They walk by, sometimes we connect for a few moments, sometimes not. They are in my heart, my mind, but mostly on my phone and my computer. They pass by in cars, in the mall, in the park, on the street, sometimes not. They are living, breathing, moving past me, sometimes not. Perhaps they are phantoms, perhaps not.