Photography is Not a Pursuit

Evening at Pleasant Grove

"Photography is not a pursuit — it is a medium. It is a medium that can be used in service of a larger idea. The great photographers invariably have a Great Mission. Circling back to my original list of masters, Evans’ great mission was the architecture of inspiration; Stieglitz’ great mission was bringing modern art to the masses; Weston’s great mission was using photography to explore the world and his place in it; Adams’ was at heart a conservationist with a camera; Minor White was a Zen enthusiast who used photography to immerse himself in the Eternal Now, etc. Each of the great masters of photography had, at their core, something they were trying to do or say — and photography was simply their medium of choice."

— Brooks Jensen

 

Sac Bee Feature

Three Oaks

The Sacramento Bee recently published a review of my exhibition that is currently showing at the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center. You can view the full article on their website or I've also copied the text below.

BY JACK CHANG
jchang@sacbee.com
Photographer Alan Craig Barnard roams the suburban streets and housing developments around his Roseville home looking for magic.
He finds it in the rippling clouds reflected on the perfect surface of a stream beside Interstate 80, or in the long shadows cast by oak trees at dawn in a patch of open space.
Staying local is a matter of principle, Barnard writes in the program for his exhibit of ephemeral black-and-white prints, “New Traditions in Landscape,” at the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento.
With carbon-fueled climate change threatening the world, it’s time to stop flying to far-flung continents – and polluting the atmosphere – to photograph pristine landscapes that need saving, he says. “Among environmentally conscious landscape photographers, a new mantra of ‘shoot locally, share globally’ is beginning to emerge,” his show’s program reads.
The 53-year-old father of three children, and graphic designer by day, is bringing to fine art the same local focus that has spawned the farm-to-fork and locally sourced movements – adjustments to a world where lifestyles sprout from the environment itself. In his daily life, that’s meant driving an electric car, cutting back on flying and forgoing eating meat, among other shifts in the routine.
“If all of us took responsibility, then maybe things would change,” Barnard said during an interview this week. “But it’s going to take that kind of individual effort.”
Staying local also encourages photographers to highlight the special places and people they’ve come to know near where they live, instead of traveling across the world to photograph the obvious, he said.
“It’s really trusting there are people out there who can do what you can do, and they can do it better because they know their own backyard,” Barnard said.
As inspiration, he cited the work of Welsh photographer Chris Tancock, who walked the boundaries of the same local meadow twice a day for years to capture every subtle change in light and season.
Barnard’s own photos reflect a suburban Sacramento emptied of people and buildings, like scenes from some pre- or post-human world. A field of tall grass stretches back to a stand of oaks, just a few hundred yards from an unseen housing development. A pond crisply mirrors full-bodied clouds, with the roofline of several houses obscured by trees.
“I think that you would be surprised to see where they were taken because oftentimes there would be homes just outside the frame, or a business,” Barnard said. “So the idea for me is that even those little slices of life, those local spaces, are really important.”

Exhibition at Viewpoint Gallery

Ferrari Ranch Wetlands

My exhibition, New Traditions in Landscape, opens this week at the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Midtown Sacramento. Details as follows:

New Traditions in Landscape (solo show)
September 9 – October 3, 2015
Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, Step Up Gallery
2015 J Street, Sacramento, CA
Artist's Reception (members): Friday, September 11, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
2nd Saturday Reception (general public): Saturday, September 12, 5:00 – 9:00 p.m.
More Information →

A Pleasant Surprise

Miners Ravine

I was pleased to learn that my print "Miners Ravine" was awarded an "Award of Excellence" in the California Fine Art exhibition at the 2015 California State Fair. The show runs the duration of the Fair, from July 10 through July 26. The awards ceremony is on Saturday, July 18 at noon. If you happen to be at the fair that day, be sure to drop by to say "hi"!

An Art of Observation

"To me, photography is an art of observation... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."

— Elliott Erwitt

California Fine Art

Ferrari Ranch Wetlands

Miners Ravine

I was pleased to find out that two of my prints were juried into the California Fine Art exhibition at the 2015 California State Fair. They are both 18”x18” silver gelatin prints. Ferrari Ranch Wetlands was captured last year in the Lincoln area, and Miners Ravine was captured this winter in Roseville. Details as follows:

July 10 – July 26, 2015
California Fine Art (juried show)
California State Fair
Cal Expo, Expo Center Building 7, Sacramento, CA
Accepted Work: Ferrari Ranch Wetlands, Miners Ravine
More Information →

A Deep Path

Path Through Oak Woodland III

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

— Henry David Thoreau