PixiPort Fine Art Photography Gallery

Featured photographers and new articles on PixiPort.com.

(PRWEB) January 6 2004--We start the New year off with three new photo artists, Dale 'Dawk' Mc Farlane, Eccoblue and Todd Kurtzman.

Eccoblue is the nickname and moniker used by Kelli Jaunsen on the internet and as a signature for her artwork. After a lifetime of fighting for survival, 20-year-old Kelli, has learned she will need a heart-liver transplant. Although thousands of organ transplants have become commonplace, the heart-liver combination is rare-only one was done in 2003 and two in 2002 according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).

Kelli's story is one of amazing courage in the face of incredible odds, where each one of her multiple, open- heart surgeries brought new complications for her to overcome. In spite of physical and mental adversity, Kelli has produced award-winning photographic images and creates unique, digital art as well.

Sonnet to Eccoblue

Born in distress as if cursed by her genes,

Struggling to breathe, congenital defects,

Taking their toll, cyanotic as queens,

Many strong and noble minds she infects;

Despair is seen on the brow of their faces,

Yet hope and the scalpel soon came to her,

To save and change her heart, leaving their traces,

Four times under the knife was the answer;

Mental scars etched deep from fright's visit,

Lots of needles scaring the child with pain,

Fear came like a serpent out of its pit,

All the sunshine fled, days turned to rain;

Her spirit annealed itself in flame,

Life's spark glowed within-living's her fame

- Dad

http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-E84.htm

Dawk was first 'smitten' by the 'photo-bug'(year- 1956) in photography while attending local phoenix, Arizona , North high. He finished three years of black and white courses, from novice-intermediate-advanced , with 'best' in his class. When no 'digital' realm existed, the B-W courses were a great basis for moving on to 'color'- later in his life. As a ten year old, Dawk collected 'rocks' from the desert, joined gem-mineral clubs, and later (in his teens) developed into a Master jeweler - gem cutter , designer ,'old-world-style', apprenticeship for eight years in the local Scottsdale art community. Dawk also moved - on to owning his own retail gallery-designer jeweler store, in Lake Tahoe Nevada. As an expert mineral -gem appraiser , dawk continued to use photography to record appraisals , and shoot (close-up) mineral specimens for collectors. These 'close-up' techniques, later came into play-regarding his concept.

The discovery of dawk's current concept, was actually made while creating designer 'cartoon' jewelry pieces, which were photographed, and later evolved-developed into the current graphic display, here on Pixiport.

Dawk's collage images were first made 'by hand', and without a computer, but later, he used 'digital' Photoshop techniques for better creative options.

Artists statement; "this project was-and IS one marvelous 'scavenger-hunt', searching for the next 'rock' which would photograph well enough for the accumulation (in the thousands) of more images. No simple matter ,this required (seven years) of searching , involving much experimentation, and many images are (still) not complete for months + years. Several of my lifetime skills were involved, and I actually prospected- bought-traded-bartered-finagled-borrowed-begged, for 'rocks' which were sometimes rare, or unique-with collector ( friends ) often donating the photographic 'use' of their museum quality specimens .It's ironic that my favorite pro , ' Parker' often shoots large 'rock' formations, as his subjects, and' tramps' all over the world-searching for more, but MY 'rocks' can oddly produce a similar scenic image.

Furthermore, I am coming from such an 'outsider' and unique perspective, which continues to offer an endless Supply of possibilities, yet we all know there are (just) so many 'big-rock' formations- available to 'shoot'. Using (only) direct sunlight, I attempt to facilitate 'criteria' in the most sincere manner . keeping the concept perspective 'natural', with gems and minerals , also allow many 'educational' and teaching scenarios, regarding my images. I plan to publish my own book about this new concept , and further explain my techniques .I've written a complete story outline for the book-movie, with many of my characters-and backgrounds for (animation) , titled ; The adventures of DR. DAWK and the Clones of Stone. Dawk

http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-E85.htm

An "Enthusiast," as defined by author Lewis Hyde, is a person who finds spiritual expression through the body. Envision the Enthusiast church service as an event where there is music, people are jumping, waving their hands, speaking in tongues, falling to the ground, books are flying through the air and peoples bodies become possessed with "the spirit." In Hinduism, Sufism, Candomble and other religions there are highly sophisticated and codified rhythms and dances that provide forms by which people express their spirituality through movement arts.

In 1994 while traveling in Brazil, I attended the 500 year anniversary celebration of Sao Paolo, the world's third largest city at that time. There was a free public concert in the "Central Park" of Sao Paolo, and when I arrived, Brazilian pop star Jorge Ben was performing. I was amazed to see twenty five thousand Brazilians stepping in time and singing in harmony with Jorge Ben throughout the whole concert. There was hardly one person who lacked rhythm or pitch in the entire crowd. I realized that I was visiting an elevated popular culture, and that there was an entire country of people who shared my passion. My love affair with Brazilian culture continues to this day.

Later during that trip I saw Capoeira. The movement art of Capoeira was developed by African slaves, beginning in the 16th century, who disguised a martial arts training as a dance and ritual. The oldest written record of capoeira is the 1789 arrest record of a "capoeira", printed in a Rio de Janeiro newspaper. Outlawed in Brazil until the 1930's, the game of Capoeira is played in a circle with clapping, singing and instruments while two people in the center exchange cartwheels, head-stands spinning kicks, foot sweeps, theatrics and trickery. Each movement in the game of Capoeira is an opportunity for advantage or entrapment, like a witty game of high speed human chess.

I have been practicing Capoeira since 1995 and have trained with some of Brazils's greatest capoeira masters in San Francisco, New York, Portland and have participated in workshops and batizados taught by legendary senior masters of Capoeira.

I am an Enthusiast by nature and my art reflects my passion for the human body in rhythm, the movement arts and spirited physical expression.

In my work I collaborate with capoeiristas, modern, post-modern, African, Latin, independently inspired movers and musicians. I consider my involvement and exploration of these styles of dance as a way to get inside the source of my inspiration, and key to developing my work.

I consider my artistic objectives to be parallel to those of a contemporary choreographer in that I am exploring and innovating my own movement style, and attempting to communicate with an audience through an un- codified physical language.

I have choosen to cast my sculpture in bronze because I believe that the work I create will stand up over time, it will translate well when executed in large scale, the permanance of bronze creates a compelling antithesis to the fleeting quality of music and dance, and it revolts against our culture of the disposable.

In sculpture I find my inspiration in the monumentality and precision of Michelangelo, the raw emotional power of Rodin, and the invention and whimsy of Calder. In my future work I'll begin to introduce the conceptual skills that I developed as an internationally acclaimed independent and commercial filmmaker, and will integrate that with the stylistic innovations of my present work.

I initially began photographing dancers for the sole purpose of sculpture reference. However, the pictures have since become a compelling part of my work, and I now consider them to be both an integral part of my working method as a sculptor, and also photographic works in their own right.

Regardless of the medium or style, my attraction to rhythm and movement in the human body continues to be my driving inspiration. My goal is to arouse the same fire in those who view my work by making the fleeting passions of the movement arts more permanent.

Visit Gallery

http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-C55.htm

WHEN YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS MAKE YOU STAND OUT

By Michael Dubiner

A headline in the newspaper this week read; "French may ban religious symbols in schools". The gist of the article was that a new law is being considered in France banning the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in the public schools. The law would ban "large crosses for Christians, head scarves for Muslim girls or skullcaps for Jewish boys". The law is being considered in order to preserve the principle of separation of church and state in France. According to the article, this concern over public displays of religious garb comes in light of the influx and increased impact of Muslims in France.

The article did not tell whether issues such as religious freedom and privacy rights were being discussed in connection with that law. This rights would be severely impacted by such a law. For example, a devout Jewish boy can take but a few steps without a head covering. I am certain Muslim girls must have their faces covered in some manner. Such a well intended law would prevent both of these groups from going to public school.

Not in America. While I am not arguing the relative merits of the two countries, I am confident that such a law would succumb to the religious freedom protections of the First Amendment, the privacy rights implicitly granted by the United States Constitution and those explicitly granted by many State constitutions. While the Courts are continuously outlining the contours of the natural tension between religious freedom and the separation of church and state, it is clear to me that in America, such a law would be unconstitutional.

While often photogenic in their own right, I find the juxtaposition of people dressed in religious garb and symbols of modernity particularly interesting. The sight of these Hasidic Jews in La Guardia airport was especially interesting to me because I had previously photographed members of a related Jewish sect with similar dress at the Wailing Wall. Those images, and the accompanying essay can be seen at my web site

http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-W06.htm

Elena Ray has a new gallery on PixiPort. She is a amazing artist and we are sure you witll be inspired by her work.

She pursues me

it is my very soul she craves

and to be me

as her

to pour my center in her mold

to have my mold to hold her center

But I am clever

I keep my shadow shifting

contorted distorted

I am not afraid to frighten

I can dance with devils

who delight in her torment!

they dearly love to thrill me

an angel in their midst.

Visit Gallery... »

http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-E83.htm

NYMPHO 1 A photographic re-construction of "Hylas and the Nymphs," by John William Waterhouse, using multiple layers, in Adobe Photoshop, over a layer of watercolour painting. This picture was awarded a medal in the London Salon of Photography 2002 and accepted for the Royal Photographic Society Print Exhibition 2002. Carol Tipping.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop. Painter 7.

This project took several weeks.

This project was originally intended to be a reconstruction of the whole painting by John Waterhouse but it soon became apparent that there were several separate images to be taken from this painting which stood up in their own right as complete compositions. A charcoal pencil drawing, on A3 watercolour paper, was made from the original painting. The paper was soaked, taped on to a drawing board, dried and thus stretched ready for the application of watercolour.

The watercolour was as close in outline to the original as possible. This was to provide a template on to which the photographs could be overlaid. Any detailed painting could be executed in Painter 7 at any other time during the making of the picture by saving the picture with layers intact as a psd file, flattening the layers in the image and opening in Painter7. Any painting could then be saved in Painter and re-opened in Photoshop as an additional layer. The painting was scanned, using an A4 flatbed scanner, into the computer. This had to be done in two parts and joined together in Photoshop.

For the first nymph, on the right, a photograph of my model, Sarah, was moved over on to the watercolour background as a new layer, re-scaled and rotated to fit the background by using Edit -Free Transform. (Before using the Edit -Transform command it is necessary to reduce the opacity of the layer so that you can see the underlying background to make a good fit.) The model wore artificial flowers, attached by wires, which could be erased later if not needed as an integral part of the picture.

Visit Gallery... »

http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-W12.htm

Meeting Renée Falcke Interview by Mia

First, some minor clarification between a press photographer and a photojournalist: A press photographer works for a newspaper; whereas, a photojournalist presents a news story primarily through photography with a supplementary written copy. I've noticed in the few weeks I've been corresponding with Renée Falcke that I've used both terms interchangeably and wondered which title adequately fit Renée. After interviewing Renée, whom I've come to know on a more personal level I realized neither description really suited her whole being. For one, journalism often demands sensationalism and capitalizes on "newsworthy" events. But what is considered newsworthy to some becomes questionable to others when ratings are the primary force behind a media's intent to sell. For true syndication, newsworthy is the headline grabber, an immediate response to a situation without much regard for the human-interest story. The story comes later in the form of flash bulbs, microphones shoved in people's faces, and answers jotted down hastily to inane questions such as, "how did you feel about losing your entire family?"--Well, just how would anyone feel under such tragic circumstances?! As a viewer I am appalled by this degrading approach to stripping the person of his/her dignity. Not far behind are tabloids with their gossip columns and tell-all approach. So I felt reluctant to classify Renée as a photojournalist. Renée, however, has no reservation about how she perceives herself:

You have to understand that I am not an artist. I am a photographer

and a journalist, working on a very high level."

I, on the other hand, disagree. Because Renée is a photographer with a keen insight and interest in the individual person, she is a storyteller always writing stories in her head. She and I are in the same business of interviewing people. She interviews people with a camera, and I with a pen. In many ways, we act as mirrors letting the subjects choose us rather than us choosing them. It is the artist in us wanting to capture a mood, spell of a moment, the photos that could inspire or tell a story that stay with our readers. When Renée relates a story, it adds another dimension to her photos.

Renée: For ten years I had a farmhouse in Normandy, in the famous part CALVADOS near OHAMA BEACH. Three days a week I lived with the farmers and cows, and of course, with Calvados in a very small village Saint Georges en Auge. Being alone there most of the time and working in my big garden I told myself "meet the people even if they are very 'réservés', it's interesting'. I went to see Monsieur le maire (mayor), told him that I would like to photograph most of the 100 inhabitants. Seeing my portrait of de Gaulle he presented me to everybody. It took a year to photograph them. I did not show one photo before my collection was finished. Finally I exposed them in a big tent in the middle of a field and we had a fabulous 'fête'. These photos are very human and I had a big success with many other expositions in Germany and France.

continue story at http://www.pixiport.com/gallery-W03.htm

Photographers testimonials of PixiPort-

http://www.pixiport.com/applause.htm

"Ayhan Duman"

I think it was the year of the millennium when I first came upon Pixiport.

At first one thinks "oh well, yet another site about art..." but a closer look reveals that there's more to it than just being an art related site, one offering true creativity in just about all aspects of photography and most importantly, this is being done with soul, love, ambition, dedication and sincerity.

Behind all this there is the person Helyn Davenport, a true artist I've become to admire from the first moment on, an artist devoted to photography related art, putting her soul into the site not only for her own sake but for the community, fellow photographers, may they be amateurs or professionals alike. This is one aspect one doesn't get to find elsewhere and and I feel this puts Helyn's site Pixiport way up front.

And probably due to this reason Helyn's Pixiport appears to be THE ADDRESS, MEETING POINT or the CROSS-ROADS (call it whichever you like) of all artists, art lovers or collectors where all inevitably meet to communicate, may this be for the sole purpose of brainstorming or business affairs. To me this translates into ABSOLUTELY ULTIMATE SITE!

Anyone who puts up such a creative site and tries to maintain it will undoubtedly realize how time taking and tedious work it can become. Surprisingly Helyn does a magnificent job here whilst keeping her creativity alive, up and going on. Frankly I have no idea how she manages this...

Being a professional photo-designer, I do have my work showcased world-wide, some on sites of photographers associations, others on various photography & art related galleries and I receive tremendous feedback on daily basis, surprisingly about 10 to 15 % of this feedback comes from Pixiport. This is an immense amount which reveals that Pixiport is well covered and taken very seriously.

It's a tough job running such a fully professional yet an atypical commercial site, one which offers warmth usually found in pure amateur communities only, far away from today's capitalistic oriented world. Yet I guess this exactly is what makes Pixiport so special and profound.

I must confess I'm having a hard time putting these words together, I do not want to be mistaken as Pixiport's agent but do wish to express my sincere thoughts about Helyn Davenport and her magnificent work being reflected at Pixiport.

So the bottom line is; Helyn, keep up the great work and should you ever need an assistant to carry a camera, tripod or a light stand, let me know, I'll be most happy to do so... Ayhan Duman Ind.Design Grad.,Ibd.,Smp.

" TRYST "

Simply put, Pixiport is a place of inspired energy. I'll grant you, people can go to a lot of places for inspiration, but most of the time you have to draw that kind of energy from a source outside of yourself: say, for example surrounding yourself with candles, nature, people, architecture...to build up a kind of ambiance. Well, Pixiport is different. It's run by an artist, Helyn Davenport, who gives so much of herself that when you enter Pixiport you instantly feel her presence, as if she were waiting by the door to personally greet you. You feel the soul and spirit of the place and you're immediately filled with a kind of wonder and curiosity that leads you to a certain kind of restlessness: to create and to give back to the world. There's a generosity and feeling of goodwill in that kind of creative inspiration.

The type of photography that Helyn chooses is provocative, sometimes mind blowing and I often think of Pixiport as a one-stop gallery. But most importantly as I mentioned above, it's Helyn's personal touches, her special brand of making you feel welcome and her warmth that sets Pixiport apart from every other photographic/art site. She's one special person for whom I wouldn't hesitate to do anything she asked of me, because she would do the same for me, or anyone else.

TRYST

Mia Editor Of Tryst

Dubi Roman

It is more then two years now, that I am taking a modest part in this wonderful art portal. Being involved with Helyn Davenport excellent website, "forced" me to seek for creativity, work harder then ever and use all efforts to keep myself distinguish from every other great artists of the portal. Being a "PixiPorter" made me feel that the world can be much smaller then it really is, and communicating across it is a living proof on a regular basis.

Although PixiPort is so rich with art and people, it still has an intimacy of a home.

I Wish PixiPort all the best there is

Dubi Roman, Tel Aviv.

http://www.pixiport.com