Over the 4th of July long weekend Linda and I went to visit our daughter, Caitlin, in Dallas, Texas. We had a lot of things planned for the week, including some time I reserved for myself to go museum hopping. I was planning to drive over to Fort Worth and see the Amon Carter Museum of American Art which I had never seen before, but time constraints directed my choice to the Dallas Museum of Art which I also had never seen before and was much closer to Caitlin’s apartment.
The fact that the museum was free all summer helped in that decision, as did the special exhibition, ‘The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece’. There had recently been an exhibition at my hometown Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art on the same general topic which I loved, so I thought I would continue my education in that area by taking in this exhibition as well.
Two Structures – Museum Muse #1
The Museum as Muse
I have been doing a series for many years now called Museum Compositions. I also photograph people quite often and frequently refer to the person I am photographing as my muse. I realized while putting together the images this morning for this post that one of my most compelling muses of all is the museum. Not a specific museum, but all museums. No wonder of course since they aren’t called museums by accident. They house the muses. And to me the house it self is a muse. I am compelled to explore, discover, reach for, secretly find, the perfect composition within the walls of the museum.
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‘Two Dark Muses’ – Museum Muses #2
Finding the formal and the casual creates a perfect moment for me.
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‘Muse and Design’ – Museum Muses #3
The people within the museum are also my muse. It is the relationship of the living to the historic, the flesh to the stone, the real to the ideal, the moving to the static, that excites me.
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‘Phallus and Look’ – Museum Muses #4
And sometimes the relationship between human and object is found within the art itself.
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‘Muse and Vortex’ – Museum Muses #5
You know how a wildlife photographer will tell you he or she has to wait for a long time to get the perfect shot of that animal looking just the right way? It’s the same for me in a museum. I am looking for the location, the juxtaposition of elements in space, of content in relationship to each other. But I am also waiting for the moment the living muse passes by. The moment when they are in perfect relationship to the space and art. I love that moment. I am a hunter of that.
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‘Muse, Man and Boy’ – Museum Muses #6
Compositionally I look for the highest level of formality. I am driven to find the perfect division. In half often, sometimes in thirds. I am looking for a rigorous balance of visual weight.
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‘Muses in Red and Green’ – Museum Muses #7
The mystery of the Museum Muse is that they inspire but they are not known.
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‘Muse at Work’ – Museum Muses #8
Splitting images exactly in half, either vertically, horizontally or both, allows me to fragment and unify the image at the same time. I love the simplicity of the compositional device, and the discipline it takes to find the the composition keeps me pure in focus.
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‘Beautifully Filled Space’ – Museum Muses #9
This quote embodies the root idea behind my compositional efforts.
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‘Dream and Image’ – Museum Muses #10
Contemplation that is embodied in the composition of the image and in the people in the images attracts me.
‘Muse and Waterfall’ – Museum Muses #11
The adrenaline of having to explain myself pumps at moments like these.
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‘Muse on Muse’ – Museum Muses #12
This moment of seeing the living and created muse so blended was sublime. I felt she was taking a photo of herself.
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‘Yellow Muse’ – Museum Muses #13
He split the scene in two and at the same time brought the two sides together. I love when that visual moment occurs.
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‘Ancient Greek And Muses’ – Museum Muse #14
One of my favorite things about museums is how you can see through from one space to another. I like finding the formal composition while seeing through to new spaces.
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‘Formal Muse’ – Museum Muses #15
Sometimes for me the image can be devoid of a human and still be filled with humanity. I found the formality of this visual composition so strong I didn’t think any living thing would enhance it.
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‘Wall Piece and Muse’ – Museum Muses #16
I like when images defy gravity and sense, much like life.
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‘Sleeping Muse’ – Museum Muses #17
Storytelling with art, people and no words is a recurring phenomenon in a Museum.
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‘Male and Female Muses’ – Museum Muses #18
I loved finding the refined and the rough together. As well as the real life muses partially seen, as if in a De Chirico painting.
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Muse with Red Purse – Museum Muses #19
The anonymous woman, reserved but stylish, silhouetted against the grey, was as beautiful as the artwork. Finding them together made both more beautiful to me.
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Muses Coming and Going – Museum Muses #20
Everyone in a museum is a Muse. Everyone and everything is art.
In 2011 I did a Sunday series on my photography (you can see them in the drop down series menu on the right under ‘Photographic Sunday’). I have created a lot of new images since then so I thought I would do a few more editions of ‘Photographic Sunday’ for you.
Museum Compositions
I LOVE to go to museums. In the past year I have gone to:
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, California)
William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum (Little Rock, Arkansas)
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum (Independence, Missouri)
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, Arkansas)
21c Museum (Bentonville, Arkansas)
Philbrook Museum of Art (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, Texas)
Six of those visits came when I planned in an entire extra day on a trip I was on just to see the Museum, that’s how important it is to me. One of the reasons I love museums is because of the incredibly diverse interior and exterior spaces that I find. Add to that the range of people and their juxtaposition with the art and each other and it is always ripe for what I think are pretty compelling compositions. Let me know what you think.
Museum Composition with Two Women
Museum Composition Inside Out
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
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Museum Composition with Race 1
Museum Composition with Race 2
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
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Museum Composition with Humans and Dinosaur Tail
Museum Composition With Orange and Depth
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
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Museum Composition with Bridge and Guard
Museum Composition with Pants
William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum
Welcome back Napkin Kin to part 2 of my portraits of 2012. Yesterday I covered the Second half of 2012, July-December. Today I am showing the first half with a bit of overlap, January to July.
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Niece, San Diego, CA, 7/12
Niece Jumping at Sunset, Del Mar, CA, 7/12
My drive down from Northern California in July ended with me at my sister’s house in San Diego. I took advantage of the opportunity to do a photo shoot of my young niece. She was quite the natural and loved posing in the backyard and on the beach where I grew up. My sister Jackie of course did a little stage mom thing, hovering, directing, etc. But my niece was a natural and didn’t need much help. She looks a lot like our late mother and that was an extra blessing of being able to photograph her.
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Julia Wade, New York City, NY, 6/12
I went to New York City in June to speak and attend Blog World. I met up with a dear friend whom I worked with back in the 80s and 90s at Eulipia Restaurant in San Jose, CA. Then Julia was a struggling student focusing on opera. I did a number of drawings of her back then in various opera costumes for a huge drawing (I never finished). Now she is now a very well known international recording artist of inspirational/spiritual music. We found some time to walk and talk early one morning before our days started. This was taken at a park right on the edge of the Hudson River. She has a blog called ‘Inspiratus‘. Check out the interview she did with me back in 2009 and then click on home to see her latest entries about her new CD.
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Meredith Wood in Blue, Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City, 6/12
While I was at the Blog World conference I, of course, needed to eat. Not knowing any good places around the convention center I did what any good social media person would do, I tweeted ‘who wants to go to dinner?’ using the Blog World hashtag. I got a number of responses and ended up going to dinner with Meredith and 2 others. Meredith is from NYC and knew exactly where to go for the best meal, which it was.
Her eyes are almost as brilliant blue as my wife Linda’s and when we returned to the conference I realized her and her eyes would stand out fantastic against the blue that was everywhere in the brightly lit lobby. The next day we found an extra 10 minutes to take some quick shots. I was up on a bench to make sure I got the best blue background.
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Michelle Linn, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK 6/12
Michelle Relaxing, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK 6/12
I have been doing a photo-collage series for a number of years now called ‘IN Public/Private‘. It is of reporters and anchors in the Tulsa area. When my napkins started getting attention and reporters came over to interview me I basically told them, ‘You can interview me if I can take pictures of you’ and that is how it started. In many cases I offered to take some ‘normal’ photos (my version of normal at least) in exchange for them posing for my collage image idea. I also asked them to publicize my project to their co-workers to see if they also might be interested in collaborating.
Michelle was very excited about the idea and we met for the very first time at Philbrook to take the photos. Here are a few of the portraits I took of her. She was an enthusiastic delight and has since become a wonderful friend. Ironically, so far her collage image ended up in a new series called ‘Visual Poems‘ not the ‘IN’ series I had intended her to be in. You can find her at work in the mornings on Fox 23 here in Tulsa.
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Renaissance Faire Kiss, Muskogee, OK, 5/12
Renaissance Faire Gossip, Muskogee, OK, 5/12
In May I led a group of photographers at an outing to the Renaissance Faire. The theme of the shoot was ‘stranger portraits’ and I spent some time before hand explaining to the group how to go about asking strangers to pose for you. Of course, at a venue like the Renaissance Faire, it really isn’t all that necessary to ask since all the participants already know they are going to be photographed and most of the visitors are dressed up and want to be as well. But it is good to know anyway because you often might have to ask them to move from where they are standing or sitting to get a good shot. Here are 2 double portraits I took while I was there.
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Caitlin’s Senior Collection 1, Waco, TX, 4/12
Caitlin’s Senior Collection 2, Waco, TX, 4/12
My step-daughter Caitlin (whose portraits can be seen in part 1 yesterday) was an Apparel Design major at Baylor University. She had her senior collection show in April of 2012 and I was lucky enough to do the photo shoot for the collection. We found one of the most beautiful cemeteries I have ever seen to do the shoot, less than a mile from Caitlin’s house. Here are two of the photos from the shoot.
We also were incredibly lucky to have our first choice of model to bail on us. It freaked Caitlin out a bit of course but the result was we got Rebekah Campbell as our model instead. She had never done a real fashion shoot before and Caitlin was a bit worried about that. Luckily we had nothing to worry about. She was fantastic in her poses, facial expressions, taking directions and overall professional demeanor.
In addition it turns out she is an fine art major focusing on painting so we had an instant connection creatively. I am encouraging her to pursue both modeling and painting as best she can, I have no doubt she will be successful in both.
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Portrait in Black and White, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, 2/12
Woman in a Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK 2/12
In February I took that same photo group I mentioned above to Philbrook Museum of Art. This time the focus was on Black and White. We weren’t only going to have the finished result in BW but actually set the camera to BW so they could see what they were getting from the outset.
One of the photographers had his wife along with him but she was not doing any photography. I persuaded her, in spite of her initial shyness, that she would be a fantastic model for those of us who wanted a person in our images. She eventually got into it and it made for some great images as a result.
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If you are interested in contacting me about doing a photo shoot you can contact me at the contact page in any number of ways.
One of my resolutions is to mix it up a bit on The Napkin Dad Daily in 2013 and one way to do that is to add in more of my other work for you to see.
Here are some of my photographic portraits from 2012. Starting with the latest and going back to July. Let me know what you think of them, ok?
The Morrison Family, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, 12/12
Lauren Morrison, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, 12/12
Kathi Morrison and I met online. She lives in Florida but she used to live in Tulsa and we met because she saw a photo of Philbrook Museum of Art that I had taken. She particularly liked my Velveteen Women exhibition images and we made plans that if I ever made it to Florida, where she lives, we would do a photo shoot together for use in a similar type of photo collage image. I haven’t made it to Florida yet (I am open to a patron/sponsor who wants to pay my way, hint hint), but she made it up to Tulsa to visit with her family. We made arrangements to get together at her favorite place, Philbrook, and do a quick family portrait shoot.
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Courtney in Profile, Tulsa, OK, 11/12
Courtney in the Fall, Tulsa, OK, 11/12
Courtney and I are running buddies. We help coach a 10k intermediate running group here in Tulsa. She is about the same age as my four daughters and we have a similar type relationship. That means I tell what she should do and she rolls her eyes at me. After this past fall running season I did a photo shoot with her that went from inside to outside at sunset among fall foliage. I absolutely love her profile so was really happy to capture it in such beautiful light. It took a little coaxing but once she got into it we had a great time capturing the fall feel in the outdoor portraits.
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Caitlin in the Fall, Dallas Arboretum, Dallas, TX, 10/12
Caitlin in Orange, Dallas Arboretum, Dallas, TX, 10/12
This is my step-daughter, Caitlin. I first met her when she was 13 and I started dating her mother, my now wife, Linda. When she was 15 we did a secret photo shoot so we could make a gift of photos for her mother for Christmas, which she loved. Seven years later we did it again. I went down to Dallas to visit her for a fall weekend. Caitlin loves the fall and pumpkins so when we found out that the Dallas Arboretum had a huge pumpkin display going on we made that our photo destination. These are two of the images from that shoot. We gave the photos to Linda for Christmas this year and she was very happy.
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Anna Kazmi as a Vampire, Oaklawn Cemetery, Tulsa, OK, 10/12
Meera Kazmi as Morticia, Oaklawn Cemetery, Tulsa, OK, 10/12
The Kazmi sisters are famous models in Oklahoma specializing in vintage clothing, accessories and photo shoots. They started wearing vintage clothing, in particular 1940s vintage, as young teenagers. They have an extensive collection of clothing now and are asked to participate in modeling gigs, exhibitions, fashion shows and the like all the time. Their mother, Karen, always accompanies them and the family is a complete delight to know and work with. I asked them to attend our Tulsa Digital Photography Group’s annual Halloween Cemetery shoot and the happily obliged. I stylized these images quite a bit to fit the theme, with Anna making a great vampire and Meera playing a perfect Morticia.
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In July I traveled to California to attend my ex-father-in-law, Dwight Johnson’s memorial service. Since I was driving down from Northern California after the service to visit my father in Southern California I took the opportunity to contact a number of old and new friends in California to see if I could rustle up some photo shoots to allay the cost of the unexpected expense of the trip.
Amy at the Water’s Edge, Morgan Hill, CA, 7/12
Amy with her Feet in the Water, Morgan Hill, CA, 7/12
I first met Amy when I was a High School leader in a church we attended in San Jose, CA back in the 80s and 90s. She was my favorite high schooler in the group, with a fierce intelligence and a very creative streak. We kept in touch all these years and she was on the route to Southern California so I stopped by for a quick shoot. We took off for a small lake she knew of and did some images in the dappled sunlight.
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Kathy in Natural Light, Berkeley Hills, CA, 7/12
Kathy and I waited tables together 30+ years ago at Eulipia Restaurant in San Jose, CA. I had reconnected with her through Facebook and when I let her know I was coming to California she just happened to need some new business and business casual photos. We did a quick shoot at her Berkeley Hills home near where I was staying. The light was fantastic with the entire Bay Area reflecting in her incredible blue eyes.
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Susan with Dog in the Window, Malibu Pier, Malibu, CA 7/12
Susan Looking Up, Malibu Pier, Malibu, CA, 7/12
Unlike the other two I photographed on the trip, Susan and I had only met once before. We met at Blog World New York in June of 2012 at a closing party. We hit it off and later when I was planning my trip she liked the idea of getting some new, more natural portraits done of her. We met at the Malibu Inn and spent several hours there, on the beach and on the pier taking photos. She has a TV and acting background so she was delight to work with.
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That’s a fair amount for now, covering the second half of 2012. I will post first half of my 2012 portraits in the next few weeks. In the meanwhile, if you would like some photos done, you know who to contact! You can see a larger more extensive selection of my portraits and other work I do by going to my other website, http://www.martycoleman.com
In 2008 I helped found the Tulsa Digital Photography Group, later named ‘PHOTOG’. It now has close to 600 members, making it the largest in Oklahoma. We put on photo shoots once or twice a month and have a monthly library presentation that I lead. Sometimes I do the presentation other times we have guest photographers come in.
Here are some of the photos I have taken at our shoots over the years.
Rust
This was taken after a studio lighting seminar. The outdoor area had a lot of great locations as well and we continued taking portraits well after the seminar ended.
Look
This was also taken at a studio lighting session. She was the owner of the studio and it took a bit of convincing to get her to model for us.
Another Way of Seeing
This was taken at an equestrian competition shoot. I had to run fast when I saw this girl hanging upside down to get the shot.
Tulsa
This was taken at a ‘painting with Light’ session. I had my camera on a tripod with a long exposure and ran out into the field to draw the word ‘TULSA’ with a flashlight. It took me 7 tries to get the S facing the right way, it’s HARD!
Color Composition #3
This was taken at a Color Composition shoot I led at the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market. Who says red and pink don’t go together.
Tail #1
this was taken at a ‘How to Approach a Stranger’ shoot I led at Tulsa’s Blue Dome Festival. I had already taken photos of this woman’s face when I got attracted to the great color and textures of her scarf, hair and shirt.
Tail #2
This was taken at a Tulsa Zoo shoot. The tail said it all about this guy.
Candy Cane
This was taken at a Bokah Christmas Lights shoot at Rhema Bible College. Bokah is a technique using a very short depth of field where only a small area is in focus.
Ghost Walk
This was taken at a studio/model shoot. This window covering was meant to diffuse the light for portraits but I was drawn to it for how it created silhouettes and shadows in very compelling ways.
Halloween
This was taken at our annual Halloween Cemetery shoot. We have our models dress up in all sorts of fun halloween type costumes and just have a blast with a myriad of the techniques taught over the years.
I love road trips. When I was very small we moved from one side of the country to the other a number of times. We did it again when I was a teenager. I did it twice during undergraduate and graduate years and once again as an adult with a family. Those were just the moves. The road trips include journeys to the North, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southeast and Southwest all from Oklahoma, the middle coast of the USA.
Here are some of the photographs I have taken on those journeys.
Piranha Beef Jerky in NebraskaThe Old Church in The Badlands, South DakotaThe Vermeer Discovery, Plimoth Plantation, MassachusettsDunes – Cape Cod, MassachusettsOn The Other Side – Grand Canyon, ArizonaSunset among Friends – Del Mar, CaliforniaThe Stressed Mother, DisneyWorld, Orlando, FloridaSelf-Portrait while Tired, DisneyWorld, Orlando, FloridaThe Hot Cheerleader, Baylor University, Waco, TexasThe Grandson, Rural Oklahoma
Living in Oklahoma a photographer can either be cursed by the wind or blessed by it. I feel blessed by it. After many outdoor photo sessions I found I had a great collection of images with hair and expressions all over the place. I started to find an emotional aspect to the images that I liked and a series, Emotional Wind, came out of it.
The collages I showed last week were images that were collaged into pre-existing images. This week I am showing collage images that exist by themselves.
Postcards
This is a series called ‘Postcards’. They are images taken on vacation, collaged together and electronically sent out to give a feeling of where I am and what I am experiencing.
‘Our Fifth Day Was The Fourth’, photo-collageWe Saw Beautiful, photo-collage‘I Drove Through The Panhandle’, photo-collage
The Stranger Juxtaposition
The Stranger Juxtaposition series is similar in nature to the postcards in that the images are mostly taken on vacation, but the focus is on the person, not the place. They are sort of an imagined short story of this stranger I have come across.
The Stranger Juxtaposition #6, photo-collage
She had yet to understand how she could love too much. Not because it was bad but because people would be like lesser mortals and she would end up being like Jesus, without people who understood her and perhaps crucified.
The Stranger Juxtaposition #7, photo-collage
Her dream was to be a dancer from the time she saw her father enthralled by the flamenco troupe that came through her small town in Mexico when she was 7 and a half years old and her son had not even been seen in her far eye. And now her love is so deep and true that she sells her cakes at the mall and dances for him, not her father anymore.
The Stranger Juxtaposition #2, photo-collage
She had something she had seen while on the cruise affixed in her mind. It was in keeping with loneliness and she felt it was obvious to all around her as if it was an adornment atop her head. She wanted desperately to take off the accouterment but was unwilling in the end because she knew it would never be amongst her charms unless she let it shrink in place and migrate to her bracelet of its own accord. So, she let it exist, remaining slightly melancholy for the duration of the voyage.
