Salvador Dalí's house sits on a hill by the sea in Cataqués, a lovely fishermen village in NE Spain. The white stucco walls stand in contrast with the deep sky. I was about to photograph the roofline when I noticed a seagull on the edge and patiently waited for it to take off. My anticipation was soon rewarded as the bird spread its wings and took flight. The angular sunlight coming from the bay created the projected shadow on the wall. When I look at this frame I see Dalí's signature mustache in the shadow. A stretch, maybe...but hey, this is the home of the greatest surrealist.

Limited edition prints of this photograph are available. Contact the studio for more info and to order.

El Mercado de La Boqueria is Barcelona's best known market, "a must whether sourcing ingredients for a fine meal, or just wandering through. It's an assault on the senses with smells coming from the fish to fruit," says the travel guide.

Typically the market is very crowded. This photograph was taken on a Sunday, when the market was closed, giving the dove a rare chance to wander through and play in the shadows of La Boqueria’s elegant pillars.

Limited Edition prints are available. Contact studio to inquire.

On the edge of a stone wall in Saint-Paul de Vance stands a beautiful sculpture of a man about to take flight. This is L’envol, by Jean-Marie Fondacaro. As I photographed the scene, the angular sunlight created a silhouette of the aerodynamic being. I thought of Icarus, who realized, even if for a brief a moment, our universal desire to fly.

This image is a part of my new collection of limited edition prints, offered in four sizes (18x24”, 24x34”, 31x44” and 44x64”). Contact the studio for pricing and details.

When my students ask me what my favorite genre of photography is, I hesitate to answer because I love them all. I always end up admitting that street photography has a special place in my heart. The reason may be because street photography combines all the issues that are dear to me — the human condition, the aesthetics of the city, the elusive moment.

The camera is in a unique position to capture the instantaneous nature of a street scene. While portraiture, landscapes and still life have been masterfully represented in painting and drawing, street photography is the exclusive domain of the camera, aptly called “a máquina” (the machine) in Portuguese. “It’s the only tool that will stop time itself,” reflected street photographer Jill Freedman, who followed NYC cops in the 80s, creating a remarkable portfolio.

This photograph was taken in NYC in 2008, a reflection of a street scene on a window with an orange stripe. The orange diagonal in the frame contrasts with the street scene made distant by the muted colors, as if I were just dreaming about it.

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A student asked me this week what is my favorite photograph among all that I have taken. I answered that this is an impossible question because we’re constantly growing and each series reflects a moment in time in my personal and artistic growth. But as we chatted I was able to offer him this: the two photographs I have taken that have received the most attention are the Eiffel reflection (featured in this post with other images from the same collection) and Flight at Dalí’s, a later creation featured in a previous post.

Eiffel Reflection was a straight shot of the Eiffel Tower reflected on the glass of a Paris bus stop. Some think it’s a double exposure because of the layered composition, but it is in truth a single capture. I like this because I am old school that way. I still think of photography as an optical/observational exercise. My style and approach may have changed, but the way I see has remained and I enjoy the security of this continuity. It’s a simple endeavor after all.

As Walker Evans elegantly put it:

“Leaving aside the mysteries and the inequities of human talent, brains, taste, and reputations, the matter of art in photography may come down to this: it is the capture and projection of the delights of seeing; it is the defining of observation full and felt”

…

Eiffel Reflection is shown here as a diptych with Invalides, in Paris.

Limited Edition prints availableContact. Contact the studio to inquire.

At the top of a hill on the Buda side of Budapest stands Matthias Church, originally built in 1015 by Saint Stephen, King of Hungary. The church has seen its share of tragedies, war and destruction over its millenary history.

As I contemplated the beauty of St. Matthias’ architectural lines against the Budapest afternoon sky, an airplane flew by, leaving its perfectly straight contrail in the sky, which accentuated the intricacy of the church’s roofline.

Limited edition prints of this photograph are available, framed and unframed. Contact the studio for details.

I love geometric shapes, possibly because I grew up downtown in a busy city. This photograph is a partial side view of Christo installation at the Maeght Foundation in Saint Paul the Vance, an oil barrel Mastaba he hoped to install one day in the desert of Abu Dhabi, 400 times larger. The 1,076 barrels were painted in warm earth tones on the flat side, resembling a “gouache pallet.” I like the way the colors come together with the existing building details in this view.

Limited edition prints of this photograph are available. Contact the studio for more info and to order.

I took this photograph on a fall afternoon in Shōsei-en Garden, a peaceful place near Kyoto Station that has a rich history. It was designed by Ishikawa Jozan, a fascinating man who lived in the XVII century. Jozan was born into a Samurai family, experienced success and persecution as a warrior, and became a Confucian scholar and poet. He was a practitioner of calligraphy, tea ceremony, and garden design.

There is something delicate about Japanese gardens. Beyond inviting visitors to enjoy natural beauty, these gardens carry deep spiritual symbolism. The balanced design lines are nuanced and delicate, pointing to the brevity of life and the fragility of our existence on earth. Here, the words of the garden designer make sense:

Years ago, I retired to rest,

did some modest building in this crinkle of the mountain.

Here in the woods, no noise, no trash;

in front of my eaves, a stream of pure water.

In the past I hoped to profit by opening books;

now I’m used to playing games in the dirt.

What is there that is not a child’s pastime? Confucius, Lao Tzu--a handful of sand.

Limited edition prints available. Contact the studio for details.

Diptychs are dialogues between images that complement each other. When I select two photographs to hang side-by-side, I look for visual and figurative connections. This is as true of the layout in a book as of two pieces on a wall.

These two images were photographed in different places, but have many things in common. The first one was photographed at a Shinto shrine in Kyoto, the second at a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Ladakh. Both remind me of the aesthetic of simplicity, something we all could use a little bit more of in these turbulent, hyper-sensorial times.

I think the positive/negative visual aspects of each composition enriches the other.

Limited edition prints and gallery framed pieces are available. Contact the studio for details and to order.

I live in Texas, in an area where, according to an Oregonian friend, “there are no mountains to spoil the view.” While there are mountainous regions in Texas, and my friend made his observation in jest, there is a certain truth to his words. Vast areas of this beautiful state are open wide. When we contemplate the Texas horizon, our eyes are unavoidably lifted to the sky.

A few years ago I drove around the state, capturing some scenes that stood out to me. A collection resulted that I titled “Under the Texas Sky.” This image was photographed roadside somewhere in South Texas, close to ZZ Top’s La Grange maybe.

There is something magical about the sky, especially in a place like Texas. The vastness of the universe becomes evident when we look up at the immense, ever-changing sky. It puts us in our place, reminding us that reverence is called for when we look at the majesty that surrounds us. And the beauty of it is that anyone can look up from time to time.

———

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Plitviče Lakes, in northern Croatia, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. “The waters flowing over the limestone and chalk have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams which in turn have created a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls. These geological processes continue today,” reads the UNESCO description of the place.

it was in the Plitviče area that Croatia’s independence war started on March 31, 1991--an Easter morning, no less--when Serbian forces attacked a bus caravan transporting Croatian guards, resulting in two dead and several wounded. The conflict that followed lasted over four years and left over twenty thousand dead and three hundred thousand people with no homes. It is hard to imagine a war starting in such a beautiful place, an unexplainable combination of ecstasy and terror, as is human existence. Looking at the peaceful waters of Plitviče now reminds me of how precious, and tenuous, is world peace.

Limited Edition prints available. Contact studio for details.

This series is special to me because it combines two passions that have been a part of my life since childhood: photography and tennis. I remember visiting Minas Tênis Clube with my mom, in my hometown of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, when I first saw the tennis players, all in white, so elegantly playing with their stylish wood racquets. I knew immediately this was going to be my sport for life.

The light reflected on the edges of the chainlink fence in soft focus reminds me of tennis balls…

Limited Edition prints, signed and numbered on archival cotton rag available. Contact the studio for details.

Beyond the ten thousand gates of Fushimi Inari I found this twig floating in the air in the bamboo forest. Looking closely one can see the spider webs that hold it, so delicate they remind me of Arachne, the gifted weaver who dared challenge Athena. The simplicity of the scene makes me wish to walk lightly as I journey this Earth.

Limited edition prints and custom framed pieces are available. Contact the studio to inquire.