Photography and the Creative Process

Walking out of Dreamland into Wakefulness

Bill Gatesman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:46:35 +0000

I have added this image, which I call Walking out of Dreamland into Wakefulness, to the Abstractions and Still Life gallery at my Online Photo Gallery, one of my related sites, a link for which is in the right hand column of this page.

Autumn’s Doorway at the End of Summer

Bill Gatesman — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:24:37 +0000

Walking around at Fell’s Point in Baltimore in early September, I chanced upon Autumn’s Doorway at the End of Summer.

To view a larger version of this photo, you may visit the Abstractions and Still Life Gallery at my online Photo Gallery.

Solitary in Toronto

Bill Gatesman — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:28:39 +0000

I rarely make traditional portraits, those images that consist of the head and shoulders of an individual looking straight at the camera, with nothing in the background but a plain white wall. I find such photos boring. And I find books of such photos, head-and-shoulders portrait after head-and-shoulders portrait, uninteresting.

Nevertheless, I took this portrait of a friend in a Toronto cafe, and indeed, my subject is looking straight at the camera in a photograph depicting her head and shoulders, more or less. However, the photo is made more interesting, in my view, by the design on the cafe wall – an outline of a girl’s profile – and the fragment of a girl on the left, whose shirt echoes the pattern on the shirt of my subject.

The combination of my subject’s expression and these other elements is what makes this a portrait worthy of sharing with you.

Solitary in Toronto

I have added this photograph, Solitary in Toronto, to the Portait Gallery at www.wmgphoto.com.

Young American (between two worlds)

Bill Gatesman — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:53:49 +0000

This contemporary Indian Girl looks out at the world from the security of her mother’s traditions.

Young American (between two worlds)

A Native American friend of mine, upon viewing this photo, stated: “Most Native people including myself feel as though we are forced to live between two or more worlds…. but then, maybe everyone does at their own core of existence. Do you know the type of dress the woman is wearing? It’s called a jingle dress, there are 365 cones sewn onto it, one for each day of the year. A prayer is said for each day before it is sewn on. Now, do you know what the cones were made of?”

The answer to the last question: snuff can lids.

I have added this image to the Portraits Gallery at my online Photo Gallery.

Native Girl Pondering a Crumbling National Symbol

Bill Gatesman — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:41:45 +0000

In 1999, the Washington Monument was clad in scaffolding. During that same time, there was a gathering of native peoples on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Early one morning, I saw a young girl looking intently at the monument. This image, Native Girl Pondering a Crumbling National Symbol, arose out of that event.

Native Girl Pondering a Crumbling National Symbol
Washington, D.C. 1999

A native American friend, after seeing the photo, commented that it “makes you think on a spiritual plane of how the government towers over it’s people, yet [the people] still remain and even a little one has the power to stand up to it.”

I have added this image to the Street Photography Gallery at my online Photo Gallery.