Fine Art Photography

The end of the month brought me to upper Cape Cod to release my father’s ashes to the wind and sea. The dark sky, filled with rain clouds, serendipitously parted as we trekked through the dunes, and the Harvest Moon emerged to illuminate our nighttime ritual. Swirling breezes lifted the mortal dust from our hands; the high tide pulled remnants of a body lived into the frothy depths and rolling waves.

The eve of my journey to Truro, MA was the last opportunity to photograph the aged, dark metal Hu-Kwa Chinese tea tin, from my dad’s little galley kitchen, that held his bodily remains. Another dimension of my evolving homage, shot with black + white film. Once I removed the circular tin lid, the thick, sandy ashes became the subject, scattered over the lightbox, and then poured over photographs of my father. His baby face gazes through fragments of bone. Photographs are fossils, frozen in their moment, that my outlive their subject. A Hasselblad image made years ago of my dad’s rugged hands cupping palms of earth echo inside the clay of his very being.

To learn more about my father’s life and art, see the July, 2023 Newsletter.

New Contact Grids, from recent rolls of “My Father’s Things,” are beginning to shake out…

…..

Click HERE to view a brief video reel of My Father’s Things, Contact Grid # 6 set to an excerpt of my song “Courting Danger”, which was inspired by my dad and written in 2014. Video and sound recorded and produced by artist Fiona Small.

I’ve been enjoying making 16x20-inch prints in the darkroom. Enlarging shots that big allows the objects to become larger than life. Here, the handsaw is cut by the frame’s edge and the long, pointed blade, bent with time and use, is only suggested.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Art Hop at BCA Studios

September 8 – October 29, 2023

…..

Selections from “Of Gavin”

Burlington Muffler & Brake, South Burlington, Vermont.

Extended through October, 2023

…..

“Wheels” at the Museum of Everyday Life

Glover, Vermont.

My photograph (above), from last year’s exhibition “Coming Clean,” is part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Click HERE to view more of “950 Starlight Rd.”

Thank you to those who purchased prints from last month’s selection! I will offer a new batch of special deals each month, and you are invited to enquire about any images here and on my website, anytime.

…..

THIS MONTH’S PRINTS FOR SALE

One of each of these signed and archivally wrapped prints is available, on a first come basis. They can be window matted and/or framed for additional cost. To arrange purchase: jordansamdouglas@gmail.com

IN THE VIEWFINDER…

My October goals are to process the rolls with “My Father’s Ashes,” have another session or two of 16x20 darkroom printing + toning, and shoot the last rolls of “My Father’s Things.” It’s time to move the piles of objects out of my studio!

Previous Newsletters:

August, 2023

July, 2023

June, 2023

See you next month!

Contact: jordansamdouglas@gmail.com

jordandouglasphotography.com