tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90178501762722085552012-02-24T18:30:00.522-06:00Revealing Light Photography is dedicated to exploring the art of photography in general, and the photographic art of Bill Brockmeier in particular. <br> Photography is founded upon the interaction of photons and materials, of energy and matter, of spiritual and physical.Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-22922533508347297052012-02-24T18:30:00.000-06:002012-02-24T18:30:00.547-06:00

There is no good excuse for art to remain in the shadows, because excellent lighting is now both easy to afford and fairly simple to install. There are some absolutely wonderful high-end illumination systems out there, but you need not go that far to achieve a powerful result. There are many ways to go about it, but for my own studio/gallery presentation, and in my on-the-road art show booth, I

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-6900284885783183192012-02-17T18:00:00.000-06:002012-02-18T22:43:31.344-06:00

Flipping the switch up into the "ON" position, I then stood back a couple of paces and looked upon the art on the wall with renewed appreciation. The colors were now vibrant- almost dazzling. The range of contrast, from the deepest shadows to the bright white clouds was amazing. Subtle nuances as well as the strong statements of the underlying composition were now fully evident and no longer in

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-20733910629478629552012-02-11T21:18:00.000-06:002012-02-12T23:18:54.648-06:00

Several years ago, a colleague pointed me to a powerful and life impacting resource. I had been working along side Dr. Hector Acosta, a "human factors" professional, on a research project in the area of vision as it related to human performance. Human factors strives to understand and optimize things like ergonomics, performance, and acceptability. I have always genuinely enjoyed my

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-53285167272748891682012-02-07T22:38:00.000-06:002012-02-09T23:25:39.913-06:00

E. O. Goldbeck led a remarkable life in so many different ways. He left a legacy of art, invention, pioneering, entrepreneurship, service, and family. On top of these numerous successes he lived a good long life of nearly a century. He almost had to have lived this long (94 years) in order to pack in so much. I mentioned previously that I had obtained a signed and numbered copy of "The

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-81775569185982692652012-01-31T18:56:00.000-06:002012-01-31T18:56:37.187-06:00

Ralph and Laurie Cordero have been dear friends for well over a decade. Ralph is a talented photographer, and the two have appreciated the art of E. O. Goldbeck for even longer than myself, so I thought it would be of interest to interview Laurie about her experience of meeting the man and about his art. _______________________________________ Bill: Laurie, I've been exploring some of the

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-53891055655892387352012-01-23T23:47:00.004-06:002012-01-30T19:54:18.448-06:00

E. O. Goldbeck assembled thousands of human subjects to paint truly monumental insignias upon the Texas landscape. This was a unique achievement but it wasn't the only enduring mark Goldbeck left on the history of the photographic arts. He has probably been most known for his singular and signature capture of American men and women at work. Goldbeck cut his panoramic teeth in his recording of

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-53744107007456627292012-01-01T21:49:00.000-06:002012-01-30T19:54:31.207-06:00

One of Goldbeck's temporary towers (Photo authorship unknown) He stood in a large military parade field in the unrelenting sunlight of south Texas. Over two hundred feet above him he could barely make out the small platform to which he would climb. Grabbing the rails of the scaffold's ladder and placing his left foot firmly on the first rung, he began his trip skyward. Thousands of uniformed

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-85568820338335251632011-12-23T14:57:00.001-06:002012-01-22T23:35:25.006-06:00

It is incredibly faint– ghostlike. Moving your gaze about in the dim shrine, you occasionally catch a glimpse of something long gone. Attempting to refocus, you strain your eyes to see something that might not even be there. A certain patience is required to see something so rare as this... ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Estate at Le Gras Support the Nicéphore Niépce House–

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-79856985918689269812011-12-17T18:38:00.000-06:002011-12-18T14:00:50.697-06:00

The first day of December I embarked on what has become an interesting photographic project. My daughter recently moved to Kharkiv, Ukraine for a couple of years, to be with her husband who has been running a small software development company there. Since she was going to be out of the U.S. and away from most of her family for much of the holiday seasons, I thought I would attempt to bring some

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-72603226758342053472011-12-16T19:00:00.000-06:002011-12-17T11:55:01.931-06:00

Panoramic photographs have their own brand of geometric subtleties (some would call this "distortion"). Much of these effects are because of the extremely wide angle of view (as much as a full 360 degrees) that panoramics rely on. When photography was relegated to capturing a view that simulated looking through a window, the geometry was narrow enough to keep geometric effects below the surface.

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-12757077918796491282011-12-15T16:04:00.000-06:002011-12-18T14:37:29.051-06:00

We've seen that distortion is built into the process of producing a conventional photographic image. If we take a few regular photographs from the same location, slightly rotating the camera for each frame, we effectively cover a greater field of view with the shots. If the shots slightly overlap each other at the sides, we ought to be able to easily combine  them to produce a single wide-angle

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-11917680545975740562011-12-11T21:40:00.001-06:002011-12-15T20:14:27.661-06:00

The whole idea of producing a precisely rectangular  image of a known rectangle in the real world is suspect, and actually a distortion of reality. I say this because a rectangular object cannot truly appear as precisely rectangular. At first blush this sounds counter-intuitive. You might say: "Of course rectangular objects look rectangular- what else would they look like?!" But do they? Under

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-82895710053442868092011-12-03T16:45:00.001-06:002011-12-04T21:49:43.608-06:00

Another question that occasionally comes up when people are viewing my art at shows revolves around something they usually refer to as "distortion." The question commonly sounds like this: "I thought that panoramic photos were usually distorted, but these don't look distorted," or: "Is that hill really there, or is that just distortion?" I believe that what they are concerned about is whether or

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-90700536025688333972011-11-28T20:58:00.001-06:002011-11-29T21:16:10.526-06:00

Black and White photography transitioned to color imaging before most people alive today can personally remember. Bill Watterson, in his Calvin and Hobbes creation (probably the high-water mark of daily cartoon strips), probed this technological shift with an amusing and thought-provoking perspective. Out of respect for Watterson's copyrights I won't provide a direct link here to this particular

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-85745298697260374292011-11-13T12:49:00.001-06:002011-11-21T22:21:11.030-06:00

In my previous post I mentioned that the basis for photography was producing "an analog of what the original subject 'looked like.'" That thought was a kind of off-the-cuff remark, but thinking about it again, I believe it now even more strongly. It is significant that a photograph is aimed not at simply reproducing a physical duplicate of the original, but, rather, in producing (or re-producing)

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-60672559337922990382011-11-12T12:39:00.001-06:002011-11-13T15:53:08.883-06:00

As I show my work publicly, a frequent question I am asked is— "Do you digitally 'enhance' your photos, or are they 'straight' shots?" Although I think I know what they are generally asking, the real answer is not quite so simple as they might imagine. What they probably want to know is whether or not I have intentionally used an image editor (like Adobe's PhotoShop) to "pump up" the

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-22000912221683360952011-10-30T22:02:00.001-05:002011-11-22T23:14:37.398-06:00

I started what has become a three-part article by looking into some of my own recent experiences of Discovery. I will finish it with some cautionary advice, also gleaned from personal experience. There are those who warn against using the word "create" and its derivative nouns and adjectives as being something akin to blasphemy.  They reason that using this word for anything other than

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-27428367261701315742011-10-17T18:39:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:17:40.988-05:00

The 2011 Hill Country Invitational show was a very satisfying and productive venture for me. I have had the opportunity to place four new images of mine before a large gathering of people who care a great deal about serious art- and they have given me an overwhelming "thumb's up!" Bill's exhibit at the 2011 BPA Hill Country Invitational Although I changed my plans for the show at the last

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-63665255742678751912011-10-09T14:53:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:18:21.114-05:00

I believe that creativity and faith are parallel journeys to be taken.  The Writer of the "Letter to the Hebrews" defined faith this way: "Faith is the evidence (or substance) of things unseen."  There exist eternal things that yet reside in secret and are hidden in darkness— invisible— but nevertheless have a certainty and reality.  That reality is held and ultimately manifest in this physical

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-40868603738384296562011-10-05T23:16:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:19:06.624-05:00

The OPEN PORTAL image continued to grow on me for a few days, and I was very much looking forward to sharing this view of Mission San Jose (and more) with those who would attend the Hill Country Invitational show in Boerne.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that something was yet missing.  The image itself continued as a high point for me, but it seemed I was still waiting for

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-57978684345910882142011-10-03T20:19:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:20:05.859-05:00

I wrote earlier that I encountered interesting surprises as I began my preparations for the fall show in Boerne, Texas.  No matter how much I think I have prepared ahead of time for an upcoming show, things always seem to be somewhat of a moving target and the last few days I am usually found scrambling.  This show has been that and more. I was pleased with some images of a working lavender

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-23375971176714930832011-10-02T08:10:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:20:50.610-05:00

Recently, as I was preparing images for exhibition in the fall Hill Country Invitational show, I had some surprising, but not totally unexpected experiences.  In my previous post, I mentioned the serendipitous nature of the particular photographic arts that I have been pursuing.  I have seen enough of this that I have come to expect the unexpected. It frequently happens that I stumble upon

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-36223522533884749272011-10-01T20:54:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:21:43.095-05:00

The conventional format for a panoramic photograph is a "landscape," or horizontal, layout, and perhaps this is due to the fact that we humans possess binocular vision, with the two eyes paired in a horizontal arrangement.  This arrangement causes our field of vision to be spread out left and right, taking in as much as possible of the horizon and, in fact, the horizontal plane on which we stand

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-34019623731135657342011-09-28T23:18:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:23:12.020-05:00

The Boerne Professional Artists group held its annual spring show— the Parade of Artists— last April.  This exhibit is always a very intimate look at the work of each of the participating artists.  Most of the artists in the group have a local Boerne presence (galleries, etc.) where there work is presented to the public on a permanent/continual basis.  The Parade is so-called because, something

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-90218130542556489492011-09-24T21:50:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:22:54.647-05:00

Late last year I was granted membership alongside some well-known and quite accomplished artists in the Boerne Professional Artists group.  Previously, my association with them had been being invited by them twice to their wonderful fall show of fine art, the Hill Country Invitational. This show had, both times, been a marvelous time for me, not only because it had always been a financial success

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017850176272208555.post-41761968877163283892011-06-30T18:54:00.000-05:002011-10-31T22:23:35.259-05:00

The lavender fields and farms clustered in the Blanco, Texas area have suffered mightily from the nearly nine months of extreme drought, but you wouldn't have known it had you visited my photographic exhibit early in June. My photographs of private lavender farms in the area (taken last year just after an exceedingly rainy spring) showed fields of the fragrant blooms so lush, you'd swear you

Bill Brockmeierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14223348143825626125noreply@blogger.com0