Foundations

In order to understand where I am as a photographer and artist, I think it is useful to take a look at where I have been. This portfolio of 'Foundations' goes back more than 40 years and offers these early images that I hope will put my more recent work in some context. The work covers the decades of the 1960s through the 1990s, admittedly a long time to build my foundation. However, in those decades, there were long gaps where I did no serious photography, being preoccupied with making a living and other things.

Limited Edition Porfolio

A limited edition portfolio of fifteen prints from the 'Foundations' gallery is available. The prints are produced using Epson Ultrachrome K3 archival pigment inks and Hahnemuhle bamboo fiber fine art paper.

For more information, please email: sterlingimageswv (at) gmail (dot) com

Transitions

In 2003 I embraced the digital world, but I never lost my love for black and white images.

This porfolio represents a range of work, which I believe shows the direction that my photography is going at this time. Allthough I am doing more with digital color than I did with film, black and white remains my favorite "mode".

Cityscapes

It was evident early on that I was fascinated by architecture and looked for opportunities to photograph and interpret architectural subjects.

This portfolio explores the patterns and textures of modern cities, at times with mixtures of old and historic structures intermingled with new structures.

Interwoven Mills

The old Intewoven Sock Mills in Martinsburg have been purchased by Ridgecrest Investments in Frederick, Maryland. Ridgecrest has plans for a major redevelopment of this large complex of ten or more buildings. I was given access to a couple of the larger structures so I could take some photographs. These images are the first to come out of the project, which I hope will eventually document the full exent of the complex before the redevelopment work begins.

This was also my first attempt at high dynamic range imaging, which involves taking five frames at different exposures and then blending them so that the bright light coming through the windows does not overwhelm the scene.

Color Images

Before converting to digital imaging, I rarely worked in color because I was rarely satisfied with the prints I was getting from the labs. With digital, however, I find that color is much more satisfying because I can control the printing process directly, even when working with scanned color negatives and slides.

Infrared (IR) photography explores a fantasy world as seen in light that we cannot see with our eyes. The most obvious effect is in the blue sky that turns nearly black and in the green foliage that is rendered as delicate white flower petals.

IR photos create striking contrast relationships that emphasize form and texture, and add strength to an already strong composition. IR photography has become almost an artform in and of itself within photography that provides fascinating images.