Light & Shadows Photography by Joseph Yarbrough

Artist’s Statement
Joseph Yarbrough

My subjects are both natural and architectural. I am interested in textures and shapes and how light and shadow play on those objects often creating new ones. I use a Nikon D-100 and a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300 cameras.

I make every effort to compose in the camera and thus I crop infrequently. I use Aperture and Photoshop to work with highlights & shadows which often brings out the elements in a photograph for which I have primary interest. I have no hesitation using any other tool if the results make the photograph work. My preference is to do nothing to a photograph presenting it as it was taken.

My web site is named light & shadows because both light and shadows are the visual elements which hold the most fascination for me. If time and space put me in a day and place with clouds or overcast skies — I shoot in any case. However, I am happiest when the sun is low and the shadows long and distinct.

I spend a long time with any set of photographs deciding which to move into galleries on my web site. The photographs which finally get printed are another smaller set. All the photographs are printed on photographic paper by a commercial photo house to my specifications. Every photograph is named. Older editions are named and signed on the front of the mat with a label on the back. Newer pieces are signed & numbered on the print, and include a label on the back with the name, year, descriptive narrative and geographic location.

I mount, mat and frame all of my work. All work is double-matted with color mats. I use archival quality materials. My presentation for the public includes matted prints in sizes of 5 x7, 8 x10, 11 x 14 and 16 x 20. Framed work is offered in 12 x 16, 16 x 20, and 22 x 28 frames. I also have a selection of pieces presented on canvas.

CompuSearch Design Services, LLC
228 Orchard
East Lansing, Michigan
www.compusearchdesigns.com
yarbrouj@comcast.net

Archive
2012 (9)
2011 (79)
2010 (32)
Obox Signature Series

Caladium

Caladium

Caladium

The whites are so white. The greens are so green. The reds are so red, but the blacks in-between are eternal black — reaching dark and deep like there is no ground beneath them.

Light

Light
Light

This flower was growing wild along the parking lot in Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, Naples, Florida.

Grand Haven Art Festival - June 23 & June 24, 2012

Well this is the first show I was accepted to for the 2012 season. I've been in Art on the Riverfront in mid-August for a number of years, but never this June show. It is always an adventure going to a new show!
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Grand Haven Art Festival 
June 23 & June 24, 2012
Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday 10 AM - 5 PM

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365 5th Ave South

Photoshop CS5 Photomerge with a Florida View

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Toward Corkscrew

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Back of Ave

I took these photographs out on a sand road back of Ave Maria University on a walk over to the water park. Like Southern California it is troublesome to actually get off the asphalt and trimmed lawns in South Florida. Well for me it is in any case as I was unsure what my footfalls would scare up out in the brush! I stayed on the road.

Each photograph is actual five or six exposures. I had long wanted to try a capability of Photoshop that allowed the merging of multiple images. Once I finally found this utility buried deep within Photoshop CS5 it was easy to use. It is called Photomerge. One simply imports each image into the utility, choose one of six different ways to merge the images...then let it do its thing. It is actually very speedy. 

After Photomerge finished I flattened the image and treated it like any other photograph by adjusting it to my own tastes.

If you are interested it is under the following menu path: File:Automate:Photomerge. 

Light & Shadows February 2012 Newsletter

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New Gallery: 54_MSU in the Fall 2011

I just completed work on a new Gallery called 54_MSU in the Fall 2011.

Most of the photographs were taken on campus at Michigan State University.

MSU-UAB Art & Craft Show December 3 &4, 2011

It is really nice to have someone interested in my booth! As this young man passed by he demonstrated more interest than most! Well on Saturday I dis sell ten calendars for which I was very grateful. I also sold three boxes of cards, and four prints over the two days. Sunday was like a different world. All I sold were two prints. The crowds were better on Saturday but boy did the folks on  Sunday come with unique things going on in their heads. Buying my work was not among the things bouncing around in there. And so it goes...

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51_Ice Gallery

It was late March and we’d had some warmer weather, some cold weather and some stiff winds. The usual high water in the Red Cedar for this time of year caused the flow over the spillway to shoot into the air but not exceptionally. The low branches blow the spillway along both sides of the river were decorated as if with molten glass. Even though the sun was crystal bright the air was frozen and the ice lasted well into the next days. This one is called Attached.It was late March and we’d had some warmer weather, some cold weather and some stiff winds. The usual high water in the Red Cedar for this time of year caused the flow over the spillway to shoot into the air but not exceptionally. The low branches blow the spillway along both sides of the river were decorated as if with molten glass. Even though the sun was crystal bright the air was frozen and the ice lasted well into the next days. This one is called Attached.

First Frost (2nd post)

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As I said, nice digs! Actually at the very end of a very long Sunday I did sell two 8 x 10's -  framed pieces. It actually does not take much in the way of sales for a show to be OK by me. So it turned out OK, but I'd still have to think a long time before returning. However, the easy setup is SO enticing!

All the folks I ran into from the Founder's Society (sponsors of the show) were very nice and helpful. Sometimes volunteers disappear more & more as a show moves along. These folks were there to the end. There was a lot going on in the museum from music to demonstrations plus all the artists/vendors spread around the place. I think some show sponsors just do not really understand that they HAVE to bring customers into the venue. They also have to make sure the customers don't just hang around the 'fun' free stuff and actually find the vendors down that long hallway! It really is all about percentages. 

Only a certain percentage of a given group in attendance are the least interested in photography. Of that group only a much smaller percentage is interested & willing to spend their hard earned cash on my work! SO a larger total in attendance increases the chances that I'll see enough customers who'll actually buy my work. Thus show sponsors have to do whatever it takes to get more that just nice size crowds to come out to their shows.

Lovely wood floors! So easy to move the display walls around! Lots of space! Free electricity……...

First Frost

One should be careful with issuing reviews before a show is over but I think First Frost was over yesterday. It does happen that sales improve but I don't think it is going to happen here.

Too bad as this is great location. Who can complain about setting up inside a very well appointed art gallery? The galleries are big and each vendor has more than a 10 x 10' space. This is exceptional for indoor shows. Parking is just outside the door. They send around students to provide breaks. By any score this is a good show. Unfortunately there are few customers who are actually buying. Same story from other vendors. Visits from other vendors are a sure sign that nothing much is happening. Vendors start wandering around when customers & sales are few. I've had a number of visits!

Oh well! I am glad to have been inside the Flint Institute of Arts. It does look to me to be a first class art museum for a city the size of Flint. I will come back to take a real look.

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