New Book - Fluidity

Sometimes it takes time away from something to realize just what you have. A poet once said "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", he or she was talking about love and a relationship but I think it is sometimes the same with art. Whether it's your own collection of artwork that you have purchased or the work you produce yourself, sometimes you just need to get away from it to appreciate exactly what you have.
Thus is the case with my new book, "Fluidity, the strength and beauty of dance".
In November 2007, I had the opportunity to photograph Jackie Starner who was studying dance in Muhlenberg college. When the shoot started I was trying to pose her as she posed for a figure drawing workshop a few weeks early. This really didn't work, so I told her to just dance. Using my typical black background as a blank canvas, Jackie glided through this space with grace, beauty and strength all for my eye to soak in. I photographed over 400 images that day all in a span of about 90 minutes. Anyone who knows me, knows that about 90 minutes is about all I can do before I just get a bit tired of shooting.
So the next day I looked at the images and pulled out one shot that jumped out to me. I printed and framed it and actually had it in an exhibition. I then proceeded to forget about the shoot and got on with other things.
It wasn't until late in February that I was cleaning out my hard drive in my computer, archiving images to make room for new ones when I rediscovered this shoot. As I looked through them, now with fresh eyes, I realized how beautiful the strength of Jackie's poses actually were. It seems I missed the subtle muscle tone that softly let light slide from light to dark along her back. I missed the subtleties of her poses and the emotion they showed. I just missed it, I mean I shot it, but I really didn't see what I had actually shot.
Sometimes you really get too close to a thing and have to step back, take a second look and actually "see" what is there.
"Fluidity" represents not just Jackie doing what she loves to do, dance, but also represents to me at least, that sometimes we really don't see what is right in front of our eyes. Whether in art, or a relationship, we all sometimes take for granted the beauty that is right in front of us, if we would only pay attention and really look.

"Fluidity" can be found on Blurb.com