Website Redesign

It has been 8+ years since I have done any significant work on the design of my Main Photography Website, richardboutwell.com. I had been spent using Photo-Eye’s Visual Server design and hosting service for artist and photographers since 2006.

A lot has changed in the last few years with advancements in design and hosting services, and made the decision to move all my sites to Squarespace, where I can more easily manage all the projects I have going.

Now that everything is “under one roof” at squarespace, much of the content from the Natural Gestures wordpress blog has migrated over. Without the need to manage multiple properties I hope to be able to keep everything updated much more frequently with new posts about digital black and white, platinum printing, and the occasional thoughts on photography (personal rants). This wordpress page might still get some use as a repository for all the writing and posts. We’ll see.

Hope you like the new design. Not all of the older work is up yet, but it should be by the end of the month. All the best, Richard Boutwell

My New Site

This hasn’t been updated in a long time, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been going full tilt for the last few years.

I have been doing more personal work, working more with Lodima, and teaching privately.

Based on my background scanning, retouching, and printing for some pretty demanding artists, people have asked me to write about and comment on how to make the best possible black and white digital prints. This has lead to my forthcoming book, three different workshops, and my new website dedicated to Digital Black and White.

I am calling it Black and White Mastery, where I write about the creative and technical aspects making outstanding work. The site will be dedicated to aesthetics,  teaching, and the process of organic visual discovery. I will focus on blog posts and video tutorials, with options for in-person workshops, and one-on-one personalized instruction—in-person or online.

Click the picture or link below to check out the new site, and be sure to sign up to subscribe to future posts and updates at bwmastery.com

 

New Blog on Platinum/Palladium Printing

I just started a new blog devoted to platinum/palladium printing, where I will be posting about techniques, as well as events and interviews with other platinum/palladium printers and their work.

Why not just post more about the technical aspects here on my current blog? From the start, I always planned on keeping my personal blog devoted to updates on my work, aesthetic issues, and my thoughts on photography in general. Over the last few years I have become passionaly involved with platinum/palladium printing and want to share what I have learned to the growing number of people beginning to work with the process. With a separate blog, those who only want to read about that can do so without the updates on my personal work, which is becoming more diverse as I incorporate digital appropriation, mixed media, and video installation with my more traditional forms of photographing and print making.

2012 Lightroom Holiday Showcase!

Photograph by Erin Yard

Join us Friday, December 7th at theLight Room Gallery for a showcase of fine art photography.Light Room Holiday Show December 7th – January 5th Opening Reception: Friday, December 7th,  5 – 9 PM Located @ The Light Room Gallery: 2024 Wallace Street, Philadelphia PA Gallery hrs. Saturdays from 12-4PM Participating Light Room artists include: Richard Boutwell Ron Corbin Annarita Gentile Richard Gretzinger Josh Marowitz Ranjoo Prasad Tony Rocco Al Wachlin Jr Erin Yard

Photo Review Benefit Auction

Luis Nadeau: Untitled (tree trunk)
1983, silver print, signed and dated on border recto, 6″x5″

I’ve been helping out at the Photo Review again this year getting things together for the annual benefit auction next weekend. There is a lot of good work that you can usually pick up for a good bargain. Here are a few that I know are knockouts, and make me wish I had the cash to bid on them. I’m sure they are going to make it into a good home…

Nick Kline: .28 mile from the series Gilgo Beach
2012, archival pigment print, special edition for The Photo Review Auction, framed, 15″x20″

Bruce Katsiff: Flying Totem
1987/2012, archival pigment print, signed recto, 12.5″x20″
Exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Washington Center for Photography.

Wendy Holmes Noyes: Rose Cabbage
c. 1976, palladium print, signed and titled recto, 4.75″x6.625

POST—East of Broad at 1241 Carpenter Street

I can’t believe this will be my fifth year participating inPhiladelphia’s Open Studio Tour—going back to the first year at Project Basho and the mad dash to finish the gallery space.  I will be showing tons of work from noon to 6 this Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 20, 21)  at the Studios at 1241 Carpenter Street. It is a large studio building with a good group of diverse artists so be sure to check out some of the other people involved. I will be on the second floor so ask the person at the door for directions of just follow the signs.

Here is a link to the address with a map. Hope to see you there

New Remote Sensing Work

I started an off-shoot of my Remote Sensing a few weeks ago. The work in the new series looks at development along the Eastern Seaboard, which has been something have been wanting to explore for the last few years.  Here are a few that I just finished, Atlantic City, and the Outer Banks. I will hit the darkroom this weekend to print in platinum/palladium to show at the portfolio reviews at Atlanta Celebrates Photography and the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours.

Sol Invictus—Installation Views

For the past few years I have been altering satellite images appropriated from scientific and mapping applications, first with Google Earth, stitching hundreds of images and altering them to be printed in platinum/palladium, and now compositing images of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.

With these new large-scale photo-based installations I manipulate appropriated images of the sun and print on clear film backed with gold leaf. The series stems from origins in ancient sun worship and its evolution to the worship of gold and to what could now be seen as the worship of technology. Dependence on technology, and the potentially devastating effect this year’s solar storms could have on it, caused me to look more closely to the sun, and reexamine that original idea of the Invincible Sun.

The nature of the gold leaf makes photographing them difficult, and I am working on scanning some of the larger ones, and will update my website with more from the series soon. Until then, here are a few installation views from the August show at Philadelphia’s 3rd Street Gallery.

Closing this week—Sol Invictus

A group show with work from my new series, Sol Invictus, will be closing this Sunday, August 26th at the 3rd Street Gallery on Second Street in Olde City, Philadelphia (58 North 2nd Street). There will be a closing reception from 2-5PM with drinks and light fare. If you can’t make the closing reception the gallery hours are Wednesday-Sunday noon–5PM.

Sol Invictus, 2012

This new work is more of a departure from my beginnings in straight landscape photography, but stems from my recent work altering satellite images appropriated from scientific and mapping applications, first with Google Earth, stitching hundreds of images and altering them to be printed in platinum/palladium, and now compositing images of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.

With these new large-scale photo-based installations I manipulate appropriated images of the sun and print on clear film backed with gold leaf. The series stems from origins in ancient sun worship and its evolution to the worship of gold and to what could now be seen as the worship of technology. Dependence on technology, and the potentially devastating effect this year’s solar storms could have on it, caused me to look more closely to the sun, and reexamine that original idea of the Invincible Sun.

Openings in Philadelphia and Portland

I am thrilled to have a large platinum/palladium print from my Remote Sensing series in Philadelphia Photo Art Center’s 3rd Annual Competition and Exhibition. The opening is tomorrow, July 12th, from 6-9. The openings at PPAC are always a blast and you can bet I’ll be there all night.

Also currently on view is another large platinum/palladium print from the same series at Portland, Oregon’s Newspace Center for Photography. The opening was last Friday, and I regret that I couldn’t make it out West for it and catch up with old friends in the area.