Lone Surfer, Sunrise, Belmar, NJ

It has been a long time since I have contributed on here and it seems like so much has happened! First, thank you to Tom, Danielle, and the moderator team to help me get back up and running after the transition from the old patch to the new one!

Just over a year ago to the date, I woke early on a Saturday morning and went down to the beach before sunrise. I wasn’t sure what I would find, however, usually when there are patchy clouds in the sky to the east, it will provide for a scenic start of the day. Upon arrival, I found a nice cool breeze and a few people already hanging around, and surfer and some fisherman. I walked around for a while waiting for a particular set up and scene to catch my eye. The sun was moving in and out of the clouds, going from being seen to being completely hidden, creating lots of small beams of light as it made this transition.

I formed in my mind how I envisioned the photograph to look and set up according to that image and made the exposure. I like to have an idea in my mind of what I would like the end result of the photograph to look like. Black and White photography offers the ability to interpret a scene; through the use of tones and shades of black to white, the artist can manipulate through burning and dodging (darkening and lightening, respectively) the image to match what they see and feel. I walked around for a little while after and made one other photograph from this day, but it evokes a completely different feeling to me. Both photographs remind me how lucky we are to have the ocean and the beaches so close by. Indeed, they are one of New Jersey’s natural resources, one of the treasures of this state.

In case you are wondering about the other photograph, I think it is equally impressive, but to me speaks a bit differently and I think because of this carries with it a different feeling. The second photograph was selected to be included in my solo show this December. This brings me to one of the other things that has happened since my last contribution. I was offered my first solo show at McKay Imaging. Owners Robert and Elisabeth McKay are curating the show which will run from December 12th 2014 to January 6th 2015. Since they are curating this show, I needed to provide to them a large variety of work to choose from. I took this heart and provided them with around 125 photographs to choose from, work that represents over 10 years of work, leaving out the first few years of photographing as I did not did into my film negatives that stretch back to 1998.

Going through thousands upon thousands of photographs was an amazing experience; it reminded me of places and feelings, and also provided a timeline of progression of my work. I think it is fascinating that I can look back on photographs I made many years ago and still recollect the feelings the image made with me the first time. So, after all the photographs to choose from, I whittled the group to around 125 and then left Robert and Elisabeth with the task of choosing from there. I am glad they had to do this and not me…as I mentioned to when I met with them, every photograph in the selections I am providing has a meaning to me, an emotional feeling that I feel I captured with the photograph. They somehow were able to choose from that group, and I now have a list of all of the images in the show, to include a fair amount of work that I have not ever released to the public, the show will be their first unveiling! The opening for the show will be at McKay Imaging, 12 Monmouth St, Red Bank, NJ on December 12, 2014 from 7-10 pm.

Lastly, I have finalized the proofs for my 2015 calendar and have opened that up on the website to accept orders. The calendar is 12”x12”, with 12 glossy photographs to include some of my award winning photographs from 2014. It is only $23.95 and orders will begin to be shipped out around October 8th, plenty of time to get them as gifts or for you! All of my work, to include the silver gelatin prints, canvas prints, calendars and notecards are available on my website, www.colinseitzphotography.com.

I hope everyone has a great week,

Colin