Placed under the curatorship of Thierry Bigaignon, and bringing together this year the works of twelve artists some represented and some invited, this collective exhibition entitled « La Dialectique de l’Ombre » addresses the question of shadow in its relationship to light. , of photography in its relation to reality and more broadly of art in its relation to the world.

From the origins of the image to the advent of photography, the question of the representation of reality has arisen. Does reality exist, or is it only the fruit of our experience? If light is a symbol of truth, is the cast shadow its counterpart? The philosopher Eric Lecerf wrote that the presence of the shadow is never fortuitous, whether it was the origin of the pictorial representation for some or the visual translation of the representation for others. But the shadow is, in its dialectical version, the source of a problem. It is not simply what accompanies light, but what conditions it, limits it and, in the end, torments it. If all light is carried with the intention to dissipate shadows, it never ceases to produce new ones! Shadow, rival and accomplice of light, by turns romantic, Caravaggesque, impressionist or photographic, has never ceased to highlight forms, thus creating an atmosphere that is sometimes intimate, sometimes dramatic, in its perpetual quest to reveal a presence, to make visible the very existence of light.

Whether in the apparent monochromes of Anne-Camille Allueva, this young French artist who recently joined the gallery, in the translucent plexiglass of the Swiss Anne Blanchet, we also feel in these two artists a desire to make light visible. On the other hand, it is on a principle of invisibility that the wall sculptures of the visual artist Sophie Coroller are based. Made of carbon and glass, they migrate on the wall, landing like the butterfly of a contemporary Nabokov. A choreography of resistance without tension, the line tends towards an absolute non-constraint, thus plunging us into an optical illusion. A shadow is perceptible there without us understanding its origin. We no longer know where the light comes from, nor what could have caused the emergence of a very real shadow!

The optical illusion continues in the work presented by Renato D’Agostin which will surprise many connoisseurs of his work. We obviously find his signature, the splendor of his silver prints, but this time, the Italian artist gives us a photographic sculpture where steel, reflections and shadows mingle, whose field extends to infinity. thanks to a clever confrontation of mirrors. With the work of Mireille Fulpius, invited for the occasion and better known for her practice of wood for nearly 40 years, it is also a question of sculpture and steel. Inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, the two pieces presented here, oscillating between presence and absence, emptiness and fullness, light and shadow, question us about reality and its perception.

Recognized for their sublime silver prints, the American master Ralph Gibson, the gray prodigy Yannig Hedel and the late Denis Malartre (whose work is exhibited for the first time at the gallery) do not limit themselves to writing with light, but seek, explore and examine it with counterpoint shadow. And one could say that counterpoint is the prerogative of Antony Plasse, this young French artist, resident at POUSH and invited for the occasion. Not content to literally paint with light through the use of silver gelatin on his canvases, he erases its traces, and by practicing the fold and the incision on his unearthed canvases, the artist seems to get rid of the light to succeed in painting with the shadow itself.

The installation of Thomas Paquet, between allegory of Plato and myth of Narcissus, and that of Oliver Ratsi, worthy successor of the Light & Space movement, brilliantly punctuate the space and enter into dialogue in a harmonious way. Between tangible and fictitious anamorphoses, between real reflections and imaginary shadows, our gaze is disoriented… and ends up landing on a key piece: a historical composition by Elyn Zimmerman dating from 1975. Discovered a few years ago by Thierry Bigaignon at the Contemporary Art Center in Copenhagen during a major exhibition entitled “Light & Space”, dedicated to this emblematic Californian movement of the 1960s, of which Elyn Zimmerman was one of the pioneers alongside Turrell, Larry Bell and Robert Erwin, this masterful composition made of silver prints and pencil drawings, advances the hypothesis that light and shadow can merge, and in doing so, gives pride of place to the passage of time!

Silver prints, photograms, sculptures, anamorphoses, installations and works on canvas, The Dialectic of Shadow is a protean exhibition that addresses the ambiguous relationship between shadow and light, because shadow only exists because there is light. , while being defined precisely by its total absence!

Bigaignon is a photosensitive contemporary art gallery. The gallery’s line finds its roots in avant-garde movements such as Light & Space, minimalism, abstract art, concrete photography or even constructivism, and is based on the strong conviction that photography, nourished in particular by these currents, has fully entered a new era.

Deeply committed to promoting artists who work with the fundamental elements of photography that are light and time, whatever the final medium, the gallery contributes to the development of a new avant-garde. It thus emphasizes an international program proposed by the artists it represents and supports, whether they are emerging, developing or internationally recognized, and who seize the photographic medium to explore its extent with a  singular writing.

Located in the Marais in Paris ( 18 rue du Bourg-Tibourg, Paris 4), the gallery has an exhibition space under a glass roof, a one-of-a-kind Curated Book (Store) and a reserve that can be visited thus offering a fascinating experience to its visitors, lovers of beautiful books and collectors.

The gallery is a member of the Professional Committee of Art Galleries (CPGA).

La Dialectique de l’Ombre
June 1 – July 13, 2023
Bigaignon
18 Rue du Bourg Tibourg
75004 Paris, France
https://bigaignon.com/

From fabric to fashion and farm to fork, from learning to leading and from one student to the entire world—these are the core focuses for 4-H, a nationwide organization that teaches children and teens to see the world beyond themselves. 

Out of nearly six million 4-H members in the nation, 116 are from Liberty Hill. The local chapter is part of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, a division of the Texas A&M University System, in partnership with Williamson County. 4-H membership is for anyone in grades 3 through 12, and each community club is run by volunteer club managers and project leaders. 

There’s basically no limit to the projects children and teens can get involved in with 4-H. Chapter members can learn about everything from dairy cattle and goats to entomology and horticulture, as well as global citizenship, public speaking, computer science and shooting sports, such as archery. 

“There’s tons of opportunities,” 4-H Sponsor Julie Norris said. “You can choose to do an animal project, but if you’re interested in something like photography or fashion and interior design, that’s there too. I think a lot of people don’t realize that.”

4-H stands for heart, hands, health and head. These pillars, which make up the organization’s mission, are what the kids use and learn while working on various projects.

The first “H,” heart, covers many community service projects 4-H members participate in. For example, Liberty Hill 4-H members recently hosted a bake sale at McCoy’s, and the proceeds went toward buying coats for Operation Liberty Hill. Members raised $600 and bought approximately 75 coats to donate.

“I think it’s important to give back to the community that you grew up in because they gave you so much,” 4-H President Kristen O’Neill said. “Now you’re giving back to them.”

The next “H,” hands, is relevant to several 4-H activities which all require students to do hands-on work. The Liberty Hill chapter offers photography, interior design, dog care and much more. 4-H Manager Terresa O’Neill runs the fashion and interior design project, and said her students do everything from sewing to working with different types of fabrics.

“We focus on both fashion and interior design with learning about fabrics,” Terresa O’Neill said. “That works for both clothes as well as draperies and upholstery. It works for both industries. We do fun things. We do what’s called a burn test where we can determine whether the fabric is a cotton or a natural fiber.”

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Terresa O’Neill also leads the food and nutrition project for the Liberty Hill 4-H, which falls into the third “H”, or health category of 4-H. She said her goal is to cook at every meeting. 

“We cook and hopefully it’s edible once we get it done,” she said. “Then we talk about the nutritional value, and If it’s not something that’s particularly healthy, how we could have made it a little bit healthier.”

The last “H,” head, can fall into each category because every project and activity requires students to think outside of the box and use their minds to overcome difficulty. 4-H also offers science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects. Norris said she runs the photography project, which falls under the STEM category.

“Teaching kids to look at things a little bit differently kind of opens their eyes to things,” Norris said. “Something that maybe they wouldn’t have thought they could take a picture of. That’s just a project I’ve loved for many years.”

4-H also offers a unique opportunity for its members to hold leadership positions within the organization. 4-H member Sophia O’Neill is the current reporter for the Liberty Hill chapter, and also serves as a tier-two Texas 4-H water ambassador. The role of a water ambassador includes having a genuine interest in water and natural resources and the willingness to take the responsibility of educating youth and adults in their communities and beyond for 12 months.

“I mainly wanted to be an ambassador because, when I’m older, I want to be a marine biologist,” Sophia O’Neill said. “This past summer, we went on the tier-two trip, which was to Galveston and College Station where we got to go on a dolphin tour. I learned a lot through that, and it will also help me with my future.”

Liberty Hill 4-H will hold its first meeting for the upcoming school year in September, as well as an open house and informational night in August. Norris said Liberty Hill 4-H is always looking to grow their membership and expand the opportunities offered to members.

We’re growing,” Norris said. “I think it’s important for people to understand that if there’s someone in our community that’s interested in 4-H that wants to do a new project, that opportunity is there for them.”

For more information on the Liberty HIll chapter, email libertyhill4hclub@gmail.com or visit Liberty Hill 4H Club on Facebook.

Technology has evolved the photography universe. Today, you don’t need specialized skills to take a photo. Camera phones are a benefactor of the advancements. They allow smartphone users to be photographers in their own right.

You can trace the evolution of cell phone photo cameras over a century back. Different adaptations and processes are integrated to help grow the photography industry. Let’s go on a journey to uncover the changes phones are making in photography. 

Origin: Where It All Began

The 20th century ushered in the age of photography, with cameras becoming public in 1900. Kodak Brownie is the invention adapted, producing black and white photos. You had to be at least in the middle class to own the asset. The transition to colour photos for the public came shortly later, in 1907. However, professional photographers could access them earlier. 

Polaroid cameras became the next great invention in 1948 by Edwin Land. They took the world by storm through the instant photo feature. Together with film cameras, they offered an option for families and other group photos. This is like the present camera phones. The official switch to developing cell phone cameras would kickstart in the early 2000s. During this period, developers started exploring digital camera technologies like lenses. 

In 2000, a Japanese company, Sharp Corporation, launched the first-ever cell phone camera. The low-resolution device, 0.1 Megapixels, was named J-SH04. It is incomparable to today’s standards but still a groundbreaking discovery in digital photography. 

Smartphones are still these traditional technologies in modern ways thanks to the internet. For instance, in gambling, you no longer have to visit a casino to play games. You can access different pages at https://online-casinos-australia.net/ offering traditional playing modes slots. They also make work easier for you through their featured technologies. 

The Switch From Digital Cameras to Mobile Integrated Photography

Kodak had a hold on the industry and largely advertised the concept of photography worldwide. Selling millions of products, like Instamatic cameras, led to the introduction of many digital camera companies. There was no shortage of investors, with different entities getting involved:

• Traditional camera companies: Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Pentax.
• Film organizations: Agfa, Kodak, Fujifilm.
• CE corporations: Sony, Panasonic.

Smartphone photography revolutionized the photography market, changing how you view art today. Companies like Kodak didn’t survive the change, while some like Nikon, Canon, and Sony pulled through the evolution. Others like Sony went the extra mile by introducing phones in line with their quality digital DSLR cameras.

These early mobile phones, however, needed better quality, with their primary use being video conferencing. Such phones targeting business persons included:

• Blackberry
• Palm
• Nokia
• Windows

Consumers were ready for proper mobile cameras, and Apple Phone delivered with their series of brands. Other companies like Samsung would join the race through their advanced tech on gadgets. 

How Smartphone Cameras Are Impacting Photography

You also qualify as a photographer if you own a smartphone and can take good image quality. Undoubtedly, millions worldwide are interested in art due to their phones.

Multiple Pictures Anytime

Before the invention of quality phone cameras, professional photographers were in demand in the age of digital cameras, including the DSLRs. Therefore, only some were willing to pay for photo sessions consistently. 

Fast forward to the 2010s, you can capture any image at any time using camera phones, regardless of quality. Your phone’s storage is also sufficient for thousands of photos, unlike film cameras, which are only limited to a fixed number of images before a roll’s exhaustion.

Adaptation of Selfies

Selfies are arguably the most common photo type amongst phone users. Cornelius (a landmark photographer) took the first-ever selfie was taken in 1839. It took the reference ‘self-portrait’ before the current ‘selfie’ name. Australian Karl Kruszelnicki, on 12th September 2002, was the first to use the photo’s nickname via an internet forum. 

Everyone, at one point, takes selfies, the factor of self-service saving the camera-shy individuals. A trait made popular by the millennials is now fully adapted by the Gen-Z, and phones have excellent selfie features to keep all parties interested and satisfied.

The Introduction of Photo Apps in Smartphone

Several apps primarily develop the need to showcase your photo skills. Applications like Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook thrive through people’s images, of course, with censoring to ensure that all ages can participate. 

Technology has allowed these apps to incorporate different factors, like in-built smartphones editing features. Such features are lacking in digital cameras, requiring another separate editing process using computers and laptops. 

You can find specific photo editors in your Google Play store, helping you perform basic image adjustments. They are perfect for personal use, but having some skills in professional apps like Photoshop and Lightroom is a plus. 

Effects on the Photography Business

The overall consequence of the complete adoption of smartphone cameras has actively challenged professional cameras. Everybody knows a “good phone photographer,” and such experts are getting a nod over actually qualified personnel for various events. 

For instance, wedding photographers express frustration with guests who destroy image quality with amateur mobile phone pics. They highlight the concept of filters, misleading some individuals to believe their photos are comparable digital versions. 

There’s no doubt these mobile cameras are also becoming more powerful if you consider brands like iPhones and Google Pixel. The difference that professionals try to sell is skill and knowledge. You probably won’t know you need to use the rule of thirds in specific situations or the type of lighting to use. 

It is clear that phone technology affects the photo business. However, there’s an advantage, with more gaps opening up in the market, with different purposes requiring different photography dynamics and experts.

Are Phone Cameras Evolution Bad for the Industry?

There’s a divide regarding this factor, with some professionals welcoming these devices. Every year, smartphone sales rank to almost 1.5 billion gadgets. The Australian market alone in 2022 accounted for 7.38 million sold gadgets annually, with a 0.01% increase yearly. 

How the Photography Industry Has Changed Over Time

It is important to note that the industry has been evolving since the digital cameras’ introduction. The first shift in the market came with the introduction of auto-exposure inventions between the 1980s and 1990s. 

The 2000s would see the introduction of modern DSLRs like Nikon, Sony, and Canon cameras, a blueprint for phone technologies. Therefore, smartphone contribution to the industry is inevitable, the difference being their accessibility to many amateur photographers. 

Smart professionals use both digital and phone versions to make work easier. This includes using related phone AI inventions and editing apps, which you can use for your DSLR raw pictures. 

For instance, apps can assist your hired photographer in sharing images from the digital camera to your phone. This allows the user to edit according to personal preferences after outsourcing the quality raw photo. 

What’s Next for Camera Phone Photography?

Technology will continue changing the state of photography, and smartphones are at the centre of the inevitable change. However, it is hard to attest to the failure of the available DSLR gadgets, as observed with traditional companies like Kodak. 

Although phones diminish the need for traditional photography gear, they additionally opened up new potential markets for smartphone-specific photography devices and services. The industry is shifting in a collaborative form between technologies where expert photographers use both to adapt to the different changes.

The winner will get a weekend getaway for two at one of CITCO’s properties. The runner-up will get dining experience for two at a CITCO restaurant, whereas, the third prize includes a hamper from Hotel Mountview

To celebrate Father’s Day, CITCO has announced a photography contest “Father’s Day Duet.”

To take part in the contest, the participants are required to visit any of the CITCO’s properties with their fathers or father figures and capture a memorable duet photograph with them against the backdrop of the property.

The photograph can be shared on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, using the hashtags #CITCODuet, #CITCO@50, while also tagging @CITCOofficial.chandigarh. Entries are open till June 30

The winner will get a weekend getaway for two at one of CITCO’s properties. The runner-up will get dining experience for two at a CITCO restaurant, whereas, the third prize includes a hamper from Hotel Mountview .

Winners will be selected based on the creativity, originality and emotional connect conveyed through their photographs. The winners will be announced in the first week of July and notified directly via social media.

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father’s day citco

father’s day citco

Small scenes landscape photography: the practice of photographing the little details within the grander scene. Is it simply a genre that some landscape photographers gravitate towards? Or is it the natural evolution of a seasoned landscape photographer? 

The Start: Wide Angle Scenes

When I first started landscape photography, I followed the path of many others. Wide shots from expansive overlooks. Photographs of waterfalls, often from a distance, with something in the foreground or the leading line of the flowing stream working its way through the frame. Or a range of mountains, hills, or valleys off in the distance. 

The commonality was that most of my images were composed of wide scenes. I still applied compositional techniques to them: watching the edges of the image for distracting elements, positioning the central subject of the scene strategically, and working with foreground elements to create pleasing images.

In my early days, I suspect if I looked at my most common focal lengths, they would have been from a wide 16mm to 25mm range, maybe approaching 70mm on some images. As my early work shows, I photographed that way for a long time!

Telephotos for Landscape Photography?

I remember the first time a more experienced landscape photographer mentioned their favorite lens was a 70-300mm or 100-400mm. I was in disbelief. What!? Why would you want to use those focal lengths for landscape photography?

In my early days, I thought telephoto lenses were for sports and wildlife, not landscapes. I was always wanting wider lenses, not longer lenses. It took me some time to open my mind and consider such a lens. I was skeptical.

But the seed was planted. While I didn’t rush out to buy a new lens when I was exploring and photographing, I started to think: what could I do with a longer lens here?

What Eventually Changes?

When you begin to practice landscape photography, everything is new. Just being outdoors and seeing some of these fantastic locations can be sensory overload, and you want to capture it all! The grander scenes shot with wide angle lenses feel right.

The whole waterfall is the subject. The entire mountain vista is the subject. Those are the scenes your eye sees, which you capture with the camera.

As time passes, I believe as a landscape photographer spending more time outdoors, your senses change. In some ways, you become “desensitized” to the grander scenes. They are still impressive, but your eyes have more capacity now to see the details within those scenes.

Your eye starts to pick out the smaller nuances of what you see. Maybe how one section of a waterfall cascades over one particular rock. Or possibly how the light accents a distant ridge among the mountains. Or even the swirling water at the edge of a pond. When this sense of being more in tune with nature and becoming more observant starts to take hold with more time outdoors and experience, that’s when I believe the small aspect of landscape photography becomes more prominent.

Small Scenes Landscape Photography

Now, a telephoto lens is nearly always in my camera bag: either a 70-300mm or 100-400mm. Just the other week, I was at a particular overlook I frequently visit and never once attached my wide-angle lens, but instead watched the light and worked with the 100-400mm the whole evening, looking for subtle details.

Now, when I visit a waterfall, I am more apt to capture some wider angle shots, but I often attach the 100-400mm and start looking for patterns or details to highlight from the location. I have found these small scenes and details make places I’ve visited dozens of times more interesting again. They are fresh as I look at them with a new perspective and approach. They are more apt to look different because I look at more intimate, subtle details.

Evolution of the Landscape Photographer

This shift has been an evolution of my work and practice. I did not start landscape photography with an eye for small scenes within the landscape. Even to this day, it is an area I am still practicing and working to improve. 

It took getting out into nature more often with a camera to help heighten my senses and creative eye to see these scenes. And it has opened a whole new world of landscape photography to me. Old, familiar places are new to me again!

None of this means I am going to stop photographing grand scenes. If I see a waterfall, I am photographing the whole scene, but I am more likely to study the area for those small details and capture those as well!

How About You?

Are you a landscape photographer photographing small scenes? Do you think it was a path of evolution to see them and photograph them? Or did they come naturally to you? Or do you think small scene landscape photography is just a trend and entirely unrelated to past experience?