The College of Lake County is expanding its approach to the arts with its first artist-in-residence, Mundelein-native Cristina Chopalli. She is one of four artists showing works at “Home,” the fall art exhibition on display through Sept. 21 in the Robert T. Wright Gallery of Art at the college’s Grayslake Campus.
Chopalli always knew she’d create art. After getting her master’s in fine arts degree in creative writing, her method was originally supposed to be through words. After graduating, she began writing a memoir and traumatic parts became difficult for her to write. So, she paused the project and turned to painting.
With no formal training, Chopalli soon entered her paintings for gallery exhibitions and made it her full-time career. Her paintings feature layers of brightly colored acrylic paints, overlapping together to form familiar shapes and figures with bold lines. She says she’s always surprised by what she finds in the paint.
“The sprawling canvas fills with colors, movement and joy,” Chopalli said about her latest painting. “After a couple of hours, the colors and shapes enter into a meditative flow and combinations blossom.”
Chopalli describes her work as intuitive. She starts by painting what she feels without overthinking it. Many of her works come to her during meditation or in a dream.
As an artist-in-residence, Chopalli set up her art studio at CLC’s Grayslake Campus. She has a number of works in the exhibition, but the one she’s creating during her residency at CLC is wider than she is tall, bursting with colors and organic shapes.
Along with the opportunity to showcase her work, Chopalli has enjoyed her time at CLC because she has the chance to speak to interested students about her work and their career goals.
“I enjoy exchanging thoughts on all types of art with college students and faculty who stop by while I work,” Chopalli said.
“I’m hopeful to have a good variety of my work together because it really has a collective narrative. When people see my work, for me, what’s important is that they find whatever it is that they’re looking for. There is not just one message or right or wrong.”
“The “Home’ exhibition offers a diverse group of artists with unique takes on the metaphorical idea of home,” art gallery curator Ann Rintz said.
“It features nonobjective, abstract and realistic art by four artists of various backgrounds and at different stages of their creative careers. I find that diversity creates a more dynamic exhibition.”
The other artists taking part in the exhibition include Taehoon Kim, Michael Litewski and Ilse Miller.
Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
As a seasoned seascape photographer, I’ve learned that capturing the beauty of the ocean is a thrilling yet unpredictable pursuit. Each time I venture to one of my favorite locations, Ballycotton Lighthouse, I’m reminded of the gamble that is seascape photography.
It’s a game where nature holds all the cards, and the outcome is never guaranteed. However, when it all comes together, the rewards are beyond measure, making every risky moment worthwhile.
Ballycotton Lighthouse, nestled on the southern coast of Ireland, has been a muse for countless photographers, including myself. Its unusual black façade rising out of the tumultuous waters of the Celtic Sea creates a mesmerizing contrast, a beacon of serenity amidst the chaos of nature. On this particular trip, my anticipation was heightened. I had heard whispers of an approaching Saharan dust storm, promising to infuse the air with a surreal and ethereal quality. The potential for otherworldly photographs was tantalizing, and I couldn’t resist the urge to make the journey once again.
As I arrived at Ballycotton, I was met with a sight that both excited and concerned me. The lighthouse stood tall against the vibrant blue sky, a far cry from the expected hazy atmosphere created by the Sahara dust. Nature had thrown a curveball, and I found myself at the mercy of its whims. This unexpected twist in the weather was a stark reminder of the gamble inherent in seascape photography. Despite meticulous planning and research, Mother Nature has the final say. Weather forecasts can only provide a glimpse of what might be, leaving photographers like me to rely on instinct and experience to adapt to the ever-changing conditions. This is particularly true here in Ireland as our weather forecasts can change minutes before what was predicted.
Undeterred by the absence of the anticipated Sahara dust, I decided to proceed with my planned compositions. The lighthouse, perched on the horizon, on the rocky shoreline, still held its timeless allure. I knew that even without the unique atmospheric conditions, there was a chance to capture something special. I set up my camera, carefully considering the composition. The lighthouse served as the focal point, and I left just enough space in the frame for the incoming tide to play its part. Seascape photography often requires patience, as the perfect shot can take time to materialize. I was prepared to wait, to witness the transformation as the water gradually filled the blank space, creating a dynamic and captivating scene.
As the tide began to rise, I turned my attention to long exposures — a technique that has become one of my signatures in seascape photography. With the camera mounted on my sturdy tripod and a neutral density filter attached to the lens, I allowed for extended exposure times. This artistic choice creates a mesmerizing effect, smoothing out the water’s surface and blurring the movement of the clouds (if any), resulting in dreamlike, almost surreal images.
I dialed in the settings, calculating the perfect balance of shutter speed and aperture. It was a delicate dance between capturing the motion of the ocean and maintaining the sharpness of the lighthouse. Each click of the shutter was a calculated risk, an attempt to freeze a moment in time that would never occur again in quite the same way.
As I waited, capturing long exposure shots, I couldn’t help but reflect on the unpredictable nature of seascape photography. In this pursuit, patience is not just a virtue—it’s a necessity. The tides ebb and flow, the clouds shift and disperse, and the light evolves with each passing minute. Every frame I captured was a testament to the dynamic and ever-changing environment that is the ocean. Using the jagged rocks that thankfully grace the shoreline, I was able to capture some nice shots even before I had any light as such.
As the sun began its descent toward the horizon behind me, I shifted my approach. I switched to shorter exposures, around 0.5 seconds, to capture the fast-moving waves crashing against the rocks. Composing my shots in advance of any approaching water was a key item here. I had some great textures and colors in the scene — the rocks looked like they belonged on a different planet.
It was in those moments that the gamble of seascape photography began to pay off. Despite the absence of the Saharan dust and the unpredictable weather, the raw beauty of Ballycotton Lighthouse shone through. The incoming water arrived just in the nick of time, before the light faded and prevented me from catching a crashing wave right at my feet at my preferred exposure time of 0.5 seconds. Each frame told a story, a testament to my perseverance and a reminder that nature’s unpredictability can yield unexpected treasures.
The gamble had turned into a victory. The photographs I had captured—both long exposures and short ones—were a testament to the ever-changing, unpredictable, and awe-inspiring nature of seascape photography. The rewards of seascape photography are not just in the images themselves but in the journey to capture them. It’s about immersing oneself in the elements, embracing the uncertainty, and finding beauty in the unexpected. It’s about honing one’s skills, trusting one’s instincts, and seizing the fleeting moments when the elements align just right. Even when the conditions don’t play the game you had hoped, there was still a game as such and just being there was enough for me.
In the world of seascape photography, every trip is a gamble, an adventure into the unknown where nature holds the cards. As a seasoned seascape photographer, I’ve learned to accept this unpredictability as an integral part of the craft. It’s a reminder that even the best-laid plans can be disrupted by the ever-changing forces of the ocean and the sky.
But it’s precisely this unpredictability that makes seascape photography so rewarding. When it works out, when the elements align in that perfect moment, the resulting images are a testament to the beauty and power of the natural world. Each photograph becomes a piece of art as such, a frozen slice of time that captures the essence of the ocean’s ever-shifting moods.
So, as I packed up my gear and headed back from Ballycotton Lighthouse that evening, I couldn’t help but smile. The gamble had paid off, and I had a collection of stunning photographs to show for it. It was a reminder that in the world of seascape photography, the risk is part of the thrill, and the rewards are worth every roll of the dice. This is why I love it I guess.
The more you improve as a photographer, the harder it becomes to take photographs you’re happy with. This is an unfortunate paradox most creatives have to endure as they hone their craft, and the psychology can impede your progress if you don’t re-evaluate and manage your expectations along the way.
As this video from Adrien Sanguinetti discusses, the Dunning-Kruger effect partly explains the phenomenon of feeling less competent as your photographic skills improve. Essentially, the Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias where people with limited competence overestimate their abilities.
As you start to make early progress, it’s easy to think you’ve cracked photography until you learn enough about composition, lighting, timing, etc. to understand how little you really know. Suddenly, the flaws jump out in every image you take, and you feel disproportionately small compared to the inflated ego you briefly enjoyed through no fault of your own.
The more you learn about photography, the more you realize there is still yet to learn. This can be overwhelming, but it’s a sign that you’re making progress as a photographer and still have room to improve. While it’s easier said than done, the trick is to keep your focus on the progress itself, so you can keep going out, shoot as often as possible, and continue improving.
How do you manage your own expectations as your photography improves and your perspective of what makes a successful image changes?
For astrophotographers, there is a huge need for finding an important balance between the landscape or foreground, and the amazing interest in the sky. Whether you are photographing the Milky Way, Aurora Borealis, or the Winter Circle, the fundamentals of composition are still just as important as they are in normal landscape photography. In this video by Jeroen Linnenkamp, he provides three tips that will help you improve your compositions.
When choosing a subject in astrophotography, an argument can be made for the stars themselves to be the subject, but in reality, you need that anchor in the image such as an interesting building, tree, or object to first capture the audience’s eye.
To add balance in the image, a good tip is to use the rule of thirds. The four points around the frame are where the human eye tends to go first when viewing an image, so you can use the rule to compose your image by having an element of interest in these intersections.
Lastly, we have depth, which you can use by trying to find leading lines such as a path, river, or road that leads you further into the image and increases that depth. Patterns can also work well and creates that 3D effect which can elevate your image.
These tips from Jeroen are not just helpful for astrophotography, but can be used in many other styles of photography too. I highly recommend watching the video, and you can let us know in the comments below if you have any additional tips.
In today’s digital age, there are numerous apps available that can significantly enhance your landscape photography experience. In this article, I want to take a look at the six apps that have proven invaluable for my own landscape photography.
The abundance of photography-related apps can make it challenging to choose the most suitable ones for your needs. From straightforward depth-of-field calculators to comprehensive planning tools, the options are vast.
Given the sheer abundance of available apps, it can be challenging to pinpoint the most valuable ones. Often, there’s a strong emphasis on visually appealing designs that add little real value or information that’s presented in a cluttered manner, making it hard to decipher.
For me, a good app should provide the necessary information without unnecessary clutter and visuals. The information should be easily accessible, easy to read, and the app must be reliable. While I prefer apps that are free of charge, I understand that developing these apps requires time and effort. That’s why I don’t mind paying for an app, as long as the price is reasonable and not tied to a monthly subscription.
I’ve tried a lot of apps in recent years and I’ve concluded there are only six that have proven to be invaluable for me as a landscape photographer. These six apps provide a wealth of information that is mostly focused on photography. This includes weather conditions of course. But also timetables for sun, moon, and tides. They can guide you to specific locations or help you discover the most interesting spots for your landscape photography.
Although there are plenty of other apps that appear to give even more information, often this is already covered in the six apps I use. Let’s take a look at the ones I can recommend to every landscape photographer out there.
This is widely recognized as the go-to app for landscape photographers. Photopills offers a plethora of features, which include depth of field calculations, field of view information, hyperfocal distance tables, time-lapse assistance, star trail planning, and much more.
It also provides detailed planning tools for Sun, Moon, Milky Way, and meteor showers. You can even create a list of points of interest, which is a feature in Photopills that is often overlooked.
The app is so extensive that you need to read the available manual or follow the instruction videos to fully understand its potential. While Photopills is not free, its reasonable cost is well worth the investment.
For photographers spending a lot of time near the coastline, knowing the tides is essential. The app Tides is a simple yet effective app that provides the necessary tide information for safely photographing at the shoreline.
Although it does display some advertisements, these can be removed with a small fee. The app is user-friendly, has a simple interface, and it uses GPS coordinates for the nearest tide information station. Although there are more detailed apps available, these are often designed with naval use in mind and come with monthly subscription plans.
The app Tides is made by 7th Gear, in case you have difficulties finding it.
Unlike typical weather apps that provide basic temperature and precipitation forecasts, Clear Outside offers detailed weather information, specially designed with photographers in mind. It includes cloud cover at various altitudes, temperature data, dew point, fog probability, and much more.
There are no fancy icons and animations, which makes it perhaps less appealing compared to many other weather apps. The app shows a simple table with probabilities, which serves its purpose effectively.
One small caveat is that it defaults to a location in Alphington, Devon, UK, so you’ll need to set your own location before using it, unless you happen to be in Devon, of course. Fortunately, it only requires one touch of the button Current Location to set the app to your specific location.
Although Clear Outside works for weather forecasts, a normal weather forecast app offers a fast indication of what to expect. Especially in situations when you don’t need the detailed information that Clear Outside offers.
Yr.no is a straightforward weather forecasting app with a clean and uncluttered design. While its accuracy depends on various weather forecast stations, it generally provides reliable information. Additionally, it offers extra warning alerts, which can be particularly useful.
While Google Maps is excellent for typical navigation, it falls short when it comes to off-road or hiking adventures. Maps.me, on the other hand, is a great choice for such situations.
The app doesn’t make use of online maps. You need to download the map of the area you’re in, making it possible to use the app when you’re completely offline. This makes it a valuable tool for exploring remote areas, as long as you have GPS available.
The app also allows you to set points of interest and allows you to add additional information. Because it also displays hiking trails, you can use it for navigation purposes while hiking.
Aurora forecasting apps often prioritize visual appeal over providing precise information. SpaceWeather Live takes a different approach, offering a simple Kp index forecast along with detailed graphs illustrating solar activity and magnetic field measurements.
While it requires a bit of diving into the details, this app provides a deeper understanding of the predictions.
The world of smartphone apps for landscape photographers is vast and continually evolving. While these six apps have proven indispensable in my photography journey, there may be other hidden gems out there that I’m not aware of. For instance, I’m searching for a good detailed light pollution app without unnecessary clutter.
If you know of any no-nonsense photography apps that have greatly benefited your work, please share them in the comments below. Describe their purpose and what makes them great for your landscape photography. I’m looking forward to your suggestions.
The Copernicus March organised by the KTO theatre passes through the city. The event celebrated the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus and the 45th anniversary of entering Kraków on the Unesco list. About 150 performers took part in the show – actors, dancers, musicians, stilt walkers and extras
Photograph: Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Real and raw are words acclaimed mixed-media Tewa artist Rose B. Simpson uses to describe her work, which ranges from ceramic sculpture, metals, and fashion to performance, music, writing, and custom cars. A skilled metalwork and spray-paint artist, she is most known for adapting traditional Pueblo Native American pottery techniques. Her diverse and unconventional figurative sculptures frequently feature an uneasy beauty and incorporate elements from popular culture. The former lead singer of the Native American punk band Chocolate Helicopter, Simpson also played in the hip-hop group Garbage Pail Kidz.
“My work,” she told Hyperallergic in a 2020 article, “is intended to translate our humanity back to ourselves. I hope that I can educate some people on issues of unconsciousness around race, gender, and history, and I hope to honor lived experiences of those who have suffered post-colonial stress disorder.”
Simpson was raised on the Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, where she lives with her 6-year-old daughter, and she was homeschooled as a young girl by her artist mother, Roxanne. Additional early artistic inspiration came from her great-uncle Michael Naranjo, a blind sculptor; and her great-aunt Nora Naranjo-Morse, a contemporary artist. Simpson attended the Santa Fe Indian School in high school; there her passion was illustrating the yearbook with comic renditions of her classmates. She received an MFA in ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
“For me,” Simpson says, “it’s about living a life of challenge and the creative, psychological, and spiritual adventure of creating art — and I’m here for it.”
We caught up with her while she worked in her studio in Española, New Mexico.
Daughter, 2021, ceramic with glaze, wood, leather, steel, twine, grout, and studio stones, 20.5″ x 16″ x 9.5″.
C&I: How have the Tewa artists from New Mexico, especially your mother, influenced your work?
Rose B. Simpson: You don’t know what you have until you are not in it anymore. I was homeschooled from fourth grade until age 13 and grew up with a variety of artists, most notably my mom, as well as friends and other relatives who were orbiting the creative access. My mom is a profound ceramic sculptor and, along with several aunts and uncles, is one of the first contemporary artists in the pueblo. She was one of the first artists to develop this kind of small-scale figurative ceramics with a narrative. I didn’t know as a young girl what it meant to be a Tewa person. It wasn’t until I moved away to Rhode Island to go to school that I was able to get some perspective.
C&I: You seem to be drawn to female and androgynous subjects. Does this have to do with your mother as a role model and your now being the single mother of a daughter?
Simpson: Because I’m now a mom, my concept of empowerment has changed. I’m still fresh in the motherhood journey. My concept of empowerment as a queer person was rooted in patriarchy, which in the past meant that if you were feminine, you were weak, and if you were masculine, you were strong. I didn’t feel safe being feminine, but now giving birth to a daughter and being a single parent to a colicky baby was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Being a nurturer, putting yourself aside for another person, is true power, and I think that my work has changed because of it. I also focus on the facets of my own existence, which tends to be more feminine in nature.
Femme, 2020, ceramic, metal, and mixed media, 30″ x 12″ x 12″.
C&I: Your earlier work seems to be much more adorned with jewelry and armorlike embellishments. How has your style changed over the last five years?
Simpson: That’s an interesting question. I was putting together a slideshow for a keynote address I was making in Cincinnati, and when I put together the show and was looking back at my older work, I realized what I was putting into those pieces were power objects — objects of intention. As I start to become more empowered, my work is changing because I need less protection and do not feel as vulnerable as I once did. Also, a lot of my pieces are now wearing necklaces and earrings as an aesthetic decision.
I did an interview with Women’s Wear Daily and the magazine asked me about my “fashion sense.” I thought a moment and said, “I don’t wear anything that impedes me from jumping a fence to get away from the cops.” But I have recently been putting on a necklace to work, which now reflects my self-worth — not just what I do, but how I value myself.
C&I: Tell us about Maria, your 1985 El Camino painted in the black-on-black, gloss-and-matte geometric Tewa style that celebrated artist Maria Martinez helped make famous.
Simpson: After studying in Rhode Island, I went back home to Española, known as the lowrider capital of the country, to study automotive design. Cars have always been a power object to me. I didn’t have the safest of upbringings, and the car became a surrogate parent and my freedom when I was able to get my driver’s license at 14.
Maria was a crumpled mess when I got her, and I had to do all the bodywork at school in Española. After welding, hammering, and putting her back together, I went from priming to the final coat of paint. The pivotal moment came about 10 years ago when we were harvesting our crops and used the El Camino to transport the beans and corn and then realized that Maria had become a vessel. The black-on-black gloss paint came next, but as anyone who has a classic car knows, the work is never finished.
Heights I (original), 2022, clay, glaze, twine, and silver, overall: 54″ x 12″ x 10″.
C&I: Tell us about your “slap-slab” technique, which seems to embrace imperfection and intuition.
Simpson: When I went to graduate school at Rhode Island School of Design, I received an incredible critique from a visiting artist who had seen one of my shows. She told me if I wasn’t there to do challenging work, it would be a waste of time. I was in a constant struggle between being seen as who I was and being accepted. In a class I decided to throw the clay sideways on a table or mat until it was very thin, maybe one-sixteenth of an inch. I then tear off small pieces and attach them to each other, kind of resembling papier-mâché.
C&I: You are incredibly well-educated, in both art and literature. Why has this been important to you?
Simpson: I think that education has been so important to me because I was homeschooled. My mom hated my graduations. I think that her disinterest in Western education made me choose to attend school even more. It was amazing for me to be able to choose from this buffet of classes, and I couldn’t get enough. I went on to get a master’s in creative nonfiction writing. I wanted to learn and understand Indigenous aesthetics and write that text for Indigenous students, but I realized aesthetics or beauty in this life was my story through my art.
See Rose B. Simpson’s newly installed series Counterculture at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Later this year, she’ll have a one-woman show at Jessica Silverman in San Francisco.
This article appears in our October 2023 issue, available on newsstands or through our C&I Shop.
