The journey of a photographer often transcends the realm of mere image capturing, delving into the profound depths of personal experiences and emotions. It is these moments, marked by introspection and the essence of human connections, that imbue photographs with a palpable sense of narrative and intimacy. This intrinsic link between personal narrative and photographic expression serves as a cornerstone for understanding the transformative power of photography.

Coming to you from Bryan Birks, this compelling video unveils the deeply personal journey of a photographer grappling with loss and legacy through the lens of his camera. Birks shares the evolution of his photography, from his initial explorations inspired by cinematic aesthetics to a more introspective approach catalyzed by his father’s illness. The narrative delves into the profound impact of his father’s battle with glioblastoma, revealing how this pivotal life event shifted Birks’ focus towards capturing the essence of personal spaces and the intimate moments within. Through his recounting, viewers are offered a glimpse into how photography can serve as both a medium for artistic expression and a mechanism for processing grief and understanding.

The importance of this video to photographers lies not only in its exploration of technical growth and artistic influences but more so in its raw depiction of photography as a conduit for emotional expression and healing. Birks’ journey underscores the notion that the most powerful images often stem from a place of vulnerability and personal significance. We should look beyond the superficial and into the stories and emotions that lie within ourselves and our subjects. It serves as a reminder that photography, at its core, is about capturing the essence of human experience. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Birks.

Odessa photographers, photography instructors and husband and wife Steve Goff and Beckwith Thompson are exhibiting their works together at the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery, located in the Charles A. Sorber Visual Arts Studios at the University of Texas Permian Basin.

Titled “Retrospective 942430,” Goff described the work as an exhibit of photography and artworks that he and Thompson “created over a 30-year period while teaching at Odessa College, making art, and staying happily married!”

A reception with the artists will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery. The exhibit runs through March 8. There are more than 50 works on display.

Goff said he is showing only Lone Star Dance photographs and Thompson is showing a wide selection of artwork and photos.

The last time they exhibited together was in 2021. They have also participated in group shows.

In figuring out what they wanted to display, Thompson said they decided to divide the room in half and do what they wanted with their particular space.

The significance of the name of the show, Goff said, is that they met in 1994 and this is 2024.

“So this is 30 years of us being together and photographing, helping each other with our artwork, teaching alongside each other,” Goff said.

“And staying happily married,” Thompson said. “… It’s kind of a key part.”

Goff said Thompson brought Native American spirituality to the relationship. He had not been involved with it and didn’t know much about it.

“She introduced that to me and I was really excited about it, so I started going to some of the ceremonies. The first year after we were married in ‘98, they had the first Sundance in Lampassas. That was the very first one, and since then, I’ve been to all of them except for four,” Goff said. “This work hasn’t been shown very much. … With this idea of the two of us and my recent retirement, I kind of wanted to show some work that is really important to me, and like I said, not very many people have seen the work before.”

Thompson said Goff is displaying one subject over 30 years and she is showing multiple subjects.

“I was in grad school when we met and so the Sacred Centers was what I did for my thesis show. I was working on that when we met and it involves me driving long distances to find churches that I’d heard about, or just roaming around looking for churches, and going in and photographing. Generally, I was the only person in there and I was using a four-by- five field camera. The film is four by five inches. For instance, if I drove six hours to a place, a church, I had a certain amount of time to spend there, and then drive back so I would choose a few spots that I wanted to photograph and then I would do two exposures of it to make sure I had a good negative when I went away. Just a lot of sitting and then hoping because you couldn’t see anything,” Thompson said.

There is a door in her exhibit that is from a country store where her mother worked. Thompson and Goff went to get the door after her great aunt passed away. The door, which came from Southern Missouri, is part of a “church cube” in the exhibit.

“That door has been kind of a through line for the generations and I used it in my Sacred Centers master’s thesis show,” Thompson said.

Part of her exhibit also includes portraits of multiple generations of families from pregnancy through birth over the decades.

“I started photographing when the mother was pregnant, and then I photographed the newborn and then she got pregnant again. Rinse and repeat, and then go forward 30 years. There are a few people that I’ve done multiple children, and then some people I just met, or photographed because they heard about me,” Thompson said. “I hadn’t really planned on doing maternity, but I had photographed my childhood friend and then told some friends of ours in Taos (that) we went to visit and they said did you bring your camera? I said yes. They said good because we found three pregnant women for you. I said, Oh, really, so it just kept growing from there. We didn’t have children of our own. We had students every semester. I realized that I was following my body by photographing when I was childbearing age and newborns just kept going. And so now I’m photographing more gray-haired people and enjoying that. I have an image that I’ve had in the studio for a long time. It has a great-grandmother, a grandmother, mother and child. It’s a vertical image and then I have lots of familial images that take up a whole wall in our house. We don’t have that many walls. It was done salon style, like my side of the room is museum style, gallery style.”

Many of Goff’s pieces are pigment prints. The term pigment print indicates that it’s an archival ink and it’s a print that will last a long time, he said.

One of his works is a series of portraits printed on vinyl.

Goff said one of the original requests from the chiefs at the Lone Star Sundance was documentation of the traditional ways of the Lakota Sioux. He is currently working on a book about Leonard Crow Dog (Aug. 18, 1942 – June 5, 2021).

“The images came from a couple of different ceremonies on the land and I wanted to do portraits of people. I’ve called them land portraits, or ceremony people. I really wanted to put those together. They were shot with film, and old style view camera … I wanted to include some of the people that have been important to the ceremony there at Lampassas and people who follow that path,” Goff said.

Both Goff and Thompson are looking forward to the reception.

Goff said they are anxious to see friends and family and colleagues.

“We’re very grateful that UT invited us to present,” Thompson said.

She added that she has taught at UTPB and they have done some lecturing. She and Goff noted that UTPB and OC have been very supportive.

“This is a big moment for us. My thesis show was on Valentine’s Day, so it’s almost the anniversary,” Thompson said. “I had the largest number of people ever for that, for the thesis shows, because I was from Lubbock originally. Parents, friends of parents, family, so I think there might be a fair number of people.”

One friend told them that retrospectives are for gathering up and looking back at what’s been there, which allows you space for what’s to come.

“There’s a … popular phrase — good completions, new beginnings — so we’re hopeful that our new beginnings continue with the commercial jobs of decorating large spaces with our artwork like the banks, auto school, small businesses and people’s houses,” Thompson said.

Artists’ bio

Steve Goff and Beckwith Thompson are artists/educators who create commissioned fine-art photography for designers, Realtors, businesses and homeowners.

Their large wall art has furnished everything from a tiny, elegant home library to small business, industrial schools and multi-story commercial buildings.

Their subject matter includes florals, landscapes, portraiture and still-life images. So far, they have explored and curated art for various industries such as oil, banking, music, architecture and automobiles, often creating artwork on-site and are actively seeking to venture into different visual sectors.

They also photograph people and products for businesses, plus teach photographic workshops here and abroad. Together, their award-winning artwork is regularly shown in museums, venues and exhibits nationwide and they have sold work to clients worldwide.

When she was first starting out, Thompson worked with National Geographic photographer Mary Ellen Mark traveling around the world as a loader. She loaded and unloaded equipment. While they waited to photograph the famous person they were photographing, she got to experience whatever city they were in and “then come back and tell them what I did at dinner at 10 p.m.”

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Scottsdale Parada Del Sol brings community together as spring dawns

By Arianna Grainey | Digital Free Press

The Parada Del Sol and Trail’s End Festival was held last Saturday — made possible by the Scottsdale Charros and Oliver Smith Jeweler — welcoming colorful entrants, community leaders and groups along with and patrons of all thing western Americana.

Found part of the Western Week, Scottsdale aficionados say the Parada Del Sol supports the rich heritage of the community of Scottsdale and ensures the western legacy glows as brightly as it did a century ago.

Highlights of the Parada Del Sol and Trail’s End Celebration included:

Parada del Sol (10 a.m.-noon) and Trail’s End Celebration (noon-4 p.m.): Saturday, Feb. 3, Historic Old Town. Scottsdale’s own hometown parade features colorful floats, mounted horse riders, horse-drawn carriages, marching bands, wagons and stagecoaches.

The parade ends with a western-spirited festival featuring live music, street entertainment, dancing, a wine garden and a cowboy kids’ zone.

An upcoming board game the turns players into travel photographers is taking off on Kickstarter.

Photo Tour: North America is a tabletop strategy board game for one to five players who collect photos landmarks in the United States and Canada. These photos also come with bonuses to help players in the game, and the cards feature hand-drawn artwork and information about the places they depict.

Creator Eugene Timashov’s Kickstarter for the game says Photo Tour, especially when played with the basic rules, works for all age levels, so even those who don’t have a ton of strategy board game experience can try it out. Additionally, players can crank the difficulty level with expansions.

Timashov says on the page that Photo Tour’s rules are easy to teach and notes the emphasis on building a journal, which can keep players engaged. There are five travel journals, all of which offer different strategy bonuses. Changing up which to use can also change things up when replaying.

As with many games, players win by getting the most points, which are collected by taking pictures. The photos players take are worth a specific number of points and go into their traveler’s journals. From there, using the right equipment can enhance a photo, boosting the possible total. There are also photo contests, which can give players an edge for completing certain objectives. The game ends when one person fills the journal. That’s when everyone tallies up their points to get their total scores and see who the winner is.

There are 65 photography equipment tokens of five types, including lens, tripod, and film. Players use “Meeples,” figures of photographers on screen-printed wood, to represent their characters and get around based on the results of the transportation dice. A premium components edition, which is a Kickstarter exclusive, upgrades these and other pieces as well.

There are three expansions as well, one of which is a mini expansion, that add new gameplay elements and strategies to win.

Timashov’s Kickstarter page lists a goal of $10,000 CAD, which the campaign has already well exceeded, reaching more than $110,000 CAD. But, the page lists additional stretch goals meant to add details and enhancements as backing increases. For those interested, the main Kickstarter edition of Photo Tour: North America costs $60 CAD (about $45 USD), the version with enhanced components is $89 CAD ($66 USD), and getting the game with premium components and the expansions will run $99 CAD ($74 USD). The campaign continues now through February 23.

Disclaimer: Make sure you do your own research into any crowdfunding project you’re considering backing. While we aim to only share legitimate and trustworthy campaigns, there’s always a real chance that you can lose your money when backing any crowdfunded project.

Image credits: Timashov Publishing