Still Got McClure On The Brain...And Introducing Daniel Wheeler!

I am in Westport, MA and on a mission to take a photograph that I can blow up and put on my wall. Today I took a picture that so much reminded me of Nikki McClure that I had to post it.

The way the leaves silhouetted against the sky reminded me so much of Nikki McClure's paper cut-outs. This might be the winning photograph.

A new series of artwork that I am completely inspired by lately is the latest work from Daniel Wheeler, a family friend of mine. His new works, GULP, is a series of phenomenal photographs that are so beautiful you just want to stare at them for hours. At first you can't quite figure out if they are photographs, oil paints, mosaic or a slice of mineral taken straight from the earth. They look so natural and mysterious.

The way he accomplishes these amazing images is by submerging himself in pools all across Los Angeles along with an underwater camera and one breath of air, which he exhales and then photographs. The effect his breath has on the water and the way the movement changes a calm and recognizable water pattern into a mysterious image, is just beautiful. I love looking at this series of photographs and imaging Daniel going around L.A. talking strangers into letting him jump in their pool! Here are a few more...

This last photograph points out something about this series that is particularly interesting to me. When looking through water, any modern man-made object is brought back to a state of nature. Everything is distorted in a way that reminds you of patterns in stone, especially granite and onyx. The wonderful connection is that water is always the reason for these amazing patterns in nature to begin with. Being able to look through a lens of water with the type of distortion that Daniel has managed and have the same affect on an image that would take thousands of years in nature, I find to be such a discovery.