Mammy’s Head’n to Texas!

Images from my Incongruity series keep reaping acclaim and exhibitions! A shot from last summer’s road trip to New Orleans garnered an exhibit venue down in Johnson City, Texas. The photograph, Mammy’s Cupboard was shot down in Natchez, MS, and will go on display later this month at the A. Smith Gallery. The national competition, called “Domicile”, was a juried show. I also found out the image will be used on their promo cards, which are to hit the postal mail soon.

© 2009 Terry Ownby

Big Brutus!

My search for incongruities continues. I started photographing odd and large culturally significant objects about five years ago and doubt if I’ll ever grow tired of this quest. Two years ago I went to a technology convention at Pittsburg State University in southeast Kansas. One of my traveling companions, Wilson, had discovered the existence of Big Brutus and had suggested that we photograph it for my series. We weren’t sure where it was located and time at the convention prevented us from tracking it down. However, this past weekend, he and I had the opportunity to travel to Joplin, MO, to drop off our images that had been accepted for inclusion at the George A. Spiva Center for the Arts‘ annual national photo competition.

On our return trip, we decided to drift over the stateline and explore southeast Kansas. As we were heading north, we suddenly spotted a small sign telling passersby that Big Brutus was just 13 miles off the beaten path. Well, with no timeline or agenda, your intrepid wanderers were off on a new adventure! We did indeed find the brute, but only after stumbling onto another magnificant photo op at a local train club having their meeting. They had refurbished train depots, all kinds of trains, including passenger cars and some really cool cabooses. Anyway, on to brutus. Big Brutus is a monster! The world’s second largest electric coal shovel, it towers 16 stories (160 feet) with a boom that is 150 feet long. The bucket on this behemoth has a capacity of 150 tons (enough to fill three railroad cars). Needless to say, Big Brutus is BIG! Additionally, the non-profit organization running the Big Brutus operation had a really BIG fee to go inside the fence for a closer look. Needless to say, we weren’t going to partake in their highway robbery, so we pulled out our BIG lenses and shot from the parking lot!!!

© 2009 Terry Ownby

Incongruity: Found American Cultural Objects

Four years ago I began a series of images that came to be through happenstance. In other words, I simply stumbled onto some unlikely situations as they presented themselves to me and I leveraged the photographic opportunity to my creative advantage. Since that serendipitous moment, I have actively sought out similar objects to photograph and so far, I’ve been nicely rewarded with different photographic opportunities.

I’m a big fan of taking road trips throughout the United States (something my father inflicted me with at an early age!) and these trips target my found American cultural objects. The thing is, these pop cultural objects are incongruous with their surroundings or sometimes just life in general. Americans seem infatuated with the notion that “bigger is better” and thus construct these larger-than-life edifices to commemorate this “bigness”.

On a recent trip to Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry, I intentionally detoured my road trip to the small Ohio River town of Metropolis, Illinois, home of America’s number one super hero—Superman. I’ve been here numerous times with my folks when I was a kid and had not been back in nearly 40 years, so I was very happy to see Superman still stood next to the court house. But to my surprise, I found another giant in town, Big John, standing vigilantly outside the Big John grocery store. What a deal…two giants for the price of one!

Superman, © 2008, Terry Ownby.

Big John, © 2008, Terry Ownby

Faux Dioramas

Some years ago I began manipulating my images in Photoshop with a combination of unsharp masking and Gaussian blur in an effort to replicate various camera techniques I’ve employed in my commercial work. Having used large-format cameras, such as 8x10s and 4x5s, for most of my professional career, I’ve come to appreciate how the camera movements can manipulate the final outcome of the image. One such technique is the Scheimpflug principle, which allows an apparent sharpness to appear throughout the image plane. Conversely, the photographer can employ an opposite camera movement, which results in extreme shallow focus, or what’s sometimes called selective focus.

Other camera techniques that add to the sense of selective focus include the use of plastic cameras such as the Holga or Diana. Another fun tool to use is the lens baby, which is very reminiscent of reversed Scheimpflug. Regardless, I have found that my understanding of these various tools and techniques can be readily adapted in Photoshop with just a few clicks of my mouse and some mental pre-visualization.

Resulting from this Photoshop employment, I have a developing body of work I call Faux Dioramas. A diorama is usually a small-scale model or set, similar to those made by model railroad enthusiasts. The fun part for me however, is photographing real situations such as structures or environmental landscapes, and then applying my faux techniques to emulate a miniature world. I’m not alone in this genre of photographic seeing. Toronto photographer, Toni Hafkenscheid has created a very interesting body of work employing a similar look. You can view his work on-line at thphotos.com or in Robert Hirsch’s book, Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age. Enjoy!

© 2007 Terry Ownby, Enchanted Rituals.