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Ewes in Context

7/1/2010 10:01pm by Eugene Wyatt

When I returned from Paris in the early 80's, I continued my study of painting at the Arts Students League on West 57th Street.

I attended classes in Life Drawing taught by Robert Beverly Hale and classes in Abstract Painting taught by Richard Pousette-Dart, the former was a Curator of American Art at the Metropolitan Museum and the latter had paintings in the Met's Abstract Expressionist collection displayed alongside the drip paintings of Jackson Pollack; but no matter the aestehtic wisdom these two may have passed along to me, what I remember when I look through the viewfinder of my Nikon, poised to photograph my sheep, was from a less hearalded painting instructor at the League, Peter Golfinopoulis who said, "A work is it's context."

Here, I photograph the context of the clouds and the text of the sheep.

Tags: Painting, Photography

7 Comments »

Naomi said,

7/2/2010 @ 2:14 am

This is a really lovely photograph - I love the wide expansive sky and how the tracks in the field and the sheep run at a diagonal to the clouds. As I look at it further I can see where if the formation of the clouds and/or the formation of the sheep were to change, so too would the context.

I will be eagerly watching for when you next dye some more fiber/yarn to see what colours you come up with. Do you ship to Canada?

Blessings in wool!

Naomi

Linda said,

7/2/2010 @ 9:02 am

Your photographs are all lovely, but this one is particularly striking. I thoroughly enjoy your blog. The photographs, text, insights on sheep and wool, and comments on living the life you want to live are so interesting. As long as you keep posting, I'll keep reading.

Ann said,

7/2/2010 @ 10:53 am

I wish I was there.....

AE Fleming said,

7/3/2010 @ 9:51 pm

Great pic. I still have the Nikon my Dad gave me as a graduation present from high school.
And Dad is using the Nikon digital now at age 84 and still taking the best pictures! Keep up the good work! Love the sheep since I am a knitter.

Eugene Wyatt said,

7/4/2010 @ 9:52 pm

Several years ago, when I started to think about having a website that sold yarn online I realized that I needed to picture the skeins and the sheep too; I bought an inexpensive Nikon CoolPix at Best Buy, but in the sunlight on the LCD screen, I couldn't see the sheep that I was photographing; I needed a SLR to block out the extraneous sunlight to see what I was aiming at so I got a Nikon D80 in DX format.
Then, reading & shooting more, I realized that photography is really about lenses, not camera bodies. So to avail myself to the best lenses I could use (would the sheep expect less) I had to upgrade my camera to FX format which has a larger image, but unfortunately is more expensive.
About that time the Nikon D700 FX came out, half the price of a D3, buying it permitted me to use FX lenses.
The Hasidic salesman at Adorama, where I bought the D700 and the FX lenses asked me, "Are you a professional?" I shook my head and told him, "No, I just take pictures of sheep."

As far as the photos I shoot, I can no longer blame my equipment, and yes I can sell/ship to Canada.

Thank you all.

Mary Enck said,

7/22/2010 @ 10:24 am

I read your E mail and visit your website because they bring me a kind of solitude that is rare to find these days. I gaze at the photographs and imagine myself in the scene. I pet the sheep and sit down in the shade of your trees to rest from the heat of the day. What a peaceful setting you live in. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to share it with your readers.

Eugene Wyatt said,

7/26/2010 @ 5:53 pm

Sheep are magical.