Joshua Tree National Park, California, 2006

Hello Richard,

Hope all has been well. I'm sure Michael has been keeping you busy while they are still away.

I'm quite interested in these new images you are posting, and I'm curious to know what your intentions are with creating this body of work? I'm just guessing it's going to be developed into a series at some point in time.

It's clear to me that you are intentionally trying to break any formal 'rules' of composition, form, design, balance, ect...but is there a concept behind doing this?

All the best,

Ryan McIntosh
www.RyanMcIntosh.net

PS-Do you still have a website, or did it get closed?

I am actually anxious to see what you did in Iceland. I hope you got a chance to photograph-- it sounds like you guys did a lot of driving. How was the Runtur, and the 3AM hotdogs?

Yes, this is part of a larger series, but there isn't really anything conceptual behind it-- more just, "I want to photograph trees in the desert," or, "I want to photograph those rocks I drove by on my way to school everyday." I didn't stand behind the camera and say, "ok, how can I really push this?" Every picture is still grounded purely on the visual. But I did say, "ok, how can I make this work?"

I will say that before this last trip I had been looking at a lot of of Friedlander, Robert Adams, and Ray Metzker landscapes. So, I think I was predisposed to seeing more and more complex things, and not afraid to include things that aren't so beautiful-- like power lines and hateful language (you havn't seen that yet). (The interesting thing is that I looked at an EW book this morning, and the pictures seemed more beautiful than when I looked at them six months ago).

You can read what I wrote about my new Owens Valley or my January Pioneertown picture and get an idea of how I have been thinking lately. But when I am out photographing I am still just reacting to what I see in the landscape; and some things, like graffitied rocks or explosive trees, seem more interesting than others.

Maybe most importantly, I want to photograph what I am really connected to, and that, for the most part, has come from my personal history. That is why eventhough I was at the base of majestic 14,000 peaks, I wanted to photograph along the creeks I fished in as a boy.

Rules: Ryan, you have hung with Michael and Paula; you should know that there are no rules.

Richard,

That is why I put "rules" in quotes, because even though there is no rules in photographing, many people here on APUG follow things like the 'rule of 3rds', the 'golden spiral', or whatever little composition tricks they believe in to make a 'well composed image'. Of course, I do not use any rules in composing an image, and I'm strongly against such things. However, being in art school, they sure love to cram composition rules down students throats!

When I first saw your new images, I was reminded of Robert Adams work. The Center For Creative Photography here in Tucson, AZ recently had a huge exhibit of Adams work. I was in Iceland at the time and missed the show, however they still have a few of his photographs hanging in the main collection room, but seeing the exhibit would have been far better.

Anyways, Iceland was absolutly amazing and even though we did alot of driving, we still had plenty of fantastic opportunities or photograph. I managed to make around 200+ 8x10 negatives, several 4x5 negatives and about 10 rolls of 35mm. I've started to develop the film, however I don't have a light tight darkroom for developing in trays, so I've been doing ONE negative at a time in tubes! IT TAKES FOREVER THIS WAY!

I've got alot of great plans already for my Iceland work, include a large portfolio, several gallery exhibits and a DVD I'm going to be producing shortly. Hopefully this will all be done by mid-September.

Well, let me know when your coming back out to the West coast, we will have to get together.

Ryan McIntosh
www.RyanMcIntosh.net

Ryan, I missed the giant RA show at the Getty last winter by one weekend-- I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't see it. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has 8 boxes of his prints-- I am, at least for the moment, most interested in his Los Angeles work.

200 8x10's? Are you sure that you can get all film developed before the end of the year?

I might be out West in the Spring, but I want to spend most of my time between Josh and Bishop. Then head out to Catalina. Maybe get some surfing in too . . . you know what they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Be careful Ray Metzker's landscapes can grow on you. He is my current favorite. Now I find I have to work to understand simple landscapes as they just seem so simple. I like the visual explosion of this image.