"Motels" and "Bath House" are the strongest with some very nice "seeing" of both subjects and light. "Matchbox" is fun because of the subject, some of the "Condiments" are good but the idea and series seems a bit limited. Mustard, ketchup, mayonaise, and jelly (is that a condiment?) as my favorites.
The "Gardeners," for me, just doesn't work. The hung background seems forced, and the subjects as a whole series do not seem cohesive because of the switch from color to B&W and how they are presented - some full figure, others close-up, front flash, natural light. That being said, there are two really good portraits - #5, and #8. I wish the rest of the photos were that strong.
Some of "Louisiana" is very good. #2 is a spectacular photo (I'd love to see it about 40 x 50 inches in size), #7 has a nice sense of place, and #9 is my kind of photo because it is funny and really well framed with the pin flag at the far right side making it a complete photo.
#8 in "Floral" is a great photo with an almost Ralph Eugene Meatyard creepy quality to it. #2 in the same series approaches that quality - and the rest - well, they're kids with flowers. I'm sure the parents, aunts, uncles, etc. are thrilled with the photos because they are nice intimate portraits that don't do much for me - but, I'm NOT thrilled with photos of children in general. (Personal problem I know - but in a former life I took nearly 90,000 photos of children....uuuggggghhhhh...)
"Autumn 2002" at this point is ...well, let's put it this way. I went to a taxidermy show one year and you can get wonderful photos of mounted animals displayed as....hmmmm...art? In fact, I entered one photo from my taxidermy series in a state-wide art show, and the judges weren't sure whether I was showing a photo or an assembled "sculpture" that included mounted animals, blue ribbons, and a strategically place garbage can WITH plastic bag liner.
The point being, you can't do better at a weird display of dead animals than from people who do it for living and want to show ithem at their "best." So, far the "Autumn 2002" hasn't even come close to either the display possibilities or the naturally occuring weird that I saw at that show.
"BC Ferry." Looks like - "I was there. I was bored, it was raining, I thought I'd try to make art out of it." Perhaps I just don't relate to it? Surely, a problem in viewer appreciation...and not with the work. Somewhere in Seattle there's a person who will say, "WOW! I can relate to that." Unfortunately, I live in Albuquerque, NM .... and...ummmm...ferry? Rain?
