Finding Beauty

From my trip to Scotland this past summer.

One of my new photographs from Scotland this past summer. 8×10 platinum print on special offer this week for 95.00.  Check it out here in my gallery store.

Be well,

Ray

Today is my birthday, 52 this time, hence the quote by my daughter.  So again this year I am offering prints from my catalog for $ 52.00 each for one day only, today! This is my birthday gift to all my friends and collectors.

If you have collected my work in the past, please think of this as an opportunity to add to your collection at a very good price. If you have been thinking about collecting my photographs, now is a good time to begin.

You can have a look at my work and the rules for the $52.00 sale here.

Be well,

Ray Bidegain

Last month I entered a juried exhibition by the Portland Photographer’s Forum. I was honored that Juror Julia Dolan of the Portland Art Museum selected my photograph ” Sauvie Island Trees” for the museum purchase award. My photograph will now be in the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum!

The response to my past offerings of the Collectors Editions has been truly wonderful and positive. I would like to say thank you to all of you for your continued support and interest in my work. My photography is very important to me, and you, my audience, play a critical role in my development as an artist.

The prints included in the Collectors Editions will be fresh new work that I will showcase directly to my collectors first. I will be offering them at a very favorable price for a short time on my website before listing them at my current regular pricing.

Each time I introduce a few new images, hand made platinum prints made by me from camera negatives. The prints will be signed and numbered and presented in 4-ply white rag mats. As always they will come with a satisfaction guarantee.

Please stop by my website and have a look at my new work for May 2011 and if you have a minute let me know what you think.

Be well,

Ray Bidegain

A friend asked me recently what draws me to the older alternative photographic processes such as platinum printing and wet plate collodion. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized there were two main reasons I could give him. The first is that I am drawn to the aesthetics of the photography made in the first half of the twentieth century. There’s something romantic about the composition and the feeling of these old images that resonates with me. The alternative processes give my modern images a vintage look and make them sort of timeless, removing the

Portrait of Bea

distraction of a particular period and setting. This leaves the viewer more room to personalize and interpret the images and, I hope, makes them more accessible and pleasing.

The second reason I am drawn to the older processes is that I like to make things with my hands. It’s important to me to be involved in as much of the process of making my photographs as possible, not only because this makes them more personal, but also because I enjoy the craftsmanship involved. This is not driven by a hope to make them perfect. By virtue of being hand made, each print includes its own small imperfections that make the image unique. I feel this allows the viewer to feel my presence; it is somehow proof that the artist is an integral part of the work and not separate from it.

Thinking about this reminds me how important it is to reflect on our work and to focus on what it is about the work that makes it enjoyable and rewarding.

After much thought and many suggestions from my friends, especially Lauren Henkin, and Mazarine Treyz,  I have decided to begin a blog.  This will also serve as the landing page for my websites that you are probably more familiar with.  You can find links to my gallery store and portrait site on the right side bar.  I plan to share my thoughts and views here as well as information about the world of fine art photography as I see it.

Be well,

Ray Bidegain