In Many of my photographs and photo-collages going back decades I have images of people with one eye open and one eye closed. I’ve always been attracted to this imagery because it’s both visually disconcerting and emotionally resonant. The person is grounded in reality but also allowing for an interior life, a dream. This is the dream eye.
Some of the images were the result of two photographs photoshopped together but many others were actually just one image where I asked the person to simply close one eye. It is easy to do but not easy to do in such a way as both eyes looked relaxed. When I found a person who could do that it was a real treat.
Here is a selection from that series.
Dream Eye with Pearl Earring
Dream Eye with Suspicion
Dream Eye with Future
Dream Eye with Broken Pot
Dream Eye with Perception
Dream Eye with Trust
Dream Eye with Question
Dream Eye with Excitement
Dream Eye with Decision
Thanks to all my friends and models who trusted me with their faces.
This past week I went to Fort Worth to visit my niece Jenna at TCU. While there I determined to finally have a visit with an old friend from my time in Tulsa who moved to Texas back in the early fall.
Brittany At The Modern 1
When we both lived in Tulsa I was doing several large scale photography projects and she was kind enough to model for me on a number of occasions. She’s a friend who is up for anything, often seeing my vision for the image, but when not, trusting my ideas and the images that will come from my often odd posing requests.
Brittany At The Modern 2
She moved away many years ago but we kept in touch as she moved around the country for her career. We said if we were ever in the same city again we would have to get together. That finally happened when I moved to Dallas in 2020 and she moved to Fort Worth in 2021.
Brittany At The Modern 3
When I visit Fort Worth I love to hit their museum area. They have 3 world-class museums, not just for the art inside but for the architectural masterpieces they are housed in. On this day I decided to visit the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth for the first time. I invited her to meet me there to catch up and do a mini-photo shoot for old time’s sake.
Brittany At The Modern 4
I brought out my very old DSLR camera, a Panasonic G1 from 2008. I hadn’t used it in probably 3 years so it definitely needed some care to get it back in shape. It’s pretty archaic by today’s standards (even iPhone standards much less current DSLR cameras). It is bad in low light and can be quite grainy. I had to refamiliarize myself with how it worked, it’s been that long. Way more things to pay attention to than my iPhone, that is for sure. But it’s like riding a bike. Give me a few minutes and it seemed like no time had passed.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
As you can see from this photograph the Museum itself is a work of art. The signature architectural element of the Modern is a reflecting pool that surrounds half the building with 3 stories of long vertical glass panels that look out on the pool.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth – photo By Briaande – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 1Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 2
There are 3 pavilions that jut out into the reflecting pool that you can see from the other pavilions. There is art in each space so it’s interesting to see it through the prism of the water and architecture.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 3
The sunlight and shadows combine with the ripples in the water and the strong structural elements to make amazing visual impressions. The building itself is a work of art.
Earlier Work
Here are a few images from my earlier shoots with Brittany in 2013 and 2014.
Brittany at Philbrook MuseumYoga on the RocksEmotional WInd
‘VISUAL POEMS’ Photo-collage Series
I was doing a photo-collage series at the time called ‘Visual Poems’. She contributed to that as well.
The Meteorologist’s Poem
If you would like to see more of my photographic work, click on the ‘Art’ drop down menu at the top of the page.
