Charles T. Low Photography

–in chronological order:

Naturally, I have favourites from own work.

In some measure, these have sustained me.

I could say that they have sustained me through some dark times, and while I cannot honestly lay claim to such drama, I believe it true that they have, on occasion, given me that little nudge, when I needed one.

Your own favourites from my larger opus will also, equally naturally, vary from mine. Currently, from over 6,000 images in my personal art folder, I keep almost a thousand favourites posted at Flickr, including an album of only eleven, entitled How It Started (which I should rename to How It Continues, because I made some of them only recently). My inclusion-criteria include not only standard items such as composition and light, but also quite frequently a personal meaning to me, which will perforce remain mine alone; I cannot expect a viewer to guess the story behind each image.

So I will tell you some of them. (And some of them you will have seen before.)

The image above, made in Algonquin Park, occurred because, even way back then, I emerged from the tent while everyone else remained asleep, for the reason no more virtuous than having awoken, needing a stretch. We had been canoeing and portaging for several days, and that does help a body sleep(!), and yet, only I got to gasp and marvel at the sunrise-through-fog which greeted me.

I made that exposure with a very good but plain camera, an Olympus Trip 35, which I discussed in an earlier blog. I.e., the photograph did not require complicated, large, heavy equipment. I have nothing against more substantial hardware; I use such equipment currently. But this photograph pre-dated my first proper camera by several years.

By the time I made the one following, I had my first single-lens-reflex, 35 mm film-camera (with which I experienced bliss). Although I try to pretend that I don't let the hardware drive me, I likely wouldn't have otherwise gone exploring in a nearby woodlot, where, to my amazement, I found this large tree-stump, sitting inexplicably above ground.

As with the Algonquin Park image, I like the shapes, the lines, the textures, the subject-material itself, but also ... the light! I have written previously about light. One can sometimes create it, and sometimes wait for it, but a visual artist must always acknowledge its centrality to whatever we do.

Bear in mind that all of these images represent the very few from among hundreds (at that time) of rejects. I might have extravagantly gone through a roll of 36(!), that day, and a score of rolls of film that year (film costing quite a bit!), and I like much of that output, but I show only this.

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The best camera to use is the one you have with you. I didn't make that up, but I made the ones above and below with a small, digital camera, 8 mega-pixels, which in the day seemed like quite a lot. On both occasions, I owned bigger cameras (12 mega-pixels!), and on both occasions, I had good reasons for not having them nearby; on both occasions, it didn't matter. I have sold both images as prints, and the owners simply love them (as do I).

Both images, by coincidence, have diagonal lines contrasting strongly with verticals or horizontals. But more importantly, I continue to find the light, different in each, intensely appealing.

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You may have noticed the large gaps in time, and they occur because I have chosen to show you these very few from over forty years of work.

The one below seems so simple to me, in form, on one level, and on another ... well ... I have chosen to include it. (I have a printed version, just spectacular, if you will pardon me boasting.)

And I have omitted several others, in close contention, and partly only at random.

You may wonder why your favourite photograph of mine didn't make the cut. Kindly let me know!

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With the passage of time ...

... the occasional image continues, to me, to stand out

Others will of course make different choices.

I can't show all of my work in these blogs, so feel free to follow me on various social media. I keep the list here (now including Mastodon, but I suggest Instagram for the most images).

Thank you all so much for reading! Kindly comment.

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You may wish to look through my larger portfolio. Almost everything is for sale. I favour large wall art, and also deal in books and other small items: prints, notecards, and postcards.

Charles T. Low
Photographer
Blog #89
2022-12-27

It remains to be seen whether this will enter into the very few of my core favourites (but I will let you know).

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