Featured Photographer : Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon caught my eye some time ago with his extraordinary pictures of the desert of California. One of his photos that really stood out for me was his picture ‘Drivers Wanted‘ (the top photo to the right). This picture went beyond the genre of landsape photography as it is accepted but I strongly feel still is landscape photography. It is what led me to the conclusions I’ve posted previously that landscape photography is about Nature, the processes that govern it, the context of it, the views of it and the images that conjure up feelings about it. It also made me realise that I really want to get my hands on an old petzval style lens and that I want to play with negative film stock (although I’ve yet to do either successfully – although some more Portra experiments are awaiting development).
Michael is also a humanitarian pet owner (with Mojave the dog – great name – as photography companion) and a 4×5 Film Developing, Beer Drinking videographer – a rare breed indeed ;-). Despite suffering serious back injuries, this hasn’t stopped Michael using a 4×5 camera to capture his creative expressions although he happily uses digital too, admirable pragmatism (although carrying both isn’t going to do that back any good! My own back injury will testify to that!).
Take a good look at his portfolio – You’ll see a large format photographer with a novel eye for the landscape. Michael also leads workshops with Guy Tal and if you can get on one of these I imagine they would be a great experience.
p.s. Michael also has one of the best logos in the landscape photography industry (designed by Jack Brauer and Jesse Speer) which was sourced directly from one of the most creatively composed Racetrack Playa photos I’ve seen..
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