October 2021: Fewer But Better /  by John Ritchie

I’ve been taking fewer photos lately, but the ones I’ve been making have included several that I’m really pleased with. I seem to be doing less of a shotgun approach to photographing these days, turning into more of a sniper. Or perhaps that’s wishful thinking…

Abduction

This is the most satisfying image I’ve made in a long time. Events, most of which were out of my control, flowed together to form this image - setting, costume, lighting and inspiration. I captured this with a single take on my iPhone and knew it was gold before I looked at it. This is why I do photography.

I titled it “Abduction” but I’m not sure that’s the right title. This photograph is so ambiguous I'm almost afraid to put a title to it because anything I call it will spin it for the viewer. In the end, though, I decided to give it a malevolent spin because that’s the way it works best for me.

Gatsby and Patio

This is a documentary photograph showing the patio roof we had built this summer. The idea for the photo was Carrie’s and she helped wrangle Gatsby while I made it.

Cat In Paradise

This was another single-take photograph. I immediately thought of a painterly, Rousseau-like image when I saw this, so that’s how I’ve processed it. I wanted to bring out the fantastical element, the “animal in Eden” kind of thing.

Jenga Tower

I spent a week by myself in Eastern Oregon dog- and house-sitting for a friend. I channeled my creativity to build successively-higher Jenga towers out of construction scraps. This was my ultimate tower, a 3-legged 14-foot high tower. Although the bird on top blew off, the main tower was still standing a couple weeks after I left.

Keep `em coming

Since I was by myself out in Eastern Oregon I did all my drinking alone. Here I am, keeping a team of bartenders busy at the outdoor bar I built on my friend’s property a few years ago. Salut!

March 2021: Twisted Selfies /  by John Ritchie

Making lemonade from lemons, I used the Coronavirus separation and shutdown of hair stylists to grow my hair long. At first my goal was only to replicate the Eraserhead photograph, which I featured in my September 2020 “Work In the Home” phlog article. But I’ve continued growing my hair until it’s the longest I’ve ever had it. Before I get it cut off I thought I’d do some modeling and experiment with camera techniques.

These photographs are an exploration of the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) changes I can make to my face that impact how people see the resulting portrait. I’m using long exposures, light painting and strobes to make “twisted” selfies that display thoughts and emotions using distorted facial features and visual layering. I’m fascinated with the results and plan to continue exploring these ideas in future work.

September 2020: Work In the Home /  by John Ritchie

Since Covid-19 has restricted travel and social engagement, I’ve been spending a lot of time at home finding interesting topics and things to work on while unable to get out much. This month’s Phlog is a compilation of photos I’ve made in and around the house over the last few months. There are lots of cat photos since Gatsby and I are confined together here.

Updated 9/18: Kitten Portraits added.

Cat Bubbles

This photograph is based on a dream. It took me a long time to figure out how to make this but once I found the bubbles it came together pretty quickly. The bubbles are found inside a glass artwork made by my friend Ben Silver.

Cat Bubbles

Covid Eraserhead

My hair has tended to grow Eraserhead-like so I decided to cultivate the look while I couldn’t get a haircut. Compare to the original Erasehead. The lighting and pose were surprisingly difficult to replicate, it gave me a lot of respect for the original (unknown) photographer. My hair is still growing but I don’t know if I’ll do this again or not, it was a lot of work.

Covid Eraserhead

Random Bits Of Light

When the light is doing something interesting in the house I can’t help but photograph it. Sometimes the photographs make sense, sometimes they’re abstract. These are some of the nice bits of light I see around the house.

Explorer of Smoke

Our town, along with the entire West Coast, experienced thick smoke and hazardous air during the last few days. We were fortunate compared to the towns being burned out and all the people whose homes were destroyed. I used this opportunity to try and capture the ghastly, weird light we experienced. Gatsby helped by volunteering to go out in the bad air, at least for a while. When he came in, he smelled like a campfire.

Kitten Portraits

In the middle of the smoke phase, a friend of mine asked me to come over and help wrangle kittens for photography - she volunteers for the local humane society. In exchange, I also got to photograph kittens! What a great break from being captured inside by smoke!

April 2020: Building a Better Bong /  by John Ritchie

A lot has happened since the last Phlog article I published at the beginning of January. Of course the biggest thing has been the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted the whole world. But that’s not what this phlog is about.

My wife and I made a trip to Ethiopia in January. It was a great trip and I took thousands of photographs, which sidelined me for a month and a half after returning. I put up a separate set of web pages with a narrative and photos. That’s also not what this phlog is about.

Today I’m highlighting photographs I made in early January at Noble Glass in Eugene. I connected with Noble Glass via my friend Ben Silver, who created a fantastic glass sculpture for me. During one of the sessions I sat in on, Noble Glass was in bong making production mode, blowing and creating fantastic handmade glass bongs in an assembly line. These photographs track the creation of one of these glass masterpieces. Watching glass being worked is a great experience, and watching these six guys work together to crank out production glassware was pretty special.

Clicking on the photographs expand them and provide explanatory text.

January 2020: Street Photography At the Vet's Day Parade /  by John Ritchie

I missed a December phlog, instead I did a photo documentary on a cat spay and neuter clinic I was fortunate enough to attend. Check it out if you haven’t already.

For the first phlog of 2020, let’s start with some Street Photography! In November I went to the Albany Veteran’s Day Parade for the first time. It’s a huge parade and went on for hours. My goal was to do street photography, not necessarily to document the parade. There are a lot of kids in these photos, but then there were a lot of kids in the parade too.