Discussion Thread for Featured Artist Of The Week

[Clairity]

I really like the featured artist of the week: Photography of Gilad Benari, Israeli Photographer.

His photos are very dreamlike yet brilliantly vivid!  I can see myself staring at one of his photos after a WBTB and then trying to WILD.

[Aquanina]

Thanks for starting this thread Clairity. =)

[three and four]

Wow - just to say that those are really beautiful pictures. The colors, the contrasts... they really are dreamlike. Wonderful, thanks!

[pj]

Gorgeous.  What a GREAT choice to start this off, Nina!  Thank you.  We need to make sure Edge gets this into the next newsletter.

One in particular opened something up for me: Out Of My Mind.  I never before realized one of the qualities that makes my dreamscapes "dreamy"  but it is the depth of field.  When I say in my dreams how sharp and clear everything is, I realize now that the reason is because EVERYTHING is in focus simultaneously!  Out Of My Mind captures that flawlessly.

In posting that image, you have given me a new dreamsign.

[Aquanina]

Wow pj...that's pretty cool that you noticed that. I definitely didn't notice, but can for sure understand what you mean. Maybe that's why I sometimes describe my dreams as "hyper-real" ...everything is just more vivid and clear and in focus. That would definitely make sense!

[Aquanina]

Just reminding people that this thread exists. So we don't high-jack pj's thread.

Also...more from Gilad Benari can be seen here: http://gilad.deviantart.com/gallery
If you like the funky colors, scroll down a bit and the last option listed on the column on the right is "infra red" click that one. =)

Also, if you visit his gallery and happen to find one you really love that wasn't featured by me...please post a link for all to enjoy. I know there are many I skipped over. =)

[pj]

I'm so happy that you were able to get something worthwhile from those photographs pj. I definitely agree about the depth of field. And even the detail...like in the trees. In that "solitude" one...that tree is definitely what I would describe as "hyper-real" only...without the proper colors. The details are stunning. I have no idea how he does that amazing infra-red photography. Anyways...awesome thread, and I'm thrilled that you liked my first Featured Artist. I hope they will all be as inspirational!!

Bringing the conversation back here - or trying to, anyway!

Another of those images has the same depth-of-field thing going: Bitter end.

IR photography is fascinating.  All you need with a film camera is IR film and the knowledge to calculate proper exposures for it.

In digital, most chips are highly IR sensitive and require special filtering.  I am told that some inexpensive cameras can be (irreversibly) modified for IR photography just by getting into them and stripping the IR filters out.

It would be a kick to figure out how to do that.

Seeing as Benari uses traditional darkroom techniques, I'm sure he's going the IR film route.

[Aquanina]

I love Bitter End. I think you'll find alot of his images have that same effect if you check out his gallery.

[Josh]

As I said in pj's thread, awesome photographs! This guy is extremely talented. The composition, color, detail, depth of field, it all just works.

I hope to someday approach that in my own photography, though of course I use Photoshop instead of a darkroom. Much respect for the skill and knowledge required to do what he does. An incredibly great choice for the first featured artist, Nina, thank you so much for posting this!

[Aquanina]

Yeah...you really have to give him credit for creating those amazing images in the darkroom...when pretty much everyone else needs to use photoshop to create an effect even half as cool as what he can do. When I first saw his photography I thought it was photomanipulated...but the more I stared at it, the more I realized that there was no freaking way in hell that he could have done that in photoshop. Then I realized the category was "darkroom" instead of "photomanipulation" and I was like....WOW....I had no idea you could do those sorts of things with film. =)

Oh....and since we are discussing darkroom...this work of art is the first real darkroom photography I've seen. It's by a different artist, but I just love it and wanted to share it with you guys anyways. =)

Walking In Candyland

[Moonbeam]

Whoa, that is so cool.  I definitely need to look at these before bed.  So dreamy, and in such a good way, without the nightmarish quality that a lot of dream-inspired art work has.

[PeteB]

Just amazing! I would love to get "a slice of life" especially as a print on my wall. Beautiful photography.

[Emerald Wolf]

"on the streets of Marseilles" has that dark overtone (kinda like in the movie "Dark City"), the sort that hightens one's senses and makes me want to go off exploring while still being apprehensive about what may lie around the next corner.

"Out of my Mind" is beatifully relaxing. Having a large expanse of water around you that doesn't threaten to hide any lake monsters or worse (like an open ocean would) seems like such an alien idea to me that it can't be anything but sublime (the colouration of the water makes it feel safely shallow).

[Emerald Wolf]

"The Land of the Lonely" strikes me as resembling our little community here in certain ways. Most of us are separated from each other in real life and are unlikley to meet each other on a normal day but we can all reach out for this forum which connects us no matter where in the world we are (like gazing at the moon and thinking that somewhere out there someone else is watching it as well)

[Aquanina]

"The Land of the Lonely" strikes me as resembling our little community here in certain ways. Most of us are separated from each other in real life and are unlikley to meet each other on a normal day but we can all reach out for this forum which connects us no matter where in the world we are (like gazing at the moon and thinking that somewhere out there someone else is watching it as well)

Nice observation. =)