Longtime Member – Inner Light Photographic Society
Artist Statement:
My images for this show were inspired by East Asian sumi-e paintings. This art form includes a preference for shades of black over color, an emphasis on brushwork, and capturing the perceived spirit of a subject over direct imitation. Another related influence was Japanese calligraphy, which consists of black brush strokes on white paper. I was striving for an analogous effect through my use of the threshold function in digital processing, which drops out color and intermediate shades of gray. This is black and white photography at its purist. Looking up at and shooting against our Northwest winter sky was definitely an asset in making these photos. They are part of a larger body of images, which I have been working on for the last year and a half.
Artist Biography:
Al Flory has been an avid photographer since he was in high school. He works in both black and white and color, using digital or analog methods depending on the project. He considers himself a photo artist and enjoys experimenting with new techniques. His photographic interests include nature, images of Japan (where he lived for nearly 10 years), urban and rural scenery, the Columbia and Willamette River Basins, cats, soft focus images, and street art. He also enjoys creating (semi)-abstract, infrared and high contrast images. Al has participated in numerous individual and group exhibitions. He resides in Portland, Oregon.