Paul Gardner

I got bored this Sunday and decided to check out some "attractions" around my town. I had heard that The Huntington Library, Museum and Botanical Gardens was a great place to visit and relax at. Just so happens that The Huntington is only about 2 miles down the street I live on so I grabbed my camera and headed out for an after there to check out the Botanical Gardens. The gardens there were much bigger than what I was used to in Florida. There was a huge range of landscapes from Desert to Japanese Zen Gardens. I enjoyed the desert landscapes the most and got lost in the curves and lines in the various aloe plants and cacti. I was really able to explore line, shape and tones with the aloe plants. I think I managed to create some unique images. I also ran into several other Nikon shooters all with D200's. It was nice to meet some other photographers in the area and talk shop for an afternoon with like minded people. There was too much area to cover in one trip so I will definitely be returning as the landscapes change over the year.

On Thursday night I left Pasadena for what was supposed to be a 3 day trip to Death Valley National Park. I say supposed to be because I ended up spending less than 24 hours in the park. I left Pasadena at midnight on Thursday and got home at midnight on Friday. Various reasons like the 100 degree heat and car issues forced me to cut my stay short. In the time I was there I managed to see a good amount of this amazing place. So many extremes in Death Valley. Extreme heat, extreme elevations (in the negative downward sense), extreme landscapes and extreme quiet. It was not supposed to be so hot this time of year, but my luck dictates that I go to Death Valley during a heat wave. Afternoon air temperatures easily hit 100 degrees. One extreme that really struck me was the lack of noise. Standing way out on the Badwater Salt Flats it was pure silence. I have never heard, or not heard, so little. There was not a single distinguishable sound; nothing that was recognizable as an animal, plant moving in the wind or any type of human made noise (i.e. plane, car, etc). The lack of sound made it feel like my ears were going explode or implode; either way it was a very different experience. In the one day that I was there I saw sunrise at Zabriskie Point and spent the later morning catching the mountain shadows sweeping over and lighting up the Badwater Salt Flats, drove the Artists Drive, hiked the Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes, visited the Devil's Golf Course, went off-roading on various trails, watched the sunset at the Salt Flats and caught the Milky Way and some Zodiacal Light at Zabriskie Point on my way out of the park. There were a few places I had planned to visit and photograph but will save them for the next visit. This trip didn't go exactly as planned but turned out alright. I managed to get some great photographs and do some good scouting so that the next trip will be even better.

At the suggestion of a fellow photographer I took the day to head out to Malibu and visit one of California's many state parks: El Matador Beach State Park. This park is considered one of the better beach areas in Malibu. It has all kinds of cliffs, sea caves and large rocks out in the water. The park gets its name from two of the larger rocks on the beach which supposedly look like bulls. I could kind of see it. I didnt get any photos showing the bull. There were too many people and too many buildings in the angle I wanted to shoot them at. The scenery at other parts of the beach was better anyways. I came to the park around noon to scope out the scene and plan my shots for later in the evening. After a little scouting I headed up to Ventura county to waste some time by initiating myself into the California surfing scene. Great way to kill time waiting for the sun to set; 3 foot point break. I came back to El Matador an hour or so before sunset, walked up and down the beach a few times, found the or 4 shots I wanted to get when the lighting got good and then just waited for the sun to set. The planning paid off and I was able to get the exact shots that I saw early on in the day. Recently I had gotten away from seeing the shot before hand. I had gotten into a very fast paced mode of shooting and it wasn't really producing the results I wanted so I slowed things way down this time. On my first scouting trip I didn't even bring the camera down with me and on the second trip before sunset I brought the camera but only used it to look at compositions. When the sun set there was no need to rush around, I had already planned each shot and took the shot and moved onto the next shot. I am very pleased with the results.

A few photos I had taken up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina caught the attention of Isthmus Sailboards and they decided to feature one of them on their website. The photos were taken for Windsurfing Magazine but were never used. I gave the shots of the windsurfer to the sailor (Karl Quist). He in turn showed them to Isthmus Sailboards.

This week I took a trip out to the Nevada Desert for work (doing field calibration experiments for an instrument I work on at JPL). The trip was very last minute and was not supposed to be a photography trip. I took my camera with me anyways since some of the best photos happen when you are not really out looking for them. Such was the case on this quick trip. The photos I take on the job double as art and as useful information for the research being performed. The instrument I work with basically records how light reflects off the ground and it is measured from an airplane. That means the skies have to be clear and if they aren't clear I need to know how cloudy it was. Easiest way to do that is to take a photograph. Since I am taking a photo I might as well make it a good one. Our testing site was out in the middle of the desert on the California/Nevada border. The only substantial thing out there being a grouping of Casinos on the Nevada side of the border known as Primm, Nevada. I had Googled the area before leaving for the trip and saw it was just flat dry lake beds and wasnt expecting that I would be able to get any good photos out of the trip. Fortunately I was proved wrong and was able to take a few great black and white shots. I also shot a few photos of random objects I had around me and they actually turned out pretty cool. I call the series of shots "Stuff in the Desert". The series of three photos came out well enough that I might go back out to the desert with more random stuff.

I have been in California for a while now and have finally gotten settled in enough to venture out and explore the area a bit. The first place I decided to check out was the world famous Venice Beach. What a crazy place. The only two words I can think of to explain this 3 mile stretch of madness is "all kinds". That is what you see there; all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. Street performers, artists and athletes doing their thing. It really was a cool experience. I am definately going to make some future trips down to this place to work on better portraits. Next time I will remember to bring a big roll of 1 and 5 dollar bills to tip everyone.

Two weeks into my new job and they have already sent me to work in Hawaii. I can't ask for better job. While I have been working hard during the day, I have had time to take photographs in the morning and in the evening. My hotel in Waikoloa is situated inside Anaehooamlu Bay on the Big Island and I haven't had to travel much farther than the beach in front of the hotel to get some good shots. I have posted a group of images from the past week in my Landscapes gallery.

While I was browsing through myspace I noticed a bulletin posted by a photographer named Josh McKague. His bulletin posed the question:

"What makes art so pleasing? Why are we so intrigued by it? What does it have to say about human beings? Would we love art even if we were never influenced by any outside person or source i.e. if we were born in the jungle and never talked to anyone would we still love art and want to create it?"

I dont usually pay much attention to posts on myspace but I felt inclined to respond to his question. I think that it is a classic question, brought up time and time again as artists try to figure out where their particular style fits in with the rest of the world. Here are my thoughts on Josh's questions:

What makes art so pleasing and why are we so intrigued by it? I feel that those two questions can be summed up with one answer: Nature. A closer look at your natural surroundings reveals that nature is built on ratios. Those ratios are naturally pleasing to humans and I believe that we are hardwired to find those natural ratios pleasing. Most people are inclined to enjoy something that is pleasurable; so as an artist, the creative part of our brain sets out to recreate those ratios either consciously or unconsciously. I am personally intrigued by this perfection in nature. In my art I am constantly trying to replicate this perfection or at the least capture what nature has managed to perfect.

I find some fault in the second part of Josh's question: "if we were born in a jungle...no outside influences...would we still love art". I am not sure how to rephrase the question because just about anything around you would be an influence. But for now let us just run with the original question. If you take what I said about nature's perfection inspiring art and causing us to be intrigued; then being in a jungle isolated from any other people would be the best place to be inspired in a way that would instill a love, or at least an appreciation, of nature and eventually the art inspired by nature. Eventually we as humans would most likely be inclined to duplicate what we feel is pleasing, thus creating "art".

-Paul

Check out this new website created by my friend Camilo Arevalo. Here are a few words from Camilo on what ISOfifty is all about......


"ISOfifty began as an idea for a forum of photographers of similar and different backgrounds that can come together to express the world in a new light. Camilo Arevalo originally founded ISOfifty in Orlando Florida. Shortly thereafter Paul B. Gardner joined they fray, and today the organization contains 6 members and is situated nationwide in Los Angeles, Daytona, Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Boston. Despite its growth and rapid expansion the organization continues to maintain its set of objectives. We believe in uniting photographers and connecting them to businesses, organizations, and other photographers. We also enjoy helping each other by sharing techniques through classes, experiences through safaris, and then always trying to have a good time. Along with these values we also share in a vision of creating the highest quality images imaginable for ourselves and of course our clients. Our list of clients includes, Wind Surfing Magazine, Astronomy.com, Rally Manufacturing, Digital Ally, Miss Brasil USA, and others."

-Camilo Arevalo (ISOfifty Founder)

		My love for photography began in 1997 with a major astronomical event; the apparition of Comet Hale-Bopp. As a 7th grade middle school student, I took an old manual Nikon camera that belonged to my father and aimed it at the sky.The resulting image set in stone my passion for photography.Since then I have been devoted to capturing the world around me in a way that will allow others to experience what I see. My journey started with landscapes and has grown into the world of fast paced action sports. My specialties include photographing Windsurfing, Kitesurfing, Surfing, Aviation and motor sports, Rock Climbing and many other adventure sports. My clients include Windsurfing Magazine, Kiteboarding Magazine, Standup Paddle Journal, Elad Properties, and Asrtonomy Magazine to name a few.I use all the latest Nikon equipment to help me in capturing the very best images as possible. My Nikon cameras have been through some of the toughest conditions any photographer will ever experience and they have come through for me for every shot. I am currently a member of Nikon Professional Services.
paulbgardner@gmail.com

Welcome to my new and improved website. I am always on a quest to come up with an effective way to showcase my photography. My original website was dedicated solely to landscape photography as that represented the bulk of my work. Over the past year I have tried to broadened my horizons by trying as many different styles of photography as I can. Some styles have proved easier than others. I now have categories representing landscapes, flowers, action, portrait/people, wildlife and astrophotography. In the future I hope to add other categories as I try different things. With the addition of so many new categories of photographs I had to come up with a new way to display them all.

Another new addition to my site is this blog or journal or news feed or whatever you want to call it. This blog will give me a way to share my travels and whatever photographs I take that don't necessarily fit into any given category. I take pictures almost every single day of whatever happens to be around me and sometimes I want to share those photos as random as they might be. While traveling, this will be my way of updating friends, family and anyone willing to take the time to read this of where I am, what I am doing and what I am seeing with my camera.

This site is in constant development and is far from being finalized. Lets call this Beta 1.0 for now. I would love to hear any comments on the site. What would make it better? What would you as a viewer like to see? Is the site working on your computer? Would anything make it easier to navigate? Answers to those types of questions would be a huge benefit to me. As a warning, not all of the galleries have images.

I would like to thank Ricardo Lugo for making this website come together. I can come up with ideas but making those ideas into a working website is black magic to me.

Enjoy the photos

Paul Gardner

paulbgardner at gmail.com (substitue "at" with @)