All posts by : Jeff

Bewilderness is in the 38th Annual All Colorado Art Show at The Curtis Center for the Arts in Greenwood Village, Colorado which runs from July 10- August 28th. Eighty five pieces were selected from over 850 entries from more than 600 highly talented Colorado artists. The Curator and Juror both told me that they had a difficult time choosing pieces for the show because there was so much great art work submitted. I am honored to have had Bewilderness selected for this fine art show.

Rainy winters and the constant flow of salt springs often flood the Death Valley salt flats. Temperate winters are followed by searing summer heat that evaporates the water leaving interesting salt patterns.  Shapes, sizes, and textures change from one year to the next.  And so I often wander for miles to find the elusive photogenic subjects.  In this scene, the patchwork of mud and salt patterns is expansive.  The detail of the delicate salt crystals is shown in the foreground as the larger patterns fade into the background mountains.  The rising full moon adds drama.  The monochromatic blue color of the scene conveys peacefulness.

Scouting this trail the day before, this scene caught my attention because of the massive pinnacle wall and its brilliant colors.  Painting the scene with light at night was a rewarding and surreal experience.  Starting from a position somewhere down the trail, the brilliant pinnacles were set ablaze with my flashlight.  Perched high on the eroding bases, they contrast beautifully with the deep blue sky.  The uniform star trails around Polaris provide a nice contrast in color and shape with the more random and irregular shapes of the land features.  While photographing the star trails over a long period of time, I enjoyed peacefulness sitting on the edge of the trail with my back resting against the wall catching meteors and listening to hooting owls.

View the piece on my web site here: https://lightpaintingjeffmaresh.com/product/blaze/

In last week’s post, I announced that Last Gasp was the first prize winner at the At Night exhibition being held at The Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas. Preeminent was also chosen by the juror for the exhibition. I’m pleased that two of my pieces are included in the 50-image exhibition which runs from June 11th through September 5^th. 

Here is more on Preeminent on my web site: https://lightpaintingjeffmaresh.com/product/preeminent/

Last week I was notified that I had two of my pieces accepted to the At Night exhibition at the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas.  The big news is that Last Gasp (above) was selected as the the first prize winner!  The exhibition runs from June 11th through September 5^th. 

At Night is an international juried art exhibition featuring 50 images.  It’s a celebration of dark skies which are shrinking around the world due to the growth of major population centers.  The museum was chosen for this exhibition because of its proximity to a number of international dark sky places including Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. 

The juror for the exhibition was Lance Keimig.  He is a highly respected night photographer, author, and educator who has taught night photography since 1997.  Anyone who is serious about night photography in general and painting with light specifically knows about Lance.  When I began my adventure into painting with light, I started following Lance and continue to this day.  He’s a highly creative and skilled photographer who pushes me to see differently and to experiment.  I feel quite honored and blessed to have had him select two of my pieces for the exhibition and award one of them the first prize.  I’m certain many submitted incredibly good work. 

You can find out more about Last Gasp on my web site here: https://lightpaintingjeffmaresh.com/product/last-gasp/

Summers in Rocky Mountain National Park are full of discoveries.  Those who venture out late into the cool night air find additional wonders.  This view of Long’s Peak from Bear Lake is rewarding during the daytime, but spectacular with dark moonless night skies.  The mountains and Milky Way are the primary points of interest in the composition.  The light painted trees on the distant shoreline create additional interest in what would otherwise be blackness.  The mirror-like reflection in the foreground helps to create depth and was possible due to the unusual calm on this peaceful July night.

The southwest has many well preserved ghost towns because of their desolate locations and arid climates.  Many prosperous gold mining towns in the 19^th century had steam train service to carry workers, equipment, and supplies to their remote locations.  When I visit, I imagine what it may have felt like living in this frontier in its heyday.  I chose this composition to feature the old supply truck and railway water tower.  The jagged mountains convey the ruggedness of the environment.  The cold blue sky emphasizes the expansiveness of this location.  It complements the warmer colors of the main subjects.

Before my trip, I had a very busy and tiring month.  The night before I hurriedly packed my gear and jumped on a plane to take me to the deserts the next morning.  As I arrived at the ghost town before dark, peace descended as I began enjoying every moment.  Yesterday was already in the distant past.  Finally I could breathe.  And as I was photographing this scene I imagined that these travelers might have felt the same way generations ago having escaped from a big city.  This composition was chosen because of its simple bold elements.  Light painting was used to accentuate textures and shadows in the entire scene.  The yellow interior lights add a splash of color to draw attention.

Rocky Mountain National Park is a wonderland of natural features experienced by tourists worldwide.  Long’s Peak viewed across Bear Lake is one of the iconic views in the park.  I arrived at my shooting location shortly after midnight to overcast skies when clear skies were forecast.  But I set up my gear and waited patiently for the uncooperative sky to clear in the frosty March night.  Just when I was getting ready to pack up and leave nearing the end of night without any photos, the sky opened up with the moon low on the horizon and I created this idyllic moonlit scene.  A few minutes later, the overcast skies returned and the scene had vanished as quickly as it appeared.

This photograph was taken a few hours after midnight in the early summer when the bright center of the Milky Way was high above the horizon.  Big Bend National Park in Texas is so remote and desolate that not a single car travelled this main park road the entire night.  It felt odd yet amusing to set up all of my gear in the middle of the road for 45 minutes to create the series of photographs that made up the final scene.   Beautiful desert places in America like Big Bend are becoming scarcer as more people embrace the enjoyment of nature.

View the piece on my web site here: https://lightpaintingjeffmaresh.com/product/transit/

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Great Sand Dunes National Park seems out of place with its location in a high valley in Colorado.  Unlike other landscape subjects, the windy dunes are always changing which guarantees that no two photos will ever be alike.  I had imagined this scene a year earlier.  But it wasn’t obvious when I found it since it was a dark moonless night.  As I gazed across the dunes on my hike back to the parking lot, the image flashed in my mind’s eye.  It has all of the qualities that I wanted – sand ripples in the foreground, soft overlapping dunes in the background, and it faced north which would result in the circular star trail pattern.  It was satisfying to create this sublime scene out of darkness.