Category Archives: American Photographic Artists
The Land That God Forgot, Part Three
The No Name Trailer Park, Pearsonville, California – April 1999 Driving through the Mojave is like passing through successive layers of California history. There are haunted places where nothing has changed in decades: little mom & pop motels quietly disintegrating, … Continue reading
Panteón de Santa Rosalillita – Baja California
Something about Mexico is best left unspoken. It’s clear, almost obvious. To an American traveling south looking into death’s steady gaze can be unsettling. Best not to linger too long while the winter sun drops below the coastal range. Ray … Continue reading
How to Make Something Beautiful (part two)
Japanese woodblock: my vintage Canon F-1n (20mm f/2.8) Start with something completely familiar – like an analog single lens reflex. Find a chunk of clear Douglas fir and sketch directly to … Continue reading
Why I Shoot Film – Part One
Roadside Gas Station (retired), National City California Film has built-in limitations – but it’s honest. It has reciprocity problems and grain, but it’s film grain – not noise. You can’t shoot a 16 bit digital frame and desaturate it to … Continue reading
The Land That God Forgot – Part Two
El Progresso, Northern Baja California – December 1998 Driving through Mexico in the winter is something I’ve done all my life. Traveling on highway D-1 brings to mind the classic topics of life, death, creation and eternity – mainly because … Continue reading
On the Windward Side of San Simeon Point
Three frames of Kodak TMY 400 Inside the cove at San Simeon Point the wind is blocked by a headland planted with groves of eucalyptus and cypress. The ocean is calm and the air is still. Glassy waves rifle up … Continue reading
Jim Hubbell’s Skunkworks
James Hubbell – in the workshop, Santa Ysabel California You could call Jim Hubbell an artist, but you’d have to stretch the definition to cover drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, stained glass work, mosaics, jewelry, poetry and philosophy – and that … Continue reading
The Salt Mines
Western Salt Works, Chula Vista California In November of 1996 while driving around California on a magazine assignment I came across the Western Salt Works at the southern end of San Diego Bay. From the beginning I’d been interested in … Continue reading
Simple, Reliable & Classic
Broken Hill – Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego California Whenever I get out of sync with the world, I go back to the basics. With surfing it’s always been a big single-fin pintail. For everything else there’s my Rolleiflex. … Continue reading
Field Notes: John Durant Photographer 