Gunnar Conrad Photography - Durango, CO Photographer -Fine Art, Corporate, Auto, Editorial

Durango Colorado Commercial Photographer, who is also a Durango Colorado Fine Art Photographer, shoots ice.

2012-01-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

Just some shots of the ice at Vallecito Lake. Hopefully soon, I'll have up a recording of the incredible sounds the ice makes when it's warming up in the mornings, to go along with some images. So here's a couple of new images and my all time favorite Vallecito Ice Shot that I took a couple of years ago.

Durango Colorado Automotive Photographer becomes Durango Colorado Portrait Photographer With Show At The Lost Dog

2012-01-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more of the photos that are at the Lost Dog until Thursday.

For more: visit my website.

Durango Colorado Industrial Photographer Transforms into Durango Colorado Portrait Photographer with Radical Departure show.

2012-01-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

A Radical Departure

So there's still a couple more days to catch my show at The Lost Dog if you're interested. The show is titled Radical Departure... radical departure form anything I've ever done before.

Sometime around 1972, on Galaxy Drive in Newport Beach California, on just some random, ordinary day, a young mom told her four kids to make paper bag masks, then lined the youngsters up against a wall and shot them… with a camera. That young mom was Mary Lieb. Mary was a former UCLA art student, and I imagine that day she was just feeling the need to create - a drive common to all artists – and one, which combined with Mary’s irrepressible sense of humor, resulted in an incredible image. Years later, Mary’s daughter, my good friend Lisa Lieb, had that image enlarged, as you see here, and hung it on her wall.

The moment I saw this photo I was struck by it. I’m still not sure I can fully articulate what makes this image so incredible to me, but I’ll try: I think the kids, the setting, their clothes, and the faded nature of the print can all combine to remind many of us of our own childhoods, and of simpler and more innocent times. But the fact that one mask has a big frown on it and that child is kind of off by herself is a reminder of some of the darker parts of life. The smallest child is, sort of, “not playing by the rules”, in that, she’s not looking at the camera like the other three and is instead trying to look at her brothers. I think that probably appeals to the rebel in all of us and I think not being able to see the kids faces kind of lets us look at it and see “every child”, including ourselves.

Mary was also a friend of mine, but I never knew that she had been an art student before she got married and started a family. Clearly, she had a great eye. I can’t help but wonder what she might have been up to today, artistically, if she were still alive… sadly she died seven years ago and we can only imagine.

So to make a long story short, this photo inspired me to step outside my comfort zone – thus, A Radical Departure - and shoot something I’d never shot before… studio portraits. I chose ten people and ask them to make paper bag masks that in some way represented them. I then shot a portrait of them with and without the bags.

The images are hung totally randomly and it’s up to you, the viewer, to match the bags with the person… if you care.

Many thanks to the brave people who modeled for me:

Lisa Lieb, Liz Potter

McCarson Jones, Michael Rendon

Rachel Stacy, Rachel Black

Russell Zimmermann, Skip Favreau

Vanessa Bohaty, Zane Angulo

Thanks also to Annie and the Lost Dog for hosting. And thanks to my assistant Matt Gerhardt for the beautiful printing job.

Enjoy if you go... and have a beer or two while you're there!

Here's a couple samples... I'll put some more up in the next day or so.

If you would like to see more of these portraits, go to my website.

Ruthie Into The Hall of Fame

2011-06-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

My good friend Ruthie Matthes is being inducted into the U.S.Bicycling Hall of Fame this year. So over the weekend we went out and shot some promo photos for her to sign at public appearances. Here are several treatments of the one Ruthie chose.

Santa Fe Drive Art District in Denver

2011-04-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

Was in Denver last week trying to drum up some business… spent an afternoon in the Santa Fe Drive Art District… lots of galleries… lots of studios… lots of art… another of the “things to do in Denver before you’re dead” (bastardization of the title of a movie I’ve never seen). I’m told first and third Friday evenings are the times to go if it’s a ‘social’ experience that you’re looking for… you can look at the art and the people.

To be honest, I saw a fair amount of ‘same old/same old’ art in some of the galleries, but I also saw a lot of really good stuff. One stand out was the Vertigo Gallery (960 Santa Fe) which had a cool photo exhibit and I got to have a great chat with Kara Duncan who owns the gallery… definitely a must stop on future visits. But probably the most interesting and thought provoking exhibit I saw was at the Metro State College Center for Visual Art (965 Santa Fe). They are showing, through April 9^th, “Sight Unseen” – “International Photography by Blind Artists”.

What? Yep, blind photographers. Now those of you who know me well, know that I’m frequently prone to deride certain images, particularly a lot of “new/edgy” photography, as emanating from the “Stevie Wonder school of photography”. I know that’s not very PC, nor is it at all fair to Stevie, who I’m sure could take much better images than a lot of the crap I see out there… he is, after all, very creative and talented. I’ve also mused at times, that at some point in this age of “it’s all about how you can market and promote yourself” someone would eventually find a niche as “the blind photographer”, and make a career of it. Little did I know that it was already being done, and by multiple photographers. But what I never would have anticipated is that I would actually like some of the images by these photographers. The other thing that surprised me was all the questions about the very nature of photography that I came up with as I viewed the show.

These photographers evidently run the gamut in degrees of blindness – from totally blind to ‘legally blind’, and I don’t know who is what, so it’s impossible to know whether a particular image is the result of someone shooting “in the dark” or whether the shooter can “see” forms and light. But does it matter? Does it?

To be sure there are images in this show that I would consider crap, but there are also images that I like, and if there’s an image that’s “art” to me, does it matter if it’s a “shot in the dark” or if someone was actually able to compose it? Does intent matter? Can someone who can’t see, actually compose an image unassisted? Can they manipulate their camera to get the desired affect? Do they even know what that desired affect might be? Can they edit and pick out the best images from their shoot? If they’re relying on sighted people to do these things, can they claim credit for the final product (Those of us with sight, utilize assistants and editors to get to a final product)? Can a person who may have never experienced sight really meaningfully create art that can only be experienced visually? Is art made for the artist or the “consumer”? What if the person used to be able to see (like Beethoven could hear before he went deaf)? Does any of this matter if the final result is a good or great image?

I’ve got my ideas. You go get your own.

New Industrial Shots

2010-07-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

We put up some new images in the "Industrial" portfolio on the web site the other day. Industrial images are something I've been shooting from early on and I still enjoy it a lot.

Some might think that shooting construction projects and the like would be totally different, and not so enjoyable, from shooting the other outdoor work that I'm probably more known for. On the contrary, I really like the challenge of shooting something that, many might not find any beauty in, and finding the interesting and compelling images. Just like any other subject matter, there are some times when it is next to impossible to find a good image, but usually there's something there. It's often very similar to finding images out in nature... looking for the patterns and contrasts that are visually interesting.

The other thing that I really enjoy about industrial shoots, is that I almost always learn some interesting stuff about something that I probably didn't know much about before... kind of the hidden parts of the things that make our infrastructure work. And lest you think that this is the work of the industrial devil machine; occasionally I do come across something that I find distasteful, but for the most part these are projects that, while in a perfect world we maybe wouldn't choose to build that particular highway, or cement plant, or whatever, as long as we live in this society, drive cars, live in houses, consume electricity, buy recreational equipment, etc. etc., we've chosen to make environmental sacrifices that allow us to live the way we live. There are definitely clients that I would not work for based on their track records of exploitation or if someone were doing a project I was absolutely opposed to, but the majority of construction projects are more or less necessary and done by companies that are honorable, employ our friends and neighbors, and contribute in many positive ways to our communities. And hopefully, we're moving in the direction of less environmental impact, in the last few years a majority of my industrial work has involved environmental cleanup and clean energy projects.

Here a few of the new images and a couple of older ones from the "Industrial" portfolio:

Wind Turbines in California

Environmental Cleanup in Montana

Scraper in New Mexico

Intersection in Colorado

Environmental Cleanup in Colorado

Wind Turbines in California

Tying Rebar in Nevada

Px3 Winning Photos

2010-07-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I just found out that I won not one, not two, but three top three prizes in the Px3 photo competition. Px3 (Prix de la Photographie, Paris) is Europe's largest (entries from 85 countries) and most prestigious photo competition, and probably one of the top five in the world. To say that I won prizes is a bit of a misnomer... I guess all I really 'won', is recognition... but I'll take it.

I've written on here before about the capriciousness of winning contests and getting into shows and galleries. But as I've said before: when you win, it doesn't suck. And when you start to get a track record of winning, I guess that makes it, at least a little, less capricious. However, some of these same images have received no recognition at all in other competitions, so maybe it is just a total crap shoot, but I prefer to think otherwise. These awards coupled with the others that I've gotten in the last few years... most notable of which was a first place in the International Photography Awards in 2007, have begun to give me, I hope, a lot more standing in the world of fine art photography.

The images that won were: The Colorado Snow Flurry series... a series of three images shot during a very early snow flurry last fall at Andrews Lake on Molas Pass. This series received a second place in 'Nature', and a third place in 'Fine Art".

And the other winning image was an image from a series that I did about Yellowstone National Park "Twenty Years After the Fires".

You can see larger (and un-watermarked) views of these in my New Work and Great Outdoors galleries at my website.

The High Rollers

2010-06-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

I recently shots some band photos for my buddy Andy Janowsky and his band, the High Rollers. It's always fun to collaborate with other creative people. You can see other 'people pics' here on my site.

Stanton Englehart Exhibit

2010-06-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you have taken my suggestion to get yourselves over to the Anasazi Heritage Center and see Stanton Englehart's exhibit, but if you haven't, you need to. I wrote about it here earlier and included some of Stanton's images to entice you. It will be up until October 31st, but if you go sooner, then you'll be able to go back (as I intend to do soon). Here's an image that I took at the show that I hope gives you an idea of the color and life in Stanton's work. So get on over there.

Iron Horse Bike Classic

2010-06-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

A little blast form the past... For the first time in many years, I actually shot the Iron Horse crit (at least the pro men), semi-seriously . I used to do a lot of cycling photography back in the day when I was primarily an action sports photographer, and you can see some of that kind of work in my movement gallery.

It's always nice to shoot an event when you don't have to produce x number of shots on a 'check list' and you can just try and get some really nice, perhaps low percentage kind of shots. Below is a shot of my friend Frank Maple, a man among men and a true animal (you know... the roaring kind... I my self, am also an animal... but I'm more of the squeaky little field mouse kind of animal).

Front Range Photography Fix

2009-12-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

In the weeks leading up to my show I was kind of immersed in the world of art, and fine art photography in particular, by way of a trip to the front range to get my prints framed and to visit friends for Thanksgiving (thanks Em and Todd)... and I didn't eat too much... yeah, if I were a rhino. My Friend Emily and I spent an afternoon at the Denver Art Museum (DAM) which I had never been to before. It's a beautiful space with impressive displays and collections (only $10)... why I'd never gone before?... . sometimes I'm an idiot. For photography specific venues, I visited Hal Gould's Camera Obscura, Michele Mosko Fine Arts (both right by the Denver Art Museum), and Gallery M in Cherry Creek. All three have very impressive displays and collections.

My one other photographic pilgrimage was to The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins. I don't really know the history of the Center and how it came to be, and why it came to be in Fort Collins, but I've been aware of it for several years now and have had a couple of pieces in several of their shows. They draw entries from all over the world to their exhibits which are generally judged by some of the biggest names in the business. While there, I met Hamidah Glasgow who is the Executive Director and Exhibitions Manager Azarie Furlong who were in the midst of hanging a new show, but kind enough to let me look around. They have two separate gallery spaces separated by the f stop cafe, and besides having exhibits they also host workshops and forums. All four of these places are must visits if you live on the front range, or are visiting, and you have a passion for photography.

Thoughts about Stanton

2009-12-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

In my show that's up now at the Open Shutter Gallery, I have an image that's titled 'Homage to Stanton'. Stanton is Stanton Englehart, who we lost this year, and who was, as anyone who's been in Durango for anytime knows, an amazing artist and an even more amazing human being.

Stanton grew up in the Four Corners, north of Cortez, married a local girl (Pat), got his education at the University of Colorado, made a career as an Art Professor at Fort Lewis College, raised a family, fished a lot, rode his bike a lot, played a lot of basketball, touched a lot of lives (I mean a lot of lives), and along the way painted a staggering number of the most incredible paintings. As someone who also grew up in the Four Corners, I have to say that I've never seen one of Stanton's landscapes of the deserts and mountains of the Southwest that I didn't look at and immediately feel like I was looking at the space in my soul that is home. And beyond the beauty of the landscapes was a wealth of symbolism reflecting the depth of the man. To me Stanton was a fiercely gentle man, or maybe a better way to say that, might be that he was a very strong, gentle man who had a quiet ferociousness about life and art.

In titling a piece "Homage to Stanton" I know I run the risk of people thinking that I'm comparing myself to him. Hopefully those who know me well enough would know that I would not be so bold. If any of my images even show a hint of the beauty and depth of a Stanton Englehart painting, then I'm a happy guy. I named that particular piece what I did, because as I was shooting it I was reminded of Stanton because the scene is, in fact, very Stantonesque... he, however, would have done much more justice to it.

Stanton lived up the street from me, and several years ago I happened to notice a small classified in the paper saying that he was going to have an art sale out of his garage the following day. I made a note to go check it out, just so I could look at his paintings (figuring they would be way out of my price range). Well, the following day, I, of course, forgot about the sale (because: 'I am... therefore I forget') until I looked up the street and saw all the cars at Stanton and Pat's house. I walked up the the street and found to my utter amazement that he was selling paintings for $100 a piece matted and framed. At the time, I really didn't have any extra money to be buying paintings, that I have no wall space for anyway, but I bought eight... how could I not?

An amazing little vignette from that day involved this woman who was obviously new to town and happened to drive by and stop her very fancy, spanky clean SUV to check out the 'garage sale'. She found a painting she liked well enough, bought it, and was off. About fifteen minutes later she was back with the explanation the it just didn't fit her wall color and started looking around for something that might better match her scheme (having no clue that if she had any sense at all, she would repaint her wall, or her whole damn house, to match the painting). As she continued her fools errand she was chatting with Stanton as if he was some guy who puttered around with paints on the weekends: "How long have you been painting?", "Have you ever put them in shows?", "Have you ever had them in a gallery?", "What do you do for a living?", "Oh, and what do you teach?"... and the whole time Stanton was just being so pleasant and nice... while I, on the other hand, wanted to go over and shake her till her eyeballs fell out, or maybe until I shook some sense into her or some money out of her, because clearly she had more money than sense. But Stanton just took it all in stride. Stanton was a rare man. A man possessed of exceptional skills and depth of being. I don't think he had a prima donna bone in his body, and that's how he could put up with that woman. And that's how he touched so many of our lives.

I'm going to include some samples of Stanton's work below (and my homage to Stanton) and if you want to see more, there is an exhibit of his work at the Anazazi Heritage Center, titled 'Horizons' through March 27th, 2010. Also, there is a wonderful book about Stanton and his art titled Stanton Englehart: A Life On Canvas Published and written by Jules Masterjohn. It is available at stantonenglehartbook.com, Maria's bookshop in Durango, the Anazai Heritage Center, and I'm sure many other outlets.

"Homage to Stanton Englehart" by Gunnar Conrad

After the Show Opening

2009-12-16T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I pulled off another holiday show/party at the Open Shutter Gallery here in Durango and live to tell about it. With the fantastic collaboration of Margy Dudley and every one at The Open Shutter, Erik Maxson and everyone at Carver Brewing, and all the generous people who attended the opening/party, we raised over $4,200 for Project Merry Christmas. It was a great evening but I don't think anyone puked off the back porch... I guess some traditions just aren't sacred.

Though there must have been five hundred people or so throughout the evening at the gallery, I actually did manage to talk to a few people for more than a millisecond. It was especially nice to meet some artists and photographers I didn't know. One person I met is a wonderful home grown, but very well traveled and educated, artist named Crystal Hartman. Crystal's work is really amazing and worth checking out. She works in a multitude of mediums as well as being a writer and poet. You can see some of her work here.

Radio Interview

2009-12-15T15:03:00.001-08:00

Yesterday morning I did a radio interview with my friend Carson Jones who has a weekly show on the college station here KDUR. Carson (short for McCarson) is a very talented photographer who's dba is Red Scarf Shots and does this weekly show - 4 Corners Arts Forum - every Monday morning at 9:00. Check out her show and her web site. Thanks Carson, it was fun.

Christmas Show '09

2009-12-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

I will be having a one man show at the Open Shutter Gallery In Durango running from December 4th to January 6th. The Friday opening will also be my annual Christmas party and fundraiser for Project Merry Christmas. So if you're anywhere nearby on the 4th, come on down and have some Carver's beer, support a great cause, and party like it's 2009.

Here's a small sampling of images on my website and below is an image from the show.

- Ciao

Andrews Lake Snow Flurry #3

New life for the blog

2009-01-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well how am I doing in the blog department? No por la caca I’d say. But, new year, new habits… maybe. Although I don’t do New Year’s resolutions (why not resolve whenever you see the need), it’s still as good a time as any, and maybe better than most to try and breathe new life into the blog.

I just completed a one-month show at the incredibly beautiful Open Shutter Gallery here in Durango. We kicked it off with an opening night extravaganza that combined my annual Christmas party fundraiser, with the gallery opening. We were able to raise over $3,500 for Project Merry Christmas, which is a local organization that does great work providing Christmas cheer and necessities to needy folks. It’s a great feeling to be able to help them out with some, much needed, cash. Many thanks to all who attended, and donated. And to Margy, Brandon, Mariah, and Bob at Open Shutter. Also a big thanks to Erik Maxson and Carver Brewing for donating the beer. Thanks also go out to Jeff and Sherry Watson from Nature’s Oasis for kicking in some wine for the party. And of course, huge thanks to Liane and Brett for manning the door and gently prying so much money from everyone. A great time was had by all… including the unnamed person who was puking off the back porch.

So it is that we go off into the very unknown territory of 2009… Lord have mercy! Let me just say: I think ‘09’ll be fine’… do I hear some Hallelujahs? But to help it be so, let’s all send out a big hearty dose of good luck to our man Barack: may you be ‘da Man’ we believe you are sir.

Below you’ll find some images from my show, many of which were shot in Yellowstone this fall. Enjoy.

Yellowstone Falls

Teton Triplets

Yellowstone Stream

Winter Patterns

Yellowstone Mineral Deposits

Yellowstone Gorge

Yellowstone Lake Shore

Lime Creek Slide Path

Arizona Cloud

Unnamed River

2008-05-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a six day river trip on a river that will only be identified by UTM coordinates under several of the photos. Why the secrecy? I don't know... just seems like fun... for me. I think I'll make this a standard operating procedure just for the hell of it. I'll go somewhere; show and tell; and you, dear reader, can figure out where I was. My own little "Where's Waldo".

Great trip... a little drizzle, a little snow, a fair amount of wind... at least you know you ain't playin' no f**kin' video game.

Not really any great photographic opportunities but a fun time was had by all.

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Dancing creatures of the rocks

Lookin' a little chilly

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Photography Shows and Contests

2008-04-17T13:34:00.001-07:00

Since I intend for this to be a visual blog, I figure I better get some visuals up here. So here are some images which have recently either been accepted for a couple of photography shows or been awarded recognition in some contests.

I haven't been very interested in contests or shows since early on when I entered a couple of shows, only to be completely dumbfounded by the judging. Not that I thought I should have necessarily won, but that the judging was just so poor in general. Really fine images were overlooked in favor of crap (that's a technical photo term). Eventually I entered the Comm Arts Photo Annual Competition for a couple of years - to no avail, became frustrated, and quit entering any contests for awhile. It's not that the Comm Arts Photo Annual isn't filled with awesome imagery - it is - but there are always a few photos that come from what I like to refer to as the Stevie Wonder School of Photography - and actually that's not really fair, because I'm sure Stevie could take much better shots than the ones that seem to 'sneak' in every year. Some of these images I look at and am at a total loss. Never the less, a year or so ago I started entering different contests and shows again, figuring that I know I have good stuff and I can't worry about subjective judging - sooner or later some judge(s) would like my stuff. In the last year I've have had quite a bit of success. So now it's my crap instead of someone else's crap that's gotten in - it makes all the difference in the world.

Last year I won one of the sub-categories of the International Photography Awards (Historic Architecture) for a series of shots of Hovenweep National Monument and was 'nominated' for the International Color Awards for a shot of the Grand Canyon. Lately I've been selected for an international fine art show in San Diego and a national ASMP fine art show in Fort Collins CO.

The show in San Diego is the Art Of Photography Show and received over 12,000 entries from 46 countries, and 102 images were chosen. It would be easy to think that now I'm the sh*t, after besting those kind of odds. But just as you can't afford to get all down when you don't get selected, I don't think you can really get too fired up when you do. I'd be willing to bet that there were more than a few images not selected that even I would have chosen over my own if I were being totally objective. All that being said, it's a lot better to get in than not - it doesn't suck.

The show in Fort Collins is a national ASMP show at The Center For Fine Art Photography that they chose 50 images for. The image of mine that got in was one that I sent more or less as an afterthought - Liane chose it and I didn't think it had a chance (maybe Liane has an eye after all.... nah).

I guess what it boils down to, is you just never know. Unless, of course, you do.

These next four images are the Hovenweep series from the IPA competition.

Here's the Grand Canyon shot from the ICA.

This is the print showing in San Diego starting the 25th of April running through May 23rd.

And finally, here's where the Hobbits live. This is the print showing in Fort Collins starting from June 6th to July 3rd.

Intro

2008-04-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

And so it is that I enter the blogosphere - to impart my words of wisdom for all the universe to read and learn. I am blogger – hear me roar!

By way of introducing myself to those that care: when I’m not blogger-man, I am photographer – hear me focus. My name is Gunnar Conrad and I am indeed a freelance Photographer living in Durango, Colorado and specializing in location/action/industrial/automotive etc. photography; in short, almost no studio work. www.gunnarconrad.com

I hope to use this blog to muse about photography, the creative process, the business of photography, my adventures, and life in general. I intend to create a log of my life and my work. It will be visual, as much, if not more, than written. Some images will most certainly be “not ready for prime time” snapshots of my life and adventures - images that would never make it into my website or portfolio, but that I like for whatever reason. My blog - my photos. I will also endeavor to highlight other photography and art that I enjoy, have taken inspiration from, or has influenced my work. Finally, I hope that the process of creating, however marginally, in another medium will tap into creative places within me that will in turn inform my photography.

Welcome to my world; my head; my ride; my lens; you should be very afraid.

Photography Durango.

Durango Photographer.