Introduction
Following my retirement in early 2011 I wanted to celebrate my new freedom by taking on a substantial project, one that would take me back to my roots photographically. Certainly my seeing had changed considerably over the years since my photography became "serious" back in 1964. Now, with contemporary eyes, I was curious to see what would happen if I were to engage in an intense exploration of a subject, endeavoring to discover and articulate meaning through form, rhythm, texture, and light.
The abstract idea behind the Seaweed project was inspired, in part, by a consideration of the music of J. S. Bach, especially his Well Tempered Clavier. I chose to adopt a few simple rules to govern the project's structure. All of the photographs would be black and white vertical compositions, and would, of course, have seaweed as their subject. Aside from these rules I made no attempt to force any particular mood or style, instead allowing each composition to develop independently and organically, driven only by the emotional content at hand and a sense of order or "rightness."
All of the photographs in this series were made in 2011 and 2012 in Seawall, a small village in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The locations I visited are within Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island.
