A Thursday Three Pick: Velvet G
Velvet G
Photography can seem like a covenant between the camera and the subject to which the photographer is more priest than practitioner and in this body of work that idea is made manifest. This week’s photographer, Adrian, (Velvet G) has a stream that is a testament to this philosophy; he is channeling moments, not merely making photographs. If it’s true that the magic of the photographic art is in the ability to transmit emotion and detail normally reserved for the storytellers, then here we have a Dickens of a Houdini. Adrian Gibbs and his camera make good magic.
In the set he calls Shaw’s Bridge or the one entitled My dingo and his dog buddies we see someone not merely interested in life, but enamored of it. I find myself with my elbows on my desk, clicking through every one of his 1200+ photographs, an unavoidable smile on my face, happy there are people like this in my world. In photography, as in all visual art, there are those who show and those who share and this is an artist, to my eye, that prefers to share. And no crumbs from the table, no remnants of the flask – he offers us the whole cake and the entire bottle.
This stream has depth and texture, is resonant and alive against the static backdrop of flickr’s blue and pink; it invites you to sit on the banks, take off your shoes and socks and wade in. Not merely artful and narrative, there is a native technical prowess here, an eye for the fresh composition, a daring use of space and color as subject, a playful approach to what he will and will not show us. His own favorites, in a set called My 25 are broad and varied, monotone and bursting with color, animate and inanimate and all imbued with an undercurrent: the compelling personal narrative of a photographer who enjoys this, who has the patience to await the moment, and who likes to share. What could be better?
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, catherinejamieson and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
