Stirring the Waters (2010)
In “Stirring the Waters” I have developed a method to combine photography with drawing by literally drawing together new patterns and compositions from existing colors and shapes that dance upon the surface of the Farm River in Branford CT. From my small kayak, I photograph this phenomenon as I move through the changing canvas of reflected light. My paddle is the paintbrush I use to navigate, stroke, scrape, draw and recombine fluid fragments of sky and land glancing off the surface of this watery, upside-down world.
I frame and capture momentary slices of this kaleidoscopic scene swirling by me. My bodily presence, along with natural forces and forms in the landscape, yields a photographic image that traces the experience of our mutual influence. The camera transforms my experience into a photographic drawing. Each image is a close tracking of the moment-by-moment oscillations between light and dark, repetition and change, detail and diffusion. Responding to what visual materials the environment provides, I am carried along – sometimes yielding, sometimes resisting the current. The gestures I make with my paddle and body both gather, and disperse, the shapes and colors reflected by sunlight. Everything is in motion until the camera extracts a moment, an image plucked out of time, out of place. All images in this series are created in my camera and are not manipulated afterwards.
More Information
To learn more about this and other projects, or to request proposals for public or private commissions, please contact Linda Cummings Studio.