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Thursday, August 22, 2019

Weekly Post, "My NEA Funded Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin" by Robert Glenn Ketchum

My NEA Funded Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin
by Robert Glenn Ketchum

In 1988, I was awarded an Artist-in-Residency at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. This was a small body of work created over three years, and eventually exhibited once at the university. Some images have been printed, but most have never been seen. I hope you enjoy these photographs. I think they are among some of the most beautiful I have ever taken.  ~Robert Glenn Ketchum

Thursday, August 22, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #43:
Wisconsin #43:  In the last post, I have worked my way to the creek that crosses the UWisconsin field station property to see last light on a clear fall day. I have visited this location many times during the multiple visits of my Artist-in-Residence, and I have made some of my best images in this particular part of the habitat (posts #7, #10, #23, #24). This evening I have bush-wacked to any area of large, overhanging trees, and as you can see (last post), the sun is behind the leaves, and the creek is barely visible. I am up a small embankment, so I thought to change my POV, I would go down next to the creek, walk under the tree branches, and shoot the the leaves illuminated in the opposite direction. “An Ecstasy of Contrasts” is one of my favorite of all of those images I made during my residency, and it has been one of my best selling prints. I thought it a great closing post for this blog. I would like to thank Marlin Johnson for getting me involved with this project, and being my congenial host and advisor while I “worked in the fields.” I would also like to thank the University of Wisconsin-Waukhesha and the NEA for providing the support for my Artist-in-Residence. I hope many have enjoyed the rich beauty of the Kettle Moraine (and all of its weeds - LOL), that I have tried to interpret here.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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Thursday, August 15, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #42:
Wisconsin #42:  For the last two images of this blog, I give you a place much visited, and a moment of seeing it as never before. During my NEA-funded Artist-in-Residence at the UWisconsin biological field station in the Kettle Moraine, the property I have been photographing has an array of micro-niche habitats, each of which I visit and re-visit over the course of my stays. At the “high” end of the terrain are the tallgrass-oak savanna and surrounding forests, the latter of which are at the edge of this property. At the “low” end of this landscape a stream flows through in passage to the nearby lake. It is down in the lower part of the property where the presence of the water has made it more diverse, jungle-like, and hard to get around and through. For me it is that complex diversity that adds to the visual beauty, and offers layers of both color AND texture (posts #7, #10, #23, #24). For reasons of alignment, in the fall season, the trees and meadows around creekside are often bathed in the last light of the day, which provides for further visual theatrics, so I always make it a point to check in as the sun sets. Throughout all of my blogs, I repeatedly mention how the Point-of-View (POV) can dynamically, and dramatically, change a photograph, so never assume to have the shot without looking around a bit, and taking a few more images from other positions.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, August 08, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #41:
Wisconsin #41:  Some of the oaks on the UWisconsin property stand out because they stand alone from others in the tallgrass. Others do it with their sheer size, having crowns and arching branches that cover hundreds of feet. ALL of them, however, stand out, quite literally, with their fall color show. As fall days grow more prone to rainy weather, storms that pass through with minimal winds and gentle, long rains, do not strip leaves from the trees, or flatten the grasses, and it turns the terrain of the field station into a spectacle of saturated colors, and textures. Besides being among the most brilliantly colorful, the oaks serve themselves in a different way to make their flame even more radiant. In the enduring rains that last long enough to truly soak things, the oak trunks turn so dark, as to appear black, providing a perfect foil against which the leaves glow. When all of this flows in graceful waves during a gentle breeze, it is pretty transcendent.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, August 01, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #40:
Wisconsin #40:  This image expresses for me the richness and beauty of the oak - tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Snow has not yet come to the UWisconsin field station where I am an NEA-funded Artist-in-Residence. As a consequence, the dried remnants of the summer’s tallgrass prairie bloom are still standing tall, and I have to climb a small mound to get a POV above them. Although it is not raining at the moment, it has been doing so for several hours, very lightly. This has left me with perfect conditions - a bright overcast with little wind, and a lot of water saturated vegetation that has not been beaten down. In particular, although the tallgrass is not as dramatically colorful as the oak, the subtlety of the color tones in it, brought about by the rain, are spectacular, and provide a perfect foil to the flaming oak. It is a nice day for a walk in the drizzle, especially if you can see above the grass (this is one of the reasons Native Americans in the plains found horses to be of advantage). Tetonka!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, July 25, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #39:
Wisconsin #39:  The biological field station managed by the University of Wisconsin - Waukesha is located in a geologic formation known as the Kettle Moraine. During my NEA-funded, Artist-in-Residence, I learned a great deal about this unique habitat, thanks to my host, Marlin Johnson. Within the property I was asked photograph lies a broad range of micro-climes, that support very different environments, from brush-choked creeksides, to an oak-savannah tallgrass prairie. In closing this blog, these last few shots, will focus on treescapes within these differing vegetation zones. Between the creek’s dense shoreline, and the oak-prairie savannah, there is a gentle rise of swales and rolling hills that support thickets of things, like sumac (posts #18-21). This transitional zone also nurtures young trees, and a great variety of seasonal shrubs. Visually, these wet and shady areas are graphically busy, and colorful as subject matter. Beyond this, above the shadow of the ravine, the weedy verdancy gives way to MUCH more sunlight, where the big oaks spread their huge branches over the tallgrass.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, July 18, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #38:
Wisconsin #38:  This is the last night of my spring visit to the University of Wisconsin's biology field station. My arrival a few days earlier coincided with the start of warming weather, so I have seen some interesting transitions occur in a relatively short amount of time. Without a doubt, the “greening” has begun, and I will leave it to happen, because this blog is nearing an end, and in the next few closing posts, I am going to revisit fall, and some of the mature trees on the property, especially the oaks. In transition, this last image from my spring visit, serves well. Not far from the farmhouse now, my day of hiking about, ends up here. The clear weather, with no haze of humidity to soften the tones, is allowing for a very low, bright angle of the sun. The still leafless trees are bathed in the light, and stand radiantly chaotic before me, awaiting THEIR rebirth, as the forest floor has already begun to disappear beneath the emergence of spring's green leaves. Within a few moments, this light is gone. Now, it is time for another enjoyable meal with Marlin Johnson, my host, and then I depart in the morning.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, July 11, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #37:
Wisconsin #37:  My day wandering about the landscape of the UW field station in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine, trying to broaden my NEA funded work as Artist-in-Residence, is finally winding down, as the sun lowers on the horizon. After a previous cold day and night, this day has been warm, beautiful, spring-like, and filled with the renewal of life. Without meaning to, in my return to the field station where I am being hosted by Marlin Johnson, I backtrack a good bit of the terrain that I photographed earlier in the day. The trail I follow brings me from the bird-filled lake, back to the edge of the stream, which will ultimately led me to the farmhouse. As I pass a point that was the first photograph of my morning out and about, it strikes me that something is different, besides the angle and direction of the light. At first I am not sure what that is, and then I realize it is right there before me in the tangle of red branches. They now have green leaves sprouting from them, that were NOT there this morning. The warmth of the day has set off a rush of growth in everything, and while I have been noting the green of rising grasses, the green has been popping up elsewhere as well. Here comes summer!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, July 4, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #36:
Wisconsin #36:  Having bathed in sun warmth for a good deal of time, I finally get off my butt, and recommit to my purpose in being at the UW field station,..to take pictures. I have not been past the creek, off-property to the nearby lake, since my visit last fall, so it seems like a good idea to wander there. The colorful thrash of my last visit (posts #25-28) has completely disappeared, initially replace by a stick-vine forest, but now that skein of marshy woodland is turning a new color,..verdant green. Branches burst with new leaves, and summer plants push up through the soil, soon to completely alter the the brown of the current goundcover. Numerous small birds flit through this forest, chasing bugs, and collecting twigs. It finally feels like spring, and the day continues to warm-up. When I arrive at the Kettle Moraine lake, I find ducks, geese, and even some swans, all out taking in the sunny day, as I am. I am witnessing the rebirth of the habitat, and I have lots of company. It is clear to me that there will NOT be any frost in the oncoming evening, so I pass on lunch, and continue to wander, hoping further surprises await me. My host, Marlin Johnson, was incorrect in suggesting on this visit that there might not be anything to photograph. While I admit, they are just “stick-pics,” these are some pretty trippy sticks!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, June 27, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #35:
Wisconsin #35:  The night is cold at the UW field station, as both my host, Marlin, and I knew it would be, and we awake to a frosty morning. It is spring, however, and as the sun rises, so does the temperature, and we swing back into a warming cycle. The frost of the previous night is gone before I even get outside, and insects have started to appear. It is actually starting to feel like summer is coming. I often start my walk-around down by the stream that flows through the property, and thinking I might still see some frost there, I return to terrain I know well. To my surprise I am greeted, not by crystal-encased branches, but instead, a flourish of lush green pressing up through the debris and twiggery of the winter past. Spring/summer is not just coming, it is doing so at a gallop. The day keeps warming as I wander about the property, and everywhere I look, new growth is taking over the landscape. Birds have arrived as well, and the air is filled with their sounds. There is a lot of chirping as they try to attract a mate and build nests, and thankfully, there is also a considerable amount of feeding on the rising insect population. Because a wind does not rise, I spend a good portion of the day, just sitting in the sun in the middle of the, as yet grassless, oak-tallgrass prairie savanna, quite literally, watching the grass grow.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, June 20, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #34:
Wisconsin #34:  While making my rounds at the UW-Waukesha field station where I am an NEA-funded Artist -in-Residence, I am praying for this winter-spring day to warm up a bit, but it does not. In fact, although the bitter wind dies, the sky clears, and then the temperature starts to drop. By early afternoon, I have been out in it for several hours, and my hands are numb, and I am chilled, so I retreat to the farmhouse for some welcome lunch. Not particularly eager to re-engage the cold day, I stay inside for several hours, as the temperature outside continues to plummet. My host at the field station, Marlin Johnson, says there is going to be a freeze tonight, and as he has taken a walk-about also, he says he saw some early frost appearing near the creek. With the sun beginning to set, I decide I should go out once more to see what there is to see. Thinking of the two pictures I previously made of the sumacs and oaks, one during last night’s sunset, and the other today around midday (last two posts), both of which show a decidedly different view of the same subject, I think I will revisit the same place, to see if it has changed significantly, once again. As I approach my midday POV, the first thing I note is that the frost Marlin predicted, has begun to form. With just minutes passing, the sun drops lower on the horizon, more stalks succumb to a now-forming crystal encasement, and the low angle of light, much like that of the previous evening, sets off another glow-athon. The image above is just moments before the sun sets. Consider these last three posts, and how different they are from one another, yet still the same subject, viewed from relatively the same place. All of this in just 24hrs, of passing time. Marlin should not have been concerned that if I visited during this season, there might not be anything to photograph.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, June 13, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #33:
Wisconsin #33:  The following morning at the UW field station, I awake to a cold day, more like winter than spring. There is a sharp wind as well, so I linger over breakfast, and wait for the sun to warm things up a bit. About the time I begin my rounds, the wind dies down, thankfully. As cool as the day is, spring is on the way, and the new growth may be slowed by the cold, but ultimately, there is no stopping the march towards blooming. I can see the green of weeds and grasses underlying every step I take. I start my tour of the property down by the stream that traverses it, but eventually I find myself approaching the oak-prairie grass savanna, and the swale full of sumac, I photographed the night before. Now, the drama of the late lighting (last post) is absent, and the spareness of the field is obvious. Nonetheless, it is still quite graphic, and the equally spare oaks provide an additional visual element, so as a document to the striking difference of these two POV’s, less than 12hrs. apart, I make the above image. As lifeless as it may initially look, study it more carefully and you can see the “greening” is well on its way. The grasses underfoot are clearly visible, pushing up through the weed debris, and in the distance, trees other than oaks, have started to leaf-out, creating a kind of green haze across the background. Now, if the day would only warm up a little more!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, June 6, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #32:
Wisconsin #32:  During my winter-spring visit to the biological field station of the U-Wisconsin-Waukhesha, I am surprised by how much change occurs to areas that have become familiar to me in previous visits of my NEA Artist-in-Resdence. One of those locations on the property is a swale, overgrown with sumac, that was radiant in fall color (posts #18-20) when I last saw it. Now, the sumac leaves have withered during winter, leaving only the “red heads” that contain the seeds - sort of “stalks-and-tops” terrain, which I mistakenly assume will probably not be as attractive as it was in fall. Late in my “spring” day, with the temperature still going below freezing on most nights, I wander over to view the fields. As spare and stripped down as it is, it is still very graphic, and as it is late in the day, I linger here to watch the sunset. Just before the sun dips below the horizon, this happens (above). The low angle, and warm light, sets the entire field of sumac stalks radiantly aglow. Not a bad display for a field of dead plants.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, May 30, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #31:
Wisconsin #31:  Each day at the U-Waukesha biological field station grows warmer as spring begins, and the “rush to grow” is on. Grasses press up through the debris of the previous year, and leaves begin to unfurl on bushes and trees. The cold shade of winter and the red haze of barren twigs is slowly giving way to a subtle green glow. Birds chirps surround me as I walk, and inevitably, even insects re-emerge, though not in the volume to be encountered during the summer months,..fortunately. The stream and the lake also shed their ice, and water noises meld with the bird chatter. It is interesting to me in an unexpected way, because I sense a palpable “coming alive” of everything around me. It is weirdly spiritual. The entire landscape is being “reborn” before my eyes. When I first arrived for this visit, I was not sure there would be anything to photograph. Now I realize there is a lot to see. I decide I should return to my pattern of re-visiting specific areas I already know, and have previously photographed, to make new pictures, so that I can more appreciate this sweeping change, when I view them side-by-side.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, May 23, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #30:
Wisconsin #30:  During my one late winter-early spring visit to the U-Wisconson biological field station in the Kettle Moraine, I have been quite lucky because I arrive on a “winter” day, get in a useful shoot, and literally the next day, spring begins. It is the warmest day of the year to date, and the permanently frosted myriad of twigs, shed their ice crystals. Even the color of sunlight changes noticeably. The landscape returns to a cycle of frosty nights, so ice reappears, but it melts again when the sun rises. More significantly, I can see through the layers of snow-crushed plants and grass debris, and there are green shoots emerging. I am so used to the lush growth of summer and the extravagant colors of fall, seeing everything so “spare” is VERY different. In particular, the stunningly radiant oak trees, are now laid bare. Without their festoon of leaves, their remarkable skeletal architecture is revealed, reinforcing my sense of the colloquialism, “beneath the mighty oak tree." On this property, they are not only mighty, but HUGE - look at the reach of those massive branches. There will be much welcome shade beneath there come summer.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, May 16, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #29:
Wisconsin #29:  Marlin Johnson, my host at the U-Waukesha biological field station during my NEA residency, thought it a waste of my time and their money to come during the winter months, because everything would be buried by the snow. I want to see some aspect of the winter, though, so I decide to visit on the cusp of spring. Nothing is “greening” as yet, thus my timing is perfect. Their are no leaves, or grasses, visible, aside from the husks that have been left standing from the previous year. The frost crystals on the endless twigs are also relatively permanent, as even with the sun, the days are still cold enough that nothing melts. The wind is ruthlessly cold as well, so I work with what I have. It turns out that I am truly fortunate in deciding to visit at this time, because my arrival apparently comes at the same time that spring does, and the first warm days in months start to happen while I am here. Frosty branches melt-out, and the ground cover begins to show a glimmer of new life.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, May 9, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #28:
Wisconsin #28:  Beyond the more “groomed” environment of the biological field station where I am NEA funded Artist-in-Residence at the University of Waukesha-Wisconsin, the thrash of the wild Kettle Moraine I find quite “strange-beautiful.” Thank you Jimi Hendrix for that term - Third Stone from the Sun. In undisturbed areas, the layers of vegetation fall upon themselves during the decay of fall, are crushed down during winter rains and snows, stacking dead twigs atop one another, and then they rise through those same layers when spring arrives. I am sorry for so many “weed” photographs, but if you own property, and even if you try to rid yourself of them, you have to appreciate good weed(s). I do, visually, so indulge me here, and may I remind you, one of my earliest, important bodies of work, “Order from Chaos,” capitalized on this kind of linear confusion, and the filling of my camera frame. It has never gone away, and it feels really at home during this project. Be forewarned, spring is coming, and my obsession only gets worse. I do have other blogs you can read, if this one is driving you crazy - LOL

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, May 2, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #27:
Wisconsin #27:  Something else about the Kettle Moraine lake near to the biological field station, where I am serving an NEA-funded Artist-in-Residence, that makes the habitat around its shore more complex - no one clears a seasonal growth. Things that die off in the fall, are crushed down by snow, or stand leafless through all the winter. In spring (as you will soon see) new life floods back with warm days, and grows right up through the detritus of the previous season. It makes for a VERY layered understory. At the field station, except for where the stream passes through, it is a tallgrass-oak savannah that also serves as a small farm. Some of the grounds are cultivated, some are grazed by various farm animals, and the tallgrass is burned off at the end of the season, in the fashion in which it was originally managed by Native Americans. This is a MUCH more groomed environment than the lakeside.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, April 25, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #26:
Wisconsin #26:  At the lake, just off-property from the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha’s field station, where I am enjoying an NEA funded Artist-in-Residence, I encounter the full richness of the Kettle Moraine habitat. I also have something quite different as a view, than at the field station. From the field station, the sun sets behind trees and a low hill. Here at the east lakeshore, the setting sun drops nearly to the horizon of the lake. The resulting illumination is striking. The extremely low angle of the light makes shadows darker, highlights more vibrant, and floods everything with warmer hues. My obsession with “weeds and the light" could not be better served. The one drawback, as is also true just over the hill at the field station, the nearly constant play of wind throughout the day. The fetch of the lake actually enhances windiness, so although I do make pictures, it is fair to say that timing is everything.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, April 18, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #25:
Wisconsin #25:  The stream that flows through the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha's biological field station (last two posts) feeds into a large lake nearby, that is not part of our property. Nonetheless, it is an aspect of the Kettle Moraine I visit regularly, because it represents a culmination of this unique landscape created from glacial debris. This lake is a big “kettle.” Numerous streams, such as the one across the UW property, flow in. The lake hosts a plethora of migrating birds, and the nearshore is a bio-diversity extravaganza, with wetlands, water lilies, and more weeds than you can shake a stick at (sorry for that, I could not resist). As you can see here, there are homes around the lake, most of which have small docks, and boats of some kind. There is also a very nice boardwalk in numerous places that allow traversing the shore by walking above the swampy parts. If you read my other blogs, you know I have learned to advantage an elevated perspective, so the boardwalk for me is a most welcome POV.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, April 11, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #24:
Wisconsin #24:  What a difference a cold night makes! In the last post, it is late evening, and my view is upstream from one of the better access points I have found. THIS is the view downstream the next morning. Steam rises from the water, as it is warmer than the air, and when it touches the sub-freezing blades of grass, it crystalizes into a frost almost immediately. However, I only get to see this because I am on the dawn-patrol. The morning sun is just starting to filter through the trees, and as quickly as the frost has been created, it will be vaporized, disappearing at the touch of the first warming rays. This ethereality of this image has always beckoned me to ask, “where does the river flow,” as a kind of meditation, but in reality, the river flows off-property to a large lake that hosts another niche ecosystem, and hundreds of ducks, geese, and swans. It is only about a 1/4-mile from here, so we will walk over to this lake for the next post. Stay tuned!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, April 4, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #23:
Wisconsin #23:  There are only a few places along the edge of the stream that actually offer access and a POV. As proven in the last post, vegetation near stream is very dense, and even when I find a way through, tall grasses line the shore embankment. Once here, however, the quite sound of the flowing water, the play of light, and the constant conversation of birds of every description, make for a great place to just sit and watch time pass. This residency, and the one I have also been offered at Sundance, both deal with landscapes concentrated in relatively small areas. As a result, with less territory to explore, I get to re-visit many things again and again, and I learn to appreciate how much they change through their various seasonal manifestations. The sitting and watching is as informative as exploratory searching. They both reveal things, just in very different ways. Eliot Porter taught me to see color created by intense line detail, and to view the “ordinary” as extraordinary. Aldo Leopold’s words asked me to appreciate the “everyday” parts of the natural world, and not just the monumentally obvious. This Waukesha residency brings all those thoughts together while I wander and ponder this terrain of the Kettle Moraine.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, March 28, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #22:
Wisconsin #22:  Of the many niche environments of the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha field station, the “weediest,” most diverse landscape is where the stream flows through to the lake, not far away. River’s edge is a confusing, dense hodge-podge of grasses, oaks, sumac, and numerous wildflowers, all of which are growing over, and through, each other. Sometimes vegetation at stream-side is so thick, I cannot tell where the actual stream side is, until I nearly step off the bank into the water. The water is hiding in this image, camouflaged cleverly by the confusing light scatter of the setting sun. Nonetheless, it is here I am always attracted because it is just teeming with color, texture, and myriad forms of life. There is always an image to be made. Familiar spots appear completely differently from season to season, but regardless of the change, they always seem to offer a show.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, March 21, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #21:
Wisconsin #21:  My NEA residency in the Kettle Moraine of Wisconsin, only covers two fall seasons, and once I discover the graphics of the early morning frost, I want to take as much advantage of that seasonal phenomenon as possible. For my host, Marlin Johnson, that means I am probably awakening him with my dawn departures, but he loves the images, so he tolerates the disturbance. On truly cold nights, EVERYTHING at ground level gets frosted, sumac, grasses, and the lower branches of trees. Then, when the sun rises, it disappears VERY quickly in the first of the sun’s rays. My initial experiences making pictures are frustrating, because I have images evaporate before my lens, while I am trying to complete a shot. Eventually I learn to work in the shade, at the edge of sunlight, which often gives me the best of both worlds. I hope my variation on the theme of “lighting and weeds” is still visually interesting to you.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2019, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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 Thursday, March 14, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #20:
Wisconsin #20:  As previously stated in this blog, the beauty of working on this relatively small property is that I become VERY familiar with all of its subtleties and nuances, AND that I visit the same subject numerous times over many seasons, so I see how they change and evolve. My last two posts have been observations about the play of light in the swale of sumacs nearby the farmhouse in which I am staying. Often, however, when you revisit a location you know, unexpected things happen that add layers to the strength of whatever images you might be hoping to make. This morning, it is a hard frost that decorates the red fall leaves of the sumac. I discover this event is TRULY fleeting, because the frost evaporates as soon as it comes into full sun. Fortunately for me, I woke early, got outside before the melt started, and found this sea of red leaves, bedecked with crystals, and delicate spots of sunlight. By 9a.m. it is 75˙ and windy. The ephemeral beauty of this is long gone.

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 Thursday, March 7, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #19:
Wisconsin #19:  The swale of sumac on the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha property, where I am serving my residency, puts on a show in all seasons, but in fall the red sumac leaves are a vivid signature in the landscape. Not far from the house in which I am staying, I can, quite literally, stumble out of bed, and into the sumac meadow. In the last post, I was using the soft light of late evening, allowing you to see the understory. Here I have the reverse. Having stumbled out of bed, I confront the first angled rays of the morning sunlight. In my photographic experience, color is enhanced by a “foil” in part of the image. That is especially true here with regard to the blackness of the shadows, and the visual response we have to the red leaves, which seem to get redder against the deep black background. I discovered the visual device of having a foil, while working in the Hudson River, and one of the most notable images in my career, post #138, uses a rain saturated tree trunk, turned nearly black, to offset the astounding fall display of color around Lake Cohasset. Being aware of the foil in making a picture, helped me to craft some of the most striking images in my portfolios.

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 Thursday, February 28, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #18:
Wisconsin #18:  From one group of “weeds” to another, here is a series of images playing with the light, and my object of obsession this time is an invasion of sumac. Over my two years of this residency, this densely vegetated swale, put on a greatly varied display of light and color, especially on the cusps of the day, when the angle of the sun was low. Here, it is late afternoon, and the sun is beginning to set. The last rays this slope will see, dance across the tops of the leaves, as the sun passes behind the distant trees. The filter the trees provide, along with the haze of atmosphere, allow me an exposure that is directly into the sun, AND STILL you can see the details and colors of the undergrowth in shade. This “stretch” of exposure range is less difficult now with digital technology, but for film, this could only be accomplished by fully appreciating the nuances of light and contrast. Thank you, Eliot Porter!

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 Thursday, February 21, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #17:
Wisconsin #17:  I have not moved my POV very much from the last shot (previous post), but now I am dealing with, what are truly the last rays of sunlight. It has been windy all evening, but the light is such a spectacle playing off of the tall waving grasses, I stay to the last minute, regardless of the motion. I started “playing” with the wind and time exposures, early on in my work on the series, ORDER FROM CHAOS. At that time, I had some real “issues” with wind, because I was shooting with a 4x5 camera, which made my exposures even longer, more blurred. As a result, I often took pictures with wind motion, as there was little else I could do. In this residency, I am using a Pentax 6x7, a camera that gives me “view camera-esque” film size, but has 35mm field capabilities. I can play with variations of exposures more quickly,..well, most of the time. This particular moment of light only lasts about TWO seconds, the length of ONE exposure, and then the sun is down. The vast grasslands of the Buffalo Nations must have been an amazing thing to see, in the changing light and weather of the day.

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 Thursday, February 14, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #16:
Wisconsin #16:  Same field of grasses as the last post, but a VERY different light and color. In the previous image, the sun is coming up on a clear morning. The shadow/highlight relationships are harsh, and the color-pop of the illuminated grass, is yellow and gold in tone. In the image above, you are looking at the last light of the day. Although the sky appears clear, because of humidity, there is a haze of moisture at the horizon. As the sun sets, and its rays pass through that vapor, their tones soften and warm into red. It is still quite a windy day, and this is just a lucky moment where everything appears to be motionless. There being nothing in the picture but “weeds,” it is clearly the beautiful glow of the last few rays of sunlight, that give this image its impact. Again, I hope you will scroll between this post and the last two to see how much the change of lighting affects color and tonality.

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 Thursday, February 7, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #15:
Wisconsin #15:  As the last post was the softer illumination of the setting sun, this one is bright, clear, morning sunlight, before the humidity of the day starts to build. Compared to the last post, these highlights are more brilliant, and the shadows more deeply black, with much less detail, and very little color subtlety. You can also see the the prairie wind has not started as yet, either. The intention of this residency is for me to photograph the restoration work being done with native grasses in an oak savannah, but daily conditions offer me much more. For the most part, my principle subject is “mundane” and repetitive, but the light and the passing weather change that every time I venture into the field. Between frosts, rain storms, wind, and an amazing variation of light and color, these wavy, graceful “weeds” put on a constantly changing show that is anything but redundant.

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 Thursday, January 31, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #14:
Wisconsin #14:  These next few images are going to be about grasses in varying illuminations. Besides the nearly constant midday winds of the prairie, once you are east of the Rockies, there is also significantly more humidity in the air. It tends to build during the heat of the day, and is most apparent towards the end of the day, as the increased water vapor in the air affects the sunlight, making it softer, less contrasty, and of a warmer coloration. Often the winds dies down as well. In this image the sun has nearly set, and you can see the warm tones of the late light washing over the distant field. If you look at the last post, or intend to view the one next week, you will see midday, and early morning light is brighter and more harsh. The range of contrast is MUCH greater than you see here. Because the wind has dissipated, I can record these graceful fronds without motion blur, BUT because this is SOFT, late evening light, I can also shoot from deep shade, into sunlit areas without washing out highlights, or causing the shadows to become so dark, subtle coloration is lost. Once all three of these posts are online, scroll between them and look at the variation of brilliance in the highlights, and the depth of black in the shadows.

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 Thursday, January 24, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #13:
Wisconsin #13:  I previously stated I would use this particular blog, to revisit advice I would give in my teaching workshops. In the last post, I showed a similar image to the one above, and suggested I found the telephone pole of interest, because it placed the landscape in a rural environment, not a “wild” one. Admittedly, in that image, the telephone pole is barely visible. With that shot in-camera, I realized I wanted the pole as part of the image, and in fact, I wanted it to be a more visible part of the image, so I began walking towards it, stopping at various intervals to re-frame the collective subject on my ground glass. When I arrived at the POV above, it all seemed to fall nicely into place. The pole is even more pronounced, not just because I am closer to it, but now the sunlit pole stands out strikingly against the dark tree shade behind it.

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 Thursday, January 17, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #12:
Wisconsin #12:  In posts #5 & 6, I have shown you this before as well. This grass savanna dotted with heirloom oaks is the majority of the property, and where the restoration work is being done. It offers more expansive views, and it has an excellent alignment with the available light of morning and evening. Other than that, it is relatively the same place on any visit,..or is it? Of course it changes with the seasons, but through my repeated visits, there are other touches I have come to appreciate. When you look a post #6, it is a very similar view to this, with more emphasis on the grandeur of the foreground tree. The POV, however, obscures two details in that picture that I fee add to this image in small but important ways. This IS a rural area. It is not “wilderness” land. It is quite domesticated. The evidence of that is in this shot, although somewhat hidden. In the middle-left of this frame is a tiny, white rectangle. That is a bird-nesting box and there are MANY of them on the property. Just slightly above the birdhouse, beyond the radiant golden oak, you can also see a telephone pole, part of the line that runs through post #5.

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 Thursday, January 10, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #11:
Wisconsin #11:  Because this is a relatively small landscape to define, inevitably I revisit subject matter again, and again. Each time I try to find some aspect of my POV that I have not seen already in previous film. Because this project is allowed to play out over a 2-year span of time, I can study one shoot and let it inform the next. The extravagance of the stream-side vegetation always draws me there, and in the fall, the riot of color is irresistible. Previous post #7, is a defining stream-side POV. As a result, on my next pass through, I look for something else and find this, an image more about color diversity and saturation, than it is about any particular landscape. You might also note that both post #7 and this were taken while working in the rain

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 Thursday, January 3, 2019

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #10:
Wisconsin #10:  All my previous work in the landscape involved relatively large areas. My first portfolios, “WINTERS: 1970-1980” and ORDER FROM CHAOS spread across multiple states. That has been followed by the Hudson River, the Tongass rainforest in Alaska, and the Cuyahoga river valley in Ohio, stretching between Cleveland and Akron. Now I am here in the Kettle Morraine, a very different kind of subject, AND a much smaller territory to address. This is also a location that has no monumental vistas, or formations. This is just a broad field with lots a grasses and other native vegetation, some majestic oaks, and there are lush banks around the creek that flows through. That is about it. If you read my other blog stories, most of them dialogue about the adventure of the trip. This blog is different in that there is no adventure story to relate, so I am going to use this more like a device to support my long history of teaching photography workshops. To start with, for those of you who have taken my workshop, you know I downplay camera tech, and prefer to talk about how one “sees” through their camera. As proof I practice what I preach, in this, AND 90% of ALL my blog pictures, you are looking at a “full-frame,” in-camera image. In printmaking, this is exactly what you get as well. There is nothing included, or excluded, that I don't intend. 4x5, 6x7, 645, and 35mm, all of them, ALWAYS shot full-frame throughout my career.

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 Thursday, December 27, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #9:
Wisconsin #9:  If you are not out in the native prairie-oak savannah, or down by the stream where the vegetation has “run wild,” you find yourself in the interesting bio-zone, in-between. Lots of different things live here. There are a lot of young, deciduous trees, and tall rangy bushes. There are also a lot of things that have thorns, like wild grape. There are flying insects in profusion, and there are ticks to be wary of as well. We often check each other, when we come in from a day in “the field.” To keep the sharpness and detail that I want in these images, wind works against me, so most of what I am doing is on the more windless cusps of the day, and during/after rainstorms. What I find as a result, is many images play with the light/shade relationship in my field-of-view, but that relationship causes new color relationships as well. In the deep shade (early morning, above) colors trend into remarkable tones of blue and purple, and where there is sunlight, things are affected by warm tones. For me this is light/color play I used in my portfolio, ORDER FROM CHAOS, but in this body of work, I am trying to express an actual subject's diversity. It is not intended to be as abstract as work from that portfolio.
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 Thursday, December 20, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #8:
Wisconsin #8:  On most days, the winds have picked up by midday, and on some days they are howling. At other times they come with thunderstorms, which is a good time not to be the tallest thing around. I find myself working the dawn-dusk hours, because the weather above the prairie is at its most quiet moments. The early days of fall bring light frosts that become progressively heavier as the days wear on. The shades of color in the fall grass, and the highlighting of the ice crystals is beautiful, and very fleeting at first, melting instantly when struck by sunlight. Over time, however, the frost is heavier, stays on longer, and begins to bend everything down to the ground, where they then will likely be blanketed by snow.
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 Thursday, December 13, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #7:
Wisconsin #7:  The location of this field station puts us in a topographical feature know as the Kettle Moraine. The Kettle Moraine covers a good deal of the state of Wisconsin, and was created by the last glacial retreat. As the glaciers melted back, glacial rock debris was left, covering unmelted ice beneath. That ice eventually melted as well, but more slowly, and at different rates in different areas, creating a “pothole” landscape. Those potholes can be as small as ponds or lake-sized, and most connect to one another through a myriad of streams. Near the field station, where I am “in-residence” as an artist, there is a large kettle lake that attracts a lot of wildfowl. It is not on the property of the field station, but streams feeding into it, do cross our acreage, representing one more distinct feature of this habitat. Least used and visited, this part of the property is “running wild,” and I find it riotously beautiful.
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 Thursday, December 6, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #6:
Wisconsin #6:  92 diverse acres is a lot of room to wander, but it is also a small enough area to visit all parts of it several times a day. My time is spent in early morning walk-arounds, some food, then students arrive. If I can make use of midday, I go for another walk, and generally I am always out at dusk until it grows dark. The early morning and late evening light are clearly part of the show I am supposed to take in. The angle of the sun not only sets off fall colors, it articulates individual grass strands, and it puts rainbow prisms in the early morning frosts. Those hours are also times that seem most windless. Early mornings before sunrise are often dead-still and bedecked with icy crystal designs, that quickly disappear as the sun warms and the breeze picks up.
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 Thursday, November 29, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #5:
Wisconsin#5:  The daily weather at the field station is generally dramatic, but it makes my picture taking difficult because it offers up extreme lighting conditions AND a lot of wind turbulence that really whips the grasses about. On many days, it becomes dangerous to be in the grass savannah because of exposure to lightening. As a practical matter, I become very good at protecting myself from wind chill, and shielding my tripod-mounted camera from wind gusts that might shake it, or knock it over. I also discover using some ski gear is useful if I expect to walk in the waist-deep vegetation. As a cross-country skier, I always wear snow gaiters to keep my boots dry, and to prevent snow from getting in at the ankle. Here in the native grasslands of Wisconsin, using those same gaiters also keeps my shoes dry, but more importantly it keeps insects out of my pants legs, and a gazillion burs and thistles out of my socks.
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 Thursday, November 22, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #4:
Wisconsin#4:  Although there are many interesting, and sometimes curious, things going on in the various farm buildings of the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha biological field station, the real show is outside. The 92-acres of the farm hosts a very diverse landscape, from domesticated plantings (above), to native prairie restoration areas dotted by massive oaks, and meandering streams of the Kettle Moraine, where a plethora of grasses and vegetation are supported by the watercourse. The student-maintained garden above grows vegetables, as well as serving to raise specific seed species for the native grass restoration. You will probably note that many of these pictures are early in the morning or late in the day. That is not just because the light is great, it is also because this is the open prairie of the Midwest, and as the day passes, the weather and the winds build and churn the skies, putting everything on the ground into motion, especially the gasses.
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 Thursday, November 15, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #3:
Wisconsin#3:  The farm/field station that Marlin Johnson cares for on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, is a cluster of buildings. Besides the house, there is a large barn, a grain silo, a sizable chicken coop, some mechanical sheds, a big kiln, and a large greenhouse. I will learn that there are always things going on at the property, and especially in the greenhouse. The students propagate seeds here; the harvested crops store here; many of the dried specimens are also displayed here. On this particular fall day, it is cold and windy outside, but the greenhouse quite cozy. I could not help but take this picture of harvested pumpkins sunning themselves. Soon they will have spooky faces, and we will all be eating pumpkin pie!
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 Thursday, November 8, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #2:
Wisconsin#2:  Other projects upon which I am working involve some sizable landscapes with greatly varied terrain. I am interested in the idea of this Artist-in-Residence in Wisconsin, but I am unsure if on such a small property, there is enough variety of view to make the work interesting and worth their while. I tell Marlin Johnson, the field biologist from the University of Wisconsin that has contacted me, that I like the idea but I won’t commit until I can visit and see what is involved. That is easy enough to do as I am regularly flying to Cleveland-Akron (OH) to work on my commission to photograph the Cuyahoga River valley, so the next time I visit Ohio, I fly to Wisconsin as well. Marlin greets me at the airport, and we take a pleasant drive through some very rural country sporting lots of cows, and farms with big garden patches. Eventually the terrain takes on a very unique look - more rock outcrops, and streams, ponds, and birds appear everywhere. We have arrived in the Kettle Moraine, and will soon be at the farm/field station. The house proposed as my accommodations, is quite comfortable, and VERY country. Marlin’s “biology” is everywhere. There are text books scattered throughout the house. There are many agricultural magazines, and in various rooms with available sunlit windows, Marlin and his students have strung up for drying, many of the grasses, herbs, and flowers with which they are working. I am told it is a “specimen collection.” How about the “bachelor” kitchen shelf - peanut butter, canned tuna, and beans -LOL. (We actually ate much better than that.)
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 Thursday, November 1, 2018

University of Wisconsin: Artist In Residence, #1:
Wisconsin#1:  By 1988, my Aperture book, The Hudson River and the Highlands, has been published and is a critical success. The related exhibit travels, and also attracts attention. I am in the middle of a project in Alaska involving the Tongass rainforest, and I have also been commissioned by the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, and the National Park Service, to photograph the Cuyahoga River valley which connects Cleveland to Akron. In the midst of all this, another offer appears. I am contacted by Marlin Johnson, a field biologist teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. He is leading a unusual project in a very unique habitat, and he wonders if I would have interest in photographing what he and his students are doing, and the area. His classes are held off-campus at a field station in the Kettle Moraine, and there they are trying to reconstitute the ecology of a native prairie. The property originally was a private 92-acre farm, owned by Gertrude Sherman, who donated it to the university to be used and maintained as a field station and preserve for educational use. The complex is quite nice, consisting of a big barn, a grain silo, a large chicken coop, several “machine” sheds, a large, wood-fired kiln, and a nice, comfortable farmhouse. Marlin lives on the property, and I would stay there, when visiting.
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