Photographic Interpretations

  "Over the Edge" by Michael Barone It wasn't long ago that I wrote a long post about how the art world might change with the advent of the NFT market. Non-fungible tokens seemed like they could be another way for artists to get their art, not only out in the world but sold. Well, a recent article might have something else to say about that. "On May 3, the NFT market reached a peak with $102 million USD worth of Non-Fungible Tokens sold just that day. But looking at sales data from the last week of May, only $19.4 million USD in NFT sales was processed. Compared to the $170 million USD in NFTs transacted the week of the peak, the market saw a 90 percent drop. Although NFT collectibles like CryptoPunks and Hashmasks are still going strong, there looks to be a shift from crypto-art to “metaverse” NFTs. It is also important to note, the number of active NFT wallets has dropped from over 12,000 at each NFT category to just 3,900." So as it looks from the data, the a...

NFTs or  Non-Fungible Tokens have grabbed the attention of artists all over the world.  With the digital collage art selling at Christie's for $69 Million, artists are not starting to take notice of this interesting way to sell art. But what is a NFT?  And how do I get in on this? We all know a digital image can be copied, shared and duplicated over and over again. This is where NFTs have changed the digital art world. They allow you to create something that can't be duplicated, the actual ownership of the artwork. This is your digital signature or certificate of authenticity of your photo. NFTs allow you to create limited editions of your digital artwork, all while retaining the copyright. What makes them valuable is the ownership recorded on a blockchain. A block chain is a digital ledger similar to the networks that support cryptocurrency. Each NFT is unique and can't be duplicated. They are unique digital artworks no one else can own. Of course, people might have a co...

Well, it looks like in-person workshops are happening again! Covid kind of put them on hold but they are back. Even though I did a few Zoom workshops over the past 12 months, there is nothing like getting together and working with a live model. My Fine Art Nude Photography Workshop will be  4 hours and will also have a Zoom component where I'll retouch and tweak a few images live so you can see my workflow.  The nude photography workshop will be May 1st at the Art Establishment in Fountain Hill, PA, from Noon until 4:00 I will be focusing on lighting the nude model using only one light source. By using strobes, an LED light panel and an Ice Light, along with various modifiers, we'll create dramatic nude portraits and body scapes. Plus at the end of the workshop you'll be able to work with our model one-on-one to create your own images. For this workshop I was lucky enough to book as our model the beautiful Carissa Santigate.  IG @freshcinnamonrols     If you're ...

 For the longest time, we always though that what we saw in a photograph was reality. The camera doesn't lie. Then came the dawn of digital photography and the programs for photo manipulations, and our idea of what's real, changed. Recently, I've seen the debate about photography purism spring up again. Specifically due to the new updates in Photoshop 2022 and other such programs that has made it easier and easier to manipulate, change, remove and add things to photographs. This top photo, is a photo I took of Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on a pretty but cloudless day. In about 3 minutes I was able to change what was once a very average photograph to one that has more impact and drama. Is this wrong? Am I not telling the truth? Or am I just creating an image with more feeling and drama, just like any other artist would do? Photographic manipulation is this is nothing new to photography.  Photographic artists have manipulated images almost since the medium was inv...

Morning Sunlight  #ZenPhotoChallenge   If you are like me, these last few months have been surreal. With all the shelter in place orders, closed stores and for a time, closed parks and paths, it's been hard to keep any sense or normalcy.  I've seen a lot of photographers photographing things in their home, flowers, spoons just to keep busy. Keep shooting. But for me this didn't work. For the last 35 years I have always felt I needed to say something with my photography. Get a point across, push and issue. But now, I have struggled with a complete creative block. The lack of even wanting to pick up my camera. That was, until I remembered a few things I actual teach my students. I have forgotten over the years the shear joy of just shooting. Picking up my camera and taking photos just to take them, with no expectations, no story to tell. What got me shooting again was actually teaching my wife photography. She has always been interested and I really am not ...

"Face of Fear"       We are in unprecedented times. A time of extreme uncertainty, confusion and cause for great fear and nervousness. It is not a time for party politics and boastful pride to take center stage. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, our leadership has been confused, contradictory and extremely slow to act. These qualities are not what we look for in a leadership and especially our President. This President relies on grand gestures, lies, self-praise,  fear mongering and threats. All of these things came to light during his press conference on Friday. If this was just some political gesture with no repercussions other than another get out of jail free card for him, it wouldn't be an issue. But with a global pandemic creeping over the world, direct, decisive and true action is needed. We are seeing shelves in grocery stores bare of essentials. Local governments shutting down all commerce and a stock market in free fall. There is no dou...

In my over 35 years of being a professional photographer and artist I have been censored more times than I can remember. Yes, my form of expression is photographing the nude form and yes, some of my work, about 10 years ago, did push boundaries. But they were only shown in a gallery space where the visitors knew what was being show and had to be over 21. So now, besides shooting, I teach. I teach basic photography, advanced techniques, and also studio workshops. One of which is a figure study workshop. So, in this day and age where do you advertise but on social media. The video above "was" posted on facebook but it seems it now violates their standards. even thought I was vert careful not to show anything explicit and show less than some regular posters do from their bathrooms or in their bathing suits. When a media giant like facebook who also owns Instagram dominate the market and bans a user what can be done? It seems nothing. So, I now need to find alternat...

"Innocence Lost" 2019 Photography can be so much more than pretty pictures. I can also be used to raise awareness on social issues, to help create a dialogue. Unfortunately in the area I live in, the galleries and people who actually show art work, first think of photography as the step child of the arts and secondly, do not want to show anything even a little bit controversial. It's not that they can't monetize and sell the work, it's because they either are afraid to offend or maybe cause waves, or aren't brave enough to take a stand. This is not new to me, I have been aware of this since I start exhibiting my work. But I find that more and more people are afraid to take a risk, push the envelope, make a stand. They are happy with pretty pictures to fill their gallery walls. These pretty pictures are part of the reason that photography still is not taken seriously in the art world. If I mention Lewis Hines, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evens, W. Eugene ...

e·ro·sion - the gradual destruction or diminution of something Currently there is organized conservative attack on the rights of women in tis country. When Trump basically stole the election in 2016, he set into motion his plan to reverse any intelligent, thoughtful and remotely progressive laws that this country has built in the last 50 years. When the Republicans illegally blocked President Obama's choice for Supreme Court, Merrick Garland to replace conservative Antonin Scalia, this set the wheels of extreme conservatism into motion. Since then the court has been swung to a 5-4 conservative court with no one in the middle ground. The Republican plan to reshape the laws of this land in it's extremely conservative image is moving unimpededly forward. When these new justices where under oath in a Congressional hearing, they all spoke of not overturning existing law that has come in front of the courts before them. But as recently as this month the courts just reve...

In 2017, hate crimes rose over 12% from the previous year. And this year the data shows that these crimes will rise greatly once again. Emboldened by Trump's hate speech and rhetoric, these low life xenophiles have now become more brazen and taken their once hidden, dark coroner of the internet ugliness and become mainstream and "accepted" by the rest of the Republican establishment. With his blatant lies and fear mongering about minorities, migrants and people of different faiths and sexual orientation, Trump has legitimized the white supremacists. All for votes. All to activate these groups to keep the Republican party in control of the House and Senate. With this control, they are trying to disenfranchise the minorities in this country that have made America the country of diverse thought. Diverse in arts, culture, science and technology. Roped in with the extreme radical right are the Christian Conservatives who have turned a blind eye to the hate and...

Musikfest 2018                                 Bethlehem, PA As a professional photographer, every once in a while I take a photograph that brings a smile to my face and has meaning beyond the surface of the image. This year, while photographing some of the great bands at Bethlehem, PA's MusikFest I saw a scene unfolding. I saw a Bethlehem police officer talking to a man and his son.  I watched with my camera in hand and when the officer reached out to shake the little boy's hand I started shooting. The look in the boys eyes and the smile on the father and officer's face was priceless. This captured moment will be the one that I will remember for years to come. I'd like to personally thank the Bethlehem Police Department for doing an outstanding job in policing the MusikFest event and being a role model for the community.

Years ago I started the Red Chair Project because I saw the huge disparage on social equality in this country. when President Obama was elected I thought things might get better and kind of lost my focus on this project. Then of course, we had the 2016 elections and things went back 10 fold from any strides we made those previous eight years. People were outspoken on social media, railing against the divisive and unfair practices of this administration. So I though, yes, the time has come to revive this social equality project and launch a funding page to help get it from an idea to reality. Boy was I wrong. Not about the outrage but about how people really into using social media as a platform but stay nice and comfy in their safe homes. Now I am well aware that asking for money is rough and most people really don't have an extra money to through at this project. Or maybe explanation of The Red Chair Project is just off. So, this is The Red Chair Project: Imagine a...

When are we finally going to say enough is enough? It's only February and we've already had 18 shootings in our nation's schools and in 2017 there were over 50. From the Republicans in the White House, all we get are thoughts and prayers. But never a single word about trying to come up with legislation to stop this violence and start working on sensible gun control. The reason, of course, isn't that they want to see our children slaughtered but their greed is more powerful. The NRA has donated millions and millions of dollars into their campaigns. With having 3 grandchildren a daughter and daughter-in-law who are teachers, I really worry about this awful cycle of violence in schools. Back in 2006, there was a school shooting in Lancaster, PA at a quiet Amish schoolhouse that really moved me. It left me with such a great feeling of sadness and despair that I created a photograph to depict my feelings. I was really hoping never to have to show it as it was jus...

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October 30, 2017 Bringing the Studio to the Client In 2009, photographic artist Michael Barone made the decision to close his brick and mortar photography studio in Perkasie PA to devout more time on his art. In that time he has been in many exhibitions including The Gallery of Fine Photography in Frenchtown, NJ, Side Tracks Gallery in New Hope, PA two solo exhibitions at the ArtHouse Lounge in Harrisburg, PA and also being shown at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem PA, the Baum School in Allentown, PA and a gallery in Miami FL. Barone's latest fine art image will be part of an upcoming InVision Festival exhibition at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, Pa which opens November 3. His is still committed to offering fine art commissioned portraits. To this end his new focus is to bring the fine art photography portraits sessions to his clients.  The hope is that this new focus will allow Barone to grow his reputation in the arts community without sacrificing the integrity of his...

I was born in the early 60s. A pre-teen during the Vietnam Conflict and really didn't understand or remember exactly what was going on. I do remember a denim jacket I had with a bunch of patches. One patch in particular along side my Apollo 11 mission  patch was a patch that said, "Make Love Not War". And even at the ripe age of 7, this made sense to me. Then, in high school, I think it was 1979 there was a KKK rally right in front of the school, in New Jersey! Now our high school was an inner city, mixed race school but the KKK, in NJ?? This really blew me away, that in 1979 people were still so backwards and not tolerant of others. Almost 20 years went by and in 1997, I lived in Greensburg, PA, a quiet eastern suburb of Pittsburgh. One day I was walking by the County Capital building and again I was shocked to see another KKK rally. (Some of the photos I took that day are included in this post.) It was almost the millennium, and these hate mongers wher...

I have been photographing beautiful women and men for over thirty years. It's always been a really wonderful collaboration of talent, energy and ideas. Most of my models have been professionals, others amateurs who just enjoy being in front of a camera and working on creating artistic images. In either case, professional or amateur, no money ever changed hands. I am a professional, they are professionals but we both traded resources to create something that we are both proud of. I would, from time to time, help my models with money for gas and tolls and other expenses. Provide lunch and refreshments and of course finished images in the way of digital media or if they wanted, an signed print. But now it seems this new crop of millennial models thing they are worth so much more than the quality they put out. If I am shooting a fashion shoot and there is a lot of makeup, hair and outfits involved then yes, sure there should be financial compensation. There is a lot of ti...

Last week the Trump administration rolled out their proposed fiscal budget for 2018. This budget showed massive increases to our defense and Homeland Security at the cost of many programs that enrich our lives. In 2016 the federal budget was $3.899 Trillion with only .02% of it going to the National Endowment for the Arts , the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  This percentage  may seem negligible  but f ederal dollars are used to leverage state, local and private funding that supports a network of arts organizations, educational entities, museums, libraries and public broadcasting affiliates.  Say goodbye to Bert and Ernie, art therapy for our veterans returning from war and even your local NPR radio station. Patricia Aufderheide, founder of the Center for Media and Social Impact at American University says,  “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting money i...

We all know that the media has an issue with nudity of TV. You can show all the violence you want, dramatic, bloody, intense, but show one buttock and the children might be scared for life. So with the new administration this is actually going to get worse. I came across an old Huffington Report from 2015 where Bloomberg News blurred a Modigliani painting that sold for a record $170 million.  And from that Stephen Colbert did a 6 minute segment on his show. Check it hour HERE

Having studied art history and being very interested in Italian art, one piece that always caught my attention is the Pietà by Michelangelo. This sculpture was created in 1498 to 1499 and  depicts the body of  Jesus  on the lap of his mother  Mary  after the  Crucifixion .  Not being a religious person this sculpture means something different to me then to a devote Catholic. In Michelangelo's depiction I see intense loss, sorry and opportunity terminated. So when I started combining my political views with my art, this beautiful work of art came to mind and I created "La Pietà,  Revisited  This images was created a few years ago but I feel it is more relevant now than ever. As always any comments are always welcome.