More Art Shows

Hello everyone! Yes, there is another solo show and group show beginning in Aug 2025. The upcoming solo show will be at the Art Depot Gallery in Fontana, California. The group show will be at the LMF Gallery + Darkroom, in Sierra Madre, California. Opening reception for the inaugural Photo Show, F/8, is this Saturday, Aug 9^th, beginning at 6pm.

55 N. Baldwin Ave
Sierra Madre, CA 91024

The solo show opening reception will be from 3pm to 5pm, on Saturday, Aug 16^th.

16822 Spring Street
Fontana, CA 92335

I hope you'll be there.

Kinetic Ambiguity Project, Land Series, Vistas Segment, 86688, “Down that Road”, 7/23/2023

Kinetic Ambiguity Project, Land Series, Vistas Segment, 99515, “Center Pivot”, 1/20/2024

Identity

Time is just flying by. Sometimes, it’s a challenge to keep. Like keeping up with the new shows I’m in. Currently, I have two more prints in an exhibition in Livermore, CA. The show, “Identity: Defining Identity Through Visual Expression”, is currently open and runs through May 4^th. It’s a group show and free to enter. You should have a look if you get the chance to.

Kinetic Ambiguity Project, Land Series, Vistas Segment, 66036, “In the Distance”, 1/28/2022

Kinetic Ambiguity Project, Land Series, Vistas Segment, 66366, "Blue Joshua”, 2/1/2022

Why I Wanted a New Camera

On Christmas, 2019, Jane (my wife and so much more) gave me a dream gift: a Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera.  It was my very first full frame DSLR.  And I have taken thousands of frames with it since then.  Yes, it was the only thing on my wish list (no secret there) and it cost a hunk of change (we are not monetarily wealthy) but I have imagined myself with one ever since I first heard about it in 2017.  Why did I want one so bad, the full frame sensor of course!  What it replaced was my Canon Rebel T3i which I had for five years at the time.  Its age wasn’t the issue, its APS-C sensor was.  I wanted that full frame sensor with a passion.  But has it changed my life?  Not really.  I really like the camera though because of a lot of features it has – not just the full frame sensor.  But I haven’t really taken advantage of most of those cool new features.  I think I’m going to change that though.  I think I’m going to leave my comfort zone and try some of these cool new things.  Stay tuned.

Oh, what do you think of my cool vignetting?

Oh, oh!!  If you like my posts, please add your email to my follow gang so you’ll get a message when I post again. 

(Designation, Motion Project 32960 – not named at this time)

California Poppies – Contemporary Art

That’s what I think; those poppies, flowers in general, are works of art created by nature.  To be clear, this is a secular blog so I’m not suggesting or hinting at anything.  I am pointing out the obvious, is all – nature has always been an amazing artist.  I spent a little time at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve yesterday.  There were a lot of people.  That was not a lot of fun, but the poppies were worth it.  And I need a lot of flower images for a project I’m working on so I will need to brave some other spots during the anticipated “super bloom”.

Abandoned Places as Contemporary Fine Art

I created some new images this past Saturday (3/9/2019).  It always feels good working with my camera in hand.  I did a few different things but the major focus were a couple of abandoned places.  They were not really that far off the beaten path but abandoned just the same.  The thing that is intriguing for me is how this type of work can be fine art.  It’s tough wrapping my head around how we package our work and discuss it will impact how well received it may be in the world.  Or not even noticed.  If I were wealthy, would I still do this work?  Of course, I would!  It would take up a big chunk of my day unlike now where I try to squeeze it in where ever possible.  I’m a photographist, after all and this is what I live to do.

I find a peculiar strength of character in those places long abandoned – I want to know the story of these humble structures.  But most I will never know.  And there is a certain disjointed charm in that knowledge.  I think it motivates my approach to the subject and directs my composition to some extent.  That must be the source of the contemporary fine art in these abandoned places.  But I didn’t show you any of those here today.  You can see one on my Instagram but today I am showing you the view of the regal San Gabriel Mountains as seen from the Victor Valley.  Why this image and not one of the abandoned places?  I haven’t edited that crop sufficiently enough for blogging yet – I just wanted to talk about it.  But this one, taken on the same day, is ready. 

When I’m done with the image creation for the day and packing up my gear, I have a since of euneirophrenia that swarms through my thoughts – that feeling of, “I know I have a winner somewhere in that group”.  I think this one is a winner.

United States Army Retired

After twenty years in the Army, you get a few token things to remind you of the odyssey. The tie pin is one of those things many toss in a drawer, if that, never to be seen again. I guess because it's an odd thing, this retired Army tie pin. Still, it is a reminder that you put in 20 years, or more, in uniform getting your boots dirty around the world. It says you made it pass go and got to collect $200.  But what do you do with it if you don’t wear ties?  Do retired women get one too?  I think they should replace the tie pin with a “Retired Army” coffee cup (one of the nick names, in the Army, for coffee was ‘lifer juice’ – alluding to those who were in for the long haul) or a “Retired Army” shot glass, that way we ‘lifers’ could get better use out of the ‘gift’. It's been 13 years since I was given this tie pin. It seems a lot longer than that; it seems a lot farther away. Well, I'm on a different journey now. My goal is to be a working artist. That is to say, I earn my living from being an artist; you know, my ‘day job’ is being an artist. I hope I stressed ‘artist’ enough. The tie pin is a good reminder that this present goal is achievable too, but it takes time. And it reminds me to have fun with the adventure as well, like I did with my Army adventure (it wasn’t fun all of the time but there were a lot of fun moments). And having things to remind me is good because sometimes I forget to have fun every now and then – really.

Oh, the image.  The retired Army tie pin is a part of this photomontage.  If you need to see it by itself, it’s on my Instagram.  The link is over there on the right.  Like I said, artist.

Baltimore Museum of Art

Do you follow art news or the website artnet?  I have recently started to follow art news – it’s like a break from stories dominated by an orange dude who…  Like I said, a break from other kind of news.  I read this story about how the Baltimore Museum of Art sold some of their top dollar artwork by white guys (Andy Warhol, Franz Kline, and Robert Rauschenberg, for example) so that they could acquire some top dollar artwork by people of color and women (Jack Whitten, Amy Sherald [the artist who painted Michelle Obama's official portrait], Wangechi Mutu, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and a bunch of others).  The personally sad thing about this was that I did not know who these, people of color and women, artist were – and I’m a studio art major.  Hell, I graduated with honors on top of that.  I felt like a dumbass and I know I’m not dumb.  I know it goes without saying but I did know of all the white guys they mentioned in the article.  So, I had to look up a few of these artists whom I did not know.  I was really flabbergasted by one artist in particular – Isaac Julien.  This dude…  Wow!  Well his website says that he is a “filmmaker and installation artist”.  But he makes photographic prints too.  And “Julien was awarded the title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s birthday honors, 2017.”  So like yeah.  Well, you never stop learning.  I need to hurry up and get my stuff out there.

The images below are some early work from 2014.  I have a lot more newer images that I need to finish up the post production on but the preoccupied state of subjects in these two makes them still very relevant today.  And I like them.

Extreme Art

Here’s the thing, I exist in, I think in, I work in the extremes.  For me, it takes daily effort – all of the time – to operate in the middle where most people are; and are comfortable with me.  It doesn’t help that I’m a little bigger than average.  Nor does it help that I’m black, an African American, a person of color, etc.  And I, if I’m not monitoring myself, can be loud – or say nothing at all.  Both ways make folks uncomfortable.  But I have been managing myself all of my adult life – I’m in my mid 50s now.  Unless you are like this, you may not be able to really grasp how this is not an easy way to live.

So, let me narrow in on my art.  As far as what I would like to do with my life – I just want to be a working artist – predominantly working with photography.  Why working artist?  I don’t want to do anything else – employment wise.  But I do have a fulltime non-artist job so I work on my art as time permits.  I go to non-artist work to help provide for our family.  We have kids, my wife and I, and we both work.  That’s good and I love my family.  It’s just the non-artist work part – I want my job to be an art job, not non-artist work.

So what does that have to be with being on the extreme? When I do work on my art, I push it.  I’m back in the extremes and I am comfortable working on my art that way.  I have recently joined Instagram and I push my art there too – working on exposure and learning how to make Instagram work for my art.  When I’m creating, it’s just me in my head so it doesn’t involve anyone else.  But when I’m doing the Instagram thing and trying to gain exposure, I wonder if I’m pushing too much.  I don’t know.  It’s obviously not too much for me but I don’t know if it’s too much for everyone else – I don’t get that type of feedback from Instagram (at least not that I’m aware of yet).  So, I will back it off a bit – put that Instagram thing in “the middle where most people are”.  Just saying that makes Instagram now feel like…

Well, I just had to write this down.

This image is my latest #montage, digital collage, #photomontage, photo conceptualism, “California Tree Dreams II”.  It is on the website too.

Two Years Ago

Almost two years ago I met Jane.  A lot of stuff has happened since then and I’m not even talking about politics.  As one would expect between a couple of crazy kids in love, we did stuff.  We merged our families, got married, sold my house, bought our house, and continue to do more stuff.  Through it all, I continued to work on my art, a little.  Though time is limited, Jane supports and encourages my determination to keep going with my #artwork.  So, that’s what I’m doing – putting in a little more time towards that.  I have even updated my website.  Oh, I did my very first portfolio review a couple of weeks ago too.  And I finally joined Instagram.  I’m doing this because I love making art.  And it would be nice to sell prints for a living.

Mount Baldy (or Mount San Antonio)

  I live in a scenic paradise – the Victor Valley.  I know, some people would say, “What? #Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley and so on, are a part of a scenic paradise?”  It’s all in how you form your own thoughts about yourself and your life.  You want crap and feel like crap – I guess you’re crap.  I see what I see and I see a scenic paradise.  This is Mt. Baldy as seen east of Deep Creek Road at the top of the hill on Bear Valley Road.  It is part of the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernardino County.  It is above 10,000 feet.  It is magnificent.  And it is an image I like a lot.

Arts N Fashion Magazine

Wow, the year’s end is upon us.  Well, I have an assignment tonight in Beverly Hills – cool.  2014 will be a great year I know.  Here is something cool that happened in 2013 – got published in a publication not associated with my university – cool.  Enjoy.

http://issuu.com/artsnfashion/docs/winter2013/1?e=2296489/6035979

Oh, I updated my website too.

http://www.edwardlancemontgomeryphotography.com/

Happy New Year!

Victorville’s Blue Dawn

I think I have said this before but the Victor Valley is a scenic place.  When you look around the place, you see how it could have easily been a vacation spot if it was approached that way years ago.  This blue dawn is another example of how amazing the views can be.

In this photo, I’m looking east north east, if you will.  It is a quarter past 6:00 am and you can see Apple Valley in the distance.  I think the layers of mountains are what really make the image.  Enjoy.

Kauai the Garden Island, 3 of 3

Here are the last of my “artistic” shots.  These photos were taken from the north to the south of the island.  Enjoy.

 I shot these from the tour bus as we drove by what use to be plantation workers homes.

 Waimea Canyon

 You can’t help to want to stay here.

 Wailua River

 I have to go back some day

A Time of Great Happiness

You have to live up here in the Victor Valley in order to appreciate the significance of this bridge opening up.  They have had it planned for years.  They have been working on it for over a year.  Today they had a big “whoop tee-do” celebrating its initial opening.  That’s what the pictures are about.  You still can’t get on the interstate from it but you can cross to the other side (La Mesa Road) from Nisqualli Road.  You’re not forced to endure the standstill on Bear Valley or try your luck on Palmdale Road.  To get to Wal-Mart or the mall will only take 5 minutes instead of 15 to 20 minutes depending on what time of day it is for the same distance.  That’s a lot of gas idling away as you sit and wait.  And the freeway entries and exits should be operational within 30 days.  Just in time for the fall quarter.  Enjoy.

Kauai the Garden Island, 2 of 3

We were on a catamaran off of the Na Pali coast in the southern part of the island.  This was a really cool looking place.  Enjoy.

Kauai the Garden Island, 1 of 3

We went to Kauai, Hawaii last month for our family vacation.  I showed off a lot of photos of the trip on my family blog, “Categorically-Exposed”.  But I pulled a few photos to put here that I did not show there.  I think these were some pretty cool shots – that is my normal voice for trying to say I think they have some artistic value.

A life time ago, I use to think that I would eventually “get away from it all” in Costa Rica.  You know, when my children are adults and out there doing their thing – I would go do mine.  Well, Costa Rica has been replaced with Kauai.  The great thing about this is that I do not have to leave the US.  The real great thing about this was that Kauai is an extraordinarily incredible place to be.  I am still smiling even after drowning my point and shoot camera and my cell phone.  I explained all of that on the other blog but just know that it was all worth it.  The mosquito bites were worth it too and I really do not like those things.  Enjoy.

 Hanalei Beach

 Around Hanalei

 Table setting at the luau

 Princeville

 Hanalei

 Wai’oli Hui’ia Church

 North coast

In the “jungle”

My pirates at the beach in Santa Monica

These photos are from the beach in Santa Monica using my test models.  They happen to be my children too.  I shot them on Veteran’s Day, 2010 – no school and nice weather.  We were at home and they had no idea about my plan – their questions become overwhelming so I always leave it a surprise.  I made them some lunch then, after they ate, I told them to get their shoes on because we’re going on a ride.  They suspect something is up but have no idea what.  My oldest is besides herself during the ride – she must know where we are going or she will die an agonizing death.  My youngest is just happy to be riding and singing songs that she makes up.  This is normal behavior for them.  When we made into LA proper, I let the cat out of the bag.  They were whooping and hollering them.  I even got a few choruses of “We’re going to the beach!”  Needless to say, they like going to the beach.

The first two photos I took with my BlackBerry Bold.  The other 20 I shot using my Canon PowerShot S5 IS.  22 photos, that’s a lot for me to put in a blog posting.  Oh well.