About My Photography

As with all photographers, my eyes are my lens on the world, and the camera is merely the tool I use to capture singular moments in light and time.

 

Starting out many years ago, I was enthralled by the seminal black-and-white work of masters like Ansel Adams and Brett Weston. My journey was later influenced by photographers who incorporate the element of time into their work through long exposures. These include Michael Kenna, Julia Anna Gospodarou, Joel Tjintjelaar and Jack Curran.

 

It was these photographers and others that helped me to find my own visual voice.

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I've been shooting mostly color lately. But you may rightly discern from the greater number of black-and-white images displayed here that I always look first for scenes I can transform into monotone. I can't really articulate a personal artistic vision. But I can say that black-and-white photos -- devoid of color and relying to communicate solely on composition, tonality and contrast -- reach and inspire something deep inside of me like no other form of art, save perhaps music.

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I was fortunate to be able to grow my photographic skills while maintaining a career as a research manager, data analyst and digital cartographer for daily newspapers, a public TV/radio station and an economic development agency.

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Most of the photos were taken with Nikon z7ii, D800 and D80 digital cameras and Nikkor fixed-length and zoom lenses. Lately I've added a few taken with my Samsung smartphone, including "Bush and Clouds"; "Leaves and Log, Los Osos, California"; and "Coleus, Krohn Conservatory, Cincinnati."

 

I shoot in the raw file format (including with the phone), then process the images with Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. Years of shooting black-and-white film and printing in traditional wet darkrooms gave me a solid grounding in fundamentals that are equally applicable to digital photography.

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Please email me directly at mschuermanphoto@gmail.com with your thoughts and comments on my photography.

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Thank you, and best wishes for peace and prosperity,

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Michael Schuerman

San Diego, California