A pair of travel photographers demonstrate their get the job done in Santa Maria | Arts
Lee-Volker Cox normally experienced a appreciate affair with photography, from as significantly back again as he can don’t forget. Even when he was in the U.S. Air Pressure, he tinkered with the pastime.
In 2007, he had the option to consider an assignment as installation commander at Thule Air Base, a remote place in Greenland. Cox applied the assignment as an justification to spend in a new digital camera and spend time obtaining reacquainted with the medium.
“The photobug form of caught me once again,” he explained. “At any time considering the fact that then I never go any place with no a digicam for the reason that I realized the greatest images are the kinds you happen to be not planning for.”
It is really a marginally distinct story for Frederico Domondon. An impressionist painter for most of his existence, he experienced a extensive and productive job offering his artwork. He in no way considered of himself as a photographer right until he was invited to show his function in New York, his very first ever excursion to the well-known metropolis.
“I was blown away by the metropolis,” he reported. “It ignited a thing in just me. The trip altered my lifestyle. I brought along a camera and every thing improved.”
Though they equally arrived to pictures from distinctive paths, both equally artists share an eye for the unique. For a person day, these distinctive photographers will come jointly for a demonstrating of their travel pictures at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Santa Maria on March 25. The exhibit characteristics images from the artists’ travels throughout Asia, North and South America, the Arctic, and Europe.
Just after retiring from the Air Power, Cox ongoing to investigate images, working as a motivational speaker and graduate college teacher together the way. He now helps make his residence in the Santa Maria Valley, which features prominently in significantly of his modern perform.
“It really is been a genuine joy to notify tales with my pictures,” he mentioned. “That is what I take pleasure in most about it. I am retired and I do not have to sell photographs to make a living, which frees you up to do a ton of distinct issues. I really don’t have to be concerned about shooting pics so individuals will acquire them. I can just emphasis on the story that I want to explain to.”
Cox reported he appears to be like for photos that will evoke emotions in people today. His earlier shows have highlighted the agriculture neighborhood of Santa Maria, highlighting personnel and their crops, as very well as other landscape landscapes in the region.
In 2017, Cox went to Alaska wherever he experienced the opportunity to notice the popular Iditarod Path sled puppy race. His pictures fluctuate from dynamic pictures of the race in mid-motion, puppies flying off the ground when racers cling to their sleds with stone-faced expressions, to quieter extra intimate moments between canine and their handlers.
“We adopted them for an whole working day,” Cox said. “We hiked in via hefty snow. It was actually amazing.”
Domondon has expended far more than two many years as a good artist, specializing in landscapes and Impressionist get the job done. An avid and passionate globe traveller, Domondon has shot in Paris, Venice, London, Cinque Terre, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon, Prague, the Philippines, and New York.
After his first huge journey to New York, he posted photos on Fb and recognized an rapid and thrilled reaction. People were eager to see a lot more of his operate and he made the decision to go after it professionally.
“A ton of men and women notify me my strength is composition,” Domondon stated. “I’m not seriously a true photographer who took lessons. I just choose one of a kind angles and imagine about having diverse images than what everybody else is getting.”
Domondon’s pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge in his hometown of San Francisco are a excellent example of this. He shoots from distinct views that have a surreal abstract top quality to them, exactly where form and form are favored around postcard simplicity.
There is also a distinctive painterly high quality to substantially of his get the job done, specifically in the coloration palettes. Domondon’s photos are vibrantly daring from a distance, they could easily be mistaken for a lot more of his Impressionist paint operate.
“I imagine it can be additional normal for me simply because I painted for so quite a few yrs,” he mentioned. “My creative history definitely aids me in my pictures.”
The two photographers explained they needed to do the show collectively to have an opportunity to introduce their operate to a different viewers. Domondon mentioned he enjoys the uncomplicated encounter of conference new people today and speaking about pictures. For Cox, it really is all about leaving the viewer with anything far more than a picture on the wall.
“In my standpoint, when persons leave, they have not just seen a photo,” Cox explained. “They have experienced an working experience.”
Arts and Life style Writer Rebecca Rose shoots from the hip. Contact her at [email protected].