New photographic directions at Daniel Buckley Arts
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Daniel Buckley has embarked on a new focus in his photography – a series of panoramic photos from the desert created from individual slices stitched together with Photoshop.
In this early phase of experimentation no tripod is used to unify the flame of rotation, resulting in amorphous shapes.
But while the shapes are strange and unpredictable, the technique is capturing more of the total landscape and sky than is available with conventional photography.
Buckley began experimenting with panoramic photography a year or two back, using the iPhone 4 and an app called Pano. But in bright sunlight it was difficult to align the features, and ultimately a more detailed solution was sought.
Buckley recalled reading about a technique using photoshop to stick consecutive frames of a potential panorama together.
While working recently to create and image for a new book on Arizona politics by Jeff Biggers, Buckley began to experiment with the techniques.
At the same time he discovered some vistas west of Tucson with unobstructed views of the Tucson and Tortolita mountain ranges.
Sunset 07/15/12
This early phase of panoramic photographic experimentation coincides with several other desert-inspired lines of investigation.
The time lapse video series began a few years back but has been sparked anew of late as the summer monsoon rains arrive in Southern Arizona. These spectacular rain events create dramatic evolutions of clouds, floating over the landscape and significantly altering the light, Accelerated via time lapse video, the motion virtually imperceptible becomes very clear in the sped-up footage.
Texture series
On the still photography side, Buckley has very recently started a texture series, initially shooting soils, gravels, sidewalk and building textures of a very regular nature. Over the summer it has evolved and expanded to include more complex textures. Flowing water over the desert creates channels and eddies that deposit grains of various sizes, depending on stream velocity. Rocks and soil, as well as combinations of organic and inorganic materials are starting to find their way to Buckley’s lens.
A new direction in the panoramic series is also taking shape. Beyond the evolution to more controlled camera techniques and landscape studies, Buckley is brainstorming the notion of applying panoramic photography techniques to cityscapes and nudes.
Check back to see more of how these new directions unfold.