Life Observed

I am a seeker and keeper of stories using visual poetry to observe the ordinary in hopes of seeing the humanity that points toward our oneness.

A constant in my photographic work is observing life and communicating those observations with images. I am excited to participate in the current competition being sponsored by Lens Culture. The theme is Street Photography. Here are the five images I’ve submitted.

Lens Culture, Sarasota Photo, Sarasota Photography, Sarasota Art, Sarasota Art Gallery, Wonderment, Childlike-fun,

In the heart of midtown Manhattan NYC, among the hard surfaces of concrete, glass and steel, a moment of childlike wonderment. A bubble one of the most delicate things there is catches the attention of preoccupied New Yorkers and gives them a moment of joyful engagement.

Sarasota-Art, Sarasota-Photography, Sarasota-Photo, Sarasota-Photography-Studio, New-York-City, Statue, Public-Art, Street-Photography, Life-Observed, Caught-Moment.

I spontaneously gave this image the title “interchange 5th Avenue.”
Then I thought, “maybe I should check the exact meaning of interchange.
The Oxford dictionary gives this definition:
“1 (of two people) exchange (things) with each other: 2 put each of (two things) in the other’s place; alternate, exchange between two people etc: 2 alternation.”
This meaning is pertinent to my image: “road junction where traffic streams do not cross.”

Sarasota-Photo, Sarasota-Photography, Sarasota-Photographer, Sarasota-Art, Sarasota-Gallery, Sarasota-Art-Gallery, Sarasota-Photo-Art-Gallery. Sarasota-Commercial-Photography, Sarasota-Art-Gallery, Visual-Poet, Life-Observed, Caught-Moment, Image, Images, Photographic-Images, Fifth-Avenue, Manhattan, Midtown, Wall-Street, New-York-City, New-York, Public, Street-Photography,

Observed from 15 stories up, people walking in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Broad Street in New York City, NY.

Gentleman in the white suite is a member of Santeria an Afro-Caribbean religious tradition of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

View from Hotel Raquel, Old Havana, Cuba

Art, artists, creativity, Culture, Life Observed, Recent Personal Images, Street Photography

entry: Lens Culture / Street Photography Awards 2017

Can Beauty be a Political Statement?

Aesthetic, beauty, collect photography, Color, Decor, Design, design in nature, Display Prints, Eastep Photography, Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, fine art prints, blue, Image, image gallery, light, graphic, Images, Interior Design, Nature, Photo, photo gallery, Photographs, Photography, Pictures,

Blue rods of light

I speak for myself. Civility in America’s public arena is under challenge through crass, vulgar and denigrating speech. The growth in tolerance and egalitarianism over the past few decades is facing a setback through intolerant language and actions. When I watch tv news, read newspapers and listen to the radio I come away with the sense that America is in a dark threatening time.

As an artist what can I do to contribute to a more civil, tolerant, inclusive and positive society?

Can beauty be a counter to ugly language and behavior? I believe it can. The laws of science and human behavior support the principle of balancing forces. I offer beautiful images as an artistic and political counterbalance to the ugliness. I invite you to join me in the affirmation of life as we strive for refinement in our lives. What we visualize will have an impact on our attitudes and behavior. This is not a naive call for putting our heads in the sand or pretending that there aren’t a multitude of challenges to the common good. For me it is a recognition of the negative and a choice to turn toward the positive. In the face of darkness and ugliness, light and beauty is a revolutionary action.

To see more images in the Color & Light series visit WayneEastep.com

Art, Culture, Design, Recent Personal Images

Can Beauty be a Political Statement?

abstract, color, yellow, graphic, photographic image

Yellow on Gold

To see other images in the Color & Light series visit Wayne Eastep.com

Art, creativity, Design, Recent Personal Images

Yellow on Gold

Abstract color study. Yellow and Gold.

Architectural Design, Architectural Glazing, Architectural Photography, Architecture, Dale Parks, Dale Parks Architect, dining room, Florida, Glass Architecture, Modern Architecture, Residntial, Sarasota, Tahiti Park

Collins residence, 200 square foot dining room, Sarasota, Florida

Ian Collins, the client:

“I didn’t want a big place,” he says. “I didn’t want to insult any of the things around it.”

Dale Parks, the architect:

“You don’t want to decimate an established neighborhood with a gargantuan house.”

Wayne Eastep, Photographer:

“After Dale explained the concept for this project I knew it would be to be a pleasure to photograph.”

Entrance and Cantilever Dining Room

Ian Collins knows glass. He is CEO of Novum Structures, which builds some of the most innovative structures using glazing in the world: Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL; The Palladium Mall, Istanbul, Turkey; MGM City Center, Las Vegas, NV, to name a few.

Architect Dale Parks knows design. He works within a modern architectural vernacular. His designs have contextual integrity that shows respect for the environment within which they exist. If I were to use hashtags to describe his work they would include: #Modern Architecture, #Architecture meets Nature, #Beauty through Design, and #Design with Integrity.

Ian and Dale showed respect for the neighborhood by keeping the scale of the house within the context of the neighborhood. The living a.c.square footage is 2,800, porch 500 sq. ft. plus garage. The design solution also built on the idea of connecting the inside of the shelter to the nature outside. Dale the architect and Ian the engineer and client created a successful relationship between commercial material – the large glass panels by Novum Structures – and a residential shelter connected to nature.

Read the feature story in Sarasota Magazine.

Back of the Collins house with a view into and through the structure

Foyer, View through house,Architectural Design, Architectural Glazing, Architectural Photography, Architecture, Dale Parks, Dale Parks Architect, dining room, Florida, Glass Architecture, Modern Architecture, Residntial, Sarasota, Tahiti Park

View from foyer with view through the house onto the deck and pool looking west

Living room, dining room and kitchen looking east

Living room with media wall and fireplace

Open loft office

(R) Staircase to open office and guest bedrooms (L) staircase to master bedroom and bath

Staircase leads to guest bedrooms and open loft office .

Master Bathroom

Point Supported Glass connecting glass panels at the corner of the dining room.

Clamped Glass, Modern Architecture, Sarasota Architecture,

Point Supported Glass

Front of the Collins residence facing east

See more of Dale Parks architectural design visit: Eastep Photography

Architecture, Art, creativity, Design, Interior Design, Sarasota, Florida, Art

Beauty Through Design, Architect Dale Parks

The Bedouin of Saudi Arabia are one of the world’s most unique nomadic people. They survive in the Arabian deserts under some of the harshest conditions in nature.

The Al Murrah Bedouin tribe attracted my attention because they have lived as nomads in Arabia with an unbroken bloodline for 5,000 years. I figured such unique people would have important insights into human relationships. I was right.

Leading Saudi families in government, business, judicial and academic communities have sent their young children to live among the Bedouin for similar reasons. King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Sa’ud, the monarch who unified the Arabian tribes and created the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, spent time with the Al-Murrah in the southern desert of Saudi Arabia.

When I began my career I decided to document the Bedouin in Arabia, specifically the Al Murrah tribe. This modest collection of images is from a library of over 25,000 images. They represent the book BEDOUIN which won the Pershke Price “Best Book” award and Gold Prize for the “Best of All Things in Print” the year it was published.

Visit http://www.EastepPhotography to see images from the book BEDOUIN

: Al Amrah bedouin clan of the AL Marri Tribe preparing coffee in the Dahana Sands of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia

BEDOUIN of Saudi Arabia

“The End of the Earth,” that’s how Herodotus described Kazakhstan. After traveling from one end of the country to the other I would describe it as the Center of the Earth.

It’s large. The ninth largest country in terms of land mass and the largest in Central Asia. China and Mongolia are on the eastern border, Siberia on the north, Russia on the northwest, the Caspian Sea on the west and the Stan’s: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan along the southern border.

The landscape is diverse; mountains, forests, canyons, foothills, plains, steppes, semi-desert and deserts. Climate ranges from very hot summers to extremely cold and windy winters.

To keep my Nikon motor drives working in the winter I had to keep the batteries next to my chest under a layer of tee shirt, thermal undergarments, wool shirt, wind resistant insulated layering jacket and extreme weather shell designed for high altitudes. I had to slowly hand rewind the film to a avoid static electric streaks like lightning on the emulsion.

There’s a lot to show, so I will break the images up into sets. This first set will illustrate the mountains. Subsequent entries will show other features of this diverse and magnificent land.

: Bayankol River Valley in the Tien Shan mountains, Kazakhstan

: Glaciers in the Tien Shan mountain range, Kazakhstan

: The Altai Range that runs along Kazakhstan’s northeastern border is noted for its rivers, waterfalls, springs and spectacular vistas, Mount Belukha, often shrouded in clouds, has its own persona that is steeped in history and religion. It has witnessed Chingis Khan invading with 200,000 Mongols, and listened as the chants, songs and laments of shamans echoed off its sheer cliffs. Kazakhstan

: Zailiinsky Alatau in southeastern Kazakhstan

: Nomads camped in a summer pasture (Dzhailyau) near Khan Tengri 6994 meters in the Tian Shan mountains.

: The sacred mountain Khan-Tengri is know as “the prince of spirits.” Kazakhs revere this peak as a symbol of their ancient Tengri faith, which looks to the sky as the source of the great spirit. It is the highest peak in Kazakhstan and the crown jewel of the Tien Shan Range, which are called the celestial mountains. The upper third of the mountain is marble that glows red at sunrise and sunset. The Tien Shan is the most northern range of the Himalaya mountains.

: Glaciers in the Tien Shan range with Khan Tengri in background, Kazakhstan

: The sacred mountain Khan-Tengri stands along Kazakhstan’s borderr with Kyrgyzstan and China. At 6,995 meters (about 23,000 feet), it is only a few thousand feet lower than Mount Everest. This image was made through the open window of a Kazakh Air Force high-altitude helicopter flying at 6,700 meters (about 22,000 feet).

: Fabled Shambhala is believed to be near Mount Belukha where the borders of Kazakhstan, Siberia, Mongolia and China meet. Rises more than 4,500 meters (nearly 15,000 feet) in the Altai Mountains.

: Zailiinsky Alatau, Kazakhstan

: Tien Shan range most northern ranges of the Himalayian mountains, Kazakhstan

: Tien Shan Range

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, “The End of the Earth”

On December 16, 1991, Kazakhstan emerged from a long and challenging period under Soviet rule. Over the past 20 years the country has blossomed in what can be described as the Kazakh Renaissance, a demonstration of the enduring spirit of the Kazakh culture. I celebrate this anniversary with a selection of images from the book, The Soul of Kazakhstan. The collection showcases Kazakhstan’s people, history, culture and land. They will be posted on my WordPress blog over the coming days leading up to the anniversary.

A permanent library of images is available for purchase as prints or licensing at http://eastep.photoshelter.com/gallery/Kazakhstan/G0000xg4sBqG4LWQ/

Wayne Eastep, Photography, Exhibit, Mingei Museum, San Diego, CA

Photographs by Wayne Eastep in the exhibit "Of Gold and Grass" Mingei Museum, San Diego, CA

: Photographs by Wayne Eastep in the exhibit “Of Gold and Grass” Mingei Museum, San Diego, CA

: Map of Kazakhstan created by Bill McCaffery for the book, The Soul of Kazakhstan

: A stamped and engraved gold plaque on the Golden Warrior’s headdress features mountains and a snow leopard. He was a 5th century B.C. Saka chieftain

: “While researching for the book The Soul of Kazakhstan in the New York Public Library, I came across a letter Natllya Sedova, Leon Trotsky’s wife, wrote home while exiled in Almaty. She exclaimed about the beauty of a late spring snow blanketing the tulips. As good fortune would have it, my apartment was across from where the Trotskys lived. On a spring day in April, I was treated to the same beautiful sight” – W.E.

: It took Kaineke Zarykpai-Kyzy Kanapyanova two years to create this embroidered-felt Tuskiiz. She made it as a wedding gift for her son, Nurgazy, in 1973. When I told her she was a master like the artists in Japan called “National Treasurers,” she said, “Thank you.” After a pause she asked, “Will you put that in your book?”

: Kazakh Steppe Horses

: The opening at the top of a Kazakh yurt is called a Shangiraq. The circle represents the circle of life and the cross marks the cardinal points.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Crossroads of Culture and Commerce

Since the beginning of my career as a photographer I’ve been drawn to architecture. The visual vocabulary of photography and architecture share some fundamentals: shape, form, line, and interplay of light. Recently I edited this gallery of images. I hope you enjoy them.

Recent Personal Images

wayne eastep's blog

I hear and I forget, I do and I understand, I see and I remember

Archives

entry: Lens Culture / Street Photography Awards 2017

Can Beauty be a Political Statement?

Yellow on Gold

See more of Dale Parks architectural design visit: Eastep Photography

Beauty Through Design, Architect Dale Parks

BEDOUIN of Saudi Arabia

Kazakhstan, “The End of the Earth”

Kazakhstan Crossroads of Culture and Commerce

American Built

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See more of Dale Parks architectural design visit: Eastep Photography

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