By
Merrill Shea
Piece description from the artist
I was walking through the Public Garden on my way to a photo assignment. Since I had taken scores of photos of this same scene over the years, I was vaguely registering my surroundings. Usually it is filled with folks on their way to wherever, so I was momentarily struck by the fact that there was almost no one around at that moment, and I stopped to take in the scene.
I usually like to include people in my images of public places, but I figured why not try something different. So I took a few photos anyway. Reviewing them later, they appealed to me in a way that I didn't expect.
The colors of the lush spring foliage and tulips contrasted so strongly against the monotone buildings in the distance, neither playing their usual supporting background role for people going about their lives. And George Washington? I can't imagine the Public Garden without him!
Such a contrast to the way I—and probably most of us—experience our city.
Merrill Shea began his artistic career as a classical musician and then gradually migrated toward the visual arts. He has worked as a free-lance photographer in the commercial, non-profit and academic worlds throughout Eastern Massachusetts for over twenty-five years. He is entirely self-taught.
Merrill spends at least one month every year traveling primarily throughout New England and the Pacific Northwest. While his oeuvre includes urban imagery, his primary inspiration comes from the natural world. His TurningArt offerings represent a selection from his personal projects, which range from intimate and panoramic seascapes to interpreting the oldest living things on earth: the fantastically gnarled bristlecone pine trees that survive at twelve thousand feet above sea level.
Merrill continues to explore the varieties of color, graphics and texture that are possible within the photographic medium. Like many photographers, he has been influenced by the iconic black and white nature photography of Ansel Adams. In that regard, he has included identical images which he feels are effective both in color and black and white.
Merrill has always been fascinated with the medium of watercolor and has recently been exploring the possibilities of using various computer techniques to produce watercolor-like images from photographs that, in many cases, are indistinguishable from true watercolors.
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