Queer Gothic - © Greggory Wood
Nude With Vase I - © Greggory Wood
Charlotte II, February 2024 - © Greggory Wood
Charlotte (IV) at Central 9th Market, February 2024 - © Greggory Wood
le béret - © Greggory Wood
Le Béret II - © Greggory Wood
I have been working on portrait photography for nearly a year now. I feel I have made a lot of progress with the craft, but currently I need a break. I have decided to work on some abstract photography, combining nudes I have shot over the years, with highly textured backgrounds of walls, wood, salt, sand and clouds, hued with various shaded and saturations of blue.
Blue calms me. Reminds me of the blue of the Mediterranean. Reminds me of History. Reminds me of the short amount of time we have to wander as conscience stardust.
My grandfather, Paul Cason, served in the United States Air Corps during the Second World War and was stationed in southern Italy during the Allied occupation. He was not a front-line solder: he was essentially given a welding torch and ordered to build things. But he brought along his camera and captured some of the most beautiful images. Before he died, I acquired his negative library which collected dust in his basement for several decades. I am finally getting around to properly archiving the negatives. While doing so, I have come across some wonderful photographs he took. Besides the number of photographs of the drudgery of the military, he captured images of the daily life of the citizens of Italy that remained in the southern part of the country during the Allied occupation. It has been pure joy to go through these negatives; I have no doubt of his talent and wish that I could have learned more from him while he was alive: not only his time in Europe, but of his photographic technique. I hope you enjoy these photographs as much as I have.
Gregg.
In the English language and the art of photography, both nude and dunes are anagrammatic, both a confirmation of motion beyond the subject. Dunes move with the wind, the nude subject moves at will; sun and light dance on ridges and curves, never staying still for too long, but long enough to create with motionless motion.
As I continue in this craft --this art-- of photography, I find myself lured to form and composition.
Skin and sand; concrete and clouds; light and texture; angles and curves; movement, momentum and the practice of patience and learning to sit still and see what is in front of oneself; how to let the camera become part of oneself; to see through the lens its limitations and capaciousness. I used to think that the human form was separate and distinct from all else, but I now think that it is simply what it is: a world as vast as the world in which it lives.
I am an autodidact black and white photographer using both 6x6 and 35mm as media. I'm particularly interested in abstract, abstract nude and landscape photography and how these genres equally intersect and diverge.
I am from the United States and have travelled extensively to Europe and enjoy the opportunities while there to find subjects that pique my curiosity --ones often missed by those too busy to look.
My work can also be seen at rustedsaltphotography.com
