I have been an artist in photography, video art & performance art, and since 1994 in printmaking showing in regional, national and international exhibits. My work of the last few years has involved the exploration of photography and printmaking as a hybrid medium of expression. The work isn't contained within a genre, although landscape and still life studies dominate, but shows concern with texture, the hand manipulation of the image and surface.Â
  For me photography is another way to create images. My Dad gave me a 35 mm camera when I was 11, as I was constantly 'borrowing' his whenever I could get my hands on it; when I was 13 I entered my first photography contest.
  Later all through Viet Nam and four years in the military I carried a camera - both as a way of interpreting what was happening to me and those around me, and to distance myself from it.
  I exhibited photography off and on until I began a career in cinematography and video in the late seventies and received a Master of Art in 1979 from the University of Missouri-KC. I taught mediated communications at Haskell Indian Nations University and later at Northern Illinois University. By 1986, bored with documentaries and commercial video production and seeking to return to the single image, I started a graduate program in studio art, while keeping my day job of producing educational programs in the arts. I found myself taking addition course-work in photography and worked with traditional printmakers in documenting their workshops and classes.
  Upon gaining my MFA, I a took a course in printmaking, and it was a zen moment in the studio: working the plates, inking, pulling prints. A wholly different tradition of the single image, a completely new toolset for me drew me. This was in 1992, and led to 18 hours of post-grad work with intaglio and relief techniques and many more hours with David Driesbach of Miracle Press who for years was the finest example of a person and an artist I'm sure I will ever know; for over a decade he invited me in to document the activities of Miracle Press and the yearly week long master printmaking sessions - his humor and technical skill shows me the way still.
  In 2002 I picked up a digital camera, mostly to record textures I found in wood, stone, mud, and textiles as references in printmaking, and I started thinking immediately about photography from the point of view of a printmaker.
  So I feel that I finally understand enough about the images that I respond to, and most importantly about the images I need to make, to take the journey as photographer and printmaker. Artistic life is full circle, I'm back to that happy kid seeing things truly for the first time in the view finder and the mind's eye, revealed on the plate and paper.
www.timburns-art.com for other work and background information; this functions as an on-line portfolio for me.
tim
Comments (23)
lyron
Really wonderful pic!
Realm_Of_Illusion
Your work is beautiful, it feels sensitive and vulnerable as many details are making themselves known. Your texture is beautiful. I really love your leaves series, so much subtlety it gives it a presence with a quiet, respectful power :)
Roland_W
Great macro photo! A wonderful series
Theta
Wonderful and rich in every detail. Precious and emotional
2Loose2Trek
I love the richness of the color and detail ... really fantastic work Tim. Well done.
anahata.c
what has changed from the others in this series is the convolutions. By allowing the turn in the leaf we suddenly focus—at least at first—on the convolution itself, the upper portion, which has the greatest amount of light and which comes out of the frame and tries to touch us. But there's a lot of activity elsewhere too. It looks like 2 or more leaves at the bottom, even though one leaf can get many bulges & turns. It captures the variety of form and life that a leaf can get; and the furrows as one moves up the frame show that a single leaf can contain many worlds. That's what you've captured here. And being that complex with different palettes in each section (browns, greens, pale grays & whites) makes your framing quite dramatic: Like containing a waterfall in a bottle, it's very dramatic & framed so we feel all the motion bursting its seams. And your outlining & background (atop) bring back the fact that this is a conscious work of art, and it is from inside you as much as from the leaf. This is a bursting piece and a brilliant series.
auntietk
Wowww ... totally cool! Wonderful work.
jocko500
wonderful looking . I going to try a hand at this stuff too
figharo
Leafs do grow in the most unexpected and wonderful ways and your coloring is so brilliant. A treat for the eyes.
tetsu-pino
Fantastic and cool image!! Very well done!!
Topaz_Rose
I love the way you emphasise the shape of the leaf and its textures. The vertical format works superbly!
november22
One leaf, I used soft saturation via Mystical Tint Tone & Color to increase saturation and some sharpening for the web post - all the manipulation is on the background, seen at very top. Thanks everyone, many kind comments - keep fingers crossed as this one gets entered into a juried show tomorrow.
NekhbetSun
Ohhhh Tim, I love this !!!! beaucoup de wowwww's
awadissk
very nice work
gunsan
Really lovely. I can see this framed on my wall. Love it!
goido
Absolutely gorgeous!! The process is quite interesting also!
amota99517
Absolutely fabulous work!!!
Campo-Diaz
Simply fantastic.
blankfrancine
Stunning organic abstraction, well-composed and vivid! A great tribute to the season.
SecondChoice
superb! looks like a leaf of a hosta. i hope You were lucky!
nikolais
powerful work and presentaiton. deep!
HannaK
Stunning work!
helanker
Super gorgeous. !!!