My Top Ten Photos of 2013

K e i t h D ot s o n

10

M y t e n p e r s o n a l f av o r i t e p h o t o s

Fine Ar t Photography

of 2013

Keith Do tso n M y t e n p e r s o n a l f av o r i t e p h o t o s of 2013

Copyright 2013 Keith Dotson. All Rights Reserved. Please do not republish or reuse the photographs without prior written permission.

All photographs and text by Keith Dotson unless otherwise stated.

It’s a

2013

challenge for a prolific artist like myself to cull a year’s worth of work down to a short list of ten favorite images of the year. In selecting my top ten photographs, I’ve tried to find the ones I thought were most interesting; the ones that got the best reception from social media and other public venues; and the ones that stood out of the pack for one reason or another. In some cases, I picked images that were generally ignored, in spite of the fact that I find them worthy of more attention.

Mostly I selected ten photographs that I feel best represent my total vision as an artist. The only hard-and-fast rule I placed on myself was that all the photographs must have been created in 2013. • This free book was designed to be downloaded, enjoyed, printed, and shared. If you like the photographs I’ve selected to show here, please visit www.keithdotson.com to see my complete body of work. If you really like my work, please buy a fine art print and help support an independent working artist. Your purchases help me continue to travel, explore more ideas, and create more work. • In 2013, I made photographs all across the United States, including Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Also Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, and right here in my own backyard around Nashville, Tennessee. I have many more adventures and photo journeys planned for 2014. • My work is a celebration of the things I find beautiful in the world. It’s also a celebration of the art of photography that I have grown to love so much, especially the black and white image. Since my concentration is on the black and white photograph, the subjects I find beautiful typically feature prominent texture, dramatic tonality, strong composition, and sometimes something a little quirky or unusual. • I hope you will find at least one or two photographs to love in this little book. Thank you.

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And now, presented in no particular order, my ten favorite photographs of 2013

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1. New Mexico Landscape in Evening Light

Some places on Earth beckon to be photographed. They also give a siren call to painters and writers...anyone of the creative spirit seeking a place that’s intrinsically beautiful and soul-sustaining in its energy. New Mexico is one of those places.

The state’s tourism nickname “The Land of Enchantment” really applies here, and it remains one of my favorite places to visit and photograph. This long dead volcano caught my eye as the evening light and long shadows stretched across it.

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2. Houses of the Dead, New Orleans

There’s no place like New Orleans. It’s a case study in contrasts: Old world charm and new world problems; tourist playground and murder capital; all the flash and color of Mardi Gras juxtaposed with the grimy, gritty dark side of a city with secrets. Life and death coexist everywhere, but in New Orleans they feel near the surface of things. The place is

simply mysterious. This textural photograph was made in the famous St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, located just outside the perimeter of the French Quarter, on Basin Street. The cemetery was established in 1789, and looks every bit it’s age. Many famous residents of New Orleans are entombed here, including the so-called voodoo queen Marie Laveau.

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3. Lunch at the Purple Thistle

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Photographed mid-morning at The Old Stone Fort in middle Tennessee.

The Old Stone Fort is a 2,000 year-old Native American ceremonial site that features an entrance flanked by twin mounds, and a large flat plain surrounded by an ancient stone wall. The wall sits atop cliffs overlooking

two rivers converging. This purple thistle, situated amongst the tall grass within the enclosed plain was a very popular lunch spot for the local bees and butterflies.

4. Abandoned Church, Louisville This dignified old building is Quinn Chapel, a neglected architectural gem that anchors the corner lot on West Chestnut Street, in a rough Louisville neighborhood. The Gothic Revival church was built in 1884, and includes remarkable design details.

Now, as the paint peels, the structure slowly crumbles, and nature begins the reclamation process, I felt the urge to celebrate it’s former beauty and current state of aged grace.

With this, and several other images I recorded of the exterior, I felt as though I was capturing the church’s portrait before it’s gone forever. While scouting and shooting the front exterior, I kept having the distinct feeling I was not alone.

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5. Misty Lake, Early Morning -

Northern Alabama

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Sun rising through a dense morning fog begins to evaporate the mist from the surface of the lake. This scene, although photographed in Northern Alabama, looks very Japanese to me. In Japanese woodcuts, the intense blue across the top of the sky symbolizes the gods. I think the spiritual essence of this landscape image comes from the rising mists and the mountains fading to the distance.

6. Mesa Verde, Colorado The ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colorado have survived in remarkable condition. Well-constructed under sheltering rock overhangs, on cliffs and ledges, and precariously high upon sheer mountain faces, these communities thrived here for 700 years.

Mesa Verde National Park encompasses 600 dwellings and thousands of archaeological sites. Most of the dwellings were only a few rooms, but some—like this one known as Spruce Tree House—consisted of 130 rooms or more.

I’ve visited many mound-builder sites across the eastern US, as well as petroglyph and pictograph sites, but Mesa Verde is unparalleled in size, importance, and sheer “wow” factor.

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7. Rain Music

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I love to travel the nation in search of beautiful places and photographic inspiration, but sometimes the best inspiration happens in your own back yard. This lyrical rainy day photograph was created less than two miles from home. The spiraling, tangled twig reminded me of music, like the invisible path of a conductor’s baton, or the swirling sound of jazz in the night air.

8. Cadillac Ranch — Amarillo, Texas

Cadillac Ranch is a public art piece created in 1974 by an eccentric Texan. It consists of a line of ten classic Cadillacs partially buried into the fertile soil of Amarillo, Texas--angled to the same degree as the sides of the great pyramids of Giza. While the art installation has been a source of both controversy and inspiration, it eventually became a

well-known tourist destination. While the cars were in great condition when buried, many still drivable, they have since been vandalized, stripped, painted over in hundreds of shades of spray paint, and even relocated to a different site.

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9. Sacred and Profane: Voodoo in New Orleans

This photograph is atypical of what I normally shoot. This interior display shows some of the facets of New Orleans voodoo, with its incorporation of Catholic symbols.

Voodoo has a long history in New Orleans, originating from the native beliefs of African slaves, blended with Catholicism, Haitian Vodou, and the southern Hoodoo that originated in the Mississippi delta.

New Orleans voodoo is a unique variety, which combines all those ingredients. It emphasizes occult objects and iconography like voodoo dolls, charms and spells, voodoo queens, and gris-gris.

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10. Composition of Branches in the Forest

Some of my personal favorite photographs are made from subjects that seem like not much at all. This shot is nothing more than a few branches in the dark woods. Yet, I see it as a piece of abstract art. Rather than a few simple twigs, I see lines that lead the eye through a composition of contrasts, shapes, and forms.

Even though it’s a photograph of nothing much, this is definitely one of my personal favorite images from the year 2013.

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Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed my 2013 year-in-review.

You can learn more about me and my work at the following locations.

Website: www.keithdotson.com Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/keithdotson Facebook: www.facebook.com/KeithDotsonFineArtPhotography Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/keith_dotson Twitter: www.twitter.com/keith_dotson