LARRY BLACKWOOD

Well-Lit Patina
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2022

A shot of sunshine really highlighted the patina and texture on this old door.

That Old Rugged Clothesline Pole
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2022

Having mostly eschewed religious practice for some decades now, it’s amazing how certain symbols continue to affect my perception of the world.

The Best Kind of Invitation
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2022

A sturdy footbridge decorated in scattered fall leaves and lit by dappled sunlight. What could be more inviting, regardless of what was on the other side?

A Worn Welcome
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2022

A rickety, weathered gate and a leaf-littered road still seem to offer an comforting invitation to visit the historic Lockhart Ranch. (Yep, yet another punny image title.)

Bare B&B
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2022

Don’t expect much from the breakfast offerings either.

Charlie Brown Staircase
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
2022

I don’t spend much time analyzing why I choose to photograph what I do, but over time it’s become pretty obvious to me (and perhaps others) that subconsciously it is the graphical elements of what I’m looking at that attract my attention. That the comic character Charlie Brown was the first thing I though of when thinking about titles for this mage seems to support that.

Custom Crafted
Bozeman, Montana
2022

Literally a vehicle for self-expression. My impression of their expression? Well, some people aren’t content to leave well-enough alone.

Snow Angel
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Ragged Line
Bozeman, Montana
2020

This photo is actually from a couple of years ago, but it’s looking a lot like this outside right now, and it’s not even mid-November yet.

Black and White in Color
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
2022

Every once in a while I come across a scene that looks for all practical purposes totally to be in black and white even though it’s in a full color environment (i.e. what I see with my eyes, not what I might convert it to after photographing it). That’s what I thought when I saw this portion of Mammoth Hot Springs recently. However, it was only approximately a black and white scene as witnessed by this actual black and white conversion of the same image:

It is interesting to note that although some scenes look more dramatic, more three-dimensional so to speak, when converted to black and white, that is not the case for this one. It comes across to me anyway as having more depth in color than in black and white. I actually played around with split-toning the image, which can add implied depth to an image, just to see if I could come closer to the look of the color version but did not succeed. There are a lot more subtle shades of color at work in this scene than is immediately obvious I think.