PPA member Barry J. Taratoot of Atlanta, Ga., has been selected by the Artists in Exhibition program at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to exhibit his photographic works of fine art. His exhibit--"The Les Fleurs Collection" (French for "The Flowers")--is on display until May 16 in the airport's Atrium Gallery.
The exhibit consists of framed images ranging in size from 34" x 46" to just shy of 4ft. x 6ft. Given the fact that Barry's photographs are floral, the Atrium now bursts alive with subtle splashes of color that could not be more appropriate for an Atlanta spring showing.
Barry is one of eight Atlanta area artists invited each year to exhibit a photographic body of work at Hartsfield-Jackson. He does all of his own printing and finishing work in his home studio in Dunwoody, Ga. In fact, it's Barry's unusual way of photographing his floral subjects that makes them so very unique.
Although the images themselves are digitally captured and created, no special effects software is used to finish a photographic piece. According to Barry: "After the plants are photographed using a special lens and lighting technique, the images are imported to Adobe Photoshop to undergo color balancing, dust and dirt removal, and then positioned to create a perfectly beautiful photograph. The pictures are not digitally manipulated in Photoshop to any significant degree or any other professional application other than this."
In fact, no camera whatsoever is used to digitally capture
the plants. Instead, he invested in a high-end scanner that employs a
double pass system. The plants are "photographed" at night in complete
darkness and very high resolutions. Above the scanner hangs black gator
board perpendicular to the scanner and the plants are positioned and
then photographed. The images are imported to Photoshop CS-5 for color
balancing, dirt and dust removal and leveling, and then cropped to
spec. No other Photoshop enhancement tools are used to manipulate the
images.The resulting photograph is very unusual, ethereal and surreal. The technique creates gorgeous plays of light and shadow cast upon the leaves and petals--a foggy, 3-D-like quality that is positively "ghostly," as one observer proclaimed. Yet you can see even the most minute colored veining in all of the petals and leaves.
"Most people who see them at first glance believe they are looking at an illustration or a painting. They don't even identify the artwork as a photograph," says Barry.
Barry Taratoot photographs weddings, corporate events, bar and
bat mitzvahs, wine tastings and also shoots catalogue work for a
manufacturer of fine jewelry in Boston. His "Les Fluers Collection" is
yet one new venture into unleashing his creative persona. To learn more
about Barry, visit bjtphotography.net
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