Thinking Differently On The World Wide Web; And Now For Something Competently Different… Page 2

www.angelphotographer.com
Conny L. Dempsey's parents owned a funeral home and going to a cemetery, she says, "was a normal part" of her life. Several years ago while passing a Georgia cemetery she was attracted by a marble statue of an angel and since then she's visited 600 cemeteries where she has found "peace, solitude, beauty, and hope." Dempsey's website could not be more different than the preceding two sites featured this month. The design is simple and features galleries of thumbnails that when clicked reveal images that are the same size as the thumbnail. Take the time to browse the collections to look at her often manipulated yet almost tranquil images, which reveal a lot about the photographer's state of mind. Some photographs, like "Amaratta," are soft and elegant, while "Lost Love" uses hard dramatic lighting to make an entirely different kind of statement.

While some images have an undeniable visual link, conscious or not, to the Bird Girl sculpture photograph on the cover of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Dempsey's work, while often monochromatic, is almost always in color. It's also sometimes heroic and uplifting as can be found in "Spirits of the South" that's found on the homepage and along with several other spectacular images at the end of the "Angels" gallery. Keeping with the whole angel concept, her "Cherubs" collection includes similar photographs, including the colorful "Donel." These are more than just pictures of statues; Dempsey is a photographic Pygmalion bringing these statues to life, if just for a brief time.

© 2008, Conny L. Dempsey, All Rights Reserved

www.freddrotar.com
Fred Drotar is a long-time Shutterbug reader who also happens to be a great photographer and whose work is lovingly showcased in a clever, widescreen website. Drotar's images are collected into four portfolios, including "Nature," "Travel," "Scenic," and "Narrative." The "Nature" section consists mostly of photographs of birds captured in repose and flight. There are a few insect images showing how well Drotar handles a genre that is even more difficult to capture than avians. The "Travel" collection covers a wide geographic territory from the Kremlin in Moscow to a monochrome panorama of a mission and graveyard in what looks like America's Southwest (there is no caption data provided).

His panoramic images are scattered throughout the site, including being used as banners for each of the four sections. They are so striking that I wish there were more. "Scenic" contains images that could easily be considered extensions of the "Travel" section and features everything from elephant herds in Africa to people on the beach at sunset in (I'm guessing again) California. All these collections feature the delightful sense of color and deft compositional handling that are hallmarks of Drotar's imagery. "Narrative" contains a delightful surprise with its series of images, mostly of birds, engaged in feeding or sometimes amusing themselves and us as well. I wanted to see more! Drotar's site was produced by his son Thomas, who operates Drotar Design (www.drotardesign.com) that is worth a visit to see some of his work for creatives working in the music and filmmaking industries.

© 2008, Fred Drotar, All Rights Reserved
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