Gray area
Dec. 16—The "Zebra Rorschach" is a tease.
At first glance, a viewer might be forgiven for mistaking it for the four-legged African creature.
It's actually based in building reflections.
"That is a vertical wall reflected in a vertical glass wall," said photographer Terryl Lee Allen. "It's basically an architectural reflection."
The Edgewood resident is one of 95 photographers included in the "Shades of Gray" photography show open at EXPO New Mexico. The annual exhibit features 187 black and white images and continues through Dec. 27. All of the photographers are New Mexico residents.
Allen captured her image on vacation in Oberstdorf, Germany, high in the Bavarian Alps at a gondola tram station.
She discovered the tiny town in 2006 when she was competing in an international skating competition.
"I was in it," she said. "Then my ankle went south. It's a big international skating camp for adults.
"It caught me off guard," she said of the image. "I had time for three shots."
Allen turned to photography after retiring from dual professions as a gymnastic coach and then a school counselor. She had majored in art, concentrating on photography and metal sculpture. But by the time she returned to her passion, she found a digital world.
She learned software editing and discovered Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. But she avoids digital manipulation.
"I am a landscape street photographer," she explained. "I want to catch the landscape as it happens. And I also very much enjoy abstract imagery. I really like detail and I like seeing images that would not ordinarily be noticed."
She is not a colorist.
"To me, black and white offers a foundation in composition and tonal quality," she continued. "Color can be very distorting and it can lie a lot."
Albuquerque's Greg Smith, a retired lawyer for the city, stumbled upon a spider web dotted with pearls of water while he was hunting in Wyoming.
"I go outside one morning and it's foggy and I discover a spider web in the fog," he said. "That's what seems to produce the tiny droplets instead of dew."
He captured the image by holding his camera above his head using a macro lens.
"I've specialized in macro for years," he said. "I take lots and lots and lots of images of flowers."
Smith is a regular participant in "Shades of Gray." He also shows his work in a Carrizozo gallery.
"We spend a lot of time down in the Gila shooting landscapes," he added.
He loves the tonality of black and white, although he shoots his flowers in color.
Smith earned his bachelor's degree in botany before going to law school. He had taken a photography class in high school, but abandoned it for more practical pursuits. He bought his first digital camera in 2007.
"I fell in love with it all over again," Smith said. "I've been obsessed with photography ever since."
'Shades of Gray'
The Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show
WHEN: Through Dec. 27
WHERE: EXPO New Mexico, Fine Arts Building, 300 San Pedro Drive NE
HOW MUCH: Free at 505-977-6899.
