Message from Robert Walter
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My images explore hidden worlds I can hold in the palm of my hand.
This exploration starts on mountain trails or along the beach where
I come across pebbles, bits of driftwood, leaves, fronds, bark,
seed pods and beach rocks that I take back to my studio and expand
into extreme photographic close-ups.
What I repeatedly discover in surface areas sometimes less than
one-inch-square is that the fire that forged the rock is still
within the rock. But so is the surging ocean and so are mythical
figures and vast landscapes. The same possibilities hold true for
my other finds.
Due to most of the worlds I uncover being found in very small places,
my working process involves enlarging, enhancing and intensifying
the essence of these tiny realms. I like to print big because when
the sense of scale and the starting place are no longer evident
then we are left to focus on the beating heart of the matter.
While I want my images to stand on their own, if they succeed
it is because they are completely nature-based. Since they start
as photographic records of actual objects, they are encoded with
shapes and colors that can surprise, delight and sometimes shock us
with a flash of recognition. I believe this resonance is due to
fractal patterning.
The idea of fractals -- that certain shapes and forms repeat themselves
again and again in a wide range of sizes -- is a powerful organizing
force that can trigger memories of where we have been and what we have seen.
Being able to find these fractal crossroads in surprisingly small objects
adds a layer of poignance to their contemplation. Under our feet,
sometimes even in our own backyards, are whole worlds waiting for our
glance and it feels to me that by discovering them, we might come to find
a part of ourselves along the way.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Robert Walter's artistic career has spanned several decades. As an actor
he was a founding member of the Company Theater -- the first theater west
of the Hudson River to receive NEA funding. As a music producer and
sound designer he has worked on films that run the gamut from Halloween to
Apocalypse Now, and has designed sound for major theme park attractions
such as Universal Studios' Earthquake. He is one of the leading audiobook
producer/directors working for publishers such as Random House and Time Warner.
As a writer he has won awards for scripts such as National Geographic's
Honoring the Earth Seeking the Stars, and created the book Sustainable Cities.
As past president of The Eco-Home Network, a southern California environmental
organization, he has written and spoken eloquently as an advocate for healing
our planet. Now, he channels this same passion for communicating the beauty
and uniqueness of our Earth into his current visual work that he calls
the Fractal Dance.
ABOUT THE WORK PROCESS:
While a few of my images are photographed with a traditional macro lens,
almost all of them have been captured using a scanner as my digital camera.
The images are then taken into Photoshop where they are refined.
Because the scanner has no depth of field, there is sometimes a lengthy
piecing together of many different scans to achieve the total sharp
high-resolution image. I bring colors out using Photoshop's various
brightness and contrast tools and by increasing saturation, and turn to
color spectrum modification only if that is what it takes to produce the
most dramatic rendering of the subject. Above all, the prime intention
is to honor and extol what nature has wrought.
Once the image is complete, limited-edition archival prints are made.
The in-house printer allows me to print on 17" wide paper, so the images
usually range somewhere between 16x20 to 16x42. Larger print sizes are
made for sale when requested and for certain gallery situations where
bigger prints would aid the overall prese
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