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Chuck Clegg creates his works of art using his love for photography. He has for many years captured with his camera the world around him. A world of color and images he sees in his creative eye. In 1983 he first saw on the cover of a photographic magazine an image he never forgot, a picture created by Michel Tcherevkoff. It was created using hundreds of ping-pong balls held in place using copper armature wire. That image and its complex creation has stuck with him for thirty years. Since then he has worked to find ways to capture dept of field and color in his pictures much as Tcherevkoff had many years ago. He has read countless books and magazines that explained how to create complex picture using expensive lighting, equipment and cameras. Clegg was convinced he could create pictures using much simpler forms of lighting and cameras.
He has taught himself to use the light of the sun, two dollar led flash lights and pocket lasers to create and light his pictures. He believes light is everything in how he creates his pictures. He photographs many of his subjects up close and from difficult angles to give the feeling of size and perceptive. He has found that small relative inexpensive cameras do a good job. The small aperture can help to create dept of field that larger cameras have a difficult task doing, especially when up very close to the subject and in difficult places. By finding ways to create composite pictures more economically he hopes more people can experience working with pictures to create art.
His pictures are created from the small things we each pass by in our daily lives. A small flower alongside the road. A grey colored stone that has lain along side of the road for many years. Ripples of water that dances on the surface of a nearby stream as it pass us by. Each of these images can be captured and manipulated to create pictures he believes are more art than photography.
Once he has gathered the imagines for the pictures he sees in his mind’s eye he uses different photo programs to create different effects. He has found over the years each program offers something unique in a pictures creation. He also realized that computer program can range from less than a hundred to several hundred. He encourages people to try a simple program at first. As they grow in experience and skills they can reach to other programs to expand their abilities.
Chuck Clegg hopes those who see his art may glimpse a distant world along with its wonders of light and color. He believes we can find places hidden away within our imagination that we may remember from our childhood dreams. For others they may marvel at the image of sun light as it passing through color glass on it journey from the sun. Perhaps his creations can make us smile at the wonders of our worlds created with color and light. There is one other tool he uses to create his art, imagination. He believes each of us is give as children so we may dream and create the world around us. As children we imagine worlds of pirates and scary creates that sometimes come in the night. Our imagination is the creative spark with in each of us. As we grow older the pressure of life sometimes begins to replace that gift of imagination we had in our youth. Perhaps Chuck Clegg’s art can for just a moment remind us all that dreams do exist if we simple look at the world around us with an eye for light and color. Oh yes, one more thing, a little imagination. |
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