Photos bring joy to viewers, SOS

Deirdre Newman

Gaze into the eyes of the dogs in Blake Schwendimann’s photos and you

feel as if you can see into their souls.

Like in “Harvey in Repose,” in which a terrier with

Chinese-crested influence, is lounging luxuriously on the rug,

looking wistfully toward the camera.

This photo and 22 others by Schwendimann will be on display today

and Sunday at the Carole Akins Studio in Cannery Village. Dogs and

people populate most of his work. But his photos have an air of

spontaneity since they are not posed, capturing the raw essence of

the subject, Schwendimann said.

“I like to catch people in their natural environment,” he said. “I

would prefer to shoot in somebody’s backyard or park.”

Schwendimann, who just moved to Costa Mesa this summer, is

donating a portion of the proceeds from the show to Share Our Selves,

a comprehensive charitable organization in Costa Mesa. He wanted to

focus attention on an organization that helps others, especially at

this time of year, Schwendimann said.

“Since it’s the holidays, it seemed like an obvious time to pick a

charity that helps people over the holidays because my work is about

humanity,” he said. “I want to create awareness so the whole thing

isn’t just about me.”

He is also donating his time and photography services on an

ongoing basis to the nonprofit organization.

Schwendimann, 25, was born at Hoag Hospital -- the largest baby

the hospital delivered at the time, weighing in at 11 pounds and 23 1/2 inches long, he said. He was born into a creative family, he said

-- his mother works in interior design, both of his aunts are

artists, and his cousin is a writer. He is also drawn to music and

plays the acoustic guitar.

His attraction to photography started in junior high school, when

he started taking pictures with his dad’s camera. As his hobby

progressed, friends would ask him to take pictures of their kids and

dogs. His style eventually evolved from portrait photography to more

abstract art. All of his pictures are shot locally.

“I’m a good people person,” Schwendimann said. “I like seeing

people’s reactions when they see my photos. But I also like abstract

art.”

Schwendimann likes shooting human subjects because of the

diversity of shots that can be attained by varying the posing,

lighting and depth of field, he said. He has been influenced by

photographers such as Edward Weston, a contemporary of Ansel Adams

who specialized in work with the human figure and landscapes, and

Anton Corbijn, who photographs musicians such as the band U2.

As Schwendimann derives a lot of his creativity from his family

ties, he also inherited their photo equipment. He built the camera he

uses now by combining two identical cameras that had been owned by

his father and his uncle, mixing the lenses together.

“Now I have a nice camera from the ‘70s,” he said.

Schwendimann has a penchant for black and white photography, but

does some color as well. He is partial to black and white because it

allows photographers to focus solely on the shapes, forms and lines

without being distracted by the colors. He prefers shooting in

ambient light, so he will usually start his photo shoots about two

hours before sunset to capitalize on the softer, diffused light at

that time. Overcast skies are also advantageous, he said.

His photography style is old-school, he said, as he prefers to

have his pictures manually developed in a darkroom.

“It forces you to think about what you’re doing,” Schwendimann

said. “You have more control.”

He also has his photos developed on silver gelatin prints, a time-

and labor-intensive process that gives them an added veneer of

abstraction.

For his color photos, he cross processes them to generate colors

that aren’t completely true to life.

“It’s not life-like color, so it forces you to think about shapes

and lines, because I’m not interested in life-like images,”

Schwendimann said.

Using this process, a wall appears as greenish in one photo and

bluish-purple in another.

Schwendimann likes to get on the same level as his subjects, which

usually means lying on his stomach on the ground, which can get messy

at times, he said.

“I bought a pair of nice, black shoes so I would look nice when I

go to people’s houses, because my shoes are usually wet and dirty,”

Schwendimann said.

This is Schwendimann’s first gallery show. His matted and framed

pictures will be on sale for between $325 and $450.

Akins, the owner of the gallery, is Schwendimann’s aunt. An

impressionist painter, she said she is helping her nephew get

exposure because she can relate to his photography on an artistic

level.

“I understand the process, and I can see how he has a sense of

what to shoot, without it being contrived,” Akins said. “And it just

happens, and I see it’s spontaneous, and he has this soulful way

about him with people, and it draws me in. So I believe in him. I

would never be able to get as involved with him if I didn’t.

Everything I see just wows me.”

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FYI

Schwendimann’s show will take place Saturday and Sunday from noon

to 5 p.m. at the Carole Akins Studio, 418 31st St. For more information, call (949) 673-8663.