C&T Publications 50 States of Art - 2015 | Page 118

Mick Anderson – Oregon
While in college, Mick had the opportunity to work at St. Mary Lodge at the east
entrance to Glacier National Park in Montana. It was in this magical place where he
met several fellow students from other parts of the country who would change the
direction of his life by introducing Mick to nature, the mountains, the guitar and
singing, fly fishing, writing music, hiking, and -- most importantly -- the Single Lens
Reflex camera!
He had a chance to play with Pentacon, Yashica, Pentax, Nikon and other brands,
leading cameras of the day. It opened up a whole new way of looking at the world,
and started a hobby that quickly grew into a passion that has stood the test of many
years. His first “real” camera was a Yashica “Electro-35” range-finder camera, which
was followed quickly by a Fuji SLR featuring a Pentax screw-mount lens system,
manual flashes, and a “semi-automatic” metering system -- which meant that Mick
pretty much had to figure out exposures the “old fashioned” way of calculating
aperture and shutter speed based on film speed and the lighting conditions of the
moment. These lessons have served him well to this day, even with “auto
everything” availability built into just about every camera available. Having an “eye” for photography and light is what sets Mick
apart from many others!
The business of Mick’s Photography started in the summer of 1989 while living in Paradise, California, in the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada. It quickly grew to be one of the most popular wedding photography companies in the area. With Nikon film cameras in
hand, Mick moved to Florence, Oregon, in January of 1996. Note to anyone considering a move in the dead of winter... don’t do it!
Mick’s Photography quickly became the premier wedding photography business in western Lane County with newly acquired Canon
film cameras, while the coast and mountains of Oregon brought out the true passion of his photography. He found beauty in the
environment in all seasons of the year. He and his camera would often come home drenched but happy! Finally, another move in
2000 placed him in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon, and there he is to this day.
In 2005 the film cameras gave way to the world of digital photography, and Mick hasn't looked back. With his Sony a77ii in hand, he
now has freedoms and abilities that were only dreams in the age of film. New technologies combined with old-fashioned
photographic sense are the driving forces behind the current incarnation of Mick’s Photography.

Website:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mick-anderson.html

Here is my piece. It is called Fire to Create a Universe.
My imagination combined three photos and special effects to create this fantasy image.
The fire is actually from my wood stove, the two moons are in fact our moon (the big one is the "blood" moon of early 2014; the
small moon was taken through a thin veil of clouds at night) -- all combined in layers and rendered in several filter effects.
The result is my vision of the formation of a fantastic universe in a far off place and a far off time.

Quick Note:
A “Blood Moon” is generally the result of a lunar eclipse. The red color is caused by a phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering.
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