About MCO & MCO Fine Art

Each opportunity to be creative in art and photography recharges me. In addition to art and photography, I enjoy cooking, walking in the woods with Susan, watching movies, trying new restaurants, breathing fresh air, listening to jazz, playing tug-of-war with Russell, our Great Dane, and the occasional bike ride.

Process Notes

I think of photographic captures, or frames or exposures, as mid-point in the creative process. Metaphorically, they are a potter's clay, something to build with, to express more. I might start with an intent or concept, of course, but also don't want that to limit or interfere with potential or evolution. I might begin thinking color, but the process could lead to black and white.  And creative models bring their own personalities and creativity, too, and I like that, am inspired by that. In my studio, when reviewing raw shots from an excursion or session, I remain open, and alert to potential; a frame says says "Hey, we got something here, these angles, these curves, the light...." 

A final work can look very different from the first concept, and I am OK with that, if not inspired by it. Writers have described how their characters and stories can take on lives of their own; how certain things must happen, must be said, must be done. And I find that working to create a finished print can be similar. In the beginning stages, a momentum is generated that guides its own path forward.

What is Fine Art Photography?

Fine art is creative art, especially visual art to be appreciated for imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content. Fine art photography can have imaginative content; it can have purely aesthetic content; it can have intellectual content. Ultimately, it expresses ideas or feelings that represent a vision of an artist. Fine art photography is expressive. Some the expression comes from the model, some comes from the lighting, capture, timing, visualization. I find post capture and printing a very captivating and creative process.

Fine art also has identifiable qualitative elements. Fine art objects are made with high quality materials with archival methods. A high level of technical skill or practice is also apparent. MCO Fine Art uses acid free cotton papers, OEM pigment inks with longevity ratings of over 100 years, and conservation grade backing boards for storage. 

More about MC

Making beautiful archival quality prints is a passion. MCO (south central Wisconsin, U.S.A.) finds that crafting the fine print is a key part, and unique technical side, of the creative process. It's moving intangible digital code to paper and ink. It's moving from transmitted light to reflected light. Furthermore, the tangible results hold a place in the tradition of photography, painting, drawing, and printmaking — works on paper.

"I highly respect traditional photographic arts," he says, "and I do some, but I am often uninspired by purely photographic work that is too clean, too realistic, (or poorly exposed)," he says. "I always liked work and techniques that are a little more removed from direct representation, like aquatints, mezzotints, wood block prints, loose brush work. You'll find elements of this in my work — grain, texture, intentional blur, effects of light, and stuff like that, inviting ambiguity and interpretation. The image edge is important to me, too, and I tend to put effort into the border during the final stages of development."

MCO has a foundation in traditional black and white film photography, and he managed his own darkroom for many years. His current work flow is entirely digital. He holds masters degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Ohio University. He is a member of the Model Society, a community where the very best models, photographers and artists collaborate and share their art.

Gentle On My Mind

It's knowin' that your door is always open / And your path
is free to walk / That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag / Rolled up and
stashed behind your couch /And it's knowin' I'm not shackled by forgotten words
and bonds /And the ink stains that have dried upon some lines / That keeps you
in the back roads, by the rivers of my memory / And keeps you ever gentle on my
mind.

It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy / Planted on their
columns now that binds me / Or somethin' that somebody said / Because they
thought we fit together walkin' / It's just knowin' that the world will not be
cursin' or forgivin' / When I walk along some railroad track and find / That
you're wavin' from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory / For hours
you're just gentle on my mind.

Although the wheat fields and the curled twines / And the
junkyards and the highways come between us / And some other woman cryin' to her
mother / 'Cause she turned and I was gone / I still might run in silence, tears
of joy might stain my face / And the summer sun might burn me till I'm blind / But
not to where I cannot see you walkin' on the back roads / By the rivers flowin'
gentle on my mind.

I dip my cup of soup back from the gurglin’ / Cracklin'
cauldron in some train yard / My beard a roughenin' coal pile / And a dirty hat
pulled low across my face / Through cupped hands 'round a tin can / I pretend
to hold you to my breast and find / That you're wavin' from the back roads, by
the rivers of my memory / Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind.

John Hartford, 1967

MCO Fine Art, LLC

MCO Fine Art, LLC is an online gallery offering museum quality, original print editions on archival quality papers for the home, office, and collections. Landscape, abstract, nude, bodyscape, figure study, black and white, street, portrait, and still life. MCO Fine Art ships from Madison, Wisconsin. All images and artwork © MCO Fine Art, LLC.