A
Show of Thomas R. Fletcher's Travel Photography
July 25 through
September 1,
2006 Cafe
Cimino in Sutton,
West Virginia hosted a show of Thomas R. Fletcher’s travel photography.
Fletcher’s work has appeared in top publications throughout the United States as well in several international publications.
These photographs represent a colorful sampling from a variety of places
in the United States and around the world.
Click
here if you would like to order Photo Prints
Prints
mounted and matted in 11" x 14" black frames (white mats) with gallery
style backs are available through Riffle
Pottery and The Addison
Center. Note cards may be ordered directly from Mountain
Made.
June in the Kenai
Peninsula of Alaska finds the sun setting very late.
This shot, # AK-13-10, taken around 9 PM in the lingering light.
This photo, # CAN-2-16,
taken on
Nova Scotia
,
Canada
’s Cape Breton Island, in the
Cape
Breton
Highlands
National Park
captures the tannin-stained waters of the
Corny
Brook
River
and the wet, green forest on a misty day.
# CAN-18-18: A colorful
scene in the fishing village of Neils Harbour on the northern shore of Cape
Breton Island, Nova Scotia Canada; lobster traps, light station and deep blue
sea.
Ah, the island life—a
January breeze billows in the laundry hanging next to the lobster traps and
docked boat. Otherwise, it is another lazy, quiet day on
Belize’s Caye Caulker
Island; not much traffic at “Mike’s Movie House,” image # F-4-12-2.
# 1-1-2-16: Early
morning sunlight breaks through to create this fleeting rainbow over
Oahu,
Hawaii’s Koolau
Mountains; a few seconds after shooting this frame, the sunlight and rainbow were gone.
# 6-PR-14-18: A lovely
day to appreciate the greens and blues of this
Hawaii
beach scene; temperature was in the mid-eighties and the Trade Winds were
blowing at a respectable 20 MPH (given away by the angle of the Ironwood or
Horsetail Tree’s foliage).
# LA-22-9: This
Cypress
tree draped in Spanish moss bears the scars of a recent lightning strike yet
remains beautiful in the early morning light of
Louisiana
’s
Lake
Martin
. The soothing shades of blue bring
a serenity to this scene of a damaged tree.
# MAL-1-7:
Late evening November light baths the honey-colored stone of
Valletta’s Upper Barracco Gardens
in a warm glow. The city of Valletta
has been the capital of Malta
since the 1500’s.
Malta
is a place with a long history, with stone temples that pre-date
Stonehenge
, and city walls built by the Phoenicians that date to 1000 BC. It
was on this island that the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked in 60 AD during his
voyage to Rome.
# MAL-2-4 presents
another view of
Valletta’s Upper Barracco Gardens. In 1530
Malta
was ceded by Emperor Charles V to the Order of the Hospital of St. John of
Jerusalem, better known as the Knights of St. John (a military and religious
order of the Catholic Church). After withstanding the Ottoman siege of 1565 the
knights, no longer valuing Mdina, wanted another capital. Under the Grand Master
Vallette a new capital was designed and built—today's Valletta.
# MAL-27-12 This shot of
Marsaxlokk
Bay
shows a few of the colorful, traditional fishing boats of
Malta
. There is an open market beside the
bay where residents puchase fresh fish, fruit and other goods.
# CAR-24-20 The
mountains near Roseau, Dominica are drenched in an evening downpour as the sun
briefly breaks through lighting up this island scene in the West Indies with a
brilliant rainbow. One of the
windward or “banana” islands of the West Indies,
Dominica
catches the precipitation coming in from the
Atlantic
, making it a lush green island paradise (perfect for growing bananas).
# F-6-11-13, the morning
stillness finds this Native Mayan fisherman crossing the blue waters of
Guatemala's
Lake
Atitlan
, surrounded by volcanic peaks.
# CAR-10-4 Shot from
Deep
Water
Harbour
, the early morning February sun adds saturation to the already bright colors as
it lights up the colorful town of
Basseterre
, St Kitts
# F-6-4-1 “Arches”
of Las Capuchinas Convent in
Guatemala’s city of
La Antigua
dates back more than 400 years.
# F-6-4-8
“Courtyard” view of
Guatemala’s Las Capuchinas Convent in La Antigua
# F-8-1-19
Cushendun,
County Antrim, Northern Ireland, sheep grazing in seaside pasture as sun rays break through the grey October
skies.
# F-8-1-7 Evening light
on
Northern Ireland
’s
Carnlough
Harbour
# CAR-47-2 Fishing boat
tied to a pier in the fishing
village
of
Island
Harbour, Anguilla,
British West Indies
# CAR-45-19
This tranquil scene captures thin
slice of sand, the bright turquoise waters (reflected on the underside of the
passing cloud) was captured on a May afternoon at
Upper
Shoal
Bay
,
Anguilla
, British West Indies
# ISR-17-2 The ancient
city of
Beth Shean under excavation in
Israel
. In
America
we have a shallow concept of “old’ or “historic.”
If something 200 years old, we consider that really old.
Here is a city that goes back at least 3,000 years.
There have been 26 layers of civilization unearthed at this important
archaeological site.
# F-3-3-18 October in
Ecuador’s
Galapagos
Island
found this endemic Yellow warbler flitting about the nearby bushes on
Ochoa
Beach
,
San Cristobal
Island
. The warbler demonstrates the
unusual lack of fear wild animals of these islands have of humans.
# 1-PR-17-2 this
September scene along the “Big Tree Trail” of Puerto Rico's El Yunque
captures the green essence of the tropical rainforest.
Caribbean
National Forest
(know locally as El Yunque) is the only tropical rainforest under USDA
management.
# 9-PR-97-6 this piece
of algae-covered driftwood resembles moss-covered logs we see in our own woods,
but moss doesn’t grow in saltwater. The
scene along
Puerto Rico’s north shore captures the deserted beach in December; deserted because few
islanders go the beach in any month with an “r” in it—making May-August
the only time it ever gets close to being crowded.
# 9-1-2-10:
Waimanalo
Bay, Oahu,
Hawaii. This fishing boat contrasts nicely with the blue and green of sky and sea.
# 1-VI-42-5 this shot on
Buck
Island, St Croix,
United States
Virgin Islands
actually captures the curve of the earth. Notice
the sea at the edges of the frame, it bends slightly downward, the ocean appears
slightly higher in the middle of the frame.
# 1 VI-22-14 Rocks, sand
and sea Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, St Croix,
United States Virgin
Islands
# SD-5-14 Billowing
cloud over
Wind Cave National Park
,
South Dakota
# 1-2-320-13 this
arresting array of green was spotted along the
Highland Scenic Highway
, Parkway section in
Pocahontas
County
, West Virginia
# 1-2-71-11 Foggy spring
woodland scene on an early May morning, Lewis County, West Virginia
# 1-2-71-15 Radiant
green of a foggy spring morning in Lewis County, West Virginia
Artist’s
Statement
Growing
up in the isolated mountains of
Webster
County
,
West Virginia
I developed an early and endearing love of nature.
I developed a desire to share that love and inspire that love in others.
I do so, first of all by “seeing,” looking at a scene and mentally
constructing an image in my mind—an image that eliminates the clutter, an
image that pulls the viewer in—focusing on the beauty of the scene.
Quite
often you will see I concentrate heavily on shades of green and blue.
This is not by accident. These
are the colors of peace and solitude (seldom will one sense coldness in the
shades of blue I capture). The
solitude of a peaceful place is where I seek to transport the viewer.
The greens convey life, self-confidence, harmony and balance; the blues
convey solitude, truth, healing, and serenity.
Fortunate
to have a skill that has allowed me to see the world, I returned home in 1994.
I returned to my beautiful mountains that first inspired my vision and
the way I view the world.
I
seek out those special places of color to feel those emotions, to soak it
in—then communicate those same feelings to the viewers of my work.
-- Thomas R. Fletcher
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here if you would like to order Photo Prints
