Doug  Gastélum’s (El Imagenero) excellent Fine Art exhibit,  A Dinner Party, began as an idea in a workshop I led last February.  During a class discussion, various Fine Art photographers spent an hour proposing, accepting, modifying, and rejecting various theme concepts. When Doug’s turn came, he launched the idea of capturing guests arriving, enjoying, and leaving a dinner party, with a theme emphasis portraying the spirit of the individuals and the motion of the party, with little play on faces and character domination.

The theme electrified us, and fellow workshop photographers started to hum their approval and offer suggestions. Doug committed to the project, and the rest, as they say, is history.

You can (and should!) see A Dinner Party, which runs through July 19^th at the Utopia Dinner Restaurant and Gallery in Long Beach, CA (1^st and Linden).  I also encourage you to own a print or two. I highly recommend the book, as well; a finely-crafted work that belongs on your coffee table. Yes, I’m proud to promote those who have been in one my workshops, but I do not pass out accolades lightly.  The results must extend the viewer’s emotional range, and bring a deep sense of enjoyment and appreciation of the artist’s expression, sans any visual clichés. Doug’s theme and his tightly crafted workflow execution do exactly that, and more.

A Dinner Party is a collection of 18 images filled with the edgeless hum of modern life. There is a handsome quality to the participants, a visual force that tells us they are successful people. Doug also captured an intellectual rigor that lets you imagine the participants have escaped the grand schemes and invisible rhythms of their daily work lives, and now relish the social and personal moments of the dinner party.

Select images of women in preparation for social acceptance as the magical hour approaches are sensual and sensitive, and images from around the table fizz with a cherry-cola like intimacy.  And the costar of the show is the variety in camera positions which pops the work with internal scale, space, light, and detail. As you pass by the last image, you realize that each image in the exhibit has its own complex philosophy; its own revelation about them, and perhaps us, the viewers.

Beyond the rapt aesthetic and solid social values evident in this show and the book, are excellent examples for new and past photographers who participate in my Fine Art workshops. Choose a theme, add your voice, and complete the project. El Imagenero’s success and your enjoyment are due to the four P’s: passion, perseverance, practice, and perspiration.

You can learn more about El Imagenero by visiting his Facebook page.

Enjoy!