COLIN MCRAE SELECT OF WORKS

Transcription

1 COLIN MCRAE SELECT OF WORKS People find it hard to believe that these aerial images of one of the world s most famous bodies of water can be so strikingly unusual and colorful. I am often asked if these photographs have been manipulated. They have not. The images were taken while flying in helicopters at altitudes from 500 to 5,000 feet over the fringes of the San Francisco Bay and its tributaries. San Francisco Bay is a massive water collection and discharge system, pumping billions of gallons of water daily using its tides and tributaries as engines. Covering 1600 square miles, it is the second largest estuary in the world, and drains more than 40% of California s land area. Each day the tides pump more than seven times the flow of the Mississippi River through the one mile opening of the Golden Gate. This activity causes striking changes at the edges and corners of the bay, being most pronounced at its south end. These areas are like the edges of a sink left with residue after it has drained. From above evidence of this activity is even more dramatic. Currents are seen creating channels of water rushing in different directions running side by side, the incoming one color, the outgoing another. As the water recedes, streams, rivulets, mud, rock, scars, and debris become visible along the shoreline with unusual light reflections and color changes. Color in the salt ponds at the southern end of the bay becomes particularly intense when algae and brine shrimp react to varying levels of salinity. My interest in these tidal areas developed quite by chance while flying commercial assignments over the San Francisco Bay Area. When flying out of the Oakland, Hayward, and San Carlos airports, my flight plan invariably passed over some part of the Bay. I was fascinated by the interaction of colors, shapes, and reflections where the waters of the bay gave way to land. I was viewing scenes created by tidal ebb and flow, the intrusion of commercial interests, and nature s constant readjustments to these forces. The resulting abstracts were beautiful, unusual, and sometimes disturbing. These photographs depict an area that since the early 1960 s has been a focal point of the environmental movement in the United States. By 1961 the Bay had lost 1/3 of its size to commercial and industrial interests. 90% of the tidal marshlands were filled in, sealed off from tidal flow, or converted to salt ponds. In 1961, the group, Save the Bay, formed to protect the Bay from further infill, pollution, and wildlife habitat destruction. Save the Bay s success led then President Bill Clinton to credit it with launching the environmental movement. Today, a project is underway to restore 15,000 acres of wetlands.

2 Green to Orange II White on Green. Six Towers

3 Lime Orange Lime Orange 2 Dry Field Tower

4 Dark Eye Salt Sort Two Salt Sort One

5 Lone Tower Wire Line. Brown Pond 5582

6 Green Current Green Pond Turquoise Swirl

7 Turquoise Swirl Dye Inflused Print on Metal Framed 48 x 72 Edition of 3 $7000 OTHER AVAILABLE SIZES 32 x 48, dye inflused on metal - $ x 48, archival print framed - $5500 (framed size 37.5 x 53 ) 48 x 72, dye inflused on metal - $ x 60, archival print framed - $7700 (framed size 44 x 64 )

8 Green River Dye Inflused Print on Metal 48 x 32 Edition of 5 $5500 Other Available Sizes 48 x 72 $7000 Edition of 3 Rose Wash Dye Inflused Print on Metal 48 x 32 Edition of 5 $5500 Other Available Sizes 48 x 72 $7000 Edition of 3

9 Old Rail Dye Inflused Print on Metal 48 x 32 Edition of 5 $5500 Wire Line Orange Dye Inflused Print on Metal 26 x 19 Edition of 8 $2200 Other Available Sizes 48 x 72 $7000 Edition of 3

10 Yellow Salt Pond Also Available 32 x 48 (37.5 x 53 framed) Ed. of 5 $ x 60 (44 x 64 framed) Ed. of 3 $7700 Gray and Gold Also Available 32 x 48 (37.5 x 53 framed) Ed. of 5 $ x 60 (44 x 64 framed) Ed. of 3 $7700

11 Orange S Bay Flat Tower Spreading Out

12 Red Cross Dye Inflused Print on Metal 48 x 32 Edition of 5 $5500 Other Available Sizes 19 x 25 $2200 Edition of 8 (Archival Print on Paper only) 37.5 x 53 $5500 Edition of 5 (Archival Print on Paper) 48 x 72 $7000 Edition of 3 (Dye Infused on Metal) 40 x 60 $7000 (Archival Print and Framed 44 x 64 )

13 Rainbow Fields Dye Inflused Print on Metal 48 x 72 Edition of 3 $7000 Other Available Sizes 19 x 25 $2200 Edition of 8 32 x 48 $5500 Edition of 5 (Printed on Archival Paper or Dye Inflused Print on Metal) 40 x 60 $7700 (Archival Print and Framed 44 x 64 )

14 Gray Wash Wine Salt Farm Bend

15 Salt Bars Angle Creek Blue Light

16 Curve Slough 5476 Red Creek 3 Orange Yellow Bend

17 Red Sail Brown Wash 8535

18 Left Turn Sail 2242