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I’ve just uploaded this piece and would like to get your opinion on it.

What do you think?


Many times the key factor of a great photograph comes from it having strong composition. Yes, the story is important but, without strong composition the story gets lost I think.

The inspiration for it came to me when I was out for a walk with my wife and dog, and saw these crocus flowers out from the corner of my eye. The story here is that I love how this moment says new life that brings hope. The colors are catchy and a favorite of many.

I used negative space composition, which is a basic, but often overlooked principle of design, that gives the eye a "place to rest," increasing the appeal through subtle means. This together with the square format framing, makes this suitable for framing with a wider matboard.

This image is a part of my Phoneography Project that you may know I've been doing to produce images that have been put through its paces by a forty-year professional lensmen. This photograph was made with an iPhone 5s.

All of the prints that I order never seize to amaze me of the superb quality and detail from this phone camera. Especially with the larger sized prints.

Though quality of prints from a smart phone camera start with the sensor, mostly it comes from the printing process being used. My prints are produced on acid-free papers using archival inks to guarantee that they last a lifetime without fading or loss of color. All art prints include a 1" white border around the image to allow for future framing and matting, if desired.

All of it is printed and the fulfillment handled by Pixels (Fine Art America) who assures each print is produced using my high-resolution original photos, meticulously assembled at a state-of-the-art production facility, and delivered worldwide to your doorstep as a "ready-to-hang" masterpiece with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

View my Phonegraphy Collection on Pixels (Fine Art America). https://pixels.com/profiles/frankjcasella.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=733773

Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/springtime-blossom-frank-j-casella.html

Visit the Smart Phone Phofography - Artist Group on Pixels. https://pixels.com/groups/smart-phone-photography.html

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'Let There Be Light' by Frank J Casella


Then God said,

"Let there be light," and there was light.

God saw how good the light was.

God then separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."

Thus evening came, and morning followed—the first day.


Genesis 1 : 3-5



Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.

- Pope Francis (Urbi et Orbi - Easter 2013)



Today is a great day to pray and ask God to resurrect your life.


Pray: Jesus, you came so that I might have life. Resurrect my life so that I can more fully live the life you have dreamed for me.



Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/1-let-there-be-light-frank-j-casella.html




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Here you will find links to the Frank J Casella Art and Photography products for your holiday shopping. Simply copy the short link for the product of your interest into a new browser window / tab. Then enter the holiday or keyword of interest into the search box (Easter, Christmas, Mothers Day, etc.) Click on your artwork selection and purchase.



All Sales are Through Pixels.com (FineArtAmerica)

Posters http://tinyurl.com/qhcc2dn

Greeting Cards http://tinyurl.com/q6adpqv

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Recently Added Wall Art: http://tinyurl.com/o9psv2z

Men's Apparel: http://tinyurl.com/pm6blf5

Women's Apparel http://tinyurl.com/pnna75c

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Limited Time Promotion http://tinyurl.com/obugz33

Spiral Notebooks https://tinyurl.com/ybsg5pzg

Portable Battery Chargers https://tinyurl.com/y8gryaur

Round Beach Towels https://tinyurl.com/ybsmqk57

Yoga Mats https://tinyurl.com/y793vmlq

Canvas Prints https://tinyurl.com/yba9c6qd

Wood Prints https://tinyurl.com/y7hs84j4

Coffee Mugs https://tinyurl.com/y6wfmu3b

Tote Bags https://tinyurl.com/y7pw544a

Baseball T-Shirts https://tinyurl.com/y8qxqd86

Bath Towels https://tinyurl.com/ycsb7j73


If you’re looking to get your space in the spirit, If you’ll be entertaining or sharing a meal with loved ones, or wondering what to wear, shop our selection of products to put a smile on their face all day long.

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One of the first signs of Spring is when the flowers start to sprout, and brings with it Easter, a time for new beginnings.

But new beginnings are not only for springtime. Each day is a new opportunity to begin again. To correct today the things that when wrong from yesterday.


Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/must-be-spring-frank-j-casella.html



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A simple Crucifix with palms. Religious Art Photograph by Frank J Casella


This is the Crucifix that I gaze on each day for my prayer time.

When we stare at the Crucifix ....


… long enough


…. our lives become more about Love


… and less about us.



Pope Francis: “The Gospel invites us to turn our gaze to the crucifix, which is not an ornamental object or clothing accessory – sometimes abused! – but a religious sign to be contemplated and understood.”


Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/crucifix-frank-j-casella.html



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Daffodils in Black and White - Photography by Frank J. Casella


I love the beautiful deep tones, and the way the one sharply focused blossom stands out in the soft shadowy background.

It's a week before the first day of Spring, so I thought I'd get you in the mood.


Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/daffodils-in-black-and-white-frank-j-casella.html


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This is part 2 of the three part story about my photography. If you missed part 1 you can find that here ( https://fineartamerica.com/blogs/my-story-part-2-by-frank-j-casella.html ).

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Monochrome pictures I would say is my forte. There is Black and White photography, but Monochrome I am told is the Art form of Black and White. You would think from my childhood when my mother gave me swatches of fabric of every color that I would concentrate on color photography. I am told that my color photography is very good and balanced, however, the tonal range of a monochrome and the highlights and shadows have more 'color' to me than, well, a color photograph.

There is much personality to be found from a monochrome; it helps us concentrate on the story being told where the color often times becomes too distracting. In fact, the only time I use color in a photograph is when it brings color to the story telling, not just the picture. Such as the yellow in daffodils or the color of the sun in snow filled tree branches, and the color of vestments that a priest is wearing to show the time of the liturgical year. So, when I created my gallery of classic monochrome images of hand selected Art photographs, searched my archives from over the years. Many of the images on film I'm scanning one at a time, and the response has been tremendous … and surprising to me.

Speaking of the archives, one of my favorite things to do is to pull images from years past and either re-process it with the newest technology, or look for an image that I've not shared yet. For example, as I walk the streets of Chicago I make pictures of scenes that speak to me; these are just images for my soul. So, I don't usually do anything with them right away, but usually months later. I see something more in the moment than when I clicked the shutter, and that is when I craft it into something noteworthy.

Many photographers say they make images for sale, and then others for their soul. I find most of the images that I make for my soul later on are my best sellers. Chicago is well photographed, yet every day their is something new from the old. The light, the viewpoint, the emotion, the people, and of course the weather - as they say, in Chicago just wait five minutes and the weather with change. I am very fortunate to be raised in Chicagoland and to share this corner of humanity with the world, through my camera viewfinder.

I have mentioned in my previous articles here about the story telling element of my pictures. I like to look at my pictures as having a mission. Since I have worked for many non-profits they all have mission statements. A mission statement works like a sign on a bus. It tells a person what direction the bus is going, and helps a person do decided if they want to get on the bus or off. A mission statement also transforms good intentions into right-action. Many times I'm told that I make pictures people listen to. I want to believe this is because the mission of my pictures is to illustrate right-action and goodness to bring them hope from whatever life brings them, and they resolve from my imagery.

The most memorable one is from the early 1990's when a man in prison wrote me because he saw my pictures in print of a Catholic Mass on the streets in memory of children killed by gangs (this picture is locked in the archives of the Chicago Catholic Newspaper). He told me in the letter how these pictures are from the streets he lived and they transformed his life. Today that man serves the Church teaching children about the effects and consequences of belonging to gangs. But it doesn't have to be that dramatic; a simple moment of mine of a child in a fathers arms speaks to many about the security a father brings to his family. All of this is priceless to me.

I would like to close this article series about the story of my photography with a short list of my objectives going forward:

My ‘Why”: Pictures that give me hope of God’s love. My Audience: People say my images contain stillness, emotion, energy, service, hope, goodness, My Subjects/Markets: Trees & Shadows; Home Sweet Homewood 1 Day Project; Catholic Subjects; Catholic Men & Manhood; City of Chicago Documentary; Classic Black and White Art Photographs.

What I’m communicating is not an art form. It is not about art. It is about what the viewer takes from it. When asked what images do I have that says my ‘why’ I say people interacting or embracing. Not about the church, but about God’s love through expression, because this is what people long for. In other words, making distinctive Art is more successful to me than making lots of money, simply because the money wont last.

View the top 50 of my most interesting pictures ranked by Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskWhHhgr



PS. Now that you know something about me I would like to learn something about you, or contact me ( https://frankjcasella.pixels.com/contact.html ) to share what resonates with you and why.


Photo: Off To Golf We Go by Frank J. Casella,

Own This Print https://frankjcasella.pixels.com/featured/off-to-golf-we-go-frank-j-casella.html

This is part 2 of the three part story about my photography. If you missed part 1 you can find that here ( https://fineartamerica.com/blogs/my-story-by-frank-j-casella.html ).

The final installment, part 3, I will send you in a couple days (on Monday).

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While at Columbia College Chicago, John H. White and I hit it off while I was in his photojournalism class, and before I knew it I was working freelance for suburban and city newspapers in Chicago. Then the greatest compliment happened when John authored an coffee table book about Cardinal Bernardin. This was very special for me to see my mentor make a book about the Church that has inspired my life and pictures, and the man whom I was assigned to photograph.

Since college I have worked with many mediums of photography, mostly for Catholic institutions and family-owned businesses. Around 2008 when the digital camera met the internet it changed the business of photography as we knew it up to that point. Over the years I have consistently had to reinvent myself as a photographer, but nothing compares to what digital technology and its learning curve has done with photography.

Did you know that more pictures have been made since the invention of the phone camera than all the pictures in the history of photography combined?

In 2012 while developing relationships through my WordPress blog I was introduced to Fine Art America and its brilliant business model. This opened the door for new opportunities for my photography that I never dreamed of, and thoughts came to mind of all the people in past years who encouraged me to create fine art photography.

The response to this has been tremendous, as many people who have my photography on their walls say how much they are inspired and feel a sense of hope in everyday life from my artwork. The value of this is priceless to me, because, as John White would say, simple moments make lasting impact.

In helping Fine Art America transition to a new website Brand, Pixels.com, I helped to volunteer my time as the moderator for the thousands of themed artist groups. I did this for two years before I was hired as the Executive Director of the Homewood Area Chamber of Commerce in my home town … all of that is another story separate from my photography vita here.

Photography for me is mostly about how the click of the shutter records history of a moment in time. Video has its strengths with sound and motion, but when you look at a still image long enough there is a story to be told in just that one frame. I am not one to concentrate on the technical aspects, or the lighting or equipment, as much as I craft the composition and story. I just let the picture happen.

Because how my photo mentor, John H. White, always said simple moments make big impact, the one thing I've noticed looking at my pictures from over the past thirty years is that we all live the same story. Just different people in different locations and circumstances. I think the late photographer Edward Stiechen said it best: "Photography is a major source of explaining man to man".

You would think that with my experience in photographing the Catholic Church that I would mostly have images of such today. I believe that the modern Church has no walls when it comes to living our Faith. We sit in the pew to learn our faith from the Clergy as well as from other parishioners. We take that information to the streets and try to live it, and this is what I try to document with my camera -- goodness and hope in action. ...

.... We live in a war-torn world. As humans we naturally seek a sense of structure in our lives. All of our religion can be illustrated with pictures; everything can be explained with pictures.

People ask me what is my niche with my photos and my art. You will find flowers, architecture, people, weather, product, or worship, tree branches and shadows, to name a few. Over the years I have been known as a photojournalist, a portrait photographer, a wedding photographer, and most recently fine art photographer.

Today I call myself a photographer; I make pictures of the hope of God's love in the world.

No matter the subject you will find an element that tells a story, or makes you smile, or to walk away from it asking yourself questions about your own life and your own faith. This goes back to my childhood, when I saw my father every morning praying the rosary. It wasn't prayers for himself as much as for his family and our world.

My pictures to me are a form of my prayers, a gift to the world … to humanity.

I hope you enjoy reading my story about photography, as much as I enjoy sharing it with you.

Frank


PS. Now that you know something about me I would like to learn something about you, or contact me ( https://frankjcasella.pixels.com/contact.html ) to share what resonates with you and why.

I've had a camera in my hand since I was nine years old. It all came to be as I was shy as a child, and photography helped me to express my viewpoints and how I saw the world around me. To me they were just simple moments but, over the years, people would tell me that I have the ability to photograph the soul of a person. I guess you might say that an important element of my visual story telling is of body language. When I was shy and not talking I would watch people … their every movement … how they would 'talk' with their body to express feelings and mood.

My pictures not only shared my thoughts from my childhood, but also helped me to develop confidence as people responded in a positive way to what I was saying through my imagery. Back then it was thought of as documentary photography, though I didn't call it that. Today this has become an art form, as people are in need of visual examples of goodness and the hope of God's love in the world.

My first camera was from the Bazooka Bubble Gum wrapper. Do you remember those? I recall waiting for it to come in the mail, it felt like a month of Sunday's. I then graduated to the Polaroid camera .. which was instant like todays digital camera, only you held the picture in your hands. I also had a 110 and a 126 film camera, and then a Kodak Brownie camera. Once I reached Jr. High the principal of the school saw my enthusiasm for pictures and bought an Minolta SRT-201, 35mm SLR camera to use for the school yearbook. I remember how instantly popular I became with my classmates … and how that yearbook was something new and special for the school, as well as personally to me.

I was born in the United States in a suburb of Chicago, and grew up in a family-owned business. My parents are from Chicago and moved to the suburbs when they married in 1952. My mother was a seamstress and created custom made draperies. I remember as a toddler being given swatches of fabric to play with in every color and pattern you could think of. My father was a foreman for an office supply manufacturer, and I remember waking up every morning to watch cartoons on the TV and finding my father praying the rosary before leaving for work. Both of these experiences are key to who I am as a person and the contribution that my photography has made on humanity.

In high school I failed photography class. Because I always went outside the box with class assignments, however, I still made it on the school newspaper and then yearbook staff. I was also a Fire Cadet in high school, and many times used my camera for events and fire investigations. But the thing longing in my heart was my childhood dream to be a photographer for the Catholic Church in Chicago. Every week I would wait for the mail man to deliver the Catholic newspaper and would study the pictures mostly by the great James Kilcoyne, whom I later met and eventually was hired to replace after his retirement - I completed my childhood dream at the age of 23. I was later assigned to photograph the archbishop of Chicago on a daily basis, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, so its fair to say that I was his personal photographer.

When it came time for me to consider college it was between the fire service and photography. Since I was not interested in the requirements of being a paramedic I chose photography. My hope was to become a portrait or documentary photographer, but that all changed as most of my instructors suggested I consider photojournalism and arranged for me to meet the man who teaches it, John H. White, who is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist.



This is part 1, and part 2 is at the link below. Please also come back soon or subscribe below.

https://fineartamerica.com/blogs/my-story-part-2-by-frank-j-casella.html



Photograph: 'Lovers Reading By The Lake' Black and White Art Print by Frank J Casella

Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/lovers-reading-by-the-lake-frank-j-casella.html




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He Has Covered Himself in Glory - Fine art photography of Resurrected Christ Crucifix by Frank J Casella.

If Love was easy, it would not be Love.

With the Catholic Faith we often see the crucified Christ on the cross. With this cross, however, we see the resurrected Christ.

The symbolism of both versions is to remind believers that it is through our suffering that we become a new person in Christ. The Church is known as an redemptive agency in the world.

Christ exampled Love though giving of self and through suffering, so that we might too follow this example and be covered by the Glory of God.

All we have to do is receive it with our heart, and then live what we received and now believe.


Own This Print https://pixels.com/featured/he-has-covered-himself-in-glory-frank-j-casella.html


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