Robert Weingarten

6.30 A.M.

After making test pictures from various points around his ocean view home in Malibu, he decided to turn his normal working procedure upside down and inside out by creating a set of strict rules of engagement with the motif. The subject would be sky, sea, and city observed over the course of one year, beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31, 2003, and would be advanced every day he was at home. A number of key artistic decisions governed the outcome of the project. Weingarten established a single viewpoint, looking southeast over Santa Monica Bay, from which every photograph in the series would be made with the camera in exactly the same position.

Each exposure would be made at precisely the same time of day - 6:30 am - measured by one quartz clock. All exposures would be made with the lens focused on infinity and at the same aperture of f/22. Just two variables were allowed into this disciplined scheme: the shutter speed of the lens, which would be adjusted faster or slower depending on the quantity and quality of light available at 6:30 a.m. each day; and, the most variable element of all, changes in the scene that were introduced by the forces of nature.-Weston Naef, Curator of Photographs, The J. Paul Getty Museum. For full text of Weston Naef's article click on this link: WN Article PDF.

30”x30” images
34”x34” paper size

40”x40” images
44”x44” paper size

Archival Pigment Prints on Somerset Velvet Fine Art