Top Gear Photograph - Limited Edition of 20

Bernard Werner follows an aesthetic rather than a particular style. His range is from the realistic to surrealistic to highly manipulated images in the abstract. His works have been in juried shows for over 25 years. He has exhibits in a number of private and corporate collections as well as virtually on the web. The artist’s interpretation only begins with the camera since the image in the viewfinder is never what is seen in the mind’s eye. We have at our finger tips a very powerful set of tools from the digital camera to the computer to the inkjet printer to create our art. Using the power of computers and the availability of new materials and processes, it is and should be, a period of intense experimentation with all artists pushing all boundaries. We should respect the past, but forge ahead with new and different accomplishments. More and more this digital amalgam lends credence to Ansel Adams' paraphrase: ‘A photograph is not taken, it is made’. One must extend the darkroom master's ethos to Photoshop. Photography was part of Werner's family culture growing up, since his older brothers always seemed to have a camera in hand. He inherited some of that, starting with a Kodak Brownie and finally reaching an apex with a Mamiya SLR. However, imagination and reality only reached a confluence with the advent of digital photography. When Photoshop V5 came free with his first Nikon, he was hooked. Since Werner's youth, the influencers were magazines such as Life, Der Stern, Time, Saturday Evening Post, Look, Der Spiegel, National Geographic, and others. Edward Steichen's compilation of "Family of Man" as book also left an indelible mark.