Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mike Bessler was awarded 8th Place at the Best of the Best Show

The Alliance of Fine Art held the Best of the Best Exhibit 2008 at the Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St, Oak Brook, IL March 15 to May 18, 2008. The awards reception was Sunday, May 18, 2pm-4pm.  Out of 120 participants, Mike won 8th place.  His piece  "Glowing Forest" also sold during the show.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Mike Bessler ARTWORKS

May 9, 2008
 
By Denise M. Baran-Unland Special to the Herald News
 
Full article:
 
To fully grasp the immensity of the art pieces fine art photographer Mike Bessler fabricates, click twice on the red and yellow tulips image on his home page online at www.BesPhoto.com.  There, Bessler, 57, of Bolingbrook, stands proudly before the 16-by-6-foot tulips photograph that permanently resides at Naperville's Edward Hospital outpatient center in Plainfield.  "This is my favorite image right now," Bessler said. "I like to keep going back and looking at it and I bring other people to look at it, too."

To create this wide-angle image, Bessler took 14 different shots of the tulips, cut them into 10 36-inch square images and stitched them together.

He then printed them on canvas and created visible brush strokes on the flowers by painting them with clear acrylic. Because the photograph has so much detail, Bessler said he can print it again in any desired size.

"To me, this brings out the richness of the picture and makes it look more three-dimensional," Bessler said. "Some day -- maybe a long time from now -- I'll be able to print 3-D, but the best I can do right now is to add my texture on the outside."

For other photographs, Bessler "sculpts" them, by photographing many separate pictures of the same object and assembling them into one photograph by layering them. He used this technique with the images he took of his new pink rosebush.

"Sculpture has more depth, more shadows," he said. "Your eye just puts it all together and you don't see the spaces at all."

Bessler has shown his work at the Oak Brook Invitational and he has sold his pieces to both individuals and to corporations. Each year, he teaches photograph workshops at Starved Rock State Park in Utica.

Although both Bessler's father and uncle loved photography, Bessler said his call to the craft came at Lockport West High School (now Romeoville HS) when someone put a camera in his hands and told him to go take pictures.

"I didn't have a clue what I was doing, so I had to learn," Bessler said. "There weren't all those photography classes then." He apparently caught on fairly quickly. "I was the photographer for the 1968 yearbook. Almost all the photographs in there are mine and my friend's and we did all the layouts."

A full-time programmer and a part-time wedding photographer, the nature-loving Bessler evolved into a fine art photographer after he visited and took pictures of the Grand Canyon. He couldn't wait to get those images developed and relive that visual experience. But the resulting pictures disappointed him.

"The awe was just not there and that is when I resolved to learn how to bring home the awe," Bessler said.

He experimented first with enhancing the colors of his realistic pieces and later by creating impressionistic renderings of his images to give the feel of the original scene. Many of those images are quite large and have a sculpted feeling. Bessler now prints those images on either fine art paper or canvas.

Since he retired two years ago, Bessler has limited the number of weddings he will shoot each year to concentrate more on his fine art work. These are mostly nature pieces, especially flowers and waterfalls. The process of creating them gives Bessler immense satisfaction.

"My images are mine from the first look through the viewfinder of my camera, through the enhancing process and the printing," Bessler said. "Now I am feeling the awe."

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Naperville Art League Award Winners for “MEMORIES OF THE PAST”

Best of Show:
Kirk Kerndl —“Portrait of Juan Morales”

Best Theme:
Pat Young —“Past Vacation Memories”

Merit Awards:
Mike Bessler —“Mayan Monkey Pot 400 AD”



Susan R. Wilson — “Iris Gardens”

Marilyn Polivka — “Isabella in the Garden”

Bill Baykan — “Charlie”

Ed Massart — “Mom’s Bike”

Judged by George Liebert