Graveyard Spirits
 Graveyard Spirits is an 80 minute single-exposure photograph taken in the middle
of the night.  No PhotoShop. No multiple exposures.  During the exposure, Sheer travels into
the frame of his shot to create all the figures using a portable lighting device hidden in his hand.
 Sheer's photographs have been called motion pictures in reverse; the negative remains still
while Sheer motions in front of the camera in the nighttime darkness to create backlit
silhouettes of his presence -- (something Hitchcock would have loved).  A little moonlight
 eventually brings forth brightness and color onto the negative during the lengthy exposure.
Sheer never sees the tombstones from the camera position during the entire process.
  Sheer discovered this photography technique by accident while working as a cinematographer
performing nighttime motion picture time-lapse shots for Hollywood movies.

"A motion picture can be just one frame long, but it better be a damn good frame!
 Not one of my students had taken my words literally until Robert's incredible achievement of this feat."
 -- the late Ian Conner,  Sheer's cinematography instructor at LMU Film School


Spirits in Corkscrew Canyon, Arizona
 In this photo, Sheer travels in front of the camera in near-complete darkness and quickly
lights several small circular sections of canyon walls behind him to create six silhouettes.
A 45-minute exposure time allows for an imperceptible amount of natural light to refract
down a forty-foot-long narrow crevice to brighten the shot and bring back color on
the negative, and transform the black silhouettes into translucent spirit shadows.
   Sheer can't see more than eight feet in front of him at any time.

"Sheer's work is a beautiful combination of art and science."
 - Paula S. Apsell,  Senior Executive Producer of "Nova" on PBS


Giant Sequoia Star-Trail
Taken at the General Grant Tree in King's Canyon/Sequoia National Park,
this six-hour-long night exposure shows the stars slowly traversing across the
night sky and etching their paths into the negative.  It's actually the earth's rotation
that causes the stars to move so harmoniously across the shot.  The sky -- black the entire time
of the exposure -- acquires its blue color on the negative through the cumulative light
 of all those suns in the galaxy.  Meanwhile, Sheer lights up the front of the tree with a
simple campfire lantern for 45 minutes during the 10 pm until 4 am exposure.

 “Every bit of Sheer’s creative magic is done in the camera with long single exposures
 - no computers, Photoshop or layering of negatives.  Sheer, who seeks to achieve what
the poet William Wordsworth once called "the vision splendid", has it in abundance."
- the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 


The Spirits of Stonehenge
 From left to right: a druid, a Camelot knight, the Norman invader, a Roman soldier,
a Christian, and in the back-center, the original architect/creator/artist.  During this
one-hour night exposure taken between 3 and 4 am, Sheer enters the frame
of the shot to literally re-create the historical figures from Stonehenge's past.

"Robert Kawika Sheer is a photographic shaman." - Tara Skyler, art patron


Ansel's Spirit At His Gallery, Yosemite, California
 When Ansel Adams' grandson Matthew Adams saw Sheer's performance-art
photographs at Photo L.A., he said, "I think my grandfather is
looking over your shoulder when you're performing your photography." 
Sheer immediately asked for Matthew's permission to shoot an homage to
his grandfather.  The result... Sheer stands on the darkened porch outside the
famous studio/gallery to create this tribute to his idol Ansel Adams.
 [ click to view the Ansel Adams poem ]
 


Three Hawaiian Spirits at Waikiki
The sky is dark, Diamond Head is invisible, and the ocean is a black
liquid palette as "Kawika" (Sheer's Hawaiian middle name) ventures
 into the surf at 2 a.m. to create three mystical spirits who appear to
 calm the rolling sea, bring forth light from darkness, and color the
 ocean in turquoise hues during this ethereal one-hour single exposure.

"The most creative photography I've ever seen." -- Judge Leland Anderson


Ghost Town Gunfight, Calico, California
One-hundred fifty years following their original gunfight, these spirit gunfighters are
still battling it out on the silver mining streets of Calico Ghost Town. 
(a one-hour exposure from 3:15am - 4:15am)

 We are pleased to announce that Robert's "Spirits in Corkscrew Canyon" photograph graces the
 entire FRONT PAGE of the Argonaut Newspaper ("the newspaper for the westside of L.A.").  
To see the front page plus the article [ click here ]

Robert Kawika Sheer and his award-winning Spirit Shadows were featured in the October issue of 
Rangefinder Magazine.  To view the article, click on this hyperlink:  [ www.rangefindermag.com ]

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All photographs are long, single exposures with no digital manipulations.
They're all limited editions, signed, and printed by the artist.
[ Click Here For Prices ]
 For photograph prices or stock licensing rights,
you can also call us Toll Free at (888) 371-4955.
 Our local phone is (310) 398-1899
Commissions are also available:
(Have Robert create your own personal performance-art photograph
and take the "Spirit Shadow Journey" with Robert Kawika Sheer!)
 

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Revised: January 18, 2008