PHOTOGRAPHY REVIEW : He Catches Those Special Moments in Time

Inherent to the art of photography is the sense of fear that occurs when you glimpse something that may never happen again. The photographer may have only a fraction of a second or, perhaps, the fraction of a week, to capture on film a moment that should be held forever.

This sense of fleeting opportunity causes photographers to fight the elements or battle the landscape all for the chance to catch a ray of sunlight peeking through a cloud.

It’s also what separates the average photographer from the memorable one.

Photographer Larry Vogel is especially adept at finding such moments, whether they be on the coast of Oregon, the mountains of Yosemite or the beaches of Corona del Mar. An exhibit of his black-and-white photographs, “The Landscape, a Personal Vision,” is on display at the Susan Spiritus Gallery in Costa Mesa through Oct. 20.

The 35 images, ranging in size from 8-by-10 to 20-by-24 inches, show off the Westminster-based photographer’s attention to detail and quality.

Vogel’s work, shot with his 4-by-5-inch format camera, follows a more-or-less conventional style with full tonal range such as his pair of 20-by-24-inch photographs “Tree and Tenaya Creek” and “Bowed Tree Snow and Bridge,” which were shot in Yosemite and feature two looks at the same location--during spring and winter.

The two photographs fit like bookends, the curve of the bowed tree drawing the eye toward both images.

Photographs with higher contrast include an unusual shot, “Trees & Fog,” shot at Lake Hodges in San Diego. The photo has a horizontal layer of fog that obscures the middle of the image. In the background is a silhouetted tree with birds. The rich black-and-white portions make it the most striking work in the show.

A photo entitled “Sunset,” taken along the Oregon coast, has a dramatic flair, with black, silhouetted jagged rock formations protruding out of the surf and contrasting a white sky.

Vogel, 32, did spend time closer to home, as evidenced in four images from Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach.

Other works include images of bark-stripped aspens, old fences, pine trees, sand dunes, an icy lake, the Long Beach skyline, oak trees on Yosemite’s El Capitan and other assorted rocks and roots.

Overall, the images are well crafted and compositionally sound. They aren’t, however, exhibited as effectively as they might be. The photos are packed together tightly on the walls of the gallery, leaving it difficult to view the works individually. Fewer photographs, with a tighter edit would have been more effective.

The Landscape, A Personal Vision, black-and-white photographs by Larry Vogel continues through Oct. 20 at the Susan Spiritus Gallery in Crystal Court section of South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday though Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Information: (714) 549-7550.