Keep an eye on what I'm shooting and where you can see my work...
CRUISING WORLD magazine, the leading sailing publication, featured this image of mine in their November 2009 issue. It was shot in the Atlantic while sailing to the Caribbean from Newport, RI.
I also wrote the supporting text, which explains weather concerns while sailing at sea.
While on assignment for the German news magazine STERN, I shot photos of Martha’s Vineyard as part of a commentary about President Obama’s choice of summer vacation. The aerial photo was taken on an early morning flight over Oak Bluffs from a powered paraglider, a week before the helicopters from the White House were seen flying in. 
I’ve recently combined photography with sound to create a unique audio CD that puts you on the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard as the surf rolls in.
The OCEAN SOUNDS OF MARTHA’S VINEYARD CD is now available online, at several locations on Martha’s Vineyard, and soon on iTunes: http://www.vineyardsounds.com/
This original Ocean Sounds CD created by nature and recorded in high quality stereo surround sound, is direct from the water’s edge along the beautiful beaches and shores of Martha’s Vineyard. Ideal for practicing yoga, meditation, or enhancing sleep, you’ll be transported to tranquil places like Lambert’s Cove and Lucy Vincent Beach, where the sand and surf welcomes you to leave the world behind.
Let the natural sounds of Martha’s Vineyard’s beaches relax your mind and calm your soul.
Relax, enjoy, and spend some time along the beaches and shores of Martha’s Vineyard.
80 minutes / Stereo CD
My work has been selected to appear on the Artful Home marketplace online.
Currently showing is a nautical series, but the site will soon include a water series, and an “abstracts in nature” series. These fine art photographs are for sale as limited edition prints on cotton rag paper.
Check them out here: www.artfulhome.com/artist/8001.html
“I like to capture water in motion to create a lasting image of a unique moment.”
- Michael Eudenbach
Artful Home: Michael Eudenbach’s work often captures the exciting feel of motion in a classic and timeless way, through use of dramatic angles within the composition. In his nautical sailing series of images, Michael has taken the perspective view “on board” beautiful sailing yachts while at sea.
“Atlantic Calm” Michael Eudenbach
Artful Home’s collection is a trusted source for consumers and designers looking for distinctive works of art. All new artists are juried by a panel of artistic advisors led by Michael Monroe, a leading authority on the contemporary crafts movement. For 21 years, Michael acted as curator and director of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, the nation’s most prestigious venue for contemporary American craft. Michael is currently executive director and chief curator of the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington State. He and our advisory panel review each new artist and each new piece to ensure that the work meets or exceeds our standards. Only a fraction of the artists who apply to Artful Home are accepted. For those who are accepted, we proudly present their work to a worldwide audience. Our intensive selection process represents an ironclad commitment to you that artwork offered through Artful Home is of the highest quality and craftsmanship.
The Center for Fine Art Photography has my work titled “Underwater Rain” on display in Fort Collins, Colorado as part of their 2009 Perspective Exhibition. Work was juried by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director of the Griffen Museum of Photography.
“Perspective offers the audience a variety of viewpoints, from the strategic placement of the camera, as interpreted by forty-six photographers from around the world.”
http://c4fap.org/exhibitions/2009Perspective/index.htm
“Underwater Rain” by Michael Eudenbach
I spent some time photographing on the water in the Caribbean earlier this month for one of my clients: GUNBOAT. These sailboats are gaining in popularity being both fast AND luxurious as they proved on the race course during the backdrop for this shoot, the Heineken Regatta.
Fluid shots
MICHAEL EUDENBACH, 38
Photographer
The qualities of water are both myriad and mutable. It can surge and babble, it can swell to frightening heights or lay flat and stretched out impossibly to the horizon. Captured in photographs it can act as protagonist or a place of solace and reflection. Michael Eudenbach is decidedly at home on the water and many of his pictures reflect a reverence for the sea. As a Newport-based commercial photographer, he is known for his dynamic sport and sailing photography. His work has been published in national magazines including Yachting World, Sailing World, Wooden Boat Journal, Men’s Journal, Windsurfing Magazine and National Geographic Traveler. His fine art photography tends more toward serene images of underwater tranquility or cloud patterns ethereal and suspended. Eudenbach has recently taken to the skies as he continues to explore — and capture — the world from different perspectives.
BY LISA UTMAN RANDALL When did you first get interested in taking photographs?
My father was a hobbyist photographer, so we always had cameras in the house… some really cool old ones too. Most kids weren’t allowed to touch cameras back then, but he always let me. We had a darkroom too. So I entered a few photo contests when I was a kid. I’d take pictures of a dog or squirrels ( laughs). I kept at it and started getting published. National Geographic was definitely where I wanted to go.
You take a lot of really stunning sailing photos. When did you get into sailing?
I started sailing at the New York Yacht Club when I was a kid. Then I got involved in the first ever Rogers High School sailing team in about 1986. I also sailed while I was at Providence College. After college I did that whole sailing/crewing thing for a while. I sailed with the Endeavor for a couple of years and then I was captain of my own boat for a while. Eventually, I just outgrew it though. The whole time I was sailing, I always had a camera with me — it traveled inside my jacket. I started getting published in Cruising World and Sailing World and when the time was right, I just segued into photography.
Did you ever lose a camera over the side of a boat?
No, I never lost anything over the side, but I dropped one down the hatch once and it took me three days to put it back together. I used super glue.
How about you? Have you ever gone over the side of a boat?
No, but I’ve been on a sailboat that was sinking a couple of times. You know it’s bad when you start estimating whether you can swim to shore when you’re 60 miles out. I’ve broken a lot of equipment, but never had any injuries.
You describe your images as having graphic composition, what do you mean by that?
For me the picture has to be visually appealing in a graphic sense. You have to be drawn in by the angles. I look first for the graphics, then the mood and the composition. A lot of it is instinct, because you can’t think too much. I decide up front if there’s something cool going on, and then I typically just observe for a while.
Being an observer is what being a photographer is about for me. Then it happens very quickly. I’ll be on a boat and a wave will be flying by and I have to think quickly about where I need to be. Most of the time it just happens.
There’s a lot going on in your photographs, it’s very adventurous. How do you get that sense of action to come across in your work?
A lot of it is technique and really thinking about your subject. For example, when I took photographs of Gunboat, which is a very fast boat, I knew I didn’t want a shot of it sitting on anchorage. That’s just not what this boat is about. So, I had to consider how I was going to capture that; what will illustrate its speed. I shot it going really fast, surfing some Caribbean swells. If I were taking a picture of a rowboat, I’d go for something calm like in a pond. I tend to work in extremes; it’s either the full adrenalin rush or the calm thing.
A lot of your fine art photography makes use of patterned imagery. Is that something you consciously seek out?
Yeah, I definitely look for patterns to shoot. Sometimes it’s clouds, some are underwater.
I like to pair up three or four together. I’m working on a new series of patterns in nature. I know it’s something that a lot of photographers do, but the cool thing about it is it’s so accessible — it can be the shingles on your neighbors’ house.
I read that you’ve started taking pictures while flying a powered paraglider. Forgive me, but that sounds a little, um, crazy….
Yeah, I learned how to paraglide years ago in California, but when I moved back here there just aren’t any places to fly because there aren’t any mountains to take off from. They developed this powered paraglider. I got one and trained to fly it. It’s the ultimate shooting platform.
It’s very safe though, it goes at a constant speed of about 30 mph. You can fly low and slow at a couple of hundred feet. I can take off right from the beach — it’s great. It’s really beautiful, especially in the early morning and it’s just a great vantage point.
There’s a photograph on your Web site of you descending towards iced-over water, strapped into your paraglider, that’s taken from above. How did you get that shot?
That was in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. I was gliding 200 feet above the St. Lawrence River and I was there shooting a winter kite-sailing competition when I saw this amazing lighthouse sort of frozen in the river. I had my camera suspended above me – strapped to the gliders wing and I used a remote trigger. It was incredible, but really cold.
So, sailing, paragliding, what’s next?
I’m just waiting for NASA to call me. No, just kidding. I just signed with a commercial rep in New York called Aurora Select. So, hopefully that will work out. I’d like to get some bigger jobs and go from there.
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| Moving pictures. Michael Eudenbach, shown in his Newport home with his 24” x 36” photograph ‘Endeavour Storm,’ taken in the mid-Atlantic in 1999, shoots images with graphic composition and a bold use of color and flowing motion.
PHOTO BY JACQUELINE MARQUE |
I’ve been documenting the experience of flying a paraglider over dramatic landscapes for low altitude perspectives. This photo featured in the December issue of Men’s Journal, was by far the most incredible flight I’ve been on. I was in Canada shooting a winter kite-sailing competition, where I discovered this remote lighthouse frozen into the St. Lawrence River.
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. Paragliding 200 feet above the St. Lawrence River, Michael Eudenbach looks down at ice floes broken by tankers pulling in and out of a shipping channel near Trois-Rivieres, 84 miles northeast of Montreal. ”The ice is three to four feet thick,” says the photographer, 38, who fastened a camera to the gliders wing and used a remote trigger for this shot. ”It’s stable enough to hike out to the lighthouse (top left), which is surrounded by water all summer.” From December till March, kite- and windsurfers congregate to take advantage of the thick ice and high winds. The biggest challenge is the temperature, says Eudenbach. ”At 15 degrees I could fly for only 20 minutes before I got too damn cold.” - Dacus Thompson / Men’s Journal / December 2008
My photography was mentioned in Photo District News (PDN) magazine’s feature article profiling several “new recruits” to stock photo agencies. I signed with Masterfile, a leading stock agency based in Toronto, in March 2008:
Five of my images were chosen as “Nominees” in the 4th Annual Black and White Spider Awards, the leading international award honoring excellence in black and white photography.
Thousands of images were received from sixty-two countries. The nominated photographers were selected by a who’s who Judging Panel from the international photography community, including Sotheby’s, Tate Gallery (London), and Fratelli Alinari Museum (Florence).
“The Spider Awards celebrates photographers who operate at the highest levels of their craft,” said the awards Creative Director, Basil O’Brien.
You can view the 4th Annual Winners Gallery at www.thespiderawards.com/gallery/index.
