Sunrises, Golden

These cast iron street gratings bear an environmental message: “Dump No Waste” and “Drains To Waterways.” Also on the gratings are three-dimensional sculptures of a trout. Just after sunrise, the sculptures can pick up a particularly vivid, golden light as the rising sun reflects on the cast iron. High-quality prints of the photographs have a particularly soft and vivid palette themselves — a patina which changes throughout the day as the sun rises, peaks and sets.​

Sunrises, Pastel

These images show sunlight reflecting from a sculpture on a cast iron street grating. During the morning Golden Hour (just after the sun rises), the results are often soft and delicate, with rich pastel colors.sun rises, peaks and sets.​

Sunrises, One Fine Day

A single October sunrise reflects from five street gratings in a Valparaiso neighborhood. Cast iron is the secret sauce of the Golden Hour Trout.  It’s a miraculous, versatile metal with more moods than a summer day and more colors than a dress shop.  As Mark Twain once said of New England weather, “If you are not happy with it, wait five minutes.”

Sunsets, Uplifting

At Golden Hour in the evening, just before sunset, reflections from cast iron street gratings are often bright. Photographs capture highly contrasting, uplifting colors. 

Sunsets, Evocative

Photographers and painters often work in Golden Hour to capture the best light.  The light of sunrise and sunset often seems to tell a story.  The resulting fine art is nourishing and delightful.  These macro photographs of cast iron have captured an unusually rich interplay of many colors in close proximity. 

Sunsets, Blues

Sunsets reflected on cast iron at Golden Hour show a varied, rich display of color.  Sometimes, sunsets sing the blues.

Vibrant Reds

Aging, rusting cast iron naturally shows reds and oranges. The light at sunrise or sunset highlights and emphasizes reds or red undertones.  Different seasons and varied weather affect these colors.

Box of Crayons

Here you can see that even a single street grating presents so many different looks that you’d swear  you were looking at completely different fish.  You can also see some similar images with subtle and interesting differences as a result of photographs taken at different seasons and times of day.

Koi Vessica Pisces

The Golden Hour Koi collection is inspired by an ancient art form depicting two fish swimming in opposite directions.  This image surfaces in many cultures — Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Jewish, Christian and Buddhist. The Koi symbolize infinity, unending knowledge and good fortune. They’re associated with perseverance in adversity, strength of purpose, abundance and courage.

Dynamic Motifs

At a recent gallery show, an accomplished artist asked, “Where do all of these amazing patterns come from? ” In short, cast iron presents so many reflective surfaces that when sunshine hits it, they act like thousands of tiny mirrors, each with a particular color and luminescence. Further, environmental influences including rain, snow and chemicals differentially weather the cast iron, resulting in a multitude of patterns and textures.

Possible Pairs

Appreciating fine art depends on how it is displayed.  As Bill Teeple, owner of ICON Gallery remarked, successful groupings of art pieces are not logical, but depend on how each piece resonates with the others visually. Here are some fish that would love to swim with each other. 

Elegant Silhouettes

Here are images with sparser, simpler lines and forms, caused when the metal sculptures reflect the morning or evening light.  Unusual hues and tones emphasize the silhouettes.