Grounds For Sculpture is  located in Hamilton, New Jersey. Scalloped hills, stone pathways, open spaces and intimate glades spread out over 35 acres. This landscape, an arboretum in every way but name, is dotted with a growing collection of outdoor sculpture. Some 150 contemporary sculptors are represented, many of them with multiple works. Among the artists presently on display are Magdalena Abakanowicz, Red Grooms, J. Seward Johnson, Jr., Luis Jimenez, Marisol, George Segal, Kiki Smith, and Isaac Witkin. Perhaps more importantly, the park provides an opportunity for emerging artists – artists who may not yet be widely recognized – to exhibit their works alongside more established colleagues. This nurtures growth within the art community and treats the public to an extended aesthetic fare.

Grounds For Sculpture also houses two museums. Each concurrently presents an indoor exhibition to accompany the outdoor work. The indoor exhibits change two or three times per year, and two to eight sculptures are rotated in the outdoor collection with every change.

Andrea Fabry, 2008 CEO at Grounds For Sculpture, relayed to me a professional compliment. Her marketing consultants, who emphasize the importance of communicating beauty in Grounds For Sculpture, put a premium on my photographic imagery.

“I was very happy to see my impressions confirmed by their research,” Andrea wrote, “namely, that your work is central to our marketing identity and reputation.”

Philip Grausman's Leucantha in the sand mold at the Johnson Atelier.

My relationship with Grounds For Sculpture actually started before the park even opened. I was already the principal photographer for The Johnson Atelier, a sculpture foundry bordering the park. I photographed for their brochures, advertisements, and for the foundry’s portfolio. In fact, I photographed sculptural pieces being cast for installation at Grounds For Sculpture, although at the time I didn’t know it.

When the park opened its gates in 1992, I was the perfect New Jersey photographer to meet its needs. I was an experienced sculpture photographer, and I had an intimate understanding of both art and advertising. While I have always been an independent contractor at Grounds For Sculpture, I was affectionately given the title of ‘Photographer in Residence’ there.

Leucantha by Philip Grausman

As the principal photographer, I contribute imagery to an archive of three, open-ended portfolios. These are: (1) A portfolio of sculpture images, (2) A portfolio of visitor images, and (3) A portfolio of park images. The imagery in these portfolios must satisfy different, highly specific needs, and each portfolio must speak in its own, particular voice. Producing these portfolios is the type of challenge that creative professionals crave.

Sculpture Photos

There are many hidden pitfalls to photographing sculpture for a museum—or for an artist. A layperson may be blind to their consequence, but the photographer will encounter them soon enough. Typically, the work must be factually representative, with little room for the photographer’s personal interpretation! The optimum vantage point must be carefully considered, trading off what is lost for what is gained with the slightest shift, left or right. But my client, The Grounds For Sculpture, rightly has its own agenda. It seeks evocative photographs that will encourage visitors to the park.

“In most cases we already have great images of the sculpture”, Brooke Barrie, the park’s first Curator, told me years ago. “The artists supplied us with those when they originally proposed their works. What we need are great images of the sculpture at Grounds For Sculpture.”

While all of the sculpture photography concerns still matter, so does everything else around the sculpture! This client does not want a nondescript background around the artwork. Much more desirable is a suggestion of where the sculpture is placed, whether that suggestion be landscaping or an architectural detail. For the exhibition brochures, only one sculpture can appear in any composition. (This has become increasingly challenging as the collection grows. The density of artwork in the park makes it difficult to find a clear view.) And, finally, the aesthetic ambiance of every photograph should be representative of the park and of the collection as a whole.

Visitor Photos

Only recently have we begun to seek out and photograph the park’s visitors. We’ve been using real people, not professional models. (Don’t be afraid – we do it overtly and with the visitors’ permission.) Our objective here is to communicate the joy of visiting the park as well as the various activities Grounds For Sculpture promotes. We want to establish the park as a unique destination. Our target demographic includes aesthetically novice as well as culturally sophisticated adults. It includes young people, especially within an educational context, and all sorts of family groups.

This collection of photographs is our newest portfolio. Watch how it grows!

Park Photos

First and foremost, these landscape photographs are images of ‘place’. My focus here is on the interstices between sculptures; the artwork itself is generally not included in these compositions.

Naturally, these photographs must be beautiful and inviting if they are to attract new visitors. But they must also be evocative of a very particular place. Park visitors, virtually all of who did not see the image exactly as I photographed it, must be able to integrate their memories and experiences with my impressions. I need to show them something that reinforces their own perceptions.

Now consider my competition. Thousands of visitors stroll through the park with their cameras every weekend. There are only so many paths to walk along, and I can’t imagine a direction in which one of their cameras has not been pointed. I am certain that many visitors make very fine pictures of Grounds For Sculpture. My photographs have to rank favorably among the very best of all of theirs.

Fortunately, as a professional photographer I have three “secret weapons”. These are patience, timing, and knowledge of the light. I can reasonably predict the day’s possibilities as I leave my Princeton residence because I am a New Jersey photographer. Mid-day, I can gauge what the light will be like at the park, only a few miles from my studio. And I know the park. Putting all of these together, I can strategically plan when it is best to visit Grounds For Sculpture with my camera.

There are two practices that I find helpful and would recommend to all other photographers. First, visit the park often. Grounds For Sculpture is an organic entity. Both subtle and dramatic changes will be noticeable from the same vantage point between any two visits. And second, plan visits to the park during every season. You will find your experiences there to be entirely different.

The ultimate ‘secret ingredient’ for making great photographs, however, is something that amateurs carry around with them all of the time. It is a sense of wonder. It is the ability to look at something familiar as if you’ve never seen it before. My best photographs of Grounds For Sculpture seem to happen when I clear my mind of other thoughts and actually see what is immediately in front of my eyes.

Happy photos, and say “Hello” if you see me at Grounds For Sculpture.