J.D. Dennison had been shooting photographs for a number of years and developed a technique he had not seen anyone use by taking photos at night by which the flash only captures images in the foreground, and then inverting the colors. Blacks turn into whites, purples turn into yellows.
Of course, “a number of years” are relative for Dennison, a 21-year-old fourth-year music major at the University of Michigan who lives in Troy. Still, he and many people in the art world have rarely or If ever seen it done. And when he set out to do his first show at the Duderstadt Center at U-M, it was met with an overwhelming success. In the first night of the show, Dennison sold seven photographs – enough to build a body of work to show and sell in 10 art shows this summer, including Arts Beats & Eats in Downtown Royal Oak over Labor Day weekend.
Dennison favors photographing trees with his technique.
“With a flash, especially if you shoot in a forest, all you get are the branches in the foreground; you can’t see the trees in the background,” Dennison says. “Plus, there’s something that I really like about the skeletal forms of the trees and the branches.”
Dennison was also fortunate to get the 
guidance of legendary Michigan photographer Monte Nagler, who is known for this black and white landscape photography. Nagler helped Dennison with developing, framing and hanging the prints in his first gallery show.
So far, Dennison’s first year in the art show circuit has been steadily profitable, although he says there’s room for improvement by tweaking his website and the interior of booth and making better connections with collectors and galleries.
Arts Beats & Eats will be Dennison’s largest art show this year.
“I’m just excited for the crowds,” Dennison says. “Since my art is unique, I’ll be able to explain it to people and get lots of feedback.”
And then Dennison will be back in school where he will surely have just as much success in music production, specifically focusing on music for film and dance.
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