Woo Hoo!....a happy occurrence!

Fraction Magazine, an on-line photography 'zine has included one of my photographs in the APUG (Analog Photography Users Group) group show. There were apparently 200 submissions, and 29 images were chosen. So...I'm happy about that, and grateful for the selection. Here's a link if you'd like to see what was chosen of mine, and the rest of the remarkable 'graphs that have been published.

www.fractionmag.com/

This is to be the third in a series for the portfolio review of similar views of the same scene in different iterations: early snow, fog, and winter snow. It amazes me that I've not printed this before. The negative is a really good one. The negative was made with the 4x5 Shen Hao and 250mm Fujinon lens.




Well, I decided I preferred this negative after all to the one from my previous post. It looks more like what I had in mind as a variation on the other 'graphs than the more vaginal first choice. And....don't go there!.... there aren't any issues in my life...just enjoy the pic hehe..... ;)

Well, believe it or not, this is a view from the exact same spot as the Beacon stream series that I posted on November 29th, and a springtime series of the same thing I posted in July of 2007. I guess this must be the place I find the most varied and inspiring, because I've never yet found another that has so much dynamic interest, and so many different moods in one very confined area. This will get printed on Friday evening I think, and is a good candidate for the review portfolio.

Here are another two from the negative files. These were never printed for reasons I can't exactly recall, but I think I was looking for pristine leaves, and these weren't. But I no longer care about perfect leafy greens, and so these will become prints today! It's also a good thing to look at them on a day which will not top the low 20s in temperature, and be reminded that spring will return eventually....yup...yessir....I think so....

It's a cautionary tale, too, for digital photographers that the files that get deleted are gone for good. I keep my film negatives forever (unless they're totally wrecked somehow, but that almost never happens), and when I revisit them perhaps years hence I find that some have become appealing to me as I've grown and evolved in photography. Were I to have tossed them, I'd have needlessly lost a record of past visual exploration that may just have needed time to mature, and be recognized.

I've signed up for a portfolio review at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, which is a wonderful institution through which I've had the privilege of attending workshops by the photographers Mark Klett, and Mark Citret a number of years ago. This review will demand no fewer than 20 photographs with 25 suggested as an even better portfolio size. There will be five reviewers I will get to select among twenty who will discuss my images with me. They, of course, will expect to see a "body of work" which means that the photographs need to be at least vaguely related by subject, or be a series that comprises a specific project. I emphatically do not think of myself as a "project" photographer, although I do think a thematic link among the pieces selected is a good idea.

In any case, I am combing my files to assemble a set of negatives to print again, or for the first time that will make a worthy body of work to offer the reviewers in addition to my current new photographs which I have very pointedly made with a thematic link in mind.

So, the image below is one of those combed from the negative files I've not printed thus far. It's from Goose Pond Mountain State Park where I have made countless negatives that far exceed the time I have available to print the bulk of them. But....I like this one cropped a bit as it is from a 4x5 neg that is wonderfully sharp and crystal clear. I have no idea at this point if it will make the cut of photographs I choose to present, but at the moment...I like it!

Here's another reminder of springtime to join the two photographs below. I am really, really sick of this cold, snowy stuff we're going through now, and need spiritual sustenance to hold out till the REAL! springtime rolls 'round in about four months. Yikes....is it going to take that long....sigh....

I am so sick of shoveling snow and breaking up ice and slipping and sliding around and trying to not fall down and dealing with winter around here in general that I'm posting these two pictures of summer and spring for no other reason than it makes me feel better! ;-)

This photograph is meaningful to me because it was taken at the farthest spot I trudged to in Goose Pond Mountain State Park yesterday. The snow was at least 10 inches deep and exhausting to hike through especially with the 4x5 kit on my shoulder (I don't have snow shoes...yet...). And then my spot meter refused to stop blinking and give me a reading. I suppose it was just too cold for it to work properly as the battery was okay (it worked normally when I got home). This is a "sunny f16" guesstimate exposure that worked out well.

I wish all of you who visit here a joyous holiday season, and a splendid new year.

Stopping in New Palz for lunch at the Gilded Otter, we noticed that the Wallkill River was waaay out of it's banks from the rain and sleet that has fallen in the last few days...far more than we thought. So we parked by the river where the bike trail continues and spent some time with the cameras despite the significant cold. We then drove up into the Gunks which were utterly beautiful with their icy coating on every twig and branch. It was too fantastic to even attempt serious photography, being more important to just take it all in without saying WOW too many times too loudly. However, the third photograph below was irresistible, and finished the roll of film for me.

This morning's sleepy trudge to the kitchen to pour some coffee was quickly changed to a brisk trot to get the P67 loaded with Delta 100, the 135mm lens secured to the body, the whole kit mounted on the 'pod, and myself out on the deck to record the gorgeous glitter of overnight sleet that stuck to everything. It didn't last long as the sun blasted the frozen bling back into liquid that cascaded into the already sodden dirt..but I didn't have to shovel anything ;-)

I had some time to spend in Beacon, New York recently, and since all of the galleries were closed (which I was eager to visit, and then disappointed to not be able to see), I found myself drawn to my favorite natural spot in that town...the falls. Here are a couple of images made with my new-t0-me Mamiya C330 and the 135mm lens I've had since the late 80's I think. I love square...(not that there's anything wrong with rectangles!).

Sunday (November 2nd) was crisp, and sunny, and irresistible for any kind of outdoor adventure. I arranged a much lighter and more limited 4x5 kit for a long walk at Goose Pond Mountain. It's remarkable how simple one's tools can be, especially in this era of megawhizbang autodigitastic cameras. I just took along 1 lens (210mm Nikkor), 5 film holders (10 sheets of film), my light meter, dark cloth and the 4x5 folded up on the tripod. More just wasn't needed.

This photograph is a negative scan, but will likely become a print in the near future. I feel as though I'm beginning to lose my ability to accurately guage a scan to really resemble what the print will look like (the print will be a great deal better), but it does offer a sense of what's present in the negative, and over time, will allow me to imagine how I may go about making prints that are more satisfying...a digital contact sheet.

This is a totally unmanipulated scan of a negative I made about five or six months ago. It was one of the first photographs I made using my then new-to-me Nikkor 210mm f5.6 lens on the 4x5. I very, very rarely photograph man made stuff, but this had a nice design, great texture, and just enough character to make it seem worthwhile. I'm still not sure it'll ever become a print, but if it grows on me, perhaps it will. BTW, for those who are from around here, it was taken of an outbuilding on the roadside by Museum Village. I'm not certain if it is a part of the actual site, but it's an antique building nonetheless.

Columbus Day weekend offered us an opportunity to visit Cape Cod, which I have missed a lot over the past ten years or so. I used to take my boys there for a week or two at the end of August, and we all fell in love with the place. So here I was back again after the long interval, and I got to do some serious photography at sites that stayed in my mind in a very visual way. We also went to a slew of galleries, and saw some wonderful work that was mostly painting. However one Cape photographer...Janet Woodcock...was the highlight of what we saw for me. Her work seems to have evolved from decades of really knowing this area deeply, and there's nothing else that quite allows that to happen in so special a way.

Here are five that I like among about thirty or so that I made with the 4x5 using the 210, and 250mm lenses. They were all taken at the National Seashore in the town of Eastham in the vicinity of the Salt Pond Visitor Center, and Coast Guard Beach.

At last I had a chance yesterday to take the camera (Shen-Hao, 210mm) out for a ride which resulted in this image. I wanted to visit this Wallkill River site in this season as I knew from a year ago what wonderful light engulfs this place. There'll be more to come soon!

For those of you who return here from time to time, I apologize for not having posted a photograph for a while. Real life has been way too intrusive on my time for photography, and the few negatives I've made and scanned haven't been worthy to exhibit. BUT...I have acquired a new camera body...a Mamiya C330...to replace my C220 that has been letting the dark leak out! Ironically, the C330 (which is a more sophisticated camera body than the 220) had major light seal problems that led me to figure out a way to replace them myself using slices of the fuzzy half of the pair of self-adhesive strips that comprise a Velcro kit. Had I been aware of what I now know, I could have repaired the 220 light seals myself. But, the 330 has a much more reliable film advance than the 220, and cocks the shutter at the same time the film is advanced, and kisses me on the lips and makes breakfast...so I'm not sorry I bought it (really inexpensively too...like $95 plus shipping...from a seller on ebay.) I am perpetually grateful for the advent of digital...it's made traditional equipment waaaaaaaay more affordable. For some kinds of work, digital is nearly miraculous, but for contemplative photography of the highest quality (and I mean far, far, better than the best digital) film absolutely rules. (It's fun to be able to say that on my own blog...I don't have to listen to the out-of-tune chorus of rebuttals that usually ensue from such an assertion.)

One highlight of our time in Florida was a day at Ginnie Springs. The springs, and there are many of them, are crystal clear and always 72 degrees F. throughout the year. Using newly acquired snorkeling gear, it was a real treat to dive in water that is so utterly transparent. When I'd had enough of the water, I took out the C220 and made these nesr the mouth of the spring. (I'm still so new to the area that I continue to be impressed by palm trees, and cypresses...)

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I've been far too busy with music work to even look at my cameras. When the cello gig finally came to a close, I left immediately for Florida to join my family who were there already. These 'graphs are from that trip...the first from the beach behind Marineland (the original oceanarium that's been completely remodeled as a dolphin study center, and a wonderful place to visit), and the other three from a stream we passed in North Carolina on our way home via the Blue Ridge Parkway and Smokey Mountain National Park. All were taken the C220 which makes an excellent travel kit. There will be more images to come as the film gets developed and scanned.

I needed to take a walk today (June 30th), so I strapped the Shen-Hao kit on my back and headed up the Goose Pond Mountain SP trail from LaRoe Road. I had seen this little woodland detail a while ago, so I knew what I was looking for. I made four exposures...two with the 210mm Nikkor, and one with the 250mm Fujinon. This is the latter, and though the difference between the two lenses is slight, I liked this somewhat tighter approach better. It's a great privilege to live so near such a gem of a state park, and I am always very happy to spend time there.

These two photographs are negative scans from a completed 120 roll of black and white film I've had sitting around since early spring that also has some winter images of Round Lake (the willow over the ice). I had very little expectation that anything I'd taken was going to be appealing, but now that the negs are scanned and I can visit them after such a long interval (April to June), I kinda like these two. The top one was made on a little wooden bridge on the trail (an erstwhile road) that runs the breadth of Goose Pond Mountain State Park. I used a 65mm lens on my C220 that I don't think is very sharp, but I like the slight softness of it nonetheless. I'm eager to make some actual prints to see if either of these work as well as I hope they do.