Now and then I revisit really old work to see how it looks years later.  The upper of these two images is one of the first photographs I made that I liked well enough to print and show.  I had very little experience printing and even less mounting and matting let alone scanning and presenting on line.  Still, I was happy with what I had learned to do.  It was well received on the critique forum that I posted it to.

When I began making prints in the late 90's I printed on RC (resin coated) paper, and hadn't a clue about toning nor thought it was even necessary.  Apparently I reconsidered soon thereafter, because this is a scan of a print made on FB (fiber based) paper, and is fairly presentable.  At the time I only made prints in sizes that would fit pre-cut mats whether the image was best suited to that size or not.

But the second image takes advantage of a dozen years of experience with a negative I might not even consider making today.  It's cropped and toned, and eliminates areas that are extraneous to the point of the picture which is the silvery banks of the little stream.  As I now cut my own mats, the picture is cropped to best suit the image, and is easy to mount in whatever dimensions that crop may dictate.  I, of course, prefer that latter one, but other viewers may think the original vision is best.  However, it's out of my hands now; let the viewer choose the former, the latter or neither!  ;-)

The two images below were made in 2005 in the black dirt region of Orange County, NY.  I was driving around that area after a snowfall, and stopped with the camera because the sky was getting dramatic enough to be interesting.  Setting up the 4x5 view camera takes a good deal longer than a fixed lens camera, and I'm sure I missed a few good exposures with the slower machine, but I'm grateful for these two at least.

I've had mixed feelings about this photograph over the years since I made it.  On one hand, it's a fairly commonplace record of a man made waterfall, but on the other, it has a decidedly 19th century sensibility to it that I really respond to...old concrete, and an ancient stream that would be musty with age if it were indoors.  When I first printed it, I was not toning in sepia and selenium as I do now.  That toning makes a big difference in evoking the sense of relative antiquity that I think is inherent here.

It was made with my first view camera, a monorail 4x5 OmegaView using a 210mm Rodenstock  Geronar lens. 

I'm not sure how many times I've photographed Round Lake, but it has been often.  It's an easy place to visit, being close by, and as I pass it every day I witness its infinite variations.  The lake is beautiful in fog, in evening and morning light, in winter snow and ice, in calm and still air, and in seasonal color.  It has been the subject of probably the most extensive series of images I've made that I'm happy with.  I expect I'll get around to assembling all the prints I've made over the last several years, and offer them to any local venue that would like to show them.

This one is from late October.  If I were a slave to photoshop I'd have cloned out the leaves on the water, but, as I'm not, I chose to let them remain as I found them.  I've just made a darkroom print of this and it reveals even more leaves than you see in this scan.  Verite! 

Fog isn't as common here as I wish it were, and when it does show up in the early morning, I'm usually on my way to work.  But yesterday a fog had lingered until I returned, and I immediately got the camera and went behind our house to record what I saw.  Here are three of those images.  Even though they are not in the actual colors of the scene, for me at least, they achieve the sense and vibrations of lingering autumn leaves. 

Pond scum is inevitable.  It accumulates to the point of completely covering the surface of ponds and shallow lakes until cool weather ends its season. It's often rather boring...kinda like looking at a random group of clouds that doesn't resemble anything you can read into it.  But, sometimes as the scum ebbs a bit, what remains gets together and dances!  In a breeze driven spiral, this patch of scum was beautiful to me. 

Autumn color is at peak this weekend.  It's incredibly beautiful with saturated yellows, reds, and oranges.  Today is sunny, and the leafy brilliance is dazzling.  But, yesterday was rainy and clouded over which kept the color rich and soft without the glare and intensity that sunlight creates.  Of course, photographs in monochrome can't rely on the chroma of the leaves, but can rely on their values, especially against a strongly contrasting background.  These two photographs were made yesterday in a tiny little park that is bordered by busy roads.  The stream here was swollen with the day's rain, and there were countless fallen leaves that had been detached from their trees by its pelting.  I was happy that enough were left to make these images.  They'll almost certainly be gone in the next few days. 

Equipment is very much secondary to me when making photographs, but it is important.  Almost anything will do if I understand how to use it effectively.  I've been using a spot meter for years until just recently when I bought a metering prism for the Pentax 67.  At first, it seemed to eat batteries within minutes, and I thought I'd have to return it to KEH, but I bought fresh batteries and they've not discharged nor failed.  This is an image from the first roll of film I've used metering with the prism.  I'm pretty happy with what turned out in difficult lighting.  It's a photograph I made on the way home from a very satisfying visit to a gallery that liked the box of prints I showed.  Where that will lead is unknown, but it was a good experience.

As I no longer make small (8X10) prints, most of the images that are posted here are negative scans that attempt to emulate their paper print doppelgangers.  But, this is a print scan from a negative I made a bunch of years ago.  I like it enough to want to reprint it in the manner I now utilize that will crop from the original (as has been done here), and be lightly toned in thiocarbamide and selenium.

For photography, skeletal trees are far more interesting in their winter dormancy than during their leafy lives.  Of course, in autumn, the riot of their color is irresistible, but so tenuous that only the memory of their brilliance remains. Their symmetry, shape, and elegance is best revealed when they're shorn of their 'other' season's cloak.

This site is close to the former home of my all-time dearest cello student who witnessed it every winter day.  I just got it down on film and paper.  Here's to you, kiddo!!

Having an extensive archive of negatives is a treat when making new ones isn't easy or even possible.  On a dreary and unpromising day, time in the darkroom or on the computer scanning some that haven't received much attention is a pleasure.  Some negatives may percolate for years until, when seeing them again, there is renewed enthusiasm for what prompted me to make them in the first place.  This is one of those lost children that is now back in the family. Abstract to the point that I've lost the memory of its original orientation, I've chosen to make it vertical.  Horizontal, though, wouldn't be wrong either.

This photograph was made during August of 2008 at Marineland beach in northern Florida.  The negative is rather thin, and I never bothered to print it.  I did scan it, however, and fussed with it in PhotoShop until it looked as it does here.  Yesterday, I decided to give it a chance in the darkroom, and to my surprise, it printed rather easily with a grade 5 filter that offers the most contrast that is available with the paper and enlarger...it's referred to as a "hard" filter.  The print is darker and richer than this scan, but, nonetheless, I'm really glad it now exists beyond the virtual.

The irony of this is almost humorous as I am soooo not religious...anti-religious wouldn't be inaccurate.  But...out in the early morning looking for something to photograph, this stopped the car immediately.   It was the first time I used a new-to-me TTL (Thru The Lens metering) pentaprism for the Pentax 67, and it worked extremely well...there are almost no photoshop adjustments.  I guess my sins will be forgiven for today at least!  ;-)

It's not often I make photographs of Walton Lake at the bottom of the hill where we live.  But this little spot has occasionally been worthwhile, and this morning it had this to offer.

I've wondered about this photograph ever since I made it nearly a year ago.  It's vague...barely there...but still, for me at least, conjures a mood.  It's ghostly, and ephemeral, but invites curiosity about what's behind the fog; the antithesis of the clarity that I typically look for.  This is a negative scan, but I think it will be a toned print by the end of tomorrow!

I've been examining images of the Hudson River that I've made over a period of years, and very recently.  It's a beautiful place, and as a stable bit of scenery the effects of time of day and events of weather allow for endless variety.  I've made many negatives and a number of prints from this vantage point that I'm happy with. 

The photograph below was made on my commute home from work in 2005.  I just happened to have my 4x5 kit in the trunk, and when I saw what presented itself, I got the kit ready in record time!  That little cloud in the larger one was a lucky bit of timing...it was gone seconds later!  "Chance favors the prepared mind." or in this case the efficient photographer.

There is no end to the variations on a theme invited by an agreeable subject. Though I've posted several, and not too dissimilar images of this scene, I really like this variation.  I'll get some darkroom time tomorrow, and this will be a strong candidate for printing.

Older negatives survive unscathed by time if they're worthy, and die a younger death if they're not.  It's a bit weird to post an image from this past winter, wimpy though it was, when the temperature outside is in the 90's, but I like it enough to buck the season.  Taken beside Moodna Trestle.

My wide angle lens (55mm) for the medium format Pentax 67 camera is becoming my favorite.  It used to be that that role was played by a medium telephoto (135mm) because I felt that the fewer elements it covered helped make compositions more coherent.  But, the larger view has compositional imperatives of its own, and I'm enjoying responding to them.  It's a different way of seeing. 

In the creative arts it is often said, with liberal exaggeration, that 10,000 negatives, poems, essays, stories, films and musical works need to be made and discarded before a true voice is able to emerge from the slag heap.  As a cellist, I'm pretty sure I've paid my dues in hours, and effort.  In photography, I'm still workin' on it!

Below is one from this past winter that I want to print in the darkroom.  I had almost no time to set up the 'pod and camera for this, and was happy to get what was left of quickly changing scene. 

I like this photograph.  But, I like it more because it's the first time I've used "curves" in photoshop to solve a problem that's easily fixed in the darkroom...burning in the sky at a harder contrast than the ground (split grading).

Students of classical musical instruments, who are being guided intelligently, now are learning a host of skills that hidebound conservatories of my generation never would have deigned to offer.  That was due to both an elitist attitude and a total ignorance of popular idioms, improvisation, and creative new directions for the instruments being mastered.  Though I'm not likely to regain that ground as a cellist, I can certainly attempt to do so with photography.  Yes, I'm late to the digital party, but I'm determined to catch up as much as possible.  I will never abandon what I've learned traditionally, but I will expand the tool kit, as I've mentioned before, to include new skills I've been timid to try!

It's not easy to find the best light and weather conditions for other than post card photographs in the full sun of summer.  There's rarely any fog, mist, or other interesting phenomena once the sun is fairly high.  I ended up driving a very long way to find anything that interested me.  I made these just north of the "Hawks Nest" scenic roadway along the Delaware River within a state park.