After We Left

I originally started this as a mock-up for a fabric piece I was thinking about. However, after adding such a large number of layers I just decided to let it be as a digital collage. I'll print it onto paper, but stitching it is out.

The theme behind this piece is one that I draw from frequently - what happens when humans disappear from a place. The idea that nature will quickly cover over the traces. I find that to be a strangely comforting thought, especially seeing how horribly we have and continue to muck up our environment.

Trees from an Imaginary Memory

Zero Image pinhole taken May 2014

For whatever reason, this forested path reminds me of Russia. Not that I've ever been there or that the trees are the same trees you'd find there. Perhaps it's the result of having read so many Russian novels. There were frequently dachas described in the books (especially in Tolstoy), so perhaps this is the image of the environs surrounding the dachas I imagined while reading.

It's interesting how I create "views" for settings I read about in books. In a lot of cases, the imagined location actually has nothing to do with the book. Perhaps it's a location association built from the era in which I was reading the book and my daily travels. I remember associating a particular corner of 42nd St. by Grand Central Station in NY with Faust. Obviously it had nothing to do with Goethe's novel, but perhaps I think of that corner because I was frequently in that area while reading the book. Then again, I associate a particular scent from my childhood with pharmacies (actually a very pleasant smell...not medicinal at all...I can't even describe it). I know that Proust talked about scents triggering memories so maybe it's all part of the same apparatus of building memories - places, descriptions, scents, flavors - all tucked away in obscure areas of the brain to be triggered by what appears to be random.

So this photograph is my triggered memory of a place I've never been. An imaginary memory.

Georgia likes baked goods

Georgia at the Rocking Horse Bakery, Winthrop

My friend, Georgia was a good enough sport to sit for this pinhole portrait. I can't remember how long I made her sit still, but I think it was about 2-3 minutes. Taken with my Zero Image pinhole when I was in Winthrop, WA a couple weekends ago with my mother.

Georgia is a big fan of baked goods which is why this post has the title it does.

Bean Plant

Bean Plant - Othello, WA

Shot with a Zero Image pinhole box camera on Worldwide Pinhole Day 2014.

Lower Crab Creek Road

Lower Crab Creek

Shot with the G9 and then altered in Lightroom.

My photo for Worldwide Pinhole Day

Lower Crab Creek Road, Washington State 4/27/14

Worldwide Pinhole Day was a great success (I only speak for myself since I have no idea how anyone else feels about it). We drove to Eastern Washington and took photos along the Lower Crab Creek Road, which is located in the Channeled Scablands. If you've never seen the Scablands and you live in Washington, you should change that right away. They are beautiful, geological wonders that were created by the great Missoula floods which took place in the range of 13,000 - 18,000 years ago.

The weather was incredibly beautiful on Sunday. Blue skies and big poofy clouds that created interesting plays of light and shadow on the landscape. I took the image above using my Zero Image pinhole camera and TMAX 400 film. You can see the piece in the Pinhole Day gallery. It looks surprisingly good for an online gallery. If you go there and then search for photos from Washington State, you can see works by other pinholes, including my friend, Karen Howard.

Wander around the gallery site a bit and you might get the inspiration to join us next year for Pinhole Day.

Japanese maple

Japanese Maple in Spring

Taken with my Lubitel 166.

Petzval lens

I recently got a Petzval lens through a Lomography Kickstarter project and this is an example of a film test I ran. I used the lens on my Nikon FE2, a film camera. I originally tried to meter through my camera but wound up with extremely underexposed negs (basically I developed blank film). Finally, I broke out my handheld light meter and was able to get some good exposures. The film I used for this roll expired in 2007 but I guess refrigerating it all those years helped keep it usable. It was one of my last rolls of Agfa 400 (sadly, the film division of Agfa went bankrupt a few years ago so I was forced to find a different film brand to rely on).

This is a photo of a stuffed quail, nicknamed "Papa Quail." A number of years ago, this quail and his brood of adolescent chicks walked through our front door thinking it was part of their habitat. When they tried to fly out the windows, all hell broke loose. By the time we heard the commotion coming from the living room, Papa Quail was in his last death throws. We managed to get all but one of the chicks out of the house before there was more death (they were EVERYWHERE - in baskets, behind the couch, above the closet). We froze Papa until quail hunting season was open (I should state, I would NEVER shoot a quail...I love them too much and shooting them seems to be pretty stupid and wasteful) so we could get a license and get the taxidermist to stuff him. The license was about $125 and then there was the taxidermy costs so it wasn't cheap. The taxidermist did a pretty lousy job. He managed to mess up the top knot on Papa's head so he made some wanker-looking top knot with an extra couple feathers. Oh well, what can you do? At least I can look at Papa and think about the crazy circumstances that brought him to my living room to sit in the same spot on a piece of wood for eternity.

Museum of Glass Pinhole

Museum of Glass - Tacoma

Yesterday, I took advantage of the nice weather to run over to Tacoma to test my pinhole camera. The Zero Image had been scratching my negatives but I was blaming it on the lab that processes my color film (I haven't been shooting a ton of black and white, which I process myself, so I hadn't realized the problem was my camera). (Sorry, lab processor, for thinking you had dirty film spools.) I added a little gaffer's tape to the contact points between the camera and the film and, voilá, problem solved. This means I'm ready for Worldwide Pinhole Day on Sunday. Hurray!

Pinholes and rain

Double sunflowers

Just a reminder that all the rain we've had here in the Pacific NW brings beautiful flowers and that Worldwide Pinhole Day is on April 27, 2014. This pair of photos was taken last summer with my Zero Image pinhole camera. I'm finally getting around to developing a number of exposed rolls of film. This set of pinholes was included in one of the rolls.

Get out and take your pinholes next Sunday!!

Icelandic horses

While traveling in Iceland, it is common to see the horses that are unique to the country. There is something special about them - thick coats, disposition, hardiness...I'm not sure and I've done zero research on them. I can tell you that they're generally friendly and curious. They are also very beautiful with thick manes.

Embroidered piece

I've been working on a large embroidered piece with tree images on it and have been going a little nutso with the fine detail work so I decided to take a breather and work on something smaller. I started this on Thursday or Friday and finished it last night. The creases and wrinkles are a bit vexing. I've pressed it once already and am planning to try another method of getting it to lay flat. I don't know if I'll be 100% successful with that plan, since there is crinoline acting as the substrate for the fabric and it has a tendency to keep its creases. We'll see...I'm feeling as though I'm still in experimental mode for how best to work these pieces. Perhaps I need to move to a frame or hoop system (currently, I'm doing everything by just holding the piece in my hands).

It may not be perfect, but I really feel as though I'm making some progress.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Toadstool

We're lucky in the Northwest to have so much rainfall and generally moist weather since we get the craziest mushrooms and fungi. I've been working on a portfolio of black and white images of fungus for a while now. This image isn't included in the collection since it's a different camera (a Lomo super fisheye) but I like it so I thought I'd share.

Apple Orchard - Easton, Connecticut

In honor of the Winter's exit: a little reminder of how beautiful it can be.

Leaping Man

Leaping man - digital collage

I've recently received a couple very old scrapbooks. One is from my great-grandmother and the other is from my grandmother (both on my father's side). In one of the scrapbooks, I found an odd little magazine clipping of a performer named Hal Sherman. The promotional photograph was from a revue called "Hellz-a-Poppin." I don't know who the writer was but Sherman was referred to as "..a misfit, a little man in a big world; still a tramp, but a worldly Broadway tramp, a bitter, dancing humorist of the banana-peel school." I like that.

I created the background by scanning a hand-written letter from my great-grandmother and repeating and overlapping the text. The "leaping man" is Sherman.

Madame Marie

Madam Marie's - Asbury Park, December 2013

"Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do.

For me this boardwalk life is through babe. 

You ought to quit this scene too." 

- Bruce Springsteen

Greetings from Prague

I've reworked this photo of Prague apartment building that was partially demolished using a variety of filters. I think it has that antique, "Wish you were here" postcard feel.

Industrial remains - Ostrava, Czech Republic

I guess I'm in post-pictures-of-empty-places mode. This is a former industrial complex that has been converted to a large concert venue. I attended the Colours of Ostrava two summers ago. Rufus Wainwright, who was performing, talked during his set about how he imagined many people died in this place. I'm sure he was right - it probably manufactured all sorts of nasty chemicals and I can't imagine that there was a strong emphasis on worker safety during the Communist era.

Don't lick the walls.

Wheatridge Grange

This is a film photograph I took in Eastern Washington a couple years ago. I may have posted the original before (though I don't think so). This is a version where I've used filters to "scuff" it up a bit (uh...just a bit). This picture just makes me feel sad when I look at it...completely covered with siding, no windows, abandoned. The only people who see it are the few people that pass by it as they're speeding down the road.

Quilt of the aerialist

I have been "working" on this piece for a while (since this past autumn, I believe). I took the photograph of an aerialist at an event at Smoke Farm a couple years ago. First, I worked on it in Photoshop - masked out the background, added the repeating textured background, filtered and adjusted the entire image. Next, I printed it on a Habotai silk specifically made to go through a printer (visit dharmatrading.com to see other fabrics that are ready to print in your printer). I then added quilt batting and backing. After that, I stitched the vertical lines. Finally, I added the binding. This is only the second time I've bound a quilt, so it's a bit of a struggle and a little wonky looking, but it does the trick. My final step will be to create a hanging loop to the back and add a dowel so I can hang the piece from the wall. 

I have another piece that includes the same woman in this position and two other positions. Eventually, I'll figure out how I'm going to turn it into something I can display.

Playing with Painter 12

Today I played around with Painter 12, which has been hanging out on my computer for a while. I made this piece by cloning two different versions of a photo I took today of some ferns. One version is color while the other was a b&w version of the same shot. I used a variety of cloning brushes to get different effects including a fibrous brush texture and a smeary oil effect. Painter is a really spectacular program for getting painterly effects with a mind numbing number of possible brushes and surfaces. I doubt I'll ever be worthy of its power.

A vision of crows

Asbury Park ruins

As a child I spent a lot of time at Asbury Park. My parents took us there to walk the boardwalk and ride the rides and play games. We went there on Christmas Day to visit a bit of my past. The place I remember is gone. There is one building on the boardwalk that is somewhat intact - during the holidays it had a Christmas tree and lights inside it but there didn't seem to be anything going on. Occasionally, I imagine they still have concerts there (I saw Elvis Costello there in the '80s).

This is what remains of the Casino:

Casino - Asbury Park, NJ

Not sure how much of the dereliction comes from hard times (which Asbury Park has had a lot of) and how much comes from Hurricane Sandy. Through the entry you can see a condemned building and a gap where a building once was. 

It's a beat place.