News - July 2009

Contents

Sun and Moon Looking Out and Down Manchester Places of Worship Miscellaneous

My project “Sun and Moon” has hit a snag. This series of images intends to explore the similarities of the sun and full moon to each other when exposed and developed using Zone System principles. I have recently printed several images at 10”x10” size from medium format negatives but this has proved to be unwise because I could not get the sun/moon to be large enough on the negative even using a 200 mm lens on my Bronica SQB. As a result I only used part of the negative (maybe 30%). I found that the image quality was just not there which is no great surprise considering that the enlarger head needs to be right at the top of the column! To rectify the problem I have purchased a Nikkor-t 600 mm lens for my Toyo metal field camera. The Nikkor-t does not require a bellows extension (which is not available on the Toyo field camera). Now I can shoot 4x5 negatives and hopefully have my chosen celestial body large enough to use the majority of this larger negative. Needless to say I will have to start all over again. That’s OK – at least the subjects are not going away. The images will likely be printed at 10”x10” size. I’m still mulling this over and a much smaller size would also be good. The large negative will also translate to better quality large-scale inkjet images if I ever decide to make them.

In June I compiled all my airplane window shots and published them through Blurb. The resulting book is called “Looking Out and Down”. The price is $108.95 and while I am deeply embarrassed, this is the price we have to pay for single book publications on demand – oh and yes, I did include a number of images from my trip to Las Vegas. The helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon proved a bust for image taking because of window reflections but the good old commercial flight passed over the Grand Canyon and more than made up for the other.

Work on the second half of my pair of books titled “Pathways of Childhood” (sub-titled “Manchester”) has not progressed because I have been hard at work in the darkroom printing other negatives from my trip to the UK in March 2009. I still have no definite date for the publication of “Manchester” but I remain hopefuI that I can get it done during 2009.

The darkroom work takes a lot of time and though I only work 5 days each month it seems much more. It’s surprising (and shocking) just how many unprinted negatives I have in my files. The workflow comprises negative evaluation, printing, toning, drying, flattening, retouching and finally dry mounting. Trying to fit all this into a schedule that includes life and living, other non-darkroom photography, two new cats, vacations and socializing/carousing is not at all easy. I am well behind schedule in the workflow so bear with me and all shall be completed in due time.

In a recent trip to Bermuda I managed to add a few new churches to the ever-growing list of “Places of Worship”. One of these days I will collate them all and publish them through Blurb unless any of you out there would be interested in publishing the work for me? Thought not. Here are two of them.

On the exhibition front I have had two images accepted at the 2009 Colorado Photographic Arts Center juried members show. The images are “Birds Nest”, and “Lower Cavedale” from the “Pathways of Childhood - The White Peak” portfolio. On an entirely different subject, I also won first prize in a recent online investment essay contest. Sadly the subject matter concerned the amount of money I lost in the recent financial meltdown!

My personal collection of photographs from photographers I admire continues to grow. I now have images from John Blakemore (a whole portfolio actually!), Phil Borges, Jock Sturges, Rolfe Horn, Bill Schwab, John Sexton, Dan Burkholder, Jody Forster and Arno Rafael Minkinnen. Now if only I can persuade my wife to let me save up for a Michael Kenna or Brett Weston photograph. And finally.... four new works from the UK 2009 trip have been posted in the “New Work” portfolio. The images are titled “Piccadilly Station #1, Manchester”, “Piccadilly Station #2, Manchester”, “Grange over Sands Bay, Cumbria” and “Morecambe Beach #1, Lancashire”. They are all available as 7x7 inch silver gelatin prints for $250 each. Hope you enjoy them.

As always, have fun with your photography and thanks for reading this.