California, 2009

Blue Bottle

Linda and I had a fabulous time in California this year.
We had three very nice days with Dave. We did a wine tasting at Testarossa, photographed at Fort Point, toured the California Academy of Science, drank expresso at Blue Bottle Coffee, and even went to a 4th of July picnic at the home of his friends Kostados and Natasha. He took us to a Japanese Yakatori restaurant in Los Altos, and fabulous sandwich shop, back to a familiar Thai place in Mountain View, and to a very interesting Mediterranean place.

We also spend three wonderful days on the Monterey Peninsula. After roaming around Santa Cruz, we drove into Monterey where we watched (and heard - they are really noisy0 sea lions at the Monterey Fish Pier. After lunch, we walked around Cannery Row for a while, then visited the Point Pinos Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse on the west cost, and then concluded the day at the Presidio Chapel. That evening, we had dinner at Phil's Seafood, a famous eatery in Moss Landing that Bobby Flay challenged to a 'throwdown' and then lost when the judges determined that Phil's cioppino was better than Bobby's. I have never tried Bobby's, but I can attest that Phil's is pretty good! We started Tuesday photographing at Point Lobos State Reserve, then moved on to downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. We visited a number of galleries, then drove out to Carmel Valley for a tasting at Heller Winery, and then finished the day photographing the Carmel Mission. On Wednesday, we started the day at Colton Hall in Monterey, then proceded to the John Steinbeck Museum in Salinas. We detoured through Carmel to see the Ansel Adams portraiture show at the Center for Photographic Art before heading back to San Jose.

The only downer was that I came back with a cold. Linda says it was the chill at Fort Point. I think a better explanation was the crazy air conditioning at the Holiday Inn Express in San Jose. Regardless of the actual cause, it was miserable!

Here's a picture that Linda took of me setting up a photograph at China Cove at Point Lobos.

Summer is almost here

Gate, Chateau St. Jean

Summer is almost here. I'm having to mow the lawn every 5-6 days now. We have been fortunate that we've gotten enough rain to keep it from drying out completely, but there have been times when that was a close call. It's supposed to start raining in another few hours and may rain most of the day tomorrow.

Calgary was a good trip. Many of the usual attendees were not there (economy and the flu), but still a reasonably good conference thanks mainly to participation from local folks. Canadians do throw a good party.

Linda has another week or so of school, and then she will be out for the summer. Two weeks ago we drove out to Cooperstown for the day. It was fun photographing at the Farmer's Museum. Hopefully, we will be able to squeeze in some more short trips before she has to go back in September.

We started trapping chipmunks on Saturday. So far, we have five of the little guys, and one gray squirrel. I think the population is still down thanks to the major reduction we did two years ago. I've sealed off the obvious openings into the house, but we still have something scratching around in the walls/ceiling.

This image is from our trip to Napa/Sonoma last July. We got to Chateau St. Jean before the tasting room was open, so we wandered around in the garden for a while.

Cape Cod, 2009

Dorset Quarry

Linda and I had a wonderful week on Cape Cod. The weather was generally quite nice - we had one very rainy day, but the rest of the week was sunny, cool and a bit windy. But what else would you expect in mid-April.

We did our usual things - shopping in Chatham, strolling and shopping in Provincetown, galleries wherever we coudl find something open, fabulous food, etc. I was able to make a number of pictures that should be good when I get some darkroom time.

We made a point of going back to the Brewster Mill several times to see if the herring were running. One man told me that he had seen one fish in the fish ladder, but there wasn't enough traffic yet to attract the sea gulls. A couple of State Troopers walked through while we were there, and mentioned at the alewives were running at another spawning area near Mashpee, so I assume that by now the action has begun.

As I was processing film, I noticed a leak in the plumbing under the sink in the darkroom. That lead to a major project to rebuild the drain. The good news is that it now has a new, professional 'laundry tray' drain system. The bad news is that it took four trips to Allerdice to get all of the fittings necessary to make up the inlet and outlet plumbing.

Panel of Editors was also worthwhile, but once again mainly for the informal conversations about immediate concerns. The formal program for the most part focuses on strategic issues that really aren't of interest to EiCs.

The announcement came out yesterday that the 2009 Fellows Committee meeting will be in Vancouver the weekend before the IAS Annual Meeting in Houston. Getting from Maui to Edmonton last year was a piece of cake compared with what is involved in getting from Vancouver to Houston. I don't mind Vancouver - I just don't like Houston.

This is the quarry in Dorset, VT - the oldest marble quarry in the US. Long abandoned, it now serves as the town swimming hole. The place is mobbed in the summer. This negative was made in October when it was too cool to be swimming - also during the week when the kids should have been in school.

Early March

The Shellfish Lab

It's been a wicked winter - colder and snowier than usual. That has caused me to stay inside more than usual, and at this point, I'm ready to be out and about!

The snow is melting from the front lawn leaving evidence that the voles have been active this winter. Hopefully, that can be quickly corrected once the grass starts growing.

There is also a lot of winter debris that needs to be cleaned up. This morning I noticed some large sheets of plastic foam that I bundled up and put in the trash.

Linda and I looked very closely at a tour of England and Scotland, but then realized that there was only one time during the summer that she could fit it into her calendar, and that conflicted directly with my activities in planning the 2010 issues of the Magazine. So we have put that plan on hold until next year - by then, my replacement on the Magazine should be known and will be doing the 2011 planning, and Linda might even have retired, giving us even more options to work with.

So at this point, we have plans to go to Cape Cod in April, and to California in July. I want to do some day trips - Cooperstown and Utica - that Linda may not want to do, but I can fit those in before school ends. We will certainly do some things over the summer.

During Linda's February vacation we did a day trip to Williamstown. Really enjoyed the Clark again. Lunch at Water Street Cafe was ok - there must be a better place in Williamstown.

I'm scheduled to be in Atlanta in two weeks for the POE meeting. Also have to plan a trip to Cagary for I&CPS in early May - need to take care of that after returning from Atlanta.

This picture is from our 2007 trip to the Cape - the Shellfish Lab on the pier at Wynchmere Harbor in Harwichport. Nice place to visit - but it was nicer when Thompson's Clam Bar was still open.

It's cold - brrr!

No Parking

It's a new year! Linda and I had a delightful time at First Night. It was cold, and I think that kept the crowd down, but we bundled up, walked a bit faster, and still enjoyed it! Dinner at al Forno, then Hair of the Dog, Adirondack Baroque Consort, Parnas Sisters, Matt McCabe, Happy Balky, and ending the evening with the McKrells. We agreed that the McKrell's aren't as good as they used to be. Part of that may be the selection of music, but part of it also is that they are a smaller group now. Hair of the Dog was good, but the church was not the best setting for them. Our favorites were the Parnas Sisters and Happy Balky.

Over the holidays we made a couple of day trips - once to Great Barrington (fabulous luncheon at Napa), and once to Manchester. Linda and invited Steve Davidson to bring his kids over to sled on the hill, and decided that to have a party for our neighborhood on top of that would be too much. Unfortunately, Steve didn't get the e-mail until school resumed. She called Mugsie about getting together, but they were in the process of leaving for Florida. Perhaps when they get back - - - Last Friday she took her car in for its annual inspection. Only they didn't have any stickers. Of course, they found a couple of things (not safety related) that needed to be done, so she took it back last night and will pick it up this afternoon. Don't know what she has planned for the weekend - I have to get a haircut in the morning.

These images resulted from our visit to Shelburne Falls back in July. The first was down Baker Street toward the town parking lot. There's a lot going on here. The Kentmere Warmtone added a nice touch.

Baker Avenue
The second image, was the one that I was making when Robin Logan stopped to introduce herself.

My print of the Battenville Barn hung at the Arts Center during the December "Winter Solstice" show. It didn't seem to me that they had as much work this year, and they weren't using that horrible back hall. So my piece got a better showing than I expected. No buyers, of course.

Early November

Blacksmith's Barn

I've been running a little behind here. The trip to Maui for the Fellows Committee went well - every flight was full, but had an on-time departure and early arrival. Maui itself was OK - unfortunately, all I was able to see was the resort hotel and the airport, so I really can't tell what the island has to offer, if anything. Edmonton was OK - cold and wet the day I arrived, and cool and nice the rest of the week. The meetings all went very well. I've been trying to keep up with the leaves this Fall. So far, so good. This morning I blew the leaves on the front lawn, and then mowed everything. So by 1pm the lawn was almost completely clear of leaves. Not so any more - but the accumulation appears to be in the front more than in the back. I don't expect to have to mow again, but I may have to blow the leaves one more time. Need to get the porch furniture stored and install the driveway reflectors in preparation for winter.

The last few weeks have been hectic with Linda needing to go over to Albany at least once per week. Hopefully, that is over for a while. I have to get an entry ready for the Winter Solstice show at SCAC - I think it will be the Battenville Barn. Also need to do some photography - I've been so tied up with other things that photography has suffered. And of course, next week I have my 'adventure with fiber optics' again.

The lead-in image here is the old Blacksmith's Barn at Peters Valley. I exposed the negative about 6:15am, and when I first visualized the image the moon was in the sky over the trees behind the barn. But it was amazing how fast the moon fell - by the time I got the camera set up, the moon was entirely behind the trees.

The image itself required some manipulation. The background shadows were pretty deep, so I used the dye dodging technique to open those shadows and also hold back the curved roadway leading to Congelton and the Ceramics Studio. Both of the images shown here were made on Kentmere, which is a neutral-cold paper. For the Battenville Barn, I simply toned the print in selenium. For for the Blacksmith's Barn, gave it a brief immersion in sulfide toner followed by prolonged toning in selenium. That's an interesting technique - something that I first saw in some prints by Roman Lorenc in a gallery in Carmel last year. I think it is capable of more than I am current accomplishing with it.

In looking at these two images together, I note that I seem to have a thing about barns, and also about including foreground in front of the subject. Hmm.

Woodstock, NY

Danielle

This is Danielle in the barn at Peters Valley. We only had a few minutes to work with each model, and this was her first experience, but the result is not nearly as 'stiff' as it might have been.

In his discussion at the workshop, Herb spoke at great length about 'quality'. I've been thinking about that subject, and spent some time reading Herb's essay on the topic. While I don't disagree with what he said, I think I put is in slightly different terms.

All photographs start with an image. For the photographs to be good, there are certain things that must be true about the image. It must be strong. It must be composed in a way that makes it very clear what the photograph is about and that causes the eye to remain within the photograph. It must be properly exposed. A picture that starts as a technically-flawed image will rarely achieve greatness (although there are serendipitous mistakes). It must have a cohesive narrative - it should tell a story. And the image ideally should be something that triggers an emotional reaction in the viewer - which usually means that the subject triggered an emotional reaction in the photographer.

Good images are good images - and bad images are bad images. It doesn't matter what the purpose of the image may be - sensitive portraiture or commercial advertising, nature or sports, still life or photojournalism - the image must meet minimum criteria on these dimensions to achieve any degree of quality.

In his essay, Herb concentrates at length on what he calls "hand made photographs' - his term for platinum/palladium prints. This is the point where I suspect that we may part company a bit. Herb's thesis is that the 'hand-made' dimension of Pt/Pd prints puts them in a special category. My view is that the special category exists at the point where the print takes on an intrinsic value that is over and above the inherent value of the underlying image.

Good images can appear in books and magazines or on web sites. They can even be printed with 150-line screens on cheap newsprint paper (witness the daily newspaper). They retain whatever quality that the basic image may have in whatever medium they appear.

The element of craft is a factor in the incremental quality of a fine print. There is an obvious difference when the maker takes care to produce the finest possible print, be it silver gelatin, Pt/Pd, cyanotype, ambrotype or any other process. A knock-off workprint on RC paper can be used to successfully translate the image into a book, magazine or newspaper, but it takes craftsmanship to produce a print that will stand on its own when framed in a matt. That craftsmanship is an emotional investment by the maker.

Today, Linda and I drove down to Woodstock, NY. That's an interesting little town - lots of neat shops and galleries, with a distinctive counter-culture atmosphere. During our visit, I walked into two galleries that were showing fine photography. GallerieBMG was showing a group of Pt/Pd prints of botanical subjects by Yumiko Izo that were drop-dead gorgeous! Photosensualis was showing silver figure studies that were also very nice. In both cases, the prints on display were far more than mere images because the makers took care to make an emotional investment in their preparation.

One interesting observation - we found that the lights were off at Photosensualis. Now that's understandable - it makes sense to keep lights off to conserve energy when no one is there to view the prints. But it would be such a simple matter to have a motion detector to automatically turn on the lights when potential customers walk into the gallery. There was a person in the gallery, but she was more interested in working on her laptop that trying to help us look at the art. Sad.