First Day of Spring

The Judson Building

Spring has arrived. Of course, its still pretty cold, but there is no snow at all on the ground. Crazy winter.

On Saturday, Linda and I drove up into Washington County looking for sugarhouses. The first one we visited (outside Salem) was really a pancake breakfast operation that incidentally made syrup. Later, we visited one outside Greenwich that was just a syrup producer and that gave us a very interesting tour. In fact, I ended up writing my July/August editorial on sugaring.

This morning I got new tires for the Subaru. The old tires were still usable, but the wear was uneven and the Subaru people were concerned about excess strain on the differential. 4-wheel drive cars are fine, but they do require special treatment.

I still want to do some shooting - building exteriors and interiors, portraits, etc. Yesterday, I was able to do some printing and I was really pleased with the results.

I've tried the Van Dyke process several times, but so far none of the results are showable. I picked up some Arches mouldmade paper on Friday, and hopefully that will give better results. The process is interesting, and I do like the tonality, but so far the results have not been as clean as I think they should. But I've noticed that changing paper seems to make a really big difference, so perhaps the better stock will be the trick.

This image is of the Judson Building in Rhinebeck. Its an old structure - c 1858 - that is noted for its cast iron ornamentaion. I made the negative in the late afternoon, and the interesting light resulted from the way the late afternoon sun was filtering through some trees. This is the kind of image that I really like. The subject is interesting, and the print itself (on Ilford multigrade warmtone) is very rich and detailed.

I went ahead to reserve a slot in Tillman's workshop at Peters Valley even though we haven't been able to confirm anything at the Cape. Mainly that was desperation - I want to do something, and if I waited much longer, there was a chance that I would be closed out. Perhaps we will start looking for something for next April.

Magazine is rocking along - haven't seen the May/June galley proofs yet, but they should arrive sometime this week. Manuscript Central is dragging - there hasn't been any input from the ad hocracy, and too much negative feedback from the leadership. And unfortunately, this makes me feel like the lone ranger.