Greek Geometry
A black and white triptych made with film; Astypalea, Greece.
I spent two months this summer on small Mediterranean islands. Although I captured color images digitally, all my B&W work was exposed on 120 film using a Hasselblad. Needless to say upon returning home, it was thrilling to process B&W negatives and to make work prints. For the past several months I've been printing B&W images digitally; I'm convinced that my return to black and white film and format cameras justifies a dedicated B&W printer. More on that in the New Year.
Too Many Me's
I've started thinking about my self portraits again. I have a folder of them which I occasionally look through. Most don't really stand the test of time, but there are a few which could make the cut. This one was from over twenty years ago, on St. John USVI. It's an accidental double exposure on 4x5 film.
This one was captured yesterday. Photographic technology certainly has changed in the time span between them, buy my intention hasn't; nor has my commitment to self portraits.
Walk Way Across the Dunes
Today, I was photographing swimming pools for my pool company. For fourteen years, we've had a barter system whereby I photograph their newly constructed pools and, in return, they service and maintain my pool. After nearly a decade and-a-half, I can say without fear of contradiction that I am an expert at swimming pool photography. So this afternoon, I was at a brand new, 15000 square foot, "mac-man" lodged in the dunes overlooking the ocean. The pool was all right: I guess what made it somewhat photogenic was its location and its proximity to the ocean. But for about ten minutes, I became really preoccupied with photographing the walkway through the dunes and down onto the beach. The raw file capture below was rgb color, of course, but with a small digital back rub, I ended up with this image.
And what's cool is after fourteen years of doing this, the pool guy, Mikie, knows to leave me alone when I wander off, and I start to photograph random things. In fact, by now, he's always really interested to see what has attracted my attention.
C.P. Cigar Shop
How many of you long time Newburyporters remember the CP Cigar Shop on State Street. It was several doors up from Fowles. I don't recall it still being in business during my tenure in "River City"; but I made this photography of its front door sometime around the time I made Joy Ride in the late '70s. I came across my master print of it within the past year as I was going through various portfolios. The image still stands the test of time for me. And what I also recall about CP Cigar Shop, is that former Newburyport mayor, Byron Matthews, bought a print of it from me back in the day. Price? Twenty-five dollars for a 11x14 split toned print, unframed. Boy, did he get a deal...the perks of political office. I googled him, and it appears he's still alive. I hope he still has my print.
Joy Ride
I was recently urged to search my way-way-back B&W archive for an image of a long ago departed local Newburyport character, Duncan Chase. He was the local drunk who had an acute fondness for loudly proclaiming to all passerby that he was "a cool, cool cat from New York City" and that he "walked the line...yeoahhhh". Many afternoons he could be found slumbering in sunlight-warm doorways and sharing that warmth with an empty whiskey pint right next to him.
But that's not what I want to talk about here. While searching the way-way back archive, I stumbled across a couple of B&W negatives that are of major significance for me. The one below, Joy Ride, is on my top ten, all time life time list. I have a silver gelatin, split toned, selenium print of it on my wall as I post this. I fondly remember making the print back in Newburport, and I recall how amazed I was that I finally learned the nuance of split toning. The print has been on my wall almost everywhere I've lived since I made it.
So what's so cool about it? To start with, it's a seriously gorgeous print. But the image itself is one that can walk and chew gum at the same time. Back when I exposed the film for this image, a friend lent me a real short focal length Nikon lens. I was using a Nikkormat then, and I was enamored by images from short focal length lenses. In previous posts, I've talked about the importance of Salisbury Beach for me. Joy Ride was taken at Salisbury Beach at the end of the summer season, a day or two before workers folded everything up for the winter. Even at the time of exposure, I knew I had a winner. It wasn't until later, much later (like years later) that I fully grasped the graphic impact of the designs on the cars, the punctuation of the light bulbs, and how the white lazy clouds are layered onto the sky, yet behind the ride itself.
Mine is a small print, nine inches wide. After twenty-five years, a print may be labeled as a vintage silver gelatin print (VSGP in galleryspeak). Joy Ride is now in that club; after nearly forty years, time's patina has washed over my Portriga Rapid Afga paper print with a gloved hand, gently burnishing it with a soft blush of autumnal mellowness. (Do I sound like I miss wet process printing and the darkroom? Yar, you betcha!) Sure, I know how to replicate split toning in Photoshop, and sure I wanted you to see what my little print looks like; but trust me on this one, digital can't come close to what time has meticulously rendered without bytes, without digital tools, brushes or filters. Without asking it, time has done its job on my print of Joy Ride like it has etched the lines and wrinkles on my face. Ever since Nicéphore Niépce, everyone has agreed that, if nothing else, photography is about time.
Almost Blinded by the Flash
Another recent self portrait which just goes to show that behind everyman there's a woman. And, the woman behind me in this image was kind enough to suggest that this picture was extremely creepy looking, and that I looked dead. Nah...I just didn't want to get blinded by the flash. Although after looking at myself in this image my vanity whispers, "consider plastic surgery". Nah...I earned everyone of those wrinkles and grey hairs, one by one.
Guest Hand Towels
May and June light are amazing on the East End of Long Island; that is, when the sun comes out. Actually, the fog light has been pretty amazing as well, and it seems we've had a lot more of that than sunlight. Anyway, afternoon sunlight was pouring into my downstairs bathroom yesterday, and it splashed all over the guest towels. I was walking past the doorway with my little four-thirds panasonic in my hand when I saw this.
Photographing Streets...Literally
Since 1980-1981, my point-and-shoot format has been 120/220 or better known as medium format. I've always been attracted to the square format as opposed to rectilinear, and 120/220 film size is substantially larger than 35mm so that prints from 120/220 offer better definition, and they have a quality unlike 35mm. The last 35mm film I exposed was 1992: before that, however, I made a lot of 35mm black & white negatives. With the exception of Polaroid SX-70, 35mm color slides where the only color photographic medium available to me. And what do you do with slides? Having said that, I've been burrowing into my 35mm black & white negative archive. I'm not sure what still works and what doesn't. These two were indicative of what I was doing in the late 1970's. I was purposely blurring images, shooting with Diana Cameras, and learning how to print negatives that often were grossly over-exposed. Both of these were exposed in Paris in the winter of 1977. I remember I was looking down a lot, and taking pictures of what was under foot.
Snow Dune
As I mentioned in my last post, I've spent a lot of time wandering through coastal sand dunes in the winter, especially after snow storms. The storm we had a couple of days dumped a foot or so on Eastern Long Island. So, I made several photographs out in Napeaque, one of the few remaing, sparsely developed areas left between Southampton and Montauk. I especially like this one. If you want, you can see an entire portfolio of my early snowscapes from Plum Island, Ma. I've set them up as a separate tab under"Phatlandscapes" on my home page; just click on the Black & White Beachscapes link and follow the navigation buttons.
Post Blizzard Black and White Back Yard "Snowscape"
The sun peeked out around 11:00 this morning, and this is what my backyard looked like. The east coast got slammed with a lot of snow and a lot of wind. I use to spend an enormous amount of time photographing landscapes right after big snow storms, mainly on coastal New England beaches. The image below was made with an 8x10 view camera on a tripod right off my back deck. I can't wait to shovel out my vehicle and head for the beach.
