New Year coming up!!

I hope all who read this had a very Merry Christmas with their families. I'm old school, so I will say Merry Christmas because that's what our family celebrates. If you celebrate something else, then that's great and I'm happy for you too!

Although I have been sick this week with a cough and sometimes flu-like symptoms, I was still able to get on my computer. So I finished up my last project which was putting pictures of my sisters and myself from our Mediterranean Cruise trip on a DVD! That was a first for me, and trust me it was a challenge. First of all I had to go the DVD route (which I had purchased a stack of DVDs just in case I was going to need them for a project), since the CDs I had wouldn't take all the photos even though I had resized them from their RAW status to JPGs, and to an even smaller size, but large enough to be able to be printed if need be. I even added music to it, which I wasn't planning on doing, however, it just worked out that way. I just used my MSN Media Center to do it. I was lucky too in picking music I didn't even listen to before selecting -- yikes -- that's risky! For some reason a few of the first photos loaded didn't rotate, even though they were already rotated in the file. I don't know what was up with that - maybe someone can share some light on that subject?? I thought of calling my nephew but I didn't. So that project is done and they are off in the US Mail!

This morning I just happened to look out the window and there was a cloud by what we call our 'lion' on the hill. The cloud looked like it was smoke coming out of the mouth of the lion, so I ran and grabbed the Canon T2i and clicked off a couple of shots. I liked the black and white version the best.

I also spent some time today looking through my negatives from Europe and I have enough there to keep me busy for a looooong time! I'm anxious to get back in the darkroom. I think I will warm up by developing some film for my son that I haven't done yet! I want it over with and off my list!!

Christmas is coming!

Wrapping the loose ends up for Christmas. I'm basically done being ready! Whew! Yesterday I went down to Sacramento to pick up some of my framed pieces that were on display for a Second Saturday earlier in the year and ended up in a public gym/personal trainer establishment. They were sad to see them go, but it was time to move them. So now I have 15 framed pieces that need to be cleaned and I'm thinking of taking them out of the frames and just selling them as matted prints. They are getting 'older' now. A lot of them were from my France, NYC, and San Francisco series. I can't afford to just have them taking up space in my studio, when they're meant to be enjoyed on an every day basis! ;)

I'm going to call Aaron Bros. today and find out when their One Cent Sale is - buy one frame, get a second for one cent! I'm thinking it's going on right now! I'll be needing some gold fancy frames very soon for my Italy images.

I was busy making CDs for some family members yesterday and the day before. We had our family Christmas get together last Friday, so I figured it would be easier to put them all on disk rather than me making prints - cheaper too! It takes a lot of time to do that. I'm still working on a project for my sisters. Hopefully I get that one done by New Year's!!

I may have to paint something real soon, as I keep having these great dreams of beautful skies. Last night I dreamed of a black and white sky with only one portion or thing in color. As I'm looking at it, there are men there with digital equipment messing around and I'm saying, "Wow, look at that sky, it's how some digital photographers make them!" Silly stuff!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wonderful Christmas-time!

The only photography I've been doing is putting together some photo albums. I don't print out what I call 'snap shots', I take them to Walgreen's. I reserve my precious ink for my artwork! ;) And the photography I have done this week is for our family when we took the grand kids out fishing the other day to Folsom Lake. Well, the water was waaay down, I mean we had a bit of a hike to find the water. We weren't really depending on catching any fish, it was all about being with the grand kids, which was a lot of fun for us. I did take quite of few shots using my Canon T2i - both color and black and white. I'm posting a photo that I took in digital black and white. The lake was so eery looking, almost like the surface of the moon.

We have a family gathering tomorrow so I've been busy baking and getting ready for that. I'll be working the High Hand Gallery on Sunday and of course on Saturday is our Third Saturday, but it's also our 3rd Anniversary of being in business! If you'd like to come out to High Hand Nursery, the High Hand Gallery, we will be open until 8:00 p.m. Don't forget the '3Vigne' wine tasting will be open from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. (They may even stay open until 8:00 p.m. - I don't know!)

High Hand Gallery

Christmas is coming upon us and life is so busy right now. I haven't been in my studio or darkroom except just to share it with friends and show them around. I'm not giving any photographic images as Christmas gifts either as my family has already informed me earlier in the year that they have no more wall space!! Okay, okay, not to worry! (I guess they don't know how to rotate artwork!)

Sunday I will be working again at High Hand Gallery from 10 - 4:30 p.m. so if you are local and you're reading this, please stop by and see me. If you need to do any Christmas shopping this would be the place. There are lots of gifts to choose from either from the gallery or the new Bricoleur shop or the florist or from the nursery. Some of the High Hand Gallery Artists have made Christmas tree ornaments and we have them displayed on several Christmas trees! And if you get a little thirsty, then there are the 3Vigne wine tasting rooms from three local wineries that are open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 - 5 p.m. Bring your significant other, your friends or yourself! It is quite the destination these days. And don't forget to bundle up for the fruit sheds. It's a little chilly in there, so put on your Christmas sweater and scarf and drop by!

Epson Ultra Premium Matte Paper

Yesterday I was able to get some Christmas shopping done, and then today I worked out in the yard all day! We've had such great weather I had to take advantage of it.

I did continue to finish up with some more cards, so I got that accomplished. On Sunday I also printed out some digital black and whites on Epson's Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte. Not every photographic image looks good on matte, and other papers I could say the same thing too. However, I did print out two black and white images on the matte paper and loved them both. This one I'm posting today is again from Burano. I tended to switch over to my programmed black and white function on the Canon T2i when I saw more of the 'still life' types of scenarios. This one was shouting out to me when I was there. It's just an image of ordinary everyday life there - the laundry hanging out to dry, the bikes left at the front yard - simplistic as it was, it was worthy of capturing. It printed out fabulously on the matte paper and I'm very happy with it. I'll mat as many as I can with the amount of mats I cut not long ago, then whatever I don't have, I'll cut.

Just to touch again on the ICC profiles for all papers, I have to admit years ago I would just do trial and error kind of printing. I mean, it was new to me and I guess I just loved wasting paper! Hah! But I learned that one should read the instructions for the settings - I mean it's all right there so you don't have to go thru all that wastefulness. So read the cheat sheets, that's what they're there for.

ICC Profiles

Over the weekend I was busy with a couple of projects. First I needed to head over to High Hand Nursery and take photos of the High Hand complex for their newsletter. I almost got there too late, as it was pretty bright by 10 a.m. But I think I managed to capture a few that hopefully will work out. That project pretty much took up half my day. I came home and started working on my second project of printing out some of my digital European photographic images.

It was basically a 'study in ICC profiles' for me. (FYI: Definition of ICC - International Color Consortium profile. An ISO-approved color management standard for specifying the attributes of imaging devices such as scanners, digital cameras, monitors and printers so that the color of an image remains true from source to destination. A profile can be embedded within the image itself.) Come to find out I didn't realize that I had purchased the wrong Ilford Galerie inkjet paper. It wasn't working in my Epson and neither did it fare well in my HP printer. I'm like, 'what the heck?' I kind of thought the box was looking a little different, but you never can tell, companies continually change their product names and styles of boxes (Epson's really good at that). I accidentally bought the Ilford 'Classic Pearl Paper', when I should have been buying the 'Smooth Pearl'. You know, getting older is a real challenge these days! I was so mad because I had purchased the box of 100 Sheets!! I like the results you normally get from the Pearl and like using it for my cards. I opened the box and used several sheets trying to figure out what was wrong! So now I can't return it! Dangit!

Once I figured out where I went wrong, I put the Ilford paper away, and continued with the Epson Ultra Premium Glossy. I spent Sunday afternoon printing out more color digital photos from Italy, as well as making some new cards, which I haven't done for a while. This is a new image from the island of Burano. Just loved all the colors in that small town.

Darkroom Day

Wednesday I did head back into the darkroom and started developing one of my Venice images! I very rarely make test strips - I know, I know - but even when you do make them, you still can end up making 2 or 3 prints until you get it right anyway, so what's the diff?? ;) The image I printed was one of the Venice gondolas all lined up on the Grand Canal. Since I don't use flash (which in this particular instance I probably could have used it!), it was a slightly contrasty photo, which means some major dodging in the foreground. Then I ended up with an additional 3 second burn in the upper right corner. Unfortunately, I do not have a scanner large enough to scan 11x14's. Yesterday I bought more darkroom supplies so that once I get going I won't have to run down to Sacramento. Sometimes I order online too which has a short turnaround time of about 2 - 3 days.

Here is a digital image from Cephalonia that I actually took in color, but like it better as a black and white. If I were to go to the wine country here in the USA I guess I could probably find a shot similar to this one, but there wouldn't be Vespas out front, they would definitely be Harley Davidsons!!

Digital Black and White

Yesterday proved to be another productive day. I mixed up some chemicals for the darkroom where I will go today and start printing some of the images from Europe. Afterwards, I couldn't help myself and I worked on two photo transfers. There was a photo I took in a winery that had some murals on the walls. When I looked at them, I saw 'photo transfer' written all over it. So I worked on that one, and then printed out the No Hands Bridge at the American River confluence that I had taken last year or so. I didn't have to add any water color to that one. It was already a light foggy day and I wanted it to still portray that original image. It came out rather well I must say. I placed them in a book last night to press them out.

This morning I was doing some research online about gallery wraps since I received an email from BayPhoto on pricing for their gallery wraps. They also now offer 'Fully Integrated E-commerce Solutions' on their website. In other words, you can upload their software and actually sell from their website. You might want to check it out, it looks pretty inviting. Pricing is based on the number of uploads and is very economical for them handling everything. You can have them edit your photos or not. Then I remembered MagnaChrome. So I searched that website again and printed out some of their info - which to me sounded reasonable considering your images are printed on metal. Actually, the image is not printed onto metal, special dyes are printed onto a transfer paper and then infused into a patented coating using pressure and heat. There are several ways to finish the picture: no frame, European frame, and/or a floating frame. I'm seriously contemplating giving that a try and see how those work out for me at galleries.

This image I've posted today is again a scene from Cephalonia, Greece. We passed a little boy who had been riding his bike, and then he seemed to be a little frustrated and/or was just taking a break, who knows? But he was rather cute and I turned around once more and clicked off a shot.

Contact Sheets

FINALLY, I threw myself back into the darkroom and started whipping out the contact sheets for the 11 rolls of film from my recent travels to Europe. It only took about 3 1/2 hours to complete the task. I normally use RC paper for my contact sheets, no sense in wasting the FB paper on those. I had just enough to make 10 sheets, then had to break into the FB paper for the last one!! As you may already know, it takes a longer development time for the FB paper, and it's just the contact sheets.

There are some pretty cool shots in those thar rolls of film. I was surprised I didn't have very many black and whites of Venice - dangit. But apparently I made up for it in the color photos, as well as black and whites of the other cities. In reviewing the negatives, I noticed that (as I was expecting) some of the pictures from Santorini were way, way overexposed. It was in the middle of the day, it was sunny and hot and bright light bouncing off all those white buildings, even though I stopped it down as far as I could, there were several that were pretty washed out. Then on two other rolls, there would be say one out of the whole roll that was a complete wash, which tends to make me think something is/was wrong with the camera. Maybe it was me?? I just had two of the Minolta bodies worked on, so I don't know what that was all about. I'll have to keep an eye on it - pay more attention as I'm shooting.

I can't say enough about film v. digital. In my opinion, the film captures what is TRULY there: the shadows, the mystery that's seen with the naked eye. Digital captures a MORE perfect scene, then some photographers go back and add the mystery. I mean I took digital black and whites too, and they look good, but not as GREAT as the film images. It's weird. I suppose if I only knew digital to begin with my opinion would be different.

Here's another color image of Cephalonia, Greece. The building was actually a yellow-gold, but the canvas canopy was reddish-orange and it made this shop really pop out! Later, I saw another photographer being intrigued with this same scene.

Cephalonia, Greece

The Greek island of Cephalonia (also spelled with a K) was very pretty considering the whole town of Argostoli had been devastated in the 1953 earthquake. When it was rebuilt, it was built up as a resort: lots of shops and eateries. Coming into the port early in the morning was something to see - but every port was like that with the exception of one or two that were more industrial. Here you can see the early dawn with the town's lights and the light from the cruise ship illuminating the green ocean water.

Lately, I have been conversing with a couple of newbie artists who have contacted me with questions about getting their work 'out there'. I enjoy helping artists with information and this time I was able to meet both of them - one in person and the other via telephone. Making new friends is always fun! I worked again at the High Hand Gallery on Saturday and we were quite busy with people gearing up for Christmas. Thanksgiving was wonderful and now it's over and time to move on to Christmas for our family!

However, I am moving into the darkroom today - come rain or shine - to finally make my contact prints of all my rolls of developed film from Europe! That's it - that's where I'm going. There's just not enough time in the day to do everything I want to accomplish. That's one of the reasons I'm not set up for sales on my website because I just wouldn't be able to keep up with it. If you want something - email me or call me. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Time is flying by and there's so much to do! First of all we need to stay home and I mean it this time! Got together in Monterey with my husband's family this past weekend. Great weather as it was supposed to rain, but waited until we left. It did rain Friday nite but we had just arrived and were inside having fun at dinner.

Last week I was having issues with my blog counter. Apparently my cache was full on Internet Explorer so by deleting the cache the counter eventually re-appeared for me as in just today. It was probably showing up for you, just not moi! One of these days I'll have to get another computer since mine's going on 7 years old. Macs are more but then there's the learning curve - always a learning curve - and I don't know if I want to spend that much money. It's my understanding you can go into the iMac store and play around with them, so I might just do that.

This morning I was thinking about my photography. I WAS around in the 60's and as I look back, I wished I could have really picked up the camera back then. There was so much history taking place back then: in the music industry, the Vietnam war, civil rights, fashion, to name few. Okay, so I was in Barstow, but it all affected us there too. I would have liked to have been in on the jazz scene and taken black and whites back then. Hopefully you'll be motivated from my yearning of "if only's and what if's" that if you have a passion then go for it NOW. Just take your trusty little camera and give it your best shot. And don't be hard on yourself by thinking they're not good images!! Look at the old black and whites that were taken by various famous photographers - they're not perfect images, they're not perfectly clear digitals, and yet they're invaluable pieces of artworks. Just go do it and do it today!

Birthday Week!

I haven't done much in my studio - art wise, anyway. It's the week of my birthday and other fun things are happening: like spending time with my granddaughter! We spent a couple days sewing and we made her two tops and a skirt! She is also very talented in many artful ways: photography (natch!), videography, drawing and painting, an actress, and much, much more! We've also been out practicing driving just around our property as she recently got her learner's permit. I remember those days.

Getting back to Dubrovnik, Croatia, we had perfect weather for the day we were there. Sunny, warm, more like hot, especially when we got up to the top of the city's wall! About a quarter way around the top of the wall we saw across in the distance, still part of the walled city, a movie set! How exciting. Apparently they were shooting for an HBO series that Ive forgotten the name of, and my sister Carole knew the actor, Peter Dinkley. There was also a medieval ship not too far out in the ocean that was part of the 'show' that we saw later as our cruise ship was leaving shore.

Auburn Artists Studio Tour

This weekend was also the Annual Auburn Artists Studio Tour. Saturday my granddaughter and I went to a candle making class at High Hand Gallery. Amanda was giving the class and she is the artist that I photograph her candle products for her website. It was alot of fun and I hope to do it again soon. Our candles came out really good and the fragrances we picked out are quite lovely! I chose Christmas Wassail.

After the class we met up with my neighbor and we went over to a couple of the artists studios. One of them was in Foresthill: Dana Barrow who is a potter. Unfortunately we just missed her horse hair demo. But we were able to go inside her studio and see all of her pottery. Absolutely beautiful works. Then we headed back into Auburn and went to the OLAS Group Studio. There were six artists showing there, as the space they rent is their studios. Amazing stuff I've never seen before. Most artists work in more than one medium.

I guess it's time to move on from Venice into Dubrovnik, Croatia. There's more to Dubrovnik than the walled-city, but that's where we spent our whole day. This is an image of one of the corners of the walled city. The walls are 10 feet thick - and in some places, 20 feet! Dubrovnik by the way was a Turkish invention - the Turkish phrase dubro-Venedik means 'the good Venice'. Croatia is also the country where the tie was originated from!

Studio Tour in Cool

Yesterday was quite the busy and fun day. My aunt and some of her high school classmates she has kept in touch with over all these years met me at the High Hand Gallery. I was able to show them around the whole place, and saved the gallery for last! They really enjoyed the tour and liked my artwork (and the other artists' artworks) very much! Then we all loaded up in the car and headed up to my studio.

They had never been on the canyon road from Auburn to Cool, so that was a treat in itself! I went slow for them. We got to my house and showed them around the place and then we had lunch. After lunch I took them out to my studio and they fell in love all over again. I showed them my work spaces, how and where I developed my film, the photo transfers, my equipment, my artwork. It was fun to share it with people, as I would never be able to be on the Auburn Artwalk. Cool is in El Dorado County and I am closer to Placer County, but so far out in the boonies, no one's ever going to come here! So, I'll just have to have my own 'tours' when I want them.

This black and white digital photo I'm posting is from Burano - amidst all the bright colors of Burano, I pulled out my film camera and clicked off this shot. I liked the simplicity of the old office chair against the concrete wall with all its texture. I found myself taking several of these types of scenarios on my trip. It lends itself to portraying a mood of some sort...

Film Developing DONE!

I managed to get back into the darkroom yesterday and finish up with the last three rolls of film! They're all developed, negatives cut, and put into sleeves. At some point I'm going back in there to make the contact prints. I'm going to another meeting this morning at the High Hand Gallery. We actually have them every Wednesday to discuss ideas and whatever, I just don't always make there. Actually, I never make it there. But I'm going today! I made my labels yesterday too and while I'm at High Hand will put them up with the new framed pictures. I was a little behind on that task!

Last night I connected with a local artist who was referred to me by a high school classmate. She is new to 'thinking' about showing her artwork. I looked up her artwork on the internet and I really like it. I've learned over the years that even when I was venturing out with my photography that I had met fellow photographers/ artists who were more than willing to share information, and it's only right that we pass on any words of encouragement to other budding artists. Makes sense to me. Having someone speak kind words of wisdom was such a relief, because believe me, a person can sure talk themselves out of anything!

Here's another 'bridge' picture that I'm just entertaining you with until I come up with some of my B&W film images. Most of the ports we were in was always in the middle of the day. So we all know that noontime photography isn't that great. Too flat, too bright, no shadows. So I added a layer to a rather perfectly boring picture and gave it some flair!

Quick Trip in the Darkroom

Yesterday I headed into town to get more chemicals so I could finish up the last of the film. By the time I got home I was only able to get two more done and I'll finish up the rest this morning. Then I will start making the contact sheets for each roll. This morning I was having a very tiresome dream that I was tinting some of my photographic images and remembered I had forgotten to rinse them one last time and I had to go back and get that done...and it just went on and on! So basically I'm still working when I'm sleeping!!

Last night I went to Loomis for our High Hand Gallery meeting. It gets extremely cold in the sheds. The owner is updating the place with heaters and lighting and his list goes on, but in the meantime we wear layers of clothing in order to handle the cold inside. By the time I was driving home my body was already aching from the cold weather. The good news from the meeting was that we had a great month in sales for October! Also while I was there I dropped off the special order and I will call the gentleman this morning to let him know they are ready for him to pick up. I still have labels to do for my photography I took in to High Hand. I keep telling myself every time I walk into my studio, "...do the labels, do the labels!"

The image I am posting today is also of Venice - in digital Black and White. We were returning from our tour of Murano and Burano islands, so this picture I shot from the cruise boat. As you can see this is just one of the many pedestrian bridges over one of the many canals throughout Venice. I'm honestly not sure which one this is, but they did point out one of the bridges as the "Bridge of Sighs". Remember the Robin Trower blues song, "Bridge of Sighs"? Well, the bridge got its name from the fact that that particular bridge connected the prison to the hanging place, and the prisoners would sigh on the long walk over the bridge to their deaths. Sad, but true.

Productive Day!

Yesterday went well. I was able to get in the darkroom and develop six of the 11 rolls of film I had from the Mediterranean Cruise! Now I only have five more to go! Then I'll do contact print sheets for each roll all in the same day. It felt good to be in the darkroom again. It's so soothing, and to think I used to doubt myself.

Then in the midst of all this I received a phone call from someone who had gone into the High Hand Gallery and seen some of my Bodie color prints. I have a couple images of the old forgotten cars left on the property and people just love those. I must have sold at least five already of the car prints. So he was calling to order two of the prints for his daughter's birthday. I love it! So now I have the frames, one of the images printed and will print out the other. Then mat and frame and take to the gallery so he can pick them up next week. That was a plus for me and just made my day!

I just got a call from my sister Pat and I'm jealous 'cause she already has her pictures printed and in albums! She said she has a couple of pictures she's not sure where they were from. I should call her back and tell her to check to the back of the print, as they usually print the date it was taken on it.

The first morning in Venice of our first full day I got ready early and went out to take pictures. Not many people on the street just those walking to work. I came across this scene: a stuffed bear with a bottle of wine next to him outside a restaurant. Well, someone was having fun!

Maria Soto Photography

I took a few minutes to read thru my website which I haven't done for a while. Made some changes, and my web designer fixed it just like that! Thanks Ludie! I have been spending most of my time on my blog trying to keep up with the posts while working on my artwork. So I have longtime neglected my actual website and haven't really posted any new galleries. Lord knows I have some to post!

I worked at the High Hand Gallery yesterday half day for the re-hang of the artwork for the next two months. Unfortunately for me, my pieces are hung quite high. Too high for photography, but that's the way the ball bounces! You can't have the good spots all the time! And I have been fortunate to have had lower spots, so it's time for change.

I can't believe I'm still downloading photos from my camera SDs to my PC. What a job! My website and the photo transfers are calling to me, but I really need to develop my film so I can identify the images and catalog them! Each roll is labeled with the country and/or town, but I still have to ID the pics within each roll. Well, it's all fun, so not to worry, right? And I have the day to myself, so what more could I ask for?

Getting back to Venice, this image is of the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, finished in 1592. The history is that this design was the winner in a competition that included Michelangelo! (I don't think he won.) This new bridge replaced a bridge of 'boats'! What an improvement.

High Hand Gallery Artwork

This weekend I started working on my new pieces to take to the High Hand Gallery. I selected my photos that I was going to print, mat and frame. Two of them I've already posted on my blog: Venice at Sunset and the Grand Canal Gondolas. In addition I selected two that were pics I took of a gondolier who was on break or didn't have any takers for the moment. I actually took several shots of him as I thought it was unique at the time, something natural. So the one I really liked wasn't very clear (as I was trying to be sneaky about taking his picture). I kept walking when I took the first shot. But I liked it so much that I put a filter/layer over it (pastel pencil) and it came out pretty cool I must say! I printed two different pics of that scenario - giclees on smooth fine art paper and voila! A piece of new artwork.

I went to Aaron Bros. and picked out some frames and a fancy mat for the picture with the gondolas. I cut mats for the other three. The larger one of the Venice at Sunset (purple shades picture) I ended up cutting a double mat for that one. I just happened to have some gold mat board that matched the frame, so I used that under the cream colored and textured mat. I wished I'd taken pictures before I rushed off to the gallery, but I didn't and I had to get it down there today.

I am posting the original photo of the gondolier on break, and what the photo looked like with the filter of pastel pencil.

External Hard Drive

The computer guy arrived this morning on time and we sat down to face the issue. Apparently it wasn't anything I did. I had loaded it properly, he said sometimes you have to circumvent the way the added software shows you what's happening, by going to 'My Computer' and performing the task that way. So that's what we did, and of course I wrote it all down for future reference. I asked some other computer related questions and that was it. He did not know about calibration, so it ended there. So, bottom line, my pictures are getting backed up and that's all I care about.

This weekend I will be busy putting together at least two additional new works for the gallery. I may have to wait until Monday to get a frame at Delta Mat & Moulding if I don't have any in stock or find one elsewhere. So that's my work cut out for me this weekend, as well as maybe doing a couple of photo transfers. Oh! Yesterday when I was working at High Hand I did sell another framed 8x10 of Bodie!! I should say it sold itself! So that was a nice shot in the arm!

Getting back to the Mediterranean, Burano was the other island in Venice that we went to. That particular island is known for its lace, but I don't think the tourists were that interested in lace. The island's other main attraction is their brightly colored houses. The story goes, that the fishermen (that was their mainstay) would paint their houses a bright color so they could keep their eye on their homes. Whether that is true I don't know. But I will say it was unique and picturesque!

Murano, Italy

For us adding a day to the beginning of the trip didn't seem like we got to see what we wanted to see. A lot of it I think was jet lag, being tired, the thrill of being in a foreign country, just wanting to soak everything up and there was SO MUCH to take in!! We didn't make it to St. Marks Square, but we did see it from the ship twice. Once when we went on our tour cruise to Murano and Burano islands, and the other time when we left Venice heading south. In between all this we still had to haul our luggage to the ship and do our initial boarding on Holland America.

It was quite a treat to see the city of Venezia from a higher advantage point. We took the cruise to Murano and Burano. Murano is the island where they have several glass making/blowing companies. These glass works were moved to the island by royal decree at the end of the 13th century because of the fire hazard. So we took a tour cruise to one of glass works: Ferro-Lazzarini. There were quite a few people so it was hard to get any 'great' shots from my point of view. I've been to glass works studios before so I knew what to expect. Here's a shot of the glass blower making one of his famous horses. I was quite surprised to hear from the tour guide that the men we see in this shop today will be the last of the glass blowers as the young people don't want to take up the occupation. I had a hard time believing that. Maybe they should send out some job notices to Tacoma and Seattle. Chihouly doesn't seem to have any issues with the younger generation!

Venice, Italy

Venice is a city of islands, actually 117 of them, and there are 150 canals, which means there are more than 400 bridges that cross each one! It's amazing when you think about it. Would you be able to live on an island, or conglomeration of islands? We did see bicycles as the only other mode of transportation besides walking. Each walkway you come to, each channel or canal is breathtaking. I was so 'excited' about the place that I pretty much filled up one disk on Venice alone. It kind of made me worry what this trip was going to be like for me, picture-wise! Egads Soto, slow down!

For now my computer is working and I finally called for someone to come out on Saturday and help me with this external hard drive. It should be easy - for them! Maybe I'll learn something!

Now I'm getting back in the groove and realized that I need to bring in some new art work this weekend to the High Hand Gallery! I'm not ready. Maybe I won't have to. I do have some photo transfers done but I don't have any frames yet! It's always something!

Venice Waterways

I'm still having computer problems, mainly I don't know what the issue is! It has to do with my external hard drive, so I guess I'll have to get someone up here to help me...maybe. So I got the computer unlocked so-to-speak, and thought I would hurry and make a post!

Getting back to Venice...what a transition in lifestyle from concrete sidewalks and cars and horns to waterways and pedestrians only. It was pretty cool just coming into Venice. All the old stone buildings and bridges - did I mention bridges?? ;) There are small bridges over each waterway. Coming into the city by air, keep in mind you have to lug your luggage to whichever hotel you are staying in. So this is an adventure in itself. But all in all, we found the Venetians pretty happy to see us and welcomed us with open arms too! The first night we found a restaurant actually not very far from our hotel, and we didn't mind as we were so tired and the restaurant 'barker' pulled us in anyway! We had a bit of a wait, but it was fun people watching. The food was pretty good as I recall. I took pictures of some of our dishes along the way, but not this night. We walked around at night and of course made our first purchases of mementos: mostly magnets. I must have been excited because when I got home and unpacked I had purchased more than enough magnets. What was I thinking??

Venice and Mediterranean Cruise

So, yes I did come home from my cruise, but then I had another small trip planned to the east coast to visit my son and family, and so there was this brief interruption so to speak!

I have been really busy getting caught up on my 'household' chores, and now I am back in my studio. For the last few days over the weekend I have been uploading pictures off my camera san disks to the computer. That takes a long time, since I'm learning this new process for my Canon T2i. The EOS Utility program as some of you are probably aware, uploads the original and at the same time makes as additional JPEG file which is nice. However, I'm not that digital savvy and so yesterday after I'd been going thru this process for awhile, the program decided not to make the second JPEG image. I don't know what button I pushed if any, but at the same time I know I can make that second image later. Enough of this I want to talk to you about Venice!!

The long flight over to Zurich was just that: LONG! From Zurich we then flew to Venice on a much smaller plane and much more comfortable one too. All three of us conked out for the whole flight and felt fairly rested when we landed. From there we were met by a guide of sorts. We had to lug our suitcases over to the 'taxi'. So, I'm not thinking that far ahead...still tired...and so the 'taxi' was a 'water taxi' because Venice has no streets for cars, right!? So we load our luggage onto the water taxi, and off we go at sunset. It's about a 20 minute ride. Well, it was the water taxi ride from hell. We had a young driver who apparently was in a hurry and not ONCE did he look back at us to see if we were still in the boat. Once we got to the city limits he HAD to slow down and this was when we were able to really look out and see our first sights of the city of Venice. It was sunset and the colors were pretty awesome to say the least.

Auburn's Second Thursday Art Walk

I've been busy to say the least. This Thursday is the last of Auburn's Second Thursday Art Walks, and Kerry Terese Salon & Gallery's Theme this time is Maps and Travel. So I took in three of my framed gelatin silver prints: White House, Canyon de Chelly; Bethesda Passageway, Central Park; and Villefranche Divers, France. Then when I got to her gallery I saw that she had two different paintings of the Eiffel Tower, and I said, 'hey, I have an Eiffel Tower too!' She said, 'I want it! Bring it in.' So I came home yesterday, finished off the sides, added a wire and varnished it, and made a second trip later in the afternoon. Whew!

Now this morning I was having another learning curve to deal with. While on my trip I shot all my digital prints in RAW. Now there's a subject for you! I have already loaded the Canon T2i's program for photo editing/uploading/filing, etc. I'm not going into detail here today - I haven't had time to really read thru all the process to deal with these types of files. I did get them uploaded and into folders so I could clear off a memory disk - that's all I wanted to get accomplished today. I uploaded Florence, Italy and Barcelona, Spain digital photos.

I'm sharing a picture of one of the many mimes we saw on the streets of Barcelona, namely the main drag for tourists: La Rambla. This mime is Medusa. I have to say these guys go all out for their costumes. It was hot and humid and to think they can sit there so still (without passing out!) in the heat of the day is amazing. When you give them money, that's when they move! It can be scary too! I'll share more mimes later.

Back to Business!

I hope you haven't given up on me - for you who have come to read my blog this year. I am back from a loooong cruise of the Mediterranean and what a vacation that was! Almost too long however. We had great weather, very, very warm, and only one day where it slightly dropped a few droplets of refreshing rain! ;) I am so tired of lugging around my canvas bag holding my two precious cameras and lenses. Wholly Toledo. I'm getting too old for this!

The cruise was great in that we always had a fairly cushy bed to come back to on the ship, the beds were turned down, with a chocolate laying on the covers for us, with a cute little towel animal of varied species each night. The entertainment was great, the food was scrumptious, the cruise staff were polite and kind and ready to please. The only bad thing that I can think of is that you are on a 'timed' agenda for the day for each port that you come into. Of course you want to see what each country has to offer, but you only have so much time to do it in. So that means, transporting from the ship to shore (at some docks), riding a bus or train to your desired destination (in some cases we were lucky and we could just walk within the town), and then when you get to your destination you only have so much time before you have to turn around and make sure you get back on the ship before it leaves for the night! But it was a great opportunity to see where I would like to return for a longer stay sometime. I would definitely go back to Italy to visit the Tuscany area, and from my previous travels to France, I would definitely go back to the eastern portion of France to their wine countryside - I think they call it the champagne region if I remember correctly.

So I am home with over 1,500 digital shots, and 11 rolls of TMAX B&W 36 exposure, and I ran out of film after Florence, and for some strange reason I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders!! ;) Now I only had to carry one camera and just switch over to 'P' for my programmed B&W feature! Hah! It was great. Last night I started showing my husband the digital pics on the TV. He really liked them. We'll do more tonite.

I'll post more soon with pictures - just not today as I have been busy getting back to some normalcy around here. Chica my dog sure missed me. She has been by my side all day and couldn't stop kissing me when I got home yesterday. Aaawww. She is just too cute!

Sales and more Sales!

Saturday when I went in to High Hand Gallery to work I found out someone bought my Empire Mine Staircase gelatin silver print! And then that day a gentleman and his fiancee came in and bought one of my Bodie Ghost Town framed piece - that's two framed prints. And if that wasn't enough, I received a call from the gallery yesterday that my photo transfer of "Rodin's Re-do" sold!! Wow! But you know, that's how it goes in the art world. It goes in spurts and it goes by artist. One artist will have a great week, then it moves on to another artist. It's crazy like that! Luckily on Sunday I took in a couple of framed replacement pieces just for times like this! ; ) Who knew??

I am finally done with running errands for the household and baking goodies for my husband for when I'm gone to Europe. Today I am taking care of a little paperwork and then I am going to start packing!! I received my Global phone on Monday and took it in to Verizon to put it together. I didn't want to even have to think about that one.

I still have some photos to upload from my camera to my PC of High Hand Gallery and then I should be done with all my responsibilities.

Matting & Framing

Yesterday was a chaotic zoo! I was running around like a nut, spinning my wheels, and really not getting anywhere. Sometimes when you try too hard, it just doesn't work. Well, it wasn't a complete failure. After spending too much time at the High Hand Gallery taking pictures of the new artwork for Facebook, I then headed out to the mall looking for a frame for a 16x20 black and white picture titled 'Bryce Canyon Floor'. I ended up coming home and just using a frame I already had - still in the package. I think it looks just fine too. The photographic image I've had printed for some time now, and I wanted to do something to it to make it even better. So I hand tinted with water color pens specifically for RC and FB papers. I hand colored the mountain range that ran right thru the middle of the image. It is a pale ochre (light tan-ish yellow). Then I cut a mat that was about the same shade! Just happened to have it! I also changed out the glass for non-glare and voila! Instant jaw dropper! So now I had two pieces to take to the Blue Moon Gallery for the next month's show. The other piece is the photo transfer of the rose that I previously posted.

I got all this done by 2:30 p.m., packed up the two framed pieces, and again headed down to the Sacramento valley which is a good 45 minute drive. And it has been really hot here. At first the gallery owner wasn't sure if she would have room for the large B&W piece, but then she decided to keep it and hopefully will hang it for this weekend - tomorrow nite!

Today I was busy uploading and resizing photos for the High Hand Gallery's Facebook page. Got those done and posted! Now I have other things to do and it's not in the studio.

Photo Transfers

Yesterday I worked on framing another completed photo transfer. It is one of a rose bush my husband and I purchased in memory of my brother Joey. It's called "Just Joey". The rose is a beautiful peach/pink color. The finalized transfer / water color image is more of a deeper peach - verging on orange. I just happened to have a frame in stock that is silver and black, thin wood frame with a mat, and I added a second mat around the actual painting. The frame was a perfect match for it! I've posted the original photo and the painting. And I just want to say this is NOT how you photograph artwork. I photographed it already framed, and that's a definite no-no.

Today I need to head out and pick up another frame for the other transfer. Hopefully, I can get this completed to get on over to the Blue Moon Gallery to trade out two gelatin silver prints that have been there (and not sold!) since February of this year. Bummer. That particular gallery is geared more to the painters of the art world. Those are the types of artwork that sell there. So, hence the change out!

I haven't made it into the darkroom yet - I have so much to do before I leave on my European trip! I did purchase an external hard drive, loaded it, and have been painstakingly dealing with the addition of the new program to my PC!! Ai, yi, yi!! If you know what I mean. My PC is 6 years old and that is apparently old in the fast world of technology. But I'm not upgrading! Not now.

I did hear from my sister-in-law in regards to the old negatives I scanned for her and put on disk. She loved them!!

Web Photography

Today I'm on my way out to the High Hand Gallery to take a couple of framed photographic images to replace some I'm bringing home. BTW, I can't remember if I mentioned before that my photo transfers were juried in - so there's five new pieces of artwork for the next two months, too!

I'm also going to pick up a photo box from the client I'm photographing her candle products for the web. I tried yesterday taking the shots with just my tri-fold white cardboard easel, but that wasn't really working. I just didn't want to shell out $$ for the nylon photo box. It's hard to find them by themselves as I already have lighting equipment and tripods. So for now, I'm borrowing hers. In addition, I did go online and ended up at a photography school website for any pointers I may have overlooked, which I found out I was already on top of things for this one.

I did a previous photo shoot for this client for her website, and this time I need to shoot the photos in RAW, per her request. So this leads me to another subject that I am 'learning' about. Number one, they say shooting in RAW is the best way to shoot digital as it maintains the true colors of the subject matter. However, one should save them as JPEGs, but also keep the original RAW files for future use without manipulations that you may end up making to them. So the problem is STORAGE SPACE! I shot my Bodie and Yosemite pics in RAW. I still haven't uploaded them as I'm thinking I need another type of offline storage system. And I just haven't had the time to get over to Best Buy and speak with someone, let alone purchase IT! I'd like to sound somewhat intelligent. It's just another 'thing' for me to take care of before my upcoming trip.

More Photo Transfers

Once I got all my labels done for the gallery, I accidentally went back to the photo transfers - namely, finishing off the rose painting that was almost finished. That only took about another hour, and then all I know is the next minute I'm printing out another flower image on transfer paper and pressing it into the damp water color paper! I almost finished that one too last night. It's kind of strange to look at it - as it appears so much like the photo. It is a photo of a live lavender orchid I had at one time and it has a dark green ethereal background.

I had previously lucked out finding some pretty classy gold and antique silver frames on sale at Delta Mat & Moulding for the other photo transfers I did. Now I'll have to figure out more frames for these. I've never seen any frames of that sort at Aaron Bros. Speaking of those transfers, tomorrow I am taking them back to High Hand Gallery to have them juried in. I hope they get in. I would think they would make great holiday gifts as I am pricing them pretty reasonably!

Looks like this weekend is when I go back into the darkroom. I'll keep you posted.

120 and 220 Film

The last two days I have been scanning in old negatives in sizes 120, and as I discovered 220 film format. That was a job in itself. Luckily I do have a small scanner, Epson 4490 Photo Scanner, which does the trick. I mainly bought it for 35 mm film negatives. Who knew I would one day use it for anything more?

The 120 equates to 2 1/4" x 2 1/4", or 6x6 cm. I learned that the larger frames, same width, was still medium format, but at 2 1/4" x 3 1/2" or 6x9 cm. That right there was a lesson in itself for me.

After I scanned in all four sets of negatives, I worked with them in Microsoft Image Editor, and from there, went into Photoshop Elements. I tried removing some of the dust particles, did some hand painting, and fixed some of the brightness, contrast, and/or exposure. Like I said these were pretty old and not in the best condition, but I think even for viewing family history it works. I did print some of the photographic images to see how they would come out - and the better ones look pretty good I must say. A lot of them, my husband hadn't seen before. Especially the ones of his parents probably when they were first married without any children!

Now that I have that project complete, I need to sit down and make out new title cards for the High Hand Gallery, as we have a new signage requirement.

35 mm Film

My sister-in-law had some old negatives of the family she found and I offered to scan them in. I had asked her if they were 35mm and she said no and that she didn't think 35mm had been around 'back in the day'. Well, that got my curiosity up because I knew it had been around for a while. I don't profess to know everything - I'm always learning something new about photography to keep my interest up.

I did a search on the internet and 35mm film was introduced in 1892 by William Dickson and Thomas Edison (using film stock supplied by George Eastman)!! Wow! Thomas Edison - who knew?! It was mostly used for movie films. So it wasn't until 1934 that the 135 (35 mm) was introduced by Kodak in the 'cassette' specifically for still photography use. The cassette was engineered for 'daylight' loading into the camera. Prior to the cassette, photographers had to load the film into reusable cassettes. This new cassette was developed specifically so that it could be used in both Leica and Zeiss Ikon Contax cameras, as well as, the Kodak Retina camera for which it was invented.

So there's your little tidbit of 35 mm film history for the day. There's alot more out there if this has peaked your interest - the internet is just a click away!

It's Too Hot!!

This is the third day and I haven't been in my studio working, other than to clean it up and read my emails!! I think the heat got to me and I was one lazy little girl yesterday. Today I at least went out and got some errands done for my upcoming trip in September. My sisters and I are going to Europe!!! We fly into Venice, Italy, and stay for a day and a half, then on to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kerkira, Curfu, Greece; Argostoli, Cephalonia, Greece; Santorini, Greece; Catanaia, Sicily, Italy; scenic cruising thru the Strait of Messina; Naples, Italy; Civitaveccchi (Rome) Italy; Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy; and then to Barcelona, Spain for 2 nites.

I purchased a new canvas tote to carry both cameras for the trip, bought film, and I'd like to purchase another large San disk and then I should be ready photography- wise - I think. I still have another three and a half weeks - but it's getting here fast.

Tomorrow I need to can the last of the peppers from the garden and get that over with, and then I hope to get back into the dark room and get some Bodie and Yosemite prints done!

Kayaking

I wasn't able to get the photography transfers juried in at High Hand Gallery. I misunderstood the directions, and so I will bring them back in on the first Friday of September.

I honestly have not done a whole lot in my studio the last couple of days. Had to work outside in the yard. Also on Thursday my husband and I took our granddaughter out kayaking! That was fun. She was quite the natural and she did quite well for her first time! We couldn't believe it. But I guess that's youth for you. That's her in the kayak!

I did receive my supplies Thursday that I ordered from Freestyle Photographic Supplies. One of the supplies were some coloring pens for hand-tinting black and white photographs. I practiced on some old RC prints I have stashed in a drawer. The pens will work on both RC paper and Fiber paper. At first I didn't think they were going to work - or that maybe I wasn't that good at hand coloring. However, once the ink dried they actually looked pretty cool.

Tonite I took my neighbor with me to High Hand Gallery for Third Saturday Reception. It was held supposedly in conjunction with the High Hand Nursery's Tomato Festival event. But apparently we missed the tomatoes!

Matting & Framing

Two days ago I spent the afternoon cutting mats for the photography transfers, then cutting the non-glare glass and framing them out. Yesterday I finished up putting the paper backing on all five of the pictures and writing up the description of the transfer process (authenticity labels). This is what reads on the back:

"This original piece of artwork is "one of a kind". It originally starts out from a photo (either film or digital) and is printed onto transfer paper, then pressed onto 140 lb watercolor paper, and the ink is then worked on with water color brushes. Some pictures may have additional water colors added to enhance even more. The artwork has been matted with 4-ply museum quality mat board and non-glare glass. Avoid exposing the print to extreme heat or place on a heat bearing wall."

Today I will submit them for the jury process and hopefully they 'get in'! I don't see why not, but one never knows. I have one more transfer in the works which is a close up of a rose from the garden. My next gig will be to go back into the darkroom and work on more photos from Yosemite and Bodie Ghost Town.

I'm posting one of the black and white photo transfers so you can see the difference between the color and B&W transfers.

Back in the Darkroom

After I worked for two days on the photography transfers, I went back into the darkroom developing some of the photos from Yosemite. There were five in a row of Half Dome that I started developing - got to the first two. These five film shots were taken pretty much in the middle of the day, so next round of developing I will need to do some dodging of the trees in the foreground. Or, maybe, just take out that portion and increase the skyline in the upper foreground. There is a shot of some faint lightening in the background in one of the pics.

Once I cleaned up in the darkroom, I couldn't help myself, and I found a recent photo of some roses I took that are in our backyard, and printed one out. Then I proceeded to work on that for a while. Of course dinner preparation got in the way of that. This time, however, I did tape off the sides with painters blue tape - the thin smooth one. I also picked up some more 140 lb water color paper. (I made a mistake the other day by stating I was using 130 lb paper, when it was 140 lb. Oops! Here's a sample of the original photo and the photo transfer so you can see the difference. I think on this one I didn't click hard enough on 'mirror image', so they're not exactly going the same direction.

I need to take an afternoon and cut some mats for the photo transfers so I can have them ready to get juried in on Wednesday. I think I better do that!

Photography Transfers

Like I said before, I really hate to leave my studio!! The last two days I have been working on transfers. It's easy, it's addictive, and FUN! Yesterday, with the High Hand Gallery's theme for September " Autumn Glow" in mind, I pulled up some Autumn leaves type photos and printed one out and transferred it to watercolor paper. Then I proceeded to work with the ink and a paint brush. Then for added emphasis I added some additional color, not that much, to enhance what was already there. Needless to say I think it looks great. I wished I had taped it off, but I can mat it. It's just that I think it would have looked even better with a margin around the actual photographic transfer image and THEN the mat. The next one I did tape it off with artist's tape, but I basically ruined it because that tape isn't quite right - it's too much adhesive and it tore off the paper. I might have to go with the household blue tape for painters.

All in all, I've completed about 6 or 7 transfers. Some have the photographic image feel, and others are literally paintings. Now I just need to get juried in to see if I'm even going to be allowed to use them at High Hand Gallery. I ran out of 140 lb, cold press watercolor paper (smooth surface), so I'll have to make a run into the local art supplies store. I need to pick up a couple of square and round paint brushes too while I'm at it!

Toning and Transfers

Yesterday and the night before I started playing around with photo transfers and then simultaneously with the Berg Brown/Copper Toning solution. First lets talk about the Toning process.

Mixing the toning solution is probably the hardest part of the whole process. The water needs to be between 65 & 70 degrees. I've gotten a little smarter on the water part and started refrigerating some to use in mixing my chemicals v. using ice to cool the mixtures AFTER they've been mixed. It's a lot easier. You mix Part A with Part B (by the way the mixture color isn't dark brown like I thought it would be, it's blue!) there can be some crystallized sediment and you will need to warm up the bottles to melt them. But in addition, there is also some stringy sediment floating around once you mix it and you will need to strain the solution before you use it. That's what took so long. It kept clogging up my funnel strainer and it probably took about 15 minutes to get it done.

I made the test strips with various times: 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes, and 15 minutes, as well as a full image. I was going for the so-called 'copper' look. Well, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It's coppery-brown, but not metallic copper like I was thinking. However, I did like some of the results. I would probably stick with possibly 30 seconds and maybe even make it 45 seconds. That length of time is more of a very subtle sepia and still leaves some blacks/grays. I want to order some other toners, especially the selenium toner which adds to the life of your photographic image, as well as makes some of the blacks even blacker - so I hear. I'm not much into the blue toner.

On to the transfers. Instead of trying to come up with empty sheets of labels to use as the transfer paper, the instructions from Jill Enfield's Photo Imaging book said you could also use the dry mounting tissue protective sheets because they too are waxy. The first round using label sheets I was able to get one fairly good image. Using the dry mount sheets it got even better. BTW, I'm just using my old HP Office Jet because I don't want to ruin or clog up my Epson 2400. This is a great process for me because most transfers require Laser jet printers and I don't have one of those. I'm also having better results with 130 lb cold press water color paper. I tried different weights and types. You want a smooth surface for the transfer. I transferred some B&W photography as well as color. Also after the transfer you can take a wet paint brush and do some smoothing out of the image and/or add more water colors. I haven't had to add anything yet. I also made two of the same image and they came out different each time which is great! The same photo with two originals!

The only thing about both of these processes is that I don't want to leave my studio!! ; )

Darkroom Supplies

Friday I felt like a squirrel out gathering my nuts for the winter! Translation: Buying supplies for my darkroom and studio. I'm finding that I will now have to purchase the ink for my Epson 2400 online most likely from Freestyle since the places I normally buy my supplies from in Sacramento are not carrying the ink anymore. I guess that would basically be easier for me anyway. I don't know what it was about the Epson 2400 it must have been a short-lived model because it seems to be left out of many printing conversations. I guess one of these days I'll have to replace it, but it's been a great printer for me and I've never had any issues. KNOCK ON WOOD!

I also bought a new camera bag for an upcoming trip to Europe. I needed one that would carry two cameras and accessories. I had seen a woman with a banana shaped sling bag recently. You could carry it on your back side, and then wehen you wanted to take a camera out, you could pull it around to the front of you, unzip it, and voila! I saw one and tried it out, however, it didn't have alot of padding so I could see me with a lot of bruises, and it could really only hold one camera. Nice thought though. So I found a canvas bag, with lots of padding, and the insides that the cameras go in actually pulls out as a bag, and you are left with a travel bag of sorts. So I got that one. That way I can also put my wallet in it and it too can sling to the back. It also has handles to carry like a heavy duty purse when my neck gets tired! ; ) The brand name is Giottos Group. I will try putting my cameras in it today and see how it feels. I haven't had time until now.

Darkroom Day

Today I was able to stay in my studio without much interruption since my husband went fishing!! I worked on matting and framing a commissioned piece and that took me about an hour and a half, just because I kept getting flecks off the frame onto the matting and it took five tries to finally get it sealed without dust! Eeesh!

Then I mixed up some fresh chemicals as I was all out of Dektol or so I thought. Anyhoo, got that done and proceeded to make my five contact sheets for the film I developed the other day. Looks like I got some great shots of Bodie Ghost Town and Yosemite. I also worked on some digital prints for more cards and 5x7s for the High Hand Gallery.

I wanted to start on the using the copper toner process, but I need a couple more Datatainers to store it in, and possibly one more smaller developing tray just for the toner. I have a feeling it's gonna stain - hence it's own tray.

Here are a couple more pics. One of mountain climbers which is a very stark photo of the granite against the blue sky, and one of the sunset at Bridgeport!

Yosemite in Black and White

Yesterday when I posted I was unable to add the photos right away to my blog for whatever reason?? My PC was scanning and/or the fact that we have satellite - take your pick! So I added them later in the day.

Yesterday I did get in the darkroom and developed the 5 rolls of film! Looks like I got some good ones - sweet! I already cut the negatives and put them in sleeves, so now I need to go back into the darkroom and make contact sheets. Some film photographers don't make contact sheets, but for me it's like a visual library. I don't have to guess or try to remember. So I'll do that next and go from there. And again I haven't worked with the brown/copper toner yet that I was talking about. We've just been busy - outside of my studio. But I already do have some prints I can try the toner out on. I will just need to soak them before I run them thru that process. (So many fun things to do, and so little time!) I would like to have something different to put into the High Hand Gallery for the holidays. If that is to happen, I need to present one for jurying first though.

When we went thru Yosemite last Friday, it was a gorgeous day for anyone to see - first time or not. There were happy little puffy clouds, blue skies, and later the thunder heads rolled in. We missed the actual rain and hail storm and we lucked out with the aftermath of bigger puffy, silver-lined clouds and great shadows with the sunshine. We must have stopped 20 times to get out and take photos and look thru the binoculars. It was a pretty awesome day to end our trip.

In the Darkroom!!

We returned from a week's camping in Bridgeport, California. What a great trip that was. Because California has had so much rainfall this year it was so green and lush all along Highway 395 to our destination of Bridgeport. We chose that area because it was so close to a lot of places we wanted to visit: Devil's Post Pile, Mono Lake, Bodie Ghost Town, and Yosemite to name the bigger attractions! The weather was great although it ran the whole gamut from 40 degrees in the morning, warming up to 95+ in the afternoons and back down in the evenings. Needless to say we made several clothes changing - at least I did! And we gave BLOOD in Bridgeport. The mosquitoes were loving all the fresh blood in town! US!!

We really didn't have much down time as we were so busy checking out the sites! Rode our bikes one day into town and went to the Bridgeport Museum that is located in the Old School House. That had to be the BEST museum with the most memorabilia we had ever been to.

The main reason of the trip for me was going to see Bodie Ghost Town again. This time we went on the Stamping Mill Tour which is the best part of the whole Bodie State Park. The first time we visited Bodie, the tour wasn't open at the time. Today I'm posting a couple of color digital prints I took at Bodie.

Needless to say I have five rolls of film to develop: two from Oregon and three from Bodie and Yosemite. I just finished mixing the developing chemicals - that's my plan of attack for today for starters.

Brookings Kite Festival

I wanted to share some more photos from the Kite Festival that we went to in Brookings, Oregon last Saturday. I took only my digital camera that morning since it was so drizzly. I had to keep it in my jacket and whip it out when I wanted to click off a shot. Maybe it's time I invest in a plastic camera jacket for both cameras.

My standard MO is that I don't manipulate my photos. I'm not saying there's not any room for improvement, it's just that I like the result of the photographic image to be what was actually seen by me. For instance, the one photo of the seagulls on the beach with the sunset mist that I posted yesterday, on that one I could have done a 'Levels auto fix', which I tried, however, it removes the 'mist' and it just looks like a more clear, stark photo of the beach at sunset, and that's not what I saw. The ethereal mist is what the photo is all about.

The black and whites I took that day at the kite festival came out mostly gray. But that's the way it was - it was misty and foggy - not clear. Now some of the B & W's were okay the way they were, some I used 'Levels auto fix', some it was a little contrast adjustment, and some needed an exposure adjustment, and some I made the adjustments manually. They weren't all the same, and sometimes none of the above did them any justice so I left those untouched.

As I mentioned, I also took a roll and a half of B&W film, so I'll need to develop those. Plus my son's been bugging me about developing the rest of his! He doesn't stay with the same film speed, so I've got to the change the timing every time for each single roll of film! I guess I'm just procrastinating on that one! Enjoy the photos today.

Brookings, Oregon

Well I'm back! We went out of town on a week camping trip to Brookings, Oregon. When we planned the trip we thought we would be beating the heat here in Cool. However, it was low temperatures here. Oh, well! We had three sunny days with some happy little clouds, and then on Friday it was cloudy but dry, and on Saturday it was drizzly all day. Then it was a repeat on Sunday.

We had a great time walking down on the beach twice a day with our dog Chica. Cruised the town and checked out some galleries - not that many in town. Met some great folks in the RV park - one of the women was also a photographer who sometimes showed her work right there in Brookings. I carried my cameras down to the beach in Brookings Harbor. We also drove up to Gold Beach, and we also visited Harris State Beach a couple of times: one of them at sunset.

Read some more of my Canon T2i manual, and programmed it to also take B&W photos, so I could switch back and forth between black and white and color. However, I was also taking black and white film photography when we were there - always gotta do that!

On Saturday was the Kite Festival (that we didn't know was happening until we got in town) and that was a lot of fun. We thought it was just about keeping a kite up in the air, but no, it was more than that. They flew the kites to music! That's right, choreographed to music! Dancing kites! Sweet! We were there for a couple of hours in the morning and got soaked, but I did get some photos. We also had great clam chowder in a bread bowl - nice and hot and delicious I must say. Ron wanted to go ask the vendor for his recipe!

I just uploaded about 150 photos to my PC and am sharing some with you today. Before I left I ordered some books on alternative photography processes from Barnes & Noble. Received the big one titled "Alternative Photographic Processes" by Christopher James. Really am anxious to delve into that one!