Photographing Plein Air Painting

This afternoon I am heading down to the High Hand Gallery in Loomis to photograph the Plein Air Painting event. Artists were invited to participate painting in the fruit sheds which also coincides with the Iris Festival. Since I am the official photographer for the High Hand Gallery, it's upon me to capture these events and place on the High Hand Facebook page! You can find our page under High Hand Gallery, naturally. In a couple of weeks, we will be receiving entries for the Artful Bra III show, which is a fundraiser benefitting the American Cancer Society. Again, I will be photographing all the entries for two days. But more about that later.

Secondly, I have to get busy and select the photos that I will be hanging in the High Hand Gallery for the upcoming next two months. I kind of have an idea that the photographic images will be ones I already have framed that haven't been shown at High Hand yet. Today's going to be a busy day!!

Day of Excitement

I subscribe to Freestyle Photographic Supplies magazine and also order from them. For some reason, yesterday I received the magazine and was totally rejuvenated artistically!! I don't think anything changed in their format, but for some reason all the various photographic processes intrigued me. I'm stoked! So much that I can hardly wait to order from them. Right on the front cover is a platinum over gold leaf photo that I am really wanting to try that process! Another thing is I've never used a Holga camera. The images come out with a softness and vignetting, and apparently the 'light leaks' in this camera create an intriguing result to the photographic images. And then there's Lith printing that looks even more intriguing. I remember in one of my classes, one 'kid' was developing a print with a paint brush, so only the parts that he touched were developed leaving uneven edges and I thought wow that looks like fun! You know, work outside the box!

And I think I found the perfect graduation present for my granddaughter! Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S Instant Print film camera. It's like a Polaroid with 2.13 x 3.4" images! Heck, I might even buy me one! That looks like fun. I'm still excited, but I've got to get busy. Just wanted to share all of this with you. Also, if you don't subscribe to the magazine, you can always go online at: www.freestylephoto.biz.

Day before, I spent some time cutting some much needed mats for prints to take to the gallery. What I need to do is spend a whole day cutting mats so that I have some on hand in times of emergency or when I just don't feel like doing it. Cutting mats can be very soothing - just put on some great music and cut away!

Bodega Bay Cypress

I've been away having some fun with family this past week. What a blast! My son and his family came out to Bodega Bay and so the rest of family all drove out to them which was a great idea. My sons took my husband and I clamming which was a first for both us. Well, I watched and took pictures since I didn't have a fishing license. It was windy but sunny and if you've never been clamming you are in for a treat! My son Mitch really gets into whatever he does - I mean pretty much laying down and digging the hole to find the goose neck clams! We even got some Washington clams which have a smaller neck but just as tasty.

I was able to go for a short drive by myself and my cameras while the 'boys' went fishing at Tomales Bay. My son Mitch caught not one, but two sting rays. He kept one but let the other one go. And I was able to capture some cypress with my digital camera. My film cameras are both currently in the shop getting fine tuned. We had one sunny day - a little windy, but still a great day. Hey, what day isn't great. It's all about making the most of every single one!

B&W Prints

Sunday I worked at High Hand Gallery - all day. At least it's not so freezing cold in there. Me with my 'warmer' body due to age appreciates a little cooler weather, so we didn't have to light the heater. It was fairly busy on Sunday. The owner of the building is putting on a new 'Victorian' front to the gallery - the entrance within the sheds. This will allow the gallery to have two smaller rooms in the front, and then the whole gallery itself will be closed off from the fruit sheds, hopefully keeping the dust down. We'll just have to see how that works with the temperature of the inside of the gallery, once it's closed off.

A young 'just-married' couple of one day came in. They were perusing thru my black and white matted prints and found two that meant something to them personally. One was a B&W print of Latrobe Road looking thru a barb wire fence at a Valley Oak. They take that road fairly often for wine tasting. The other one was of a Carmel walkway from one of my Carmel series. They both said it was their best trip so far together! They also liked one of a surfer standing in front of 3 long boards in the early morning with the sun streaming through the cypress. So I gave them that one in card size as a congratulations on their marriage!

B & W Photographer Lewis W. Hine

So I know you've probably seen those old photographs of the working men on a structural beam suspended in the air, right? Those were the works of Lewis W. Hine, homegrown in Wisconsin right here in the US of A. He was considered one of the 'fathers of investigative photojournalism' known for his portraits of immigrants on Ellis Island and especially of child workers in factories and coal mines. He, himself, worked in a factory for 13 hours a day, taking over for his father who died at an early age. He spent a large portion of his life fighting child labor.

He traveled through many of the states on the East Coast sometimes under the premise of a fire inspector in order to gain access to document the use of child labor, and used his photojournalism to expose the mistreatment and protect the children. He traveled to Europe to document war refugees for the American Red Cross. Not until the late 1980's were these photographic images identified as his in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Getting back to the suspended photos, Lewis Hine took on the assignment of documenting the steelworkers building the Empire State Building. After that huge undertaking, he continued his pursuit of social documentary type themes.

When I was a young girl, though I was 'attracted' to photography, I didn't pursue that interest as it were. Looking back, I wished someone would have told me to follow my dreams. My sisters and I were encouraged, but more toward the business field in order to support ourselves, which was a good thing. But I guess I'll always wonder what I could or would have done if I'd pursued that one particular dream. It would have been a good time - the 60's - I mean I could have been a contender! I could have been Linda McCartney!!

Darkroom Day

I was in the darkroom day before yesterday, and again today, finishing the last print of the iris. Now it's the same quality as the one I posted! I also printed out a rose that was among that B&W series of photos taken at the Sunset Garden somewhere in the bay area, can't remember for sure where. Then I also started some prints of oaks and I found one that wasn't visible as a 'viable' photo from the negative, but 'wow' after I printed it - it revealed great possibilities! I'm anxious to try that one at a larger size.

Also, just as an fyi, my original thermometer wasn't broken after all. So if you're in the darkroom and your thermometer accidentally gets submerged and filled with water, and the needle acts like it is stuck - try letting it dry out first, then maybe gently hit it against the counter too, and it may very well come back to life. Well, at least that's what mine did. So now I have two which is a good thing as I needed a backup!

I also went down to the camera store late this afternoon. Took in two Minolta SRT 201 bodies that I have that needed to be worked on. The felt in the first one was falling apart and it shows up on the mirror and eventually the photo; the second one I think it had gotten dropped and the shutter release button was stuck! I have four bodies of the 201, and two of the 101s. My original camera is now just a 'knick knack' of wonderful days gone by, and the others I've bought and/or friends have given me as they moved up to digital. I also looked for and found a 50 mm lens for the Minolta, as the one I have is still good, but not as clean as it used to be. This new one I bought was used, but in pretty pristine condition. I also have a 55mm lens that came with one of the SRT 101s, but it's made out of heavy metal and doesn't really have a good connection with the 201s. So, yeah, I'm keeping busy!

Darkroom Development

I worked in the darkroom after dinner for a few hours. Set the room up before dinner with all the chemicals in the trays. I did not do a test strip. I don't always do one. I did in the beginning, but am thinking that once you become familiar with the settings you use to take the photographic image, then you know pretty much which way to go on the settings you will use for developing in the darkroom. At least that's what I am finding out. I keep a log out in the field when I'm exposing numerous rolls of film at a time (i.e., on a travel trip), but I don't always write down the settings.

I made three prints last night and will try a few more. I like what came out last night, but may try to make the background even more dark for emphasis. However, I don't want it too contrasty. Then I will move on to the negatives I have of the oaks in the area. The iris really isn't as dark as it is shown here - close though. This is the way I'd like it to be.

I just have to say that I love being in the darkroom. It's so scientific and so much fun. I'm thinking I need another clock, however, one with florescent hands and seconds. The one I have is white with black lettering and I can't see it that well in the dark for when I'm overlapping development times (processing two prints at the same time).

More Famous Photographers

Josef Sudek was not only a photographer, but a poet as well. Now here's a man who spent his whole life in one city - Prague. He took alot of his photos within his own studio and documented simple subjects with light. So one doesn't have to travel the world extensively if you don't want to. What's even more mind boggling is the fact that he lost his right arm in World War I. He doesn't give up his passion for art; he perseveres and continues with his work his whole life. He was considered a "light painter": he documented changing light. One example was right in his own studio window, which goes to show you that there's art every where and in any 'thing'. You just make it happen.

Now here's a photographer who really caught my attention: Robert Hausser. I had never heard of him. He was born in Germany in 1924 and took his first photo at the age of 16. He used abstract titles for his photography, went thru an architectural period, as well as a realism period that sounded more macabre to me. However, what stood out the most to me was that he referred to his works as "photograhic images" so as not to be confused with just random snapshots!!! I like it! I'm going to start referring to my works of art as "photographic images". It actually encompasses the whole frame of what you have captured in just two words.

Now I am heading into the darkroom to start work on developing that iris I previously mentioned, as well as some other oaks from this area. I have several B&W floral photos. This is one of my first 'hits' with photography.

Organization

Today my husband was able to help me put together some of the items I purchased last week from Ikea. First was the under the table slide out keyboard for my computer. That was pretty easy. Requiring a little more exertion was the CD tower I bought to house all my CDs - Hah! that's a laugh - that we put together and then he secured it to my wall shelving units. It actually looks like it's part of the shelving, however, I definitely could have used another one.

I had also purchased some additional storage boxes and so I ended up putting the remaining 40 or so CDs in those two boxes for now. And then housed my art magazines in the two of the flat matching boxes. Makes it look tidy! I really need to get rid of the futon I have in here. I mean I love it and it was a present to myself purchased with a tax refund some years ago, but I really need more space.

Later this afternoon we went down to Barnes & Noble and I bought a book titled, "50 Photographers You Should Know". I just read thru half of it and it was extremely interesting. It's a good idea to read up on your passion every now and then to get yourself 'motivated' or more like 're-inspired'. Now I want to go out and take some pictures of new places I haven't been. I really enjoy taking photos of people in their own environment. Every now and then I'll think about how and where to arrive at that certain place in order to capture what I'm imagining. I read about Robert Doiseneau and how he took photos of street life - alot of the time he arranged his photos but also as he put it, '...left the door open for whatever comes along'. He photographed street life of Paris day and night. And Brassai who was a night owl also took photos of the night life in the streets of Paris! How lucky can you get. And how come I wasn't born Dorothea Lange? Even though times today are somewhat of another depression, people have changed and it would be harder now to take photographs of people in dire straights. It just wouldn't be easy.