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.