Starry Night in Black and White

It's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday!  Sunday I was in the darkroom, or was that Monday.  Made some progress.  I think I just got myself overly worked up and started second guessing myself - again!  I made about 10 prints, 8x10's, and had no problems.  I decreased the magenta in the Beseler enlarger back to 45 as Ilford paper recommends and the images came out good.  I'm being more selective in which ones I  develop.  In the beginning they all looked so good, and I suppose they are to me, but I want images that will make a statement or hopefully have an impact on somebody!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I didn't make the cut for that International Photography Show in Redding.  Here's the link of who did win.  I was amazed to say the least.  Young people have such great, original and novel ideas.  I think it's wonderful!  http://nval.org/Photography_Show.html

Over the weekend I also got to thinking I should make a bra for the High Hand Gallery's 5th Annual Artful Bra Show which is coming up on May 25th.  I started cutting daisies out of some of my old glossy black and white images that I have tossed in a drawer.  Boy, did that make my hand hurt and I only got one daisy cut!  So I called up my girlfriend who makes cards and also does scrap booking and asked if I could borrow her punches.  That made it so much easier.  Only took about a half hour to cut up what I wanted and then proceeded to put together a bra made with black, white, and various shades of gray in-between.  Pasting them was pretty tricky.  I had two different glues before I got them to stick.  Then I added some rhinestones.  I think I like it a lot!  I'm calling it "Starry Night in Black and White!"

 This morning I went out around 8:30 into Auburn to photograph some of the historical buildings in town.  I am collaborating with another local artist who is also my friend.  She had this great idea for us to enter the "Celebrating Auburn's Past" Call to Artists by the Auburn Arts Commission.  When we get to the finished art piece, I will definitely share it here on my blog.  It was kind of exciting to know the names of these places and learn a little more about my town.  I had a list of about 40 historical places/buildings, and I managed to photography a little over than half.  And, I got my exercise in for the day!