Never Pass Up an Opportunity ::

I've learned over the years that if I see an interesting scene it is always best to stop and take the photograph even if the mood and lighting does not seem to be what you might prefer. So many times, when returning to a scene, everything has changed and what was there before is now totally different.

The above sign would surely have been gone if I'd waited a couple of days to come back to it.

Technical details:

Mamiya RB67

50MM lens

Ilford HP4 film rated at ISO 320

Holga Will Be No More ::

I saw a Twitter post a few days ago that the Holga plant in China has shut down and all of the tooling has been destroyed so that there will no longer be any Holgas produced. I currently shoot with a Holga and I really like the results and I'm saddened by the news that this eclectic camera will no longer be available.

Although I have a working Holga camera now, I plan on ordering another just to be sure I have a back-up.

A New Image For The Flint River Project ::

Taken a few days ago for a recently begun project:

A New (Old) Camera and Some New Projects:

A few months ago I bought a Mamiya RB67 on Ebay and I've gradually been getting back into shooting medium format black and white film. This has also prompted me into not only incorporating film scans into some old projects, but I've also started a couple of new ones. The project I'm focusing on now is photographing the local Flint River watershed. I had been waiting for the light I was looking for to take a photograph of some graffiti on the side of a local bridge last weekend and I found this just a few feet away beside the river:

It as if someone killed a buck just for the head and left the rest to be devoured by scavengers. What a waste!

At about the same time I bought the RB an old friend from my navy days sent me two of his old 35mm cameras that he no longer used. One was a Nikon D5005 with 3 lenses and the other was a very sweet Asahi Pentax with a 50mm and a 135mm lens. I haven't done anything with the Nikon yet, but I've been using the Pentax some and I've since bought a 28mm lens for it as I'm pretty much a wide angle person. I think that I'm going to see if a school would like the Nikon for a photography program.

Great Equipment, Bad (or mediocre) Photographer? ::

 From the photoblographer.com.

If you want better pictures, just go out and get a camera and a lens and whatever you need to create the scene that you want. You know why? Because no one is making bad products anymore. In this stage of the global economy, no one can afford to screw up. So instead, go train yourself to be a better photographer.

Too Long Between Posts! ::

I didn't mean for so much time to elapse between posts again, but I've been shooting some with the new (used) RB67 and it's kinda fun to be shooting film again. I've been taking the film to the local camera store where they still do B&W processing and I've been happy with the outcome, but I've been thinking of starting to process my own film again. I haven't missed a wet darkroom and I have no desire to get back into wet printing mostly because I would never have the time to do it.

I've started a project photographing the local Flint River watershed and here is one of the images that I shot a few days ago:

I've been scanning the negatives and printing on Epson Hot Press Bright paper, but I'm not sure that I really like this matte paper for black and white prints. I'm going to print a couple of photographs on Epson Premium Luster soon just as a comparison, but I'll probably be ordering some Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl in the next few days. I've done some printing on it in the past and really like the results.

I'll try not to let time slip by in posting new things in the future!

The New Mamiya RB-67 ::

I received the new camera just a couple of days after the auction ended and it is in wonderful shape and more was included than I thought would be such as a UV filter and a lens hood. The only downside is that it has a 220 film back. The seller never listed which back was included and I never thought to e-mail and ask, but that's only a minor disappointment. I will be getting a120 back from KEH very soon.

KEH is probably the only on-line used photo equipment seller that I fully trust. I've dealt with them sporadically for somewhere around 30 years and I've never been disappointed in either buying or selling when dealing with them. In fact, when I lived in Atlanta, more often than not, our dealings were in person!

New Camera ::

Well, probably a well used one. I just bought a Mamiya RB67 Pro S off Ebay. It should be here in another day or so. I've wanted one of these for a long time and I got the camera with a 127 mm lens although I would have preferred a 90, but the price was right, $135. Now I only need to get a 60mm and a 180!

A Quote From Chuck Close ::

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that's almost never the case.”

Chuck Close

Got Myself A New Holga ::

Somewhere along the way last weekend I lost my little bag carrying my 2 Holga cameras, and, for the life of me, I can't figure out where or how this could have happened. One of them was only a couple of months ago and I had it loaded with Tri-X film and the other was loaded with Fuji color film. The only thing I can think of is someone taking it out of my truck, but I don't leave it unattended and unlocked.

Quite the mystery, so I ordered another and just got it yesterday. I've come to love photographing with the little plastic camera. The above photo of the Big Cove Presbyterian Church was taken a few years ago with the older Holga. Anyway, I'm back in business now!

"If art is such big business, why do so many artists earn so little?" ::

The above title is the title of a provocative article in The Irish Times. Here's a short excerpt:

On the other side is the world in which artists earn little or nothing, often losing money by working in the arts, and making up for it with second jobs. That’s reality for most artists. Even those huge auction prices may have very little benefit for the artists concerned: it is only in the EU, Australia and the Philippines that artists have a right to a percentage of subsequent sales of their work.

Be sure and read the entire short article!

A George Tice Video ::

I came across this link to a 72 minute film about the life and work of George Tice and I found it to be very interesting:

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1982310425/

Way back in the late '70's, I attended a weekend George Tice workshop at the Nexus Art Center in Atlanta. It was, as I recall, the first time I'd been around a well-known photographer and I learned a great deal. This was back in the good old days when workshops were much more affordable! As I recall, this 2 day workshop cost me $40.

"Instant Connections" ::

I ordered Jason Landry's "Instant Connections: Essays and Interviews on Photography" a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to starting to read it late last week and I've got to say that I've found it to be a most enjoyable book! Landry owns the Panopticon Gallery in Boston and has a MFA in photography.

The book is a mixture of personal anecdotes, interviews, and thoughts from a gallery owner on how to get a photographers work out to the public. Anyone looking for technical information about cameras, equipment, or processing will be disappointed, but if you would be interested in a humorous take on the business side of art photography, then this is the book for you! You will not be disappointed!

Order and enjoy!

Happy New Year ::

Here we are at the beginning of a new year and here's the first photograph from January 1, 2014:

I'm hoping to be more active in 2014!

Here's Another Photo ::

Except this one always creeps me out!

This cemetery is part of a funeral home operation, but it seems to have changed hands and to have gone through some changes. I haven't driven through it in a while, but I don't think this sign is still there.

Back To Shooting Some ::

I haven't had much time lately for my own photography. I seem to have been too busy in my day job photography and it's especially difficult now that the days are getting shorter. I leave home in the dark and get home in the dark. Here's a photo that I shot earlier today:

Inkjet print longevity ::

Last Memorial Day weekend, which was the last weekend in May, I put a print of my oldest stepdaughter on her grave site. She was killed in an auto accident in 2011. The print was part of a flower arrangement that was done specifically for her tombstone and was an 8x10 on Epson Premium Luster paper which had been laminated. I hadn't been down to the cemetery in a while and I decided to drive down yesterday morning. I had long been curious about just how long this print would last before fading began and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could find no discernible fading at all.

I have long been a proponent of Epson printers, papers, and ink although I do occasionally print on Hahnemühle papers.

My Blogging Enthusiasm :::

I'm afraid that it has been pretty low lately, but I'm going to try to remedy that. Here is a photograph I shot this morning on my way to work.

I often drive by this pasture and barn and I've long wanted to photograph it. As I was driving to work just before 6 a.m. I looked over and saw the fog and low hanging clouds after last night's rains. I had to turn around and go back to catch this scene, but I'm glad I did. I learned long ago that a scene that deserves to be photographed should never be put off. More often than not that scene can never be repeated!

Rick Sammon Seminar In Huntsville ::

I attended a Rick Sammon seminar yesterday here in Huntsville. Rick appeared with sponsorship from the Huntsville Photo Society and Southerland's Camera and, I think, with Canon although the corporate sponsorship was muted.

I was especially interested in his thoughts on HDR photography and I found them to be very enlightening and I'll probably make some small tweaks to my processing workflow. Come to think of it, I shot a scene in HDR yesterday and I've yet to download the images so this should be the perfect opportunity to experiment some.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the seminar was over so I'm not sure what I missed, but I still got some great tips on composition and lighting and I would highly recommend participation in one of these seminars if one becomes available in your area. The cost was perfect: it was free!

Rick Sammon also conducts workshops at various locations worldwide. There is one coming up, and I don't have the dates, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The price is $1495.

Printing With The Epson Hot Press Paper ::

I've had a chance in the past couple of weeks to print about 10 photographs on this paper and I have to say that there is a lot that I like about it. All of the prints, other than 1, have been black and white. When I got the paper I didn't plan on printing anything until I had had a chance to do a custom print profile, but I just couldn't wait so I printed one of the recent color photographs with my fingers crossed.

I was very happy with the results of this first print utilizing a generic profile, but I generated my custom profile the next day and printed the black and white photographs and I've been very happy with the results. The tonal scale is very nice and I really like the feel and the weight of the paper. The only downside for me is that the paper has a very noticeable curl which I hope, with some pressure, will go away since I'm not a big fan of dry mounting and I always mount so that the printed piece can be removed. I always leave a generous margin area inside the mat and sign the photograph on both the front and the back of the the margin area.

All in all I'm very satisfied with the paper and I will continue to use it although I will also continue to print some of my work on the Hahnemuhle gloss pearl paper.