Photographs by Frank

30 November 2020

More Hand-Colored Photos

Filed under: Alternative Processes,Hand-Coloring — Frank @ 11:31 PM

Here are two more hand-colored inkjet prints made in the past couple of days.

Both of these were printed on using Epson’s Advanced Black and White mode on 200 gsm hot press Fabriano Artistico paper. The paper is about as traditional a water color paper as you can find.

The bird houses were colored using Faber Castell water color pencils and blended using, unsurprisingly, water!

The shovels were colored using Prismacolor Premium pencils and blended with a 1:1 mixture of turpentine and vegetable oil as I have mentioned previously.

Bird Houses

Shovels ( But No Rakes or Other Implements of Destruction)

All of the hand-colored images I’ve shown thus far have been printed on 5×7 inch paper. The image size is 4×5 inches or 4.5 inches square. My standard size(s) for small prints. (I’ve cropped away some of the blank paper from the scanned images displayed here.)

I am evolving a method for making this type of print. I start by making one or more “drafts” on an inexpensive paper (Fabriano Studio) in which I experiment with colors and blending. I make notes on the back of these drafts as to the colors used and other details. My intent is to file away the last of these drafts in case I want to go back and make another copy at a later date.

Next, I make an artist’s proof on a nicer paper at the 5×7 inch size. This is an object that I consider finished and worthy of matting and display.

Only at this point do I consider a larger print either on the same paper as the ‘proof’ print, or if I am feeling adventurous on a different paper.

Thus far, I have made copies of the above two photos on 8×10 inch paper. The image size is 7×9 inches, or about three times the area of the smaller prints. These take a lot more time to complete… as one would expect!

I guess that the next step is to consider editioning. Although I am not sure what I would do with even a small edition of a single print.

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25 November 2020

Our Magnificent Planet

Filed under: Landscapes — Tags: landscapes — Frank @ 9:30 PM

Back in February I submitted five photographs to be considered for inclusion in a book titled “Our Magnificent Planet 2020” to be published by the folks at LensWork. The deadline for submission was the end of May.

In early July I was notified that one of my photos had been selected for inclusion in this book. About 3,700 photos were submitted and 300 were printed in the book.

This morning the book arrived on my doorstep and I finally found out which of my five submissions had been selected!

Of course, I could have asked which photo had been selected earlier in the process, as did my friend Joe Sack who also had a photo included in the book. However, I like surprises so I simply waited!

The five photos I submitted are shown below; “Ashuelot River in Autumn” was selected for publication.

Beard Brook in Autumn

Ashuelot River in Autumn

View From the River - Grand Canyon

North Atlantic Sunset #2

Cape d'Or Lighthouse, NS

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24 November 2020

2020 Winter Solstice Print

Filed under: Alternative Processes,Cyanotype,Winter Solstice Prints — Frank @ 9:00 PM

I don’t think that I have posted here before about my tradition of sending a print to friends and family in celebration of the winter solstice.

I am early this year because I was a bit nervous about having to print so many copies of a single print via a “wet” process. However, I was able to make twenty successful copies (on 5×7 inch paper) of this print in one long dim room session. I took prints to the post office yesterday.

The following is the photo (and accompanying text) that comprise the 2020 version of this tradition:

David Vestal (1924-2013) was a well-known photographer, critic and teacher. For many years he sent friends and family a small holiday print. In 2013 I decided to begin a similar tradition. The print you have in front of you is my eighth “Winter Solstice Print”.

At the end of each year, I choose a photograph made during the preceding year; one that, I think, turned out well. I expect that most will not have a holiday, or even a winter, theme. I make a dozen or so small prints and send them to folks whom I think might enjoy them. I do not keep a list of those receiving each year’s print and expect to send prints to a different selection of folks each year. Thus, do not be offended if you do not receive a print every year!

This year’s print, a cyanotype, is titled “Jane’s Barn”. The exposure was made on 6 April 2020.

I was headed back towards the house on my (allegedly) daily walk. The bright midday sun sharply illuminated this view of the back of our neighbor’s barn through the still leafless trees. It is a scene that I had passed by hundreds of times, but had never photographed.

Cyanotype is a photographic process invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel. In this “year of the virus” I have taken up making cyanotypes after a hiatus of about a dozen years. It took me roughly a month back in April to work out all of the details of making prints in my basement “dim room”.

The cyanotype process involves painting a lemon-yellow solution of iron salts onto paper – Fabriano Tiepolo (130 gsm) in this case. Once the paper is dry, it is sandwiched with a negative in a contact-printing frame and exposed to ultraviolet light. Traditionally, the sun was used as the UV source. However, I use a homemade UV light box containing “black light” LEDs. Exposures take several minutes. These days, I work exclusively with inkjet negatives prepared from digital files and printed onto a clear film.

A pigment (Prussian blue) is formed via the action of the light on the iron compounds, producing the image. The exposed paper is washed free of the unexposed iron salts and dried to give the print you now hold.

"Jane's Barn" (2020 Winter Solstice Print)

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22 November 2020

Hand-Colored Prints

Filed under: Alternative Processes,Hand-Coloring — Tags: landscapes — Frank @ 9:45 PM

I have been experimenting! Is that a big surprise!?

Specifically, I have been hand coloring black and white inkjet prints.

After making a regular black and white inkjet print, I use Prismacolor Premier colored pencils to add color to the paper. The wax-based pigment is then smoothed out and blended using cotton swabs dipped in a 1:1 mixture of turpentine and vegetable oil.

I learned about this method from a book titled “Hand Coloring Black & White Photography: An Introduction and Step-By-Step Guide” by Laurie Klein (see: https://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Black-White-Photography-Step/dp/1564965864)

These are small prints; 4.5 inches square or 4×5 inches on 5×7 inch paper.

The first six prints are printed on hot press (i.e. smooth) watercolor paper. The last print (made today) is on Hahnemuhle Biblio, a relatively light paper with a bit of texture.

Each print is unique. Even if I try to make a duplicate it never comes out exactly the same as the first copy.

My next goal is to try larger prints… say 8 inches square or 8×10 inches.

Barn (Chichester, NH)

Barns (Hillsborough, NH)

Luggage

Cape Breton Island Coast

East Quoddy Light

Schoodic Peninsula Wetland

Hillsborough Center (NH)

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28 October 2020

A Study in Yellow and Rust

Filed under: Autumn,Landscapes — Frank @ 1:00 PM

Yesterday, I took a walk on our Patten Hill property. The skies were gray and the light flat and boring… not ideal for photographing the landscape. Thus, I focused my attention and camera on some man-made details.

Although many school buses must be feeling abandoned and lonely these days, their sense of abandonment doesn’t hold a candle to the school bus we “inherited” when we bought the property roughly twenty years ago.

The last three photos are of the Pump and Circumstances pumphouse on a small lot adjacent to ours. Pump and Circumstances is a very, very small company that supplies water to the seasonal cabins on White Birch Point.

Ye Olde School Bus

Study in Yellow and Rust #1

Study in Yellow and Rust #2

Study in Yellow and Rust #3

Study in Yellow and Rust #4

Study in Yellow and Rust #5

Study in Yellow and Rust #6

Study in Yellow and Rust #7

Pumphouse Window

Pumphouse Detail #1

Pumphouse Detail #2

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27 October 2020

Mother Nature’s New Carpet

Filed under: Autumn,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: landscapes — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Every autumn Mother Nature provides the woods with a new carpet. It is always the same composition but never the same pattern.

On my walk a few days ago, I was attracted to patches of dappled sunlight on the roadside.

Mother Nature's New Carpet #1

Mother Nature's New Carpet #2

Mother Nature's New Carpet #3

Mother Nature's New Carpet #4

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Obie’s Maple Leaves

Filed under: Autumn,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 5:00 PM

With apologies to Arlo, Alice and her restaurant…

Yes sir, Officer Obie, I can not tell a lie… I put those maple leaves on that granite stone.

Opie's Maple Leaf #1

Opie's Maple Leaf #2

Opie's Maple Leaf #3

Opie's Maple Leaf #4

In my defense, the light was nice and the leaves interesting!

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24 October 2020

Mother Nature’s Yellow Period

Filed under: Autumn,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 6:30 PM

Picasso had his Blue Period. Mother Nature has her Yellow Period each fall.

After the maples and birches are done with their autumnal display of reds and oranges in the canopy, it is time for the beeches in the under story to take the limelight. They turn yellow, then orange-brown on their way to a light tan.

Of course, beeches, like oaks, then hold on to those pale tan leaves until spring.

These photos were made on a morning walk up the unmaintained section of Brimstone Corner Road.

Yellow Period #1

Yellow Period #2

Yellow Period #3

Yellow Period #4

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8 October 2020

Thursday Foliage

Filed under: Autumn,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: fall foliage, landscapes — Frank @ 11:32 PM

This afternoon I had to run an errand in Keene. The light and skies were perfect as I got to Hancock (around 5 PM) on the way home.

I had my camera with me and made a few photographs.

Jacquith Brook Wetland

Field's Edge #1

Field's Edge #2

Barn & Foliage

Field's Edge #3

Pond's Edge Foliage

Wetland Margin Foliage

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4 October 2020

First Saturday Jaunt

Filed under: Autumn,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: autumn leaves, foliage, landscapes — Frank @ 10:05 PM

On the first Saturday of each month (COVID not withstanding*) I get together with a group of friends and fellow photographers in Brattleboro to share work.

Yesterday morning, I headed out for our meeting early hoping to find some foliage to photograph in the early light. I was not disappointed. In addition to nice light, many of the local ponds and lakes were shrouded in morning mist as sometimes happens this time of year.

Gregg Lake: Early Morning, Early October #1

Gregg Lake: Early Morning, Early October #2

Gregg Lake: Early Morning, Early October #3

Birch Pond

Eva's Marsh

After our get together, I meandered home from Brattleboro stopping to make photographs in Fitzwilliam, Troy, Jaffrey Center and Hancock.

Bowker Pond

Window: Troy Blanket Mills #1

Jacquith Brook Wetland

Autumn Foliage: Fields Edge

Autumn Barn

Although most of the photograph were made using my ‘regular’ camera. I did breakout the camera obscura on a few occasions.

Mt Monadnock from the Meetinghouse in Jaffrey Center

Meetinghouse, Jaffrey Center

Bran and Autumn Foliage

Untitled

Field's Edge In Autumn

*After a several months of meeting via Zoom we have been getting together outside on the Common in Brattleboro. Now that the weather is becoming less conducive to outdoor meetings, we have to figure out what is next.

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