Made on my wanderings over the past ten days.
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1 April 2021
25 November 2020
Our Magnificent Planet
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.
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22 November 2020
Hand-Colored Prints
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.
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27 October 2020
Mother Nature’s New Carpet
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.
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8 October 2020
Thursday Foliage
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.
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4 October 2020
First Saturday Jaunt
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.
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After our get together, I meandered home from Brattleboro stopping to make photographs in Fitzwilliam, Troy, Jaffrey Center and Hancock.
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Although most of the photograph were made using my ‘regular’ camera. I did breakout the camera obscura on a few occasions.
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*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.
24 August 2020
Forgotten Exposures
On Saturday, I took my camera obscura out for a “spin”. I had not used it in a while. I have had a photo in my head for some months now and Saturday afternoon I thought that the conditions (skies, light, etc.) might be good, so I headed out.
The photo I had in mind is the last one in this set. It is the old railroad trestle across the Contoocook River by the paper mill in Bennington (NH). In addition to the light being right and having a good sky, this photo required that the river level be fairly low as I needed to “rock hop” out into the middle of the river in order to get the angle of view I wanted. It all worked out pretty well, except that I strained a muscle in my left thigh “hopping” the rocks. I put “hopping” in quotes because in reality there was no hopping done; only a slow cautious crawl out and back! In the end I made the photo I had in mind and as the saying goes one has to suffer for one’s art!
When I got back to the computer, I discovered that there were some exposures on the memory card that I made back at the end of April (the 28th to be exact). I had never downloaded these files and, in fact, had completely forgotten about them… sort of like what happened back in the day of yore film when you developed a roll of film and found exposures at the beginning that you made some months prior. This doesn’t happen often in the digital age, but it is fun when it does!
The first four photos below were made back in April. The last three were from Saturday.
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15 August 2019
Portsmouth, NH
Yesterday, I made the two hour (one way) drive to Portsmouth, NH over on the seacoast. I had arranged to pick up an old Epson printer that I am going to convert to use only black inks. (details below, after the photos).
After getting the printer safely ensconced in my truck, I took a walk, camera in hand, around downtown Portsmouth, a bit of New Hampshire that I am not familiar with.
Despite the hordes of tourists, I spend an enjoyable couple of hours. I visited a special NH Art Association exhibit at the Sheafe Warehouse in Prescott Park and a photography exhibit in their permanent gallery on State Street. The sights and sounds of the city were interesting, but I was glad to head back to the peace and quiet of our neck of the woods before too long.
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Warning… photographer talk ahead!!!
I already have one converted printer with a set of Piezography “warm neutral” inks installed; it makes wonderful prints on all sorts of matte papers.
I am trying to decide on which ink set to use in the “new” printer. I’m torn between a set which resembles selenium toned gelatin silver prints or the “special edition” set which emulates the tones of platinum/palladium prints.
Decisions… decisions!
18 July 2019
One Intersection — Five Photographs
Two dirt roads cross in an out of the way corner of Hancock, NH.
A light rain falls.
So much photographic possibility.
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30 May 2019
Contoocook & North Branch Rivers
Inspired by a discussion at yesterday’s conservation commission meeting, I took a drive along our local rivers this afternoon .
The Contoocook River runs roughly seventy miles, from Jaffery (south of Antrim) to Pennacook (north of Concord) where it joins the mighty Merrimack. It forms the eastern border of Antrim.
The North Branch (of the Contoocook) River runs about seventeen miles, from Stoddard to its confluence with the Contoocook in Hillsborough. Most of its run is through the north part of Antrim.
I took both my “normal” camera and my camera obscura with me on the drive but I was moved to use only latter.
I am mulling beginning a larger project involving photographing along the entire length of each river. We’ll have to see how this pans out. Watch this space for future developments!
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