Dec 1, 2019 | Blog
I have been in Civita di Bagnoregio for the past month shooting pinhole photographs on a fellowship. Civita is a surreal, isolated hilltop town north of Rome and I fell in love with It. It survived largely due to the work of an architect, Astra Zarina and her husband Tony Costa Heywood, also an architect. Read this article to learn what Astra Zarina did with her fascinating life. (Astra Zarina). The Civita Institute, known also as NIAUSI, now manages the houses and awards fellowships to all types of people, among many other things. Their website, civitainstitute.org has so much information: you should go there and read about it.
So this is what I did.
I put 35 cameras from the Pinhole Project around the town when I first arrived. They were loaded with paper. Since these needed a good thirty days of exposure, I put them up right away. Not in the plan was how much rain there was, I mean a lot of rain and wind which soaked and moved the cameras: some so wet that I had to pour the water out when I retrieved them. The tape used to stick the cameras up did not work at all with the tuff, the rock of Civita. Instead I put the cameras on downspouts, railings, fences and trees. One went in a car. Some got taped to windows inside.
The response from the citizens of Civita was gracious and for that I am grateful. They seemed interested, respectful and kind. Not one of the cameras was taken down or messed with. Apparently there are no pinhole bandits about the area. I have retrieved the cameras I put up and am in Rome right now. The paper negatives have been removed from the cans and are in a light tight box waiting to be scanned; several cans have been given to interested people with which to make images to be retrieved later. I will scan my negatives as soon I as I get home! I also have 32 rolls of 120 C-41 (color negative) film from my Zero 2000. This film is waiting to be developed along with 30 sheets of 4 x 5 C-41 film shot in my Leonardo. All of that film, once it is developed can be scanned and shared. I have been researching developing my own color negatives but am a wee bit nervous to start with this batch. I have been told that it is easy and would certainly be less expensive. Please chime in if you have done this type of development before or want to help!
I also shot a lot of iphone photographs. I have always loved that camera. I will probably make a little book of these images. I have been publishing them on Instagram as a way to keep in touch with everyone and everything. It felt good to publish to Instagram which worked when nothing else did but What’s App. (What’s Up with that?) I will do a blog post of some that did not make it to instagram in the future. I just have to say: I hate the selfie stick and do not understand the need to photograph oneself in front of historical places or monuments or landscapes. I have never used the iphone in this manner. And I never will. Just saying.
I did not intend to but started also to work seriously at night with my DSLR. I brought it along as a kind of polaroid for the pinholes and was glad I did despite how heavy it was. The rain would stop and the town would glisten. Since the images are digital, I have been working on them and have posted some previously unfacebooked images here.
Patience. It will no doubt take me at least four or even six weeks or longer to get these pinhole photographs done. I do hope there is something valuable there that will intrigue me and you and enlighten us both. I learned some interesting concepts living in Civita: that I can eat well, make art and be happy that I actually forgot to lock the door at night. Photography at night is more physically demanding than the day but digital makes it seem easy. Digital gives us that shot of instant gratification. In the meantime, here are some night photographs as promised. Grazie a tutti cari lettori! Buona Sera!
Some Titles:
Moonrise in Civita
Night Delivery
The Arch Fantasma
Boar Hunting in the Moonlight
From the Street: A Home
Other Images are untitled so far.
Featured Image: Outside Alma’s: Toward the Ape
Nov 22, 2014 | Blog
I am honored to be chosen as part of the Seattle’s Photographic Center Northwest, PCNW Presents program. They have selected ten photographers to represent for the next two years and will be showing the work in the gallery where people can buy it. This is a big first for me, to have gallery representation in my hometown, and I am humbled and grateful. And I am in very good company with the likes of Jenny Riffle, (http://www.jennyriffle.com/) and Glenn Rudolph (http://www.glennrudolph.com/), both amazing NW photographers. Others include Sylvia Plachy, a photographer I have admired since the 1980’s. For more detailed information on all the photographers, go to http://pcnw.org/exhibitions/pcnw-presents/ Over the next few months the two photographs below will be hanging in the gallery. Stop by and take a look and also visit the show in the main gallery, Well Read: Visual Explorations of the Book. It will make you think differently about books in general.
I have taught at PCNW for the last seven years and have always said that it is the heart and soul of photography in Northwest. I love teaching my ten week class at night: an introduction to the DSLR and “serious” digital photography. I think there is still room in the Monday night class that starts in January. And I will post whenever the PCNW Presents photographers have work on the wall. Stay tuned.
Featured image for this post Georgetown Backyards from the Albro Bridge, 2014 One of my newest night photographs, captured with a DSLR this year.
The two images below while both night photographs were each captured differently. The top image, The Road to Grant’s 50th, is a digital capture made with a DSLR. The image below is made on color negative film, exposed in a pinhole camera. Despite the differences in capture, they have many similarities that may or may not come through on the computer screen. All the more reason to go to the gallery!
Title: The Road to Grant’s 50th, 2012
Print Size: 22” x 15” Frame Size: 22” x 28”
Print Type: Digital Capture Printed on Crane’s Portfolio Rag Paper with Archival Inks
Title: Due West: Lost Coast, California, 2013
Print Size: 22” x 15” Frame Size: 22” x 28”
Print Type: C-41 color negative film exposed in a 4 x 5 inch pinhole camera; Negative scanned and printed on Crane’s Portfolio Rag Paper with Archival Ink
Oct 5, 2013 | Blog
Last night we went to the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, wandering through the boatyards and down to the river. We shot the bridge under construction, talked with the locals, gaped at the huge boats out of water. It was a beautiful warm night, even a few stars visible beyond the glaring lights set up for the workers rebuilding the bridge. For the grand finale, we went to a little park along the Duwamish River. The low tide left a muddy beach that was sticky in the dark. As we exposed our images, the rocks in the shallow water started to move and we realized the rocks were racoons. There is so much color and life at night! Staying with a four minute exposure and then a four minute noise reduction process, forces one to just stand and look and listen. Such a gift to do this in the dark, in the city. The featured image for this post is my four minute exposure, looking north up the Duwamish toward downtown Seattle.
In the boatyard, the boats were giant shapes lurking in the dark. The photograph reveals the remarkable colors and personalities of these vessels. Is there anything I love more than a boat out of water? Here are two images:
To see the work of the students and more work of mine, go to our flickr.com group, http://www.flickr.com/groups/2288163@N25/
Feb 25, 2013 | Portfolio
I photographed people with fireworks for the three years along the Duwamish River in Seattle on the Fourth of July. Initially I was interested in the time exposure, to see just how much I could blend and blur the fireworks, people and the light to create a workable image. Reviewing the work after the first year, I realized it was the people surrounded by the light and the fireworks that really interested me. I wasn’t making portraits per se but photographs about people who moved like dancers, within an atmosphere that was mysterious, intriguing and ultimately unsettling. Shooting these events, I felt like I was in a war zone that was dangerous and at the same time, incredibly beautiful. These images were made with digital capture and printed on 17 x 11 inch rag paper with archival inks. They are available from the artist in a limited edition of 25. Please contact me for information on pricing and edition availability.
With this portfolio are a series of posters that are also for sale for 25.00/each. Please inquire or go to the shop page to buy one….
