Truth Serum

What an intoxicating day.

Woke at 6:00am, sick, but surprisingly full of a groggy energy. I looked out the window and saw a thick and moist snow falling in the gray dawn light.

Without thought I gathered my photography equipment and bolted out the door, of course heading to the railyard.

In my last post I realized I had finally made my peace with digital photography. It took a long time for me to understand my relationship with this new medium, and I made some decisions concerning it. As long as b/w film materials remain available, it will be my main work. I will use a digital camera to make color studies. If film materials disappear, I will take up painting and drawing, while still working with the digital camera for color work.

I will probably never print anything I make with the digital camera. For me the pictures are for use on the computer/internet. I will post what I make to my Flicker page , which will be the only place I view them. The digital camera will operate mainly as a training tool for my vision - since I won't be working deeply in the study of digital photography, I won't be doing much more than seeing and pushing a button.

I will approach the digital work in the same manner as the film camera - not going out with any preconceived ideas of what I want to make, or having any expectations of achieving a certain style. I learned with film that my style is jagged and rough. I am incapable of making silky, elegant pictures, and I expect the same from the digital camera. Most of the work I see on Flicker is technically perfect, with very clean lines and superb tonal balance. I already know my pictures will not be like this, so I am not even going to try for such a result.

The main focus will be to let the process unfold, and to be sincere in my relationship with nature and the camera. The end result will hopefully be a truthful account of my struggles and pleasures with the process.

When I arrived at the railyard I was astounded at the unusual beauty the snow had created. I carried both my film camera and Rachel's digital camera (I don't own one yet, but am looking to buy one soon), and made approximately 30 digi captures, and 11 film exposures. I wanted to remain longer, but my fingers went numb, so I reluctantly had to trudge home to let my hands warm up.

Soon after returning home I headed out the door with my running shoes and the digi camera. I wanted to make some studies of the South Farms loop, and anything else which seemed interesting.

I ended up running 6.5 miles, and made approximately 60 digi captures.

4 digital captures from the run :

When I returned home I went into the darkroom and developed the roll of film exposed earlier in the day, and also the last roll of film exposed in Door County in August. The negs were exposed and developed correctly, and I am looking forward to printing a few pictures from them.

Negs Developed Today

Technical note - Railyard film was Delta 100, Door County film Tmax 100. Developed in D-76 for 10 minutes. Normal processing time for Tmax is 5-6 minutes, so the 4 extra minutes boosted the highlights 1-2 zones. The negs look good, maybe a bit heavy, but very printable.

Another video by Smog :

Gnossienne

"Recently I have also been very busy drawing horses in the street. I would love to have a horse for a model sometime. Yesterday, for instance, I heard someone behind me say, That's a queer sort of painter - he draws the horse's ass instead of drawing it from the front. I rather liked that comment."
Vincent van Gogh, letter 230

Feeling sick today, was able to run 2 miles, but I decided against working in the darkroom.

Rachel has a digital camera which I am going to carry around with me for color studies. I am starting to get proficient in the use of Photoshop, so I am looking forward to seeing what I can make with digital color. If I make anything I like I will post them to my Flicker account.

I have seen some of the most extraordinary color work on Flicker. It blows away what was being done in the pre-digital years. Film is a horse, and digital is the new automobile. It is faster, cleaner, with outstanding controls.

The video I posted yesterday (every day) could not have been made in the pre-digital years of photography. I can't imagine anyone having the stamina to make a self portrait everyday for 6 years using a film camera. Even if a person tried, there would be compositional errors, processing errors, and the amount of time needed to develop and print the work would be extreme.

The amount of good pictorial work being produced is going to continue to expand as the controls become easier and faster to use. What the digital age has taught me is that not only is everyone a photographer, but everyone is also an artist.

Websites such as Flicker prove that great work is not only hung in museums and galleries. The illusion which those places gave was that genius was for only a select few. With a little thought I eventually realized that one of the reasons I kept seeing the same 20 names was because there was limited space in those places. The internet now provides space for everyone, and with all the great work out there today, the illusion of genius is broken for good.

Some anonymous Flicker photographs :

It remains to be seen if I will ever fully embrace the work flow of a digital camera. It is fun to play around with, but I can't see myself ever dedicating my life to it, as I did with film photography. Film photography was sufficiently difficult enough to warrant such dedication, as mastery of darkroom work took the average person 5-10 years. Most art students today aged 19-20 have grasped the advanced techniques of Photoshop, and they are left with their vision quest, which, after all, is a good thing.

And I have to also admit that my generation was caught between film and digital, and having learned the old, clumsy techniques of film, I am reluctant to change, and willingly stand aside as a new generation of photographers dazzle the world with a new vision and technique. It is a beautiful thing to watch unfold. Me working with film, in the b/w style of Callahan and Caponigro, is similar to an early 20th century composer writing 19th century romantic music - completely out of touch with the current trends and ideas.

Film and I not being dead yet, I slowly go my way, trudging around with an old fashioned camera, also on a vision quest. And nature, I believe, won't hold it against me, just so long as my heart is in it, and my eyes are open.

The prints from yesterdays session are dry. As usual, nothing great, but I am still happy to be making average prints.

Logging Study, No. 1
Printed 2008

Steffen No. 1, Genoa, Illinois
Printed 2008

Satie :

Every Day

"As you will remember, when you were here, you spoke about my someday trying to send you a little drawing of a "salable" nature. However, you must excuse my not knowing exactly when a drawing is, and when it is not, that kind. I used to think I knew, but now I perceive daily that I am mistaken."
Vincent van Gogh, letter 230


Not feeling very well today, but still managed to run 4 miles and get into the darkroom.

Printed 4 negatives, all from 1993.

First print was a study of felled trees on a logging road. The other 3 were all portraits of my old photographer friend Steffen.

I used the toning scheme I discovered in the last session, bleach/gold/developer. A couple of the prints stained, so I probably need to wash longer between stages.

All 4 prints were average, nothing which I liked too much.

Print Info Sheet for Logging Study No. 1

Print Info Sheet for Steffen No. 1, Genoa, Illinois

The prints from the last session are now dried and flattened. The gold/dektol print which I liked so much dried down too heavy, and thus lost some contrast. The other two prints improved after dry down, so all 3 seem average to me.

Logging Pond
Bleach/Selenium/Gold/Dektol Version
Printed 2008

Logging Pond
Bleach/Hand Brushed Sepia/Gold/Dektol Version
Printed 2008

Logging Pond
Bleach/Gold/LD20 Version
Printed 2008

I listed some photographs on ebay a few days ago, hoping to sell 2 or 3 so that I could place an order for paper and gold toner. I sold 1 photograph a couple of days ago, but the ebay member is new with no feedback. I have not heard anything from him, so I probably won't make the sale.

However, I received an email from Jim B., who had bought 5 of my photographs in the past. He wants to buy 2 photographs, 1 of which is the one that sold on ebay, so if I don't make the sale I can pass it on to Jim.

I am always stunned when I sell a picture. The fact someone is willing to part with hard earned cash to buy a piece of paper with some markings on it, which I made, really makes no logical sense. Like van Gogh, I have no idea what makes a picture salable or not. The only thing I go on is the sincerity of the effort, and the urge to make nothing false. I will guess that the more truth a picture reveals, the more salable it is. It has nothing to do with technical perfection or prettiness.

Van gogh had a rough, unvarnished style. When compared with his contemporary Bouguereau, most people would choose Bouguereau as the more skilled painter because of his mastery of technique. But Van gogh is considered to be the better artist by historians, mainly because he did not pander to the public, and always tried to be faithful to his vision.

The Potato Eaters
Vincent van Gogh

The Storm
W.A. Bouguereau

Every Day :

Circular Breathing

"I always try my best to put all my energy into my work, for my greatest desire is to make beautiful things"
Vincent van Gogh, letter 229

Had a startling time in the darkroom this evening.

What started out as a routine session of toning the 3 prints from yesterday turned into a collage of unexpected moments.

3 prints, all from the same neg, looking pretty much the same. The plan was to bleach, analyze the state of things, then proceed to a number of possible toning schemes.

After bleaching the 3 prints I was tempted to stop because the contrast improved, and the missing highlights did not take away from the picture's feel. But I believed I could make the prints better, so I continued.

I decided to try different toning schemes for each picture. The first print I painted sepia into the water and the sky. The bleached back highlights in the middle of the picture were left untoned, and when compared with the warm brown of the top/bottom, it just did not work. I dipped it into some gold toner to see if it would help, but the combination of warm and cold tones still offset the prettiness of the orange tints which were produced.

The second print I immersed in selenium, hoping for a pleasant tone change, but got nothing but a bit of weak red/ocher in the shadows. It sucked.

The third picture I dipped in gold toner. It took on a pleasant bluish haze and increased the contrast further. The print was passable.

I placed the 3 prints into the wash, and was finished for the night.

As I was cleaning up I remembered about doing some trash toning experiments. I had 2 failed prints in the wash, why not use one of them for trash toning? I lifted the hideous painted-on sepia print from the wash and put it into an empty tray, then poured a small amount of developer onto it. I was not expecting anything to happen because I had dipped it into gold toner, which I believed made all further print development mute. However, the highlights immediately began to develop out in a pleasant pink/orange tone. I could not believe what I was seeing, as I was 100% certain that gold toner blocked out silver from redevelopment, but this obviously was not the case. I removed the improved print and placed it in a tray of water.

I wanted to continue experimenting, so I took the selenium toned print and placed it in a tray, then poured developer onto it. A very small amount of pink tone appeared in the sky, but nothing more happened. Selenium, then, did flatten the silver, not allowing redevelopment. The pink tone was more of a staining effect, because the white borders of the print also took on the tone, turning the white paper base into a cream one.

I eyed the third print, which looked pretty good already. I was unsure if I wanted to risk a good print, because sometimes a bird in the hand.... But I had the idea to pour old LD20 developer onto the print, so I removed it from the wash and did just that. The LD20 worked a bit slower than the Dektol developer, but after 45-60 seconds a beautiful pink tone appeared in selective highlights, contrasting very nicely with the bluish haze. I pulled the print out of the LD20, smiling. It appeared to be a gem, and I love making gem-like prints.


Another piece from Mertens :

Stranger Than Fiction

Another 13 miles around the South Farms at dusk. A nice sunset, nothing spectacular, but the cold blue of the upper sky reacted favorably with the orange glow on the horizon.

Got into the darkroom in the early afternoon. I went back to my first Hasselblad negative book from 1993. The combined books are a visual journal of my life from the past 17 years. It is interesting to peruse the early negs, when I see a picture I can still remember many of the details about the scene/object.

When I came across some negs of my trip to Greenville, Maine, I realized there were a number of decent ones that I had never printed. So I chose one from our travels through logging country - a pond with dead trees and rocks. I made 3 prints, but did not have time to tone, so that will be tomorrow's project.

The reason I ran out of time was because I happened to see a print made 7-10 days ago, the sculpture from Meadowbrook, laying in the trash. It was splotched with chemical stains, but what struck my eye was the tone of the statue. It had become saturated in sulphuric ocher. The totality of the print seemed decent, so I pulled it out of the trash and studied it. I then started pulling other prints from the trash, to see what the chemical stains had produced. I was able to salvage 2 other trash-toned prints.

For the rest of the day I thought about ways I could exploit this method of picture making. I believe the majority of the stains were produced from Dektol developer. Perhaps after fixing a print, I could submerge it into developer, then place it wet and flat in a trash bag. The bag will allow the paper to stay moist over a period of days, allowing the developer to stain the print, hopefully with interesting colors, shapes, and textures.

November Loss, Trash Toned Version
Printed/Retrieved From Trash 2008

From a film I like :

He Lays in the Reins

Ran another 13 miles on the South Farms loop at sunset. My energy has been endless ever since the weather turned cold.

I wanted to work in the darkroom, but I realize that with all the materials I am burning through I need to sell a few pictures to cover the costs, so instead I worked on posting some stuff on ebay. I am not sure how good the photo market is now, but 2 years ago I was selling quite a lot. I sold a picture 2 weeks ago, if I can sell 2 or 3 more I can purchase some more supplies.

The prints dried from yesterday, I don't know what to think, but I have not made anything quite like this before. While it may not be perfect, I think this bodes well for future printing sessions, because my printing vision and technique seems to have expanded into a new realm.

Lake Study, Fog Effect

Printed 2008

Sam Beem :

On Demon Wings

Ran the South farms/MBK loop for 13.75 miles. The weather was mild, low 40's and clear. I arrived at the South Farms dirt road as the sun was falling into the horizon, and I thought of Van Gogh as I watched for the big clumps of shadowed dirt and the missing crows.

Van Gogh in Drenthe
Autumn, 1883

I took a break from the darkroom yesterday, but returned today and worked on the Lake Pontchartrain negative which I printed on Friday.

Because I had to stop short on Friday, I was able to make only 1 print, so my plan today was to make a few more. I usually like to make 3 or 4 prints from one negative in a session, because that allows me to experiment with different toning schemes, and I am usually able to hit 1 good print out of 4.

I ended up with 5 prints total, and each one looks a little different from the others. Printing this negative I felt more like a painter than a printer. I was taking chances, being bold. Sometimes the effort will fail, but the risk taking will eventually lead to some breakthroughs.

I made a couple of humorous mistakes while printing. At one point I must have bumped the filter holder because it swung from its position and created a light fall-off on the right bottom of the print. I did not notice it until I had made what I thought were two nice versions, then had to curse as I threw the prints in the trash and had to start over. Paper being over a dollar a sheet, it is not fun wasting it with silly errors.

The other blunder was in the initial burn of the shoreline. Trying to create a seamless water's edge, I did not account for the final bit of land which moves toward bottom center, and so it was dodged instead of burned, and it is too light when compared against the other parts of the shore. It is a minor mistake which I can live with, but the print would be better if that little edge was darker.


On the iPod as the sun set on the South Farms today :

The Heart Asks for Pleasure First

Finally ran a short 6.5 miles today. Weather was cold and brisk out on the South Farms Road, but as always, enjoyable to take in the immensity of the landscape.

I did not have much time for darkroom work today because of a small dinner party, but I did manage to work 2 hours, and was only 6 minutes late for our guests.

I am starting to make some progress in not only printing technique, but the ability to see beyond the negative - to imagine it as a rough sketch, and the silver paper as a blank canvas upon which I can apply paint. Minor White once wrote, "One should not only photograph things for what they are, but for what else they are."

I chose a negative today which I exposed a few years ago at Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. The lake is immersed in fog, the main focus of the picture being a small shrub jutting over the water.

The initial print was a mass of gray flatness. I gazed at the print floating in the water tray, deciding what needed to be lightened and darkened. After a few more prints I had a light sky, a dark shoreline, and some grayish water. It was not too bad, but I found myself gazing at the print longer than normal. There was something I had not yet seen, but it was there, I could feel it.

I was reminded of a chess game I once played. The middle game was coming to an end in a complicated position. As I stared at the scattered remaining pieces, something inside my heart told me to look further, because there was a beautiful move to be found. Unfortunately I ran out of time and could not find what my instincts had told me was there. Perhaps the voice was wrong, however, and there was nothing there.

A few days later I took the time to reestablish the position on a computer program. Within a few seconds the computer had found the move - a queen sacrifice which led to checkmate in 3 moves. It was beautiful and startling, amazing because it was right there for my eyes, but I had not been able to see it.

Even more important than the actual move, was the metaphysical experience - how did my instincts know it was there, and if it knew it was there, why could I not find it? Standing over the print, gazing at the various tones, my heart hinted that something more was in the picture, I only had to look and see. With time running out on me for the evening, I asked myself, if I was painting this, what would I do? I decided I would lighten the water to pearl white, and paint a deep gray horizontal cloud across the middle of the sky. Having found the visual solution, I now had to figure out how to achieve it by painting with light.

My initial solution required having an odd shaped dodging tool to block the light from reaching the water. I did not have such a tool, and thought about making one with cardboard. I then became aware of a more subtle move - to burn in the shore on the left side of the paper by blocking out the water and the sky, which could be done with my hands. I knew the shore needed 28 seconds of light to reach optimal shadow density. The water needed 13-14 seconds of light. If I burned the shore for 15 seconds I could then turn off the light.

Leaving the whole picture uncovered, I could then turn the light on for 13 seconds. The land would be exposed for 28, the water for 13. That left the sky to be worked with.

By this time the sky had a straight 13 seconds light. I needed about 45 seconds more light in the middle of the sky to create the deep gray horizontal band.

I took two rectangular cards and placed them together. Turning on the light I opened the cards enough to allow the correct amount of light to strike the picture in the sky.

When the paper was placed in the developer, I watched the scene I had envisioned come alive. It was a beautiful feeling - using technique, memory, and knowledge to create something beautiful - to photograph a thing not only for what it is, but for what else it is.

Print Info Sheet for Lake Pontchartrain, Fog Study

The 2 prints from yesterday's session dried. (See top of entry for the other print.)

The Railyard, Winter Study, Version 2
Printed 2008

A haunting piece for piano :

Lux Aeterna

As Benn mentioned on my running blog - Insane! He was referring to my running 20 miles today in wind and cold. Strike while the iron is hot can also refer to running, so while I have the energy and inspiration, I try my best to push the boundaries of my abilities.

After the run I went into the darkroom to tone the 6 prints from yesterday's session. For the Railyard Winter Study I used a straightforward bleach/sepia combination, with no brushing-on of toner. However, instead of using my usual final toner of gold, I recalled how nice the Foma paper took selenium, so I dipped the prints in a modestly strong solution of selenium after the sepia. After 90 seconds the print shadows took on a pleasant ocher/red tone, which contrasted nicely with the yellow/gold hue the sepia left in the highlights.

I toned 3 of the 4 prints with the above method, but on the 4th I added gold toner after the selenium. This caused the yellow tone to turn a heavy gold/peach. It confirmed my sense that gold toner mixed with warm tone paper can be a heavy handed combination.

Print Info Sheet for Railyard, Winter Study

The remaining 2 prints were the Summer Tree and Road neg. One of the prints got stained, so I trashed it, the other I had the idea to apply the sepia toner with a brush to the sky only, leaving the foreground a cold black and white. The trouble with this method is the sepia reacts more quickly than developer when applying with a brush, which makes it hard to create steady tone transitions.

The print did not meet my standards because the sky shape does not harmonize with the foreground. It is an interesting attempt, but has to be considered a work in progress.


Music listened to today at mile 18 :

The Disintegration Loop

Ran another 13 miles around the South Farms/MBK Loop. I have been running out of my head lately, I hope it continues.

Instead of being tired after the run, I couldn't wait to get into the darkroom to try to make something poetic and beautiful.

Perhaps one of the reasons I have been running medium long distances lately is because the time spent in solitude - surrounded by narrow roads and wide, empty fields, an occasional grouping of crows departing a row of harvested corn, or a cloud shadow descending upon my own lanky shadow - allows my spirit to become integrated with the quiet of nature. It silences my own mind, and the visions which saturate my eyes remain with me as I enter the darkroom.

Today I decided to revisit a negative I printed a few days ago, "Railyard, Winter Study". The LD20 developer created a unique atmosphere for that version, so I wanted to try Dektol developer to see how it would differ. I have more control with Dektol, so I could pretty much visualize what the print was going to look like beforehand. I planned to darken the top of the sky, which would give a different impression than the light, wide open sky made with the LD20.

The printing scheme went smoothly enough, and the Foma paper was flawless. What a relief to not have to battle defective paper - it would be comparable to running in Kmart athletic shoes, not only is the experience unpleasant, but injury is just a mile up the road.

Although it was getting late I wanted to print another negative, so I chose one which I found by accident as I was skimming through my negative books. I had exposed/developed it earlier this summer, a road study in Champaign County. It is a simple composition, a single tree on the horizon with a road bisecting the foreground, and a sky filled with delicate, lyrical clouds. The neg was a bit flat, but I still managed to make the print look ok.

I did not have time to tone, so that awaits me tomorrow.

The Tree and Road Study print I toned yesterday is now dry and it looks interesting enough. The sky is peculiar, but overall I like how I interpreted the scene. Looking at the neg I initially did not see the print in this way.

The Railyard, Autumn Study
Printed 2008

Today as I was running on the South Farms Road my iPod shuffle played this song :

A Man of No Fortune

Ran my usual 13 mile route today.

Afterward I got into the darkroom and toned the 3 prints made yesterday. When I looked at the dried prints before submerging them in warm water I was surprised to find that I liked them better than I had yesterday. While it is true that they are far from perfect in the sky values, I was pleased that I was able to go beyond the straight interpretation and make it look much different, and perhaps better.

But I still had the toning to apply, so the fun was only beginning. It was my first time using Foma paper with Dektol developer, so I did not know how the paper would react with the toners.

I first submerged the 3 prints into a bleach bath to pull the highlights in the sky and road back a bit.

The sepia was next, and the paper reacted beautifully, a soft pearl/orange emerging in the sky. The past few weeks I have been using some pretty horrendous paper, and I guess it was a good test of my printing skills to try to make something decent with paper that was fogged, over-radiated, and old. Some printers like working with outdated paper, but I would rather know what I am getting into when I start a printing session. Knowing I have 90 sheets of Foma in my safe box is a good feeling.

I was tempted to stop the toning after the sepia, but I decided to take some more chances. One of the things I like about this composition is the autumn tree. Without toning, the foliage is too full and black, it does not show the luminosity which was present in the leaves. I knew that the next step of re-bleaching would create a nice glow in the tree. However, it would also lighten everything else to bad effect. What to do?

Well, the re-bleaching worked its magic on the tree, so the next step was to apply developer to the foreground road and field to bring back the correct shadow densities, and then, to turn the picture upside down and apply it to the sky. This all worked fine, but one more step was needed, because the sepia toned highlights in the sky were now too tepid due to the rebleach.

I dipped the 3 prints into gold toner and the pearl/orange became more intense, thus finishing the session.

I feel I can improve these prints by creating more depth in the sky with a longer burning time, maybe 60-70 seconds instead of 40-50. However, I would like to move on to something else knowing I have good paper to work with. My mind is filled with printing ideas, so strike while the iron is hot.

I dug out a print I made last year when I first experimented with painting in a sky with developer. I like the effect. It may seem too much, but I still think it works. It reminds me of Billy Morrow Jackson's Forecast :

Forecast, 1969
Billy Morrow Jackson

Field Ditch Study, Version 2
Printed 2007

Wim Mertens :

Struggle for Pleasure

I ran 13 miles in the first snow this afternoon. I did the usual South Farms/MBK route, passing the female sculpture, stopping to gaze, and smiling because I photographed it last week, making a small mark on how the world enters my eyes.

I got into the darkroom later in the day, working on the neg I highlighted last week in the blog - the tree and road at the railyard.

It is a flat neg, so I had to improvise and tried to darken the top of the sky. I usually do not manipulate a sky so that it alters the feel of the original scene, but I thought why not, let's see what I can make of it. I am becoming more of a painter with light and chemicals as time passes.

I made 3 prints, but the sky was not right in any of them. I am going to maybe work on it tomorrow if I think it is worth it. I will also tone the prints I made today. I want to see how the Foma warm tone paper reacts to sepia/gold when developed with Dektol rather than LD20.

Print Info Sheet for Tree & Road Study

If I was a composer, I'd give a year of my life to make a piece similar to this:

Multiple 12

I probably won't work in the darkroom today, there is still time to do something, and I have the urge, but I think after yesterday's long session it would be wise to rest and reflect on the week's work.

It is surprising how much can be accomplished in a short time, and how little can be done over a long period. I have recently been thinking of the old phrase "strike while the iron is hot", because I can feel the work and passion beginning to flow.

Yesterday felt so good because in the midst of the work time ceased to exist, and life was reduced to just the music playing on the stereo, my vision, and the prints emerging from the developer.

I showed Rachel the sculpture print. She said she was hoping for more of a feel of the black field. I suppose I could have changed the exposure scheme, as I chose to expose the film at f 5.4 so that the field would be a mass of black with no detail. Rachel was hoping to see the detail, so who knows which is correct. The one thing I have learned about photographing is to be flexible with an idea. Most times I just walk into the world and see what happens. This particular time I had a vague idea of what I wanted to accomplish, but I still did not know how things would turn out. What I am happy about is working from recognition, to planning, to execution, and then making a print. Is it good, is it right, is it what I was after? I don't know, but in the process is the meaning, I leave the print for others to judge.

November Loss
Printed 2008

Railyard, Winter Study
Printed 2008

What I have been listening to in the darkroom :

Magic

A magical day. After running 4 miles in the morning, I got into the darkroom with the intent of working on the female sculpture negative.

I decided to use LD20 developer, which is more difficult to work with than Dektol, but sometimes the results can be alchemic, or, magical. I made 4 prints, 2 of which were too dark, but the overall feel was quite nice. The developer turned the sky a soothing pink/orange. However, I wanted to be true to the original idea, which was an overall grayish, cold tone.

After washing the 4 prints, I decided to dip one of the darker ones into a selenium bath. Normally selenium will considerably lighten the orange/pink tones, so I hoped this method might save the 2 darker prints. I was surprised to find that with the Foma paper I am using, the selenium only affected the darker tones, turning them a pleasant warm ochre/rust/red. The lighter tones were left completely unchanged. I proceeded to dip the remaining 3 prints into the selenium.

Still having a sky which was too warm, I decided to dip the prints into gold toner, knowing that the lighter tones would become a steely blue. The prints needed only 10-20 seconds in the toner, and I was able to stop the toner reaction part way, thus creating a sky which has a mixture of blue and pink.

Right now it is hard to judge the prints because I need to look at them after they dry down, and to see them flat, so in 1 or 2 days I will have a better idea of how they look and feel.

Feeling energetic, I managed to make 5 more prints from 3 different negs. It was a great session overall, about 6 hours of work. I have to be careful not to work too long, however, because I fear a relapse of loss of energy which afflicted me for 2 or 3 years.

The prints I made for David B. are now dried and flattened. They look pretty good, so I will be sending them to him soon.

Wyalusing, WI, No. 2, For David Burger
Printed 2008

Wyalusing, WI, No. 1, For David Burger

Printed 2008

Music I listened to in the darkroom today :

Toning

After running 13 miles on my usual route I went into the darkroom to tone 2 prints for David B. The 2 negatives were exposed in 1993, both on the same day in the small Mississippi River town of Wyalusing. One neg is of an old car, the other of an empty dirt road.

I was trying some new things with the toning techniques. For 1 of the 4 car prints I bleached back some of the highlights, then used a watercolor brush to paint developer onto the car. This caused the tones to reappear in the car with a more bluish/black tone. I then dipped the print into sepia and the sky, which had remained bleached, took on a brown/orange tone, while the car remained blue. Next I dipped the print in gold and the sky turned a warmer orange, and the car a bit more blue. It is a study of complementary colors, like the watercolor painting by Van Gogh of two boats on a seashore.

Van Gogh's Boats of Saintes-Maries

The road print turned out especially nice. I have made versions in the past, but always had trouble capturing the right effect. The dodging/burning schemes always gave me trouble, but working on it a few days ago it did not seem too difficult. I made 4 prints, and toned them all the same for the most part. After an initial bleach, I painted gold toner onto the road. I did this because the bleach improved the road by adding contrast, so I wanted to negate the effect of the sepia, which would have brought back the tones and caused a loss of contrast. I was hoping the gold toner would add a touch of blue in the road, but surprisingly it added nothing other than protection from the sepia. I guess I could have used brushed on fixer instead. I then dipped the prints in sepia, which turned the sky a pleasant color, while the road remained black and white. Next I toned the prints in gold and the sky became a warmer tone of orange. For one of the prints I then painted selenium onto the road, which caused it to turn reddish brown. It actually looks pretty good.

Print Info Sheet for Road Study, Wyalusing, WI

I cut the dried negatives which I developed yesterday. I will soon print the highlighted neg below. It looks kind of plain, but maybe I can make something of it.

Negatives Exposed/Developed on 11/12/08

Ouse River Blues -

Energy Redux!

Today I did not act my age.

After getting off work at the park district at 10:00am, I ran 13 miles in a misty rain.

After the run I ate a Jimmy John's sandwich, and then went to Meadowbrook with my camera. The day was gray and wet, a good day to photograph the female sculpture and the black field (Thanks for reminding me about this, Melinda!). I stood in the rain making 11 exposures of the sculpture from various points of view. As I was photographing a girl passed and asked if I was Larry Kanfer - what a joker!

When I returned home I developed the film. The negatives of the sculpture were exposed/developed correctly, so I will have a chance to make a few prints soon. I also developed a roll from my trip to Door County this summer. The Door County film was Tmax 100, and the sculpture film was Ilford 100. The Ilford requires a longer development time by 2 minutes, so I gambled and developed the 2 rolls together. I was curious to see how the Door County film would take 2 extra minutes of developer. Fortunately it looked good, so I need to make a note that if I want some extra contrast in Tmax negs, 2 minutes extra time won't blow the values to black.

The night tree and road print I made yesterday had dried. The stains on the bottom edges did not disappear upon dry down, so I will be trashing the remaining blank sheets.

Tree and Road, Night Study
Printed 2008

Kris Rowley -

Energy!

When I was in my 20's I sometimes wondered what it would feel like to be old. Now that I am 42, I have the answer - energy, or lack of. I had limitless energy until about age 36. Then things started to deteriorate, it was more difficult to work long hours at whatever inspired me. To combat the loss of energy that comes with age, I became more serious about running. I have been running since age 12 because I always had too much energy, and running was a way to burn some of it. Now I run to gain energy. It seems odd, but running somehow builds my energy over time.

Today after running 13 miles in a cold rain I went into the darkroom, excited about looking at the dried negatives I developed yesterday. After cutting them I laid them onto the light box. They appear to be exposed/developed correctly, and there are 4 or 5 which I would like to work on.



I set to work on a night scene of a tree and road. I used some old (real old, from 1992) Zone VI Brilliant Grade 2, which my father-in-law gave to me last year. Unfortunately there was some staining on the bottom edges of the paper, but the image area seemed free from problems. I made 4 prints, 1 of which I had to throw in the trash because the gold toner made the left corner building too pink.

I still need to tone the prints I made for David B. a few days ago. I will hopefully get to that in the next day or two. I was going to tone them today, but I was excited about printing from new negatives.

I sold one of my newly printed photographs a few days ago on ebay, to my faithful collector in Barbados, who has about 40-50 of my best pictures. I don't know what he does with them, but it feels good to know that not all my pictures are sitting in my closet.

I felt inspired yesterday and sent a package of 2 newly printed photographs to Cory in Colorado. On the envelope I drew the two prints with details on how they were printed. Cory is a photographer, so I think he will like seeing the print drawings.

A Kaki King video :

Gray Autumn Skies

Woke at 4:30am this morning and decided to wander around town with the camera. That has not happened very often in the past 18 months. If going into the darkroom was a struggle, actually walking outdoors and trying to see and communicate with nature was an even larger problem.

But this morning I felt the fire of curiosity and hope, and wanted to commune with the autumn season, camera in hand.

I left the house and followed my usual walking route, but instead of seeming old and stale, every corner and street seemed alive with possibility. I followed the direction of the street lights and the heavy early morning shadows mingled with the dried fallen leaves. Gusts of wind blew the cold into my face. I saw an interesting scene down at the National Guard Armory - a fence lit by a bright street lamp, and the two trees which hung over it.

I set the fstop at 22 and for the first time since the early 90's decided to expose and develop the film normally. The first few years I experimented with a heavily contrasted negative by underexposing/overdeveloping. I then went in the opposite direction, overexposing/underdeveloping. The last few years I have been creeping towards center, and this morning I finally got there. The exposure time was 60-90 seconds, and I shivered in the cold while holding the cable release.

After 2 or 3 exposures I went behind some bushes to pee, and I looked up and saw an interesting pattern of wires on a pole. Unfortunately there was not enough light to make it work, so I packed up my gear and walked in the direction of the railyard.

The sun was just coming up as I reached the yard, and the black field turning to gray seemed different to me. Perhaps it was the late autumn trees filled with twirling half-leaves, the rusted color of the field, or the overgrown grass which looked as if it had not been mowed in months. Whatever the change, it seemed like a new place, and I immediately began seeing things in a fresh way. I got a few nice tree portraits with the dirt road twisting into the horizon, framed by a stormy windswept sky. The whole place reminded me of something the 19th century dutch painter Anton Mauve would have painted.

Anton Mauve

By the time I got home my hands were numb from cold, but I had exposed 33 frames, So I went into the darkroom and mixed some film developer, planning to develop the rolls tomorrow.

I then went for an 8 mile run through the South Farms/Meadowbrook loop. When I got to Meadowbrook I ran around the perimeter path, and stopped when I reached the life-sized copper sculpture of the nude female. She normally faces a prairie filled with vibrant life, but recently there was a field burn and the whole swath of visible prairie was charcoal black and lifeless. It was a beautiful scene - the green metallic female looking over a lifeless black mass of earth, with a slate gray sky dropping cold milky light over everything. It struck me as very sad, and a feeling of desolate loneliness sunk into my eyes. I know I want to photograph this, so I will be returning soon to give it a try.

The past few days have been productive in the darkroom, made a print of the railyard in winter a few days ago, and yesterday began working on 2 negatives for David B., a composer who likes my work. I had a good session, making 4 prints of each negative, but had to stop before toning. So along with film development, I am hoping to work on toning schemes for the 8 prints tomorrow.

The Railyard, Winter Study, No. 2
Printed 2008

A video by Smog :

Productive Week

I worked 5 or 6 days this week making prints. The fire was there, just like old times. Each day I anticipated getting into the darkroom, hopeful of making something interesting. Ideas occurred to me throughout the day or night, such as toning schemes, or how to make peace with some of the crappy paper I have on hand.

It is like I had never left the work, but that awful gap of doing nothing for 18 months remains. I don't know what to think about it, but I am happy the spirit of art is back inside my bones.

The Railyard, Winter Study

Printed 2008

The Railyard, Summer Study

Printed 2008

Rural Road Study, Rain Effect
Printed 2008