Monday, December 31, 2012

STILL LEARNING THE SCANNING PROCESS

P 51 Mustang at ACV, c. 1994 (4" by 5" color slide converted to black and white).

Happy New Year! May it be a really good one for you.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

SCANNING LEGACY FOUR BY FIVE NEGATIVES

North Domes, Domeland Wilderness, CA c. 1977

I finally am able to scan my collection of negatives. I am learning the process, and have a long way to go before I think I will have it mastered. Meanwhile, this is one of my first scans with the Epson V750. The amount of detail is remarkable. I can magnify right into the film grain, and ultimately I will be able to make more adjustments than I did on this 155MB jpeg.

Domeland, is to me, a very special and sacred place. I was fortunate enough to visit the area many times over the course of two years or so back in the mid 1970s. There was still a road right up to where I took this photograph, and so I was able to bring in my old Korona view camera and a heavy-duty tripod. Nowadays, the entire area is designated as a wilderness area, and the road is returning to its natural state. I think the only way I would be able to get back in there would be on foot.

I could not print these back then because I did not have a four by five enlarger. I did work with some images after I set up my darkroom in this house, but mostly I had moved on. 

Friday, December 28, 2012

INTERPRETATION ON REALITY

What My Mind Thinks it Saw, 2012



The version of this image that I posted yesterday, most accurately portrays what the sunset looked like (reality). This interpretation represents what my imagination thinks I could see. I know that there are photographers that think that the actual scene needs to be represented as done in National Geographic, but I like the freedom to "light up" my images as my imagination sees fit. I would like to know what others think.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

BACK TO THE BEACH

Reflective Waters Kissing the Surf, 2012

I took this about two hours ago near Manila. Lisa was there horseback riding, and she called me to let me know that it was very nice there. I went, and I am pleased with with I found. It is likely that I will do more work to this image before I print it,  but this is my first version. I just love the reflected colors of the sky.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

FORGOTTEN IMAGES

Toadstool Rock, Dry Lagoon, 2012

I oftentimes create an image, and then I sort of shove it aside, coming back to it after allowing my initial vision time to develop. This is a good example of that issue. This photograph was taken back in March.

Earlier this morning I was contemplating and reviewing this year's production of photographs. I looked at a number of images before getting to this one. I actually had rated this only two stars, but now that I spent some time with it I will bump it up several notches on the zero to five scale.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS

On The Beach, Christmas Eve with Lisa, Amigo and Jazz  

This is why I love having a pocket camera that I can take everywhere and every time. Merry Christmas to all.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

SUNSET COLORS FROM A LOCOMOTIVE AT SANDCUT

The View From the Fireman's Seat in the Cab of a Helper Locomotive, c.1975

I always liked this photograph for several reasons. I have very few images of me that were taken while I was working on the railroad. So, I rely on images like this one which I consider to be of a "first-person" or autobiographical nature. This image represents the hundreds of occasions where I was in a locomotive either as a brakeman, fireman, or as the engineer.

This view is a representation of what our view was from the locomotive that was placed somewhere in the rear third of a train. Often we were coupled to a car like this reefer, and our view was restricted accordingly.

Helper duty had its benefits. Primarily  we just had to pay attention to what the head-end engineer told us over the radio. Our main functions were to shove the train that was ahead of us while pulling along what ever was behind our units. We had no control over the air brakes (we always had the option of "pulling the air" in an emergency), but that was it. We did provide dynamic braking on some occasions, but that was primary only when we were on through helpers. Occasionally  after we were cut out of our train, and were heading back to Bakersfield, we would be directed to couple onto a west-bound train. Sometimes when we did so we would give that train our power and then we became passengers. Other times we would run the train from the helper on the point and we would be the actual engine crew. Most often the senior engineer would pull rank and then be able to claim all the locomotives on his pay slip (the rate of pay for a shift was based in part on the weight of the locomotives and so most engineers would opt for the extra pay that more locomotives provided).

Saturday, December 22, 2012

OLD TIME RAILROADING

A Southern Pacific Special Railfan Train at Caliente, CA, c. 1971

Some years back, I scanned this from a slide. I did a lot of work on it in Photoshop and in Lightroom. The sky was full of fungal spots and runs. I find that photographs such as this one are meaningful to me, but I do not know they may apply to anyone else.

Extra 6454 Meeting a Santa Fe Freight at Sandcut, CA, c. 1971

The same train meeting a Santa Fe at Sandcut, CA. This was a noteworthy train if for no other reason , than to see so many F units together. 

Friday, December 21, 2012

ME, PRETENDING TO BE A STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

The Day the Sun Went Out, 2012

I have a whole series of these, but I have not shared them here because the people in most of them are easily identifiable. I am not comfortable posting photos of people without their permission. I think this one is all right. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Humboldt Bay and Samoa Bridge, December 2012

This is another photograph that I took with the Canon S100. Again, this was hand-held, and was saved in the raw format. The ability to save images in the raw provides the digital negative with all the available data from the twelve megapixel sensor. Most other small point and shoot cameras use jpeg compression, and the resulting digital negative contains just a fraction of the original data to work with. The raw files, have more latitude for editing/manipulating, and for me, are the preferred format.

Monday, December 17, 2012

WHERE TROLLS DARE TO ROAM

Under the Samoa Bridge at Woodley Island, December 2012  

My friend Pam Cone took a photograph underneath the Mad River Hammond Trail Bridge, and thus I was inspired. This image is a composite of three digital negatives that were processed as HDR in Photoshop. Otherwise, I only performed a few adjustments.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

SUNDAY MORNING

The Fisherman at Woodley Island, December 2012

I took this photograph yesterday while Marc and I were exploring the island after camera club. I think it is fun and challenging to photograph some of the local icons such as this statue, and the Carson Mansion.

I took this with my pocket camera, the Canon S100, handheld and at ASA 400. I cropped this down from the rectangle, and applied some noise reduction. Overall, I think it works.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

MORE WALLS DOORWAYS AND NOW, PORTALS

Corrugated, December 2012

I took this photograph this afternoon down on Woodley Island. Marc and I went there after camera club to see if we could get some "king" tide shots. I photographed this structure Thursday, and realized that I had more work to do on what it was that I felt. I think this image is much closer to fulfilling that goal.

Friday, December 14, 2012

THE CARSON MANSION, A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW

The Carson Mansion, December 2012

I took this shot this afternoon with the pocket camera. I am still very pleased in that I almost always now have a camera with me wherever I am. I started carrying my mono-pod  and it seems to help. I am finding that in this type of light that I need it (although I did not have it for this photo).

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

FEELING THE FOREST AND ITS MOODS

Prairie Creek State Park, November 2012

I love going through my "contact sheets" in Lightroom. I rediscover images, and often I feel the essence of what it was that drew me to sit with the subject. This photograph is right on the road. I must have driven past it a thousand times (no exaggeration) while driving to and from Klamath and Crescent City.

I saw these scenes, but I never could figure out how to capture them until I was able to stop and sit within the forest. Driving past just did not allow the time for me to feel the spirit of the forest. 

Monday, December 10, 2012

A VARIATION ON YESTERDAY'S THEME

Reworking and Manipulating Marsh Photographs, 2012

If you frequent this blog you have seen this image before. In one of my recent posts, I placed a B&W copy of this. After receiving some feedback on the B&W print, I decided to take another look at the color version. In the B&W print, the band of sunset light comes through as white, and it overpowers the viewer. Here I think that the light as shown in color does not have the same effect.

I did print this back in the spring, but this is considerably different. I swear that these images sometime must ferment for awhile.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

MORE MORNINGS AT THE MARSH

More Mornings at the Marsh, 2012

This is another candidate for printing. I think it complements the other black and white images that I made of the marsh in recent months. I think it conveys the mood that I feel while I am photographing there.

I have not printed anything for almost two weeks. I am trying to be frugal with my paper and ink, but, as I said before, the only way to actually judge the photograph is by viewing it on paper. I think I will assemble about six or eight images to print soon.

Friday, December 7, 2012

A LITTLE CROPPING

Earth Meets Sky Revised, November 2012

I am acting on some feedback that I received about the earlier version of this image that I posted a few days ago. I think I like it this way. This is an example of why I prefer to give images some time to develop within my head. What I mean is, that I found that as often as my first impression is the best one of a series on a subject, that sometimes I need to study the possibilities for the print. I am glad that I did not print the first version of this the other day. 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON

Earth Meets Sky, November, 2012

I worked on another copy of this image several weeks ago. I started again from scratch without looking at the earlier version. Both came out close, but this one offers a fuller range of light and mood. I think it will look much better on paper.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

UNHINGED?

A Splash of Color, 2012

All right, I know that total manipulation is completely taboo, but this was just downright fun to do. Therefore I will not apologize for pushing the limits. For what ever reason, I like this image.

A THOUGHT ON SMALL SENSOR CAMERAS

Funky Cabins, December 2012

I took this shot today at a model train layout. I made attempts at this before, but those attempts never even got close. Mostly, they failed because I was using my full-frame DSLR. That camera has an inherent shallow depth of field, and so my photos looked like tilt-shift photos (which many actually were). I know that this photo is not all the way there, but it is very close. I am using this as a "sketch pad" drawing to help me to come up with some interesting compositions in the near future.

By the way, the small camera I used for this and other shots has a very small sensor. Therefore, the lens is a much shorter focal length, and that is why I get a greater depth of field. The camera is very small, and it is much easier to get it down into the scenery. 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

TIED DOWN LIKE KING KONG

The A&MR RR 101, December 2012



This is the locomotive that I have operated from time to time over the past two years. It was stored at the flake board plant in Arcata. The plant closed about a year ago, and is being demolished for scrap. We only had a short section of track to run it on, but because of the lack of power to keep the batteries charged, it was not operated very often. This photograph shows it after it was loaded onto a flatbed trailer. It was transported yesterday to Samoa where the Timber Heritage Society is keeping it for future use.

Monday, December 3, 2012

HAVING FUN BEING SPONTANEOUS

The Last of Autumn's Leaves, December 2012

Yesterday I took Sadie for a walk in the forest behind our house. I left my new pocket camera turned  on so I could find out if the "geo-tagging" would work better. What I discovered is that it takes the camera awhile to acquire the satellites, and by leaving the camera on that it recorded fairly accurate coordinates of all my shots. This information linked with the map and I could see through the forest canopy and onto where I hike. I think that this feature is pretty cool.

One of the things I like about the small camera is that it encourages me to shoot. I have it in my pocket, and it is no hassle to get it out and to make imagery. I think of it as a sketch pad. When I got home, I still was in the mood to photograph. I came up with a series of these images of the maple leaves on the hood of the old Toyota.

TA, December, 2012

Sunday, December 2, 2012

THE MORNING AFTER

Sunday Morning in Eureka After the Big Rains, December 2012

I took this about an hour ago with my new companion camera a Canon S100. It is wonderful having a pocket camera that I can carry anywhere. I took this image with the  camera set to a high image quality setting. It was hand-held, and I used ISO 400. While I was working on it in Light Room, I could see that the actual image quality is much lower than with my Canon 5dMII, and that is to be expected. Nonetheless, this little camera will provide me with a tool that will come in handy whenever and wherever I may be.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

ROAD SWITCHER

Alco Road Switcher, Portola, 2012


I just love this image, and I know it will print out gorgeous. I will not tell another railroad story today. I am getting ready for Arts Alive. I have numerous photographs on the wall and in a print bin. They are all for sale and discounted at least 25%.

Well, I was wrong. I do have a story about Alcos like this one. When I was in school at Sierra Junior High in Bakersfield, I would often see a Southern Pacific train that had three of these engines on the head-end. The almost daily, train ran on the SP main line. My school was near the line. Whenever I heard the train I always stopped whatever I was doing, either in the classroom or out side, and imagined that I was in the cab and running that train.

I observed that the train consisted of, what to me appeared to be, many cement hoppers, and I deducted that the train took the cars to the Monolith Cement plant near Tehachapi. I was familiar enough with the route that I could day-dream for a long while. That is where I wished to be - not at school. I eventually manifested a version of those day dreams. I did not run Alcos up and down the hill, but I did run SP diesels past that school many times within about a dozen years of making those wishes.

To me, the railroad experience was the most idyllic when I was in the seventh and eighth grades, and now that I am in my sixties. My experiences in my twenties and early thirties did include some wonderful times, but the reality of working shifts, and often working short-rested was not the same as the dream. 

Friday, November 30, 2012

SUNSET COLORS ON THE BALD HILLS

Lone Oak on Bald Hill Road, September, 2012

I took this photograph two months ago in September. Equinox was just a couple of days prior, so the sun was setting directly to the west. It was very dry that evening.

I imagine if I were there today it would be very different. We are in the midst of a series of rain storms, and I imagine that once hard and dusty road is now softer and muddy. 

Thursday, November 29, 2012

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PLOW

A Plough of Different Stripes, Portola 2012


Whereas the rotary plow throws snow out of its way, this one used brute force to shove the snow aside. I do not know which one would do the best job, and I imagine that it all depended on how much snow was on the tracks. While I worked on the railroad, we never used a plow. All most all of our locomotives that were used on the hill had built-in plows on the head-end. Besides, the Tehachapi Range seldom experienced really heavy snowfall. I imagine there were a few occasions where I was on the head-end whereby we pushed a little snow out of the way. If we did, it was not anything memorable.

This is an image that I am considering printing. It only has two stars out of four, and I will allow this one to ferment for awhile.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

ROTARY PLOUGH

Southern Pacific Rotary Plow, Portola, 2012

We did not have these for the Tehachapi line. They were often used on the Donner route where the high Sierra route received more snow and precipitation. Summit, at Tehachapi is at an elevation of about four-thousand feet whereas Donner is about three-thousand feet higher. There is a lot of history that goes with these plows, but that is not in the scope of my musings.

I had three basic careers during my tenure at the SP. I started out as a switchman, gave up my seniority, and then I went on the road as a brakeman. After a couple of years on the road, the SP opened up positions for apprentice engineers. I gave up my seniority again, and went into engine service. Career wise, those were good moves. I could see the handwriting on the wall, and it said that  there were to be significant changes in how the railroad used its employees.

The first clue came when the railroad closed Mojave Yard sometime around nineteen-seventy. The San Joaquin Division included Fresno Yard, Bakersfield Yard, and Mojave Yard. All SJ switchmen had seniority that was good in all three yards. I do not recall how many guys came over to Bakersfield from Mojave, but I estimate about a dozen men's positions were affected. When they moved to either Bakersfield or Fresno, they had the right to "bump" anyone with whom they had seniority over. I think everyone that came to Bakersfield had seniority over me, and so I had less to pick from at my home terminal.

That alone was enough to make me think about asking if I could go on the road. I inquired, and was granted permission to transfer over to the brakeman's extra board. I did not have to take any student trips since I was knowledgeable with the rules of the road. 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

MORE WORKING ON THE RAILROAD AND WHEN NATURE CALLED

WP Number 805-A
There is something very real for me with these photographs that I am sharing. Even though I never knew much about the WP as a company, I know a lot about how their equipment worked. Take this locomotive for example, we had these on the SP, and I got to ride in the cab of several as I was taking unofficial "student trips" from Bakersfield to Fresno. I had already taken my student trips as a switchman, but my friend Wayne Johnson arranged for me to pretend to be a student brakeman. It was a treat to ride in a "covered wagon" and it is something I will always remember.

Those rides occurred in 1965. That was when we still flushed the on-board toilet onto the track. It is hard to believe  but even the passenger trains flushed onto the roadbed. I remember signs that were posted in the toilets of the passenger cars that cautioned one not to flush when the train was stopped at a station. Now I wonder about the overall insult to those men who worked on the section gangs. They had to know that we were shitting on there work projects. 

The view from the cab was somewhat restricted compared to the view from a road or yard switcher. The only way to see to the rear was to lean out the window unless the train was on a curve. The engine compartment was enclosed and extremely loud. The toilet was located near the rear of that compartment. 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

BACK SHOPS, AND ROUNDHOUSES

Colors on the Silver Screen, the Engine Facility, Western Pacific Railroad, Portola, 2012

In the mid nineteen-seventies, I worked as a "hostler" at the Southern Pacific yard at Bakersfield. My duties as a hostler were to move locomotives within the engine facility where individual locomotives were serviced, repaired and stored. There were numerous storage areas including the roundhouse, which had somewhere around a dozen bays, about another dozen tracks for individual locomotives outside and adjacent to the roundhouse tracks, the turntable, two service tracks where the locomotives were refueled and serviced, and a ready track.

I think to be a hostler that one was required to be a "promoted" engineman (engineer), because we often took consists (more than one locomotive configured to operate as a single engine) from the ready track out into the yard and onto the train. We did so with head-end power and with helper engines of eastbound trains that had remotely operated helper engines. Switchmen directed us to an empty track. We were then to proceed down to the east end of the yard. At the east end, another switchman would take us to the designated track and couple us to the waiting train. Meanwhile, another hostler would be directed by a switch engine crew to take his consist of helper units to be "cut into" the rear portion of the same train (usually somewhere in the rear third of the train).

Once the train was set (the air hoses all coupled and the train line charged with compressed air), we would conduct the air brake test. We did these functions with the remotes in an effort by management to save time for the engine and train crews. Normally, it was the train's engineer who would take the power from the ready track to the train, but that entire process took too long especially after the twelve-hour rule went into effect.

As a hostler, I loved doing these tasks because my pay was based on the weight of the heaviest engine (an engine is a locomotive or multiple locomotives that are coupled together, and that operate as a single engine) that I operated during the shift. It was fun too, whenever we took a consist down the mainline to the east end because we could go fast at main line speeds whereas on yard tracks we were restricted to ten miles-per-hour.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

MORE ON TRAINS

Two Wooden Cabooses, Portola, October 2012

I really like how this image looks as a print. I love the complementary colors, and the composition feels as right to me now as it did when I took it.

One day while I was at the museum, I sat in a bay-window caboose for awhile. Sitting there brought back memories from forty-two years ago. I used to sit in them for hours at a time back when I was a flagman (rear brakeman) on the Colton Cutoff on the Southern Pacific main line from Palmdale to West Colton.

For several months in 1971, I became a "caboose rat" (a brakeman that prefers to work the caboose over the head-end). One of my primary duties was to protect the rear of the train from being overrun by another train. I sometimes had to walk back down the tracks as far as two miles so that I could place a "torpedo" (an explosive device that was placed on the rail that emitted a loud bang when a locomotive ran over it). Often times if we knew that we were going to stop the engineer would slow down at the two mile point so that the I could get off and quickly place my torpedo. Then I would run and catch the caboose. Then if we knew for sure that we were to stop I would get off the train at a point one mile from where the caboose was to stop. I would be armed with my lantern, fusees, a red flag, and perhaps another torpedo. Otherwise  if we had an unexpected stop, I was required to walk back the full distance, and it was expected that I would do my duties to protect the train. No matter how far back I went, I always had to walk back to the caboose when I was called back by the sound of our train's locomotive's whistle signal. Needless to say, I was always in good walking/running shape. I could walk at about a mile every twenty minutes.

Senior brakemen usually preferred to work the head-end because they usually did not have to face the possibility of walking several miles during a trip. Since the job was determined by seniority  the senior brakeman usually worked the head end. Still, I liked the quiet and completely different feel to being on the rear.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

END OF THE LINE PROJECT

Pump House, Portola, October, 2012

I decided that this series of photographs that I am making of the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in  Portola forms the base for a project that I wanted to create for a long time. I think it will focus on the era when I worked at the railroad which was the post-steam period. It was the era of the first and second generation of diesel locomotives. It was an era where brakemen and switchmen still climbed on top of railcars to set or release brakes. It was the era where the sixteen-hour law was still in effect, and where men sometimes worked eight on, and eight off, or went to fifteen-hours and fifty-nine minutes a shift so that they/we would not "go dead-on-the-law", and have to rest for ten hours.

If there was any one career that suited me to a tee, it was railroading. I left it after ten years, but it never left me. I thought that many of my troubles came from the lifestyle that I adapted while railroading, but in hindsight, I think it was just me going through what I had to go through, and that it was not the railroad's doing.

I cannot reclaim the past. I have lived a good life, and I would not change any of it, but what I am saying is that railroading is in my blood, and it cannot be filtered out. Perhaps I can honor this somewhat dormant part of my being by creating this opus. I am not interested in creating a fictional account of what could have been,  but I do intend to share some of the soul of the railroad, and of myself.

Monday, November 19, 2012

A SECOND DANCE

Dancing Spirit Trees, a New Take, March 2012

I took this image back in March. I was always a bit bothered by my first attempt with these trees. That attempt was taken after sunset, and I used a very high ISO. The trees had a lot of blurriness in the branches as that image pushed the possible with my camera and its abilities.

I attempted to alleviate those factors with this image, and I think I did. I was able to take this image at an ISO of 50. I know too, that it is currently unfashionable  to use an aperture over f8, but I did use f16 on this image. It really looks good in black and white.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

RUST ON SILVER

Silver Gondola, full frame

Silver Gondola, cropped

Sometimes I cannot decide which version I think is the stronger of images that I am working on (like the above). In working this image, I thought I was finished when I got to the cropped version. I let this image age for several weeks, and I thought that I was ready to print it. Just for fun, I looked at it again without the crop, and I got to wondering if the splash of brown in the lower right corner added something to the overall balance of form and color.

I would appreciate your input. If you do not wish to use the comments function please email your observation. Thanks.

Friday, November 16, 2012

COULD NOT MAKE THE CUT

Fernbridge in the Morning Light, November 2012

This is an image that almost made the cut. I really like the overall feel of the hues and luminosity. The only thing that stopped me from printing it is that it was the first shot of the day, and I had the lens set to f4. As a result, the foreground is soft, and may be enough reason to reject it. Someday I may return to see if I can take it again with the proper settings.

So far this year, I have taken at least 7000 images. Many of them are duplicates from the bracketing process, and really should only count as one in three, so maybe I have actually composed 3000 images this year. My point is that I am fairly adept at working my camera, but I still sometimes mess up, and forget what mode the camera is set to. I rarely use an "auto" setting. I mostly use manual or aperture priority, but I still need to look and see what aperture/shutter-speed combination the camera is set to.

In the previous post, I shared an image from my Spirit Tree Series. That image is also soft. It is soft because the shutter speed was one-half of a second, and the camera moved during the exposure. There is nothing that I know of in Photoshop that can fix a problem like that. Fortunately, I had bracketed that image, and I was able to use the digital negative that was two stops darker. My camera's sensor had recorded enough data so that I was able to recover it in Light Room. The print looks really good - much sharper than the one on this blog.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

MORE SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT FOREST

REVELATIONS, Spirit Tree Series, November 2012

This image is another one that took me awhile to even start to understand. It elicits something in me on the cellular level, but I cannot explain what it is - which is perfectly fine. That is why I undertake the creative process. I do so so that I may better understand what was revealed to me while I was in the forest. This image is to be seen and felt.

I have yet to print it, and I think I will after I go for a walk in the woods behind the house. That should put my psych back in sync with the forest.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

SPIRIT TREE SERIES NEW ADDITIONS

Unnamed Spirit Tree Series Candidate, November 2012

I took this image Sunday at Prairie Creek State Park in an area that I have been working since 2006. Discovering the tree's secrets requires that I must let go of any thought. I have to attune myself to the forest. I can only do that when I let go of any expectations, and I must quite my mind.

I can do these things in the forest. I attempt to do so at home in meditation, and sometimes I get to a quietness in my mind, but it is fleeting. Whereas, when I am in the woods seeking the secrets of the trees with my camera, I come into a place of quiet peace.

I am considering showing this along with the rest of the Spirit Tree Series in my little gallery for the next month. I think the series now comprises of about fourteen images, and that it has become a cohesive little show.

Monday, November 12, 2012

PART THREE

Elk Prairie Sunset, Prairie Creek State Park, November 11, 2012

By-the-way, happy Veteran's Day to all Vets. My military experience was a positive aspect of my life. I am grateful that I accept that it played an important part of my becoming an adult.

This is the third variation of this image. I am finished for awhile - I have other images that need my attention. This is from just one digital negative, and everything was processed in Lightroom.

WHY WOULD I WANT TO LIVE ELSEWHERE PART TWO

ELK PRAIRIE SUNSET WORKED IN LIGHTROOM AND PHOTOSHOP, NOVEMBER 2012

The image that I posted last night was part of the "unprocessed" set of digital negatives that make up this image. I think that both images have their own impact, and I am not sure if one is better than the other. Sometimes, I think that I can over do an image. It often takes me awhile to come to terms with an image and its possibilities  I just need to live with them for awhile before even I know which version I want to exhibit or share on the blog. 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

WHY WOULD I WANT TO LIVE ELSEWHERE?

ELK PRAIRIE, PRAIRIE CREEK STATE PARK, November 11, 2012

This is the view I saw this afternoon just before sunset.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

A SLIGHT REVISION TO THE COMPOSITION

THE POWER OF THE "L" FACTOR, PORTOLA FIREHOUSE, 2012


I posted this image a few days ago. This morning I took a print of that image to the Redwood Camera Club's regular meeting. I shared it in the critique, and received some feedback - mostly positive. One thing mentioned was that it could be improved if I included some blue sky around the right edge. Viola, I had the sky in the original, and here it is. I think it works, but comments would be appreciated.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

KORBEL II

NORTH FORK MAD RIVER BRIDGE AT KORBEL, 2012

I took this in January. I was on a little outing with brother Daniel. I was showing him some back roads in Humboldt County. Even though I photographed this bridge several times, I still think my first attempts with the Sony in 2006 were the most successful, but I keep on trying.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

SUNRISE ON THE EEL RIVER AT FERNBRIDGE

EEL RIVER, NOVEMBER, 2012

This image is not at all ready to print, but I am sharing an interpretation of what the sunrise looked like last Friday. It may be that I do not have the details that I want in the raw files to create a look that I would print. Nonetheless, this is to me, a fun one to play with and to view.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

PORTOLA CALIFORNIA

THE PORTOLA FIRE STATION, October 2012

Because I was stuck in Portola a couple weeks ago, I had plenty of time to photograph. I did spend most of my time photographing in the railroad museum, but I did have time to explore the town. What surprised me was how few buildings in the old downtown that appealed to my aesthetic sense. This is one of the few, and quite frankly, I think it is a good one.

Friday, November 2, 2012

NOTHING TO DO WITH TOMORROW'S ARTS ALIVE

A HILL ON BEAR RIVER RIDGE, November 2012

I went photographing with a friend today. I photographed at numerous sites, including Fernbridge, an this is the image that is talking to me.

I will be at the small gallery upstairs at the RAA tomorrow for Arts Alive. 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

NOVEMBER ALREADY

Spirit Tree Series Redux

I just went through a stack of matted prints that I have stored in my studio. I still have copies of most     images from the Spirit Tree Series. Most of these images were printed in 2010. Some of them were in  New Mexico for a year. Those were subjected to extreme changes is humidity when they were returned here. I noticed some wrinkling of the prints. I think it was a direct result of the change from a very dry environment to a damp one. I also think that the nature of the paper that I used back then plays a contributing role in the deformation.

Last year I expanded  the series, and printed new images on the paper I now use. The new images benefited from the paper choice and from my improved editing skill set. I admit to being a slow learner. I easily get stuck into ruts on various aspects of my art. Even in my darkroom days I mostly stuck with a couple of film types (TMax 100 and Kodachrome), and I mostly printed on Seagull for black and white and Cibachrome for color.

It took me awhile to comprehend that the paper I was using in 2010 did not fulfill my needs. I was comfortable with the paper, but I lost sight of the fact that it did not fully translate my vision. I did try a couple other papers, but they were really bad, so I stuck it out. But when I saw the wrinkling on the prints that came back from Santa Fe, I knew that I had to come up with something else to print on. I did considerable research, and settled on the paper I have now been using for the past year - Canson Platine.

This paper does not wrinkle because it is made of very high quality materials, and because it is considerably heaver. The thing that really gets me is that the image quality is superb. It blows away the images from the old paper. It makes me want to reprint everything that I printed before, but I just cannot afford to do so (it costs four times as much as the old paper). That said, I am going through some of what I consider my very best, and reworking them. I will chose some to reprint.

The above image is on the short list.