EMERGENCE

Emergence, Variation One, 2013

This image stirs up things in me that I cannot put into words. I know that there are many mysteries in the deep forest, and I think that this is the portal to one of those mysteries.

I feel that to be a successful as a fine artist that one must break through ordinary reality. This image does so for me.

Emergence, Variation Two, 2013

By the way, I took these photographs this afternoon while on an outing with Hal and Pam at Prairie Creek State Park. We had the trail to ourselves.

WINTER'S SUN AND SKY

Rustic Fence and Rough Road, 2012

I took this image a year ago while out on an outing with my brother Dan. I was sharing some of our back country roads with him. This one is Snow Camp Road off of Butler Valley Road above Korbel. As I recall, this was mid day, but because of the time of the year, the angle of the light gave that nice frontal angle. I used the 17mm tilt/shift lens for this composition.

About fifteen years ago I road this on my bicycle with a large group of riders. That was back when a fifty mile ride was fairly common for me.

A VERY SPECIAL PLACE

Taylor's Peak, Humboldt County, 2012

I often saw this view from one of the facilities where I worked. Almost every time I went to the site, I was treated to a frequently changing view of the mountain. Sometimes it was wrapped in fog or brushed with clouds. Occasionally it was blanketed with snow, but always it emitted an aura of the sacred.

One time about fifteen years ago, I think the breeze whispered the true name of the mountain. That was about the time when protesters were attempting to stop the logging of the remaning old growth Douglas Firs on its and the surrounding hills slopes. This is near the headwaters of the north fork of the Mattole.

ALTERNATIVE REALITIES

Industrial Switching in a Make Believe World

I do not think that I shared this photo yet. It reminds me of the many safe places that I created in my youth. I created safe places so that I could escape into a place of my fantasies, and leave reality behind. I was often accused of being a day-dreamer, and I know now that I was indeed.

I was not given the tools that would have helped me make my way among my peers in school. I was not encouraged in sports, and did not know how to hold my own with other kids. I did figure out how to escape by imersing myself in books and in play.

This photograph is my creation. The scenery is not. This layout is part of a model train layout that others built. I was invited to create some compelling images of the layout, and this is one example.

This takes me back to when I was a boy of ten and as an adult in my twenties. I dreamed of railroading as a ten-year old and I became one when I was eighteen. 

LET THE SUNSHINE IN

Cool Meets Warm or Night Greets Dawn at Fernbridge, 2012

I suppose that this image may be interperted in any manner of ways. My immediate thought is that no matter what we say, think, or do, the light follows the dark in an endless cycle of life and balance.

RAA'S NEW YEAR'S EXHIBIT

Earth Meets Sky at Bear River Ridge, 2012

I was told that this image of mine received an honorable mention at the new exhibit. The RAA gallery is located at 603 F Street, Eureka. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from noon until five. I hope you get a chance to see the exhibit. Arts Alive is Saturday, February 2nd.

OKLAHOMA FILM SCANS

Yukon's Best Flour, Yukon, Oklahoma 1995 from a 4 by 5 scanned negative.

I am a fan of Photographer David Plowden. My first exposure to his work was from his book A Time of Trains which is still one of my favorites. David photographs the industrial aspects of our country. I am not trying to emulate his work here, but certainly give him a nod of the hat.

A LITTLE SUNSHINE IN OUR LIVES

A Sunny Sunset in the Dead of Winter, 2013

I mostly go early in the morning to photograph in town. Yesterday evening, I decided to see if the lighting would help with some subjects that I have been working on for awhile. I usually exclude autos, but last night I had no choice. Nothing to write home about, but...

PERHAPS I AM GOING TOO FAR WITH THIS

Still Finding My Way With the Ghost Train, 1995/2013

One of the really fun things about the work that I do is that I am seeing my old photographs in a new light. Perhaps I am actually seeing them in ways that I could not understand back when I took them. I think I am taking some of my past vision and applying my compiled knowledge of an additional twenty years of maturity.

What ever it is, I am having a great time not only making these modifications, but in linking my past with my present. In some ways I am going back in time to when I took this image, and I am passing some knowledge to myself in a weird sort of time warp. If nothing else, I am not stuck in a single process or work flow.

TAKING NEGATIVITY A BIT FURTHER

Playing With the Ghost Train, 2013

I really had fun with this image last night. I love the "printing plate" look that this has. I did take a look at how it appeared as a positive, but it was too washed out in the lower left foreground from sun glare.

I felt compelled to print it, and I did. I think I like it.

SEEING THE POSITIVE OF THE NEGATIVE

A Negative View of a Retired Railcar, c. 1995

I took this photo with my four by five sometime around 1995 at the Western Railway Museum near Fairfield. I always enjoyed looking at my negatives, and this is the view that I had while I was making prints in my enlarger. I became adapt at making judgements as to how the image would look as a positive after the processing.

If you look closely you can see the black dot of the setting sun in the left edge of the photo.

WORKING WITH PEOPLE

Five Ladies Waiting Black and White, Arcata, 2012

I have several variations of this image, and I am trying to figure out which one has the most impact. On top of that, I want to know how each variation creates or fuels its unique impact. So for today, I will compare the color image with the black and white.

Waiting for the Solar Eclipse in Color, Arcata, 2012

Products of the Scanner

Safety First, Ely, Nevada, c. 1995

I am still scanning my collection of four-by-five negatives. This is one of them from a trip I made over highway 50 in 1995. 

MORE PRETENDING TO BE A STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

Star Struck, 2012

I like all the elements of this composition. That the subjects are  looking in other directions adds some tension. This photograph just begged to be black and white.

THE LINE BECOMES BLURRED

In the Community Forest When Nobody is Looking, 2012

The more that I play with these images - the more I like doing so. To me these have a strange and welcoming mixture of representative values mixed with the abstract. 

PLAYING WITH THE BLUR

My Copycat Attempt at What Rick Gustafson Creates, 2012

This is out-and-out copying Rick's process as best I can. I was out photographing awhile back, and was having to use slow shutter speeds, and I thought to myself, "why not go with the blur". So I made a few attempts, and this was the best of the lot.

PATRICK'S POINT ONE YEAR AGO

My Way of Saying "Good Morning", Patrick's Point, 2012

SHADOWS ON THE WALL

Baggage Cart at Lamy Station, 2010

I worked on two variations of this image, and ultimately settled on this the full-frame image. The camera I used for this image was my all time favorite - my old Sony R1.

I shared my thoughts about that camera a couple of years back. The main issue that I had with it was its extremely slow write speeds. Once I started shooting in the "raw" format, the camera became very slow. I read recently that if one took two images in rapid succession that the buffer would be full, and the camera unusable for about nine seconds. So if I were shooting a landscape in HDR and needing three shots in rapid succession, this camera could not deliver. I tried over and over. What would happen is that the clouds would move so much between the three shots that it became a problem later when I was working to assemble them as an HDR image. Nowadays, there are software solutions to at least part of the problem.

I did not have that problem with this image because it was a single shot, and I had shot it in the raw format so that there is plenty of information available for me to work with. I think this photograph shows that.

CONTINUING WITH CAUTION

Caution at Big Lagoon, March 2012

I oftentimes think that I should come up with something profound to say about the art of an image, and if not, at least say something about the craft involved. This image, like most of my work, was shot in "Raw", processed in Light Room, and presented here. I almost always work in that particular workflow. I often do my spot removal in Photoshop, and I usually save that step until the end of my workflow. I always print from LR.

CAUTION!

Warning Signs and Budding Alders, Big Lagoon, March 2012

This is another photograph that I allowed to "ripen". I always thought that this stand of alder was a good example of what I hoped to capture with my  camera. The issue was always the intruding signs into my scene. I decided to no longer fight the elements of this composition, and to go with what was   already there. 

MORE WWII AIRCRAFT AT THE ACV TOWER

A BT-13 at ACV (I think), c. 1990

This is a scan from a 2.25 by 1.75 negative. I am starting to think that I have the process of using the Epson software somewhat understood. This is a poor copy because of file size limitations for the Blogspot, and because this is a grainy photograph.

I do have numerous photographs of the old WWII buildings at the airport, and I am happy with the knowledge that I can now digitize them.