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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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. 

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. 

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.

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 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.