#71

A couple of previous blog entries about shooting with film when I was much younger in the last century included Black and White film images including one, Black Diamonds, that joked about the time before the world was in color!

At the time I knew there were color images, because of film diary notes, but for the life of me I couldn't find them. The files where they should have been stored didn't contain them. They were misplaced and finally here this past month (really September '09) I finally ran across them and so without further ado, here is some of the first Kodachrome I ever shot on my own for what I wanted to shoot.


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Grandpa was off thumping the melons (see Black Diamond entry) in these two from the Morgan Hilltop market.

The light bulbs are supposed to be that yellow by the way, they are bug lights!

Finally one from another blog entry

A Photo Everyone Takes

But it was the same weekend as the melon trip as it was the same roll! The B/W image from a Photo Everyone Takes didn't have notes specifically with it, but now I know when it was taken from the color work!!


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All three are recent scans.

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#70

All photos may be 'clicked' for larger versions.



The Scovill Park Mobile Zoo came to visit with some long friends.
A federal grant was used by the Decatur, Illinois park district zoo to create this education program and they are in constant demand.



It is a hands on experience too!



There were other critter besides snakes for those to handle that are not in love with the legless ones. One mother was particularly vivid in her description of what would happen if anything got 'loose'- all we'd see of her would be butt and elbows disappearing in to the distance. Kids would be on their own!



Not a snake, a glass lizard. Interesting creature.

As mentioned before, increasing concerns about child safety limits some of the images I am willing to use to provide anonymity to the kids. Our current policy is to not reveal identifying info about the children. A mini-gallery below of some more photos from this program.






All Image Rights Reserved. Links only, no separate distribution or use of these images or text with out clearance from Copyright© holder. Terms and fees may apply for other uses. CDPrice - 2009.

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#69

Molly, the Reading Dog.

A trained and certified therapy dog who also volunteers at schools and libraries. Kids will read and talk to a dog who otherwise may not interact. It also increases their attention span.

The public library where I'm the 'staff' photographer has Summer Reading Programs and Molly assisted this year. It was truly a Hands On experience for one and all.



Increasing concerns about child safety limits some of the images I am willing to use to provide anonymity to the kids. Our current policy is to not reveal identifying info about the children. The dog doesn't care. She's a star.

There was a lot treats, hugs, tricks, and games and finally every one got down to the business of reading. Molly even knows when to pay special attention.



Summer 2009 was an animal intensive theme including 'Bring your Pet to the Library'. More on that one later. My dog, Bentley, of the What the Dog Saw series even got a medal. That's for later.


All Image Rights Reserved. Links only, no separate distribution or use of these images or text with out clearance from Copyright© holder. Terms and fees may apply for other uses. CDPrice - 2009.

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#68

527 miles to be precise. Sixteen plus hours including my pit stops.

The traffic and crowd were subtly different this year. Indianapolis and Speedway locals were all commenting on the much smaller number of overnight patrons, including camping and the RV crowd. More day trippers in other words.

How bad was the over night/weekend traffic?? Well, the small party photo below may be some indication for those who have seen the beer cans the Sunday Morning beer can collection in the past. My real indication was the strippers/exotic dancers out at 10:30 in the morning on the street to draw in some last minute business. They were not in costume, but trust me, nobody else can stand up on shoes like that on broken pavement. It must have been a veryyy slow evening.



I did not spend the entire race looking through the viewfinder unlike years past. So I missed one spectacular wreck, but saw the whole thing unfold underneath my feet. Aftermath photos in Post your Racin' wrecks in the Sports Photography forum.

I actually drove out of my parking space and out of town with almost no stopping. Wow! Traffic that thin is a rarity. The Indiana State Police deserve a few kudos as they had a good handle on controlling traffic flow. That helped.

A few more images from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, #93!

Congratulations Helio!







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#67

The dog has seen a lot since my last entry!

This is suppose to be mostly a film entry and my processing and scanning time has had to take a back seat of late. Now a bit of catch up!

As part of the $100 film project, 'What The Dog Saw' is a filmed log of a portion of my daily outings with Bentley, the Red Dog. We walk along a portion of Route 66 at least once a day and there are sights to be seen!

For three days in Spring '09 this power boat shell was parked along the Route. The dog posed, I think he wanted a ride. With a boat this size, it isn't two-footitis* that is the problem, it is wanting more horsepower! About 800hp should be a nice start.

[two-footitis- a phenomena that boat owners experience. As soon as they have dipped their new boat in the water a few times, it becomes obvious that a boat two feet longer would be just about perfect.]

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#66

A busy past month of shooting all varieties of work. Including a Christmas party that was postponed for weather, illness, and conflicting work schedules. It did cheer up an otherwise gloomy February.

The What the Dog Saw project is starting to shape up nicely alongside the $100 Film project of a 'shot a day' on film. Thus I'm averaging between 3 and 4 film images every day. Two of these anyway are with the dog in tow and the others have been somewhat random snaps. But they are film!! All with the Olympus Epics thus far as it appears that the Fuji 645 has died . . . A microscopic examination of the shutter shows that some oxidation has begun and all the love and care of my best camera mechanic can't clean or lube around it. He did find me another one, but at current collector pricing it isn't worth it. After all, I've got one that is now best used as a collectible. R.I.P. Will post one of its last photos later.

Meanwhile, rethinking the W.T.D.S. it needs a cliche' to start off. Not just a fireplug, but two prime objects for le chien to send pmail.

Decisions, decisions . . .

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#65

I've mentioned that I am shooting some things I haven't shot recently or before this year. One is a self imposed goal to shoot a film exposure or two every day of the year.

In the film forum there's an entry about the $100 project, or what a single photo (roughly) per day for a year will cost using a 35mm camera. I've got one project running that, so far so good, and I'll hold examples from it in reserve until the character of the work evolves a bit more. It is essentially a color & b/w study type of work that in a month or so should begin to evolve in a direction that will warrant showing.

Meanwhile, I'm carrying a film camera again all the time. Mostly will be one of my Olympus P/S, yes, the EPIC's with the 2.8 lens and spot meters. Various opportunities arise every day, but of course not the same. So, .

MMIX - W.T.D.S. or 2009 What the Dog Saw

As I am outside with the dog everyday, we take a walk and many times he travels with me for at least a part of day, I going to shoot some things he sees.

So to start with, The Dog. His visions to follow later.

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#64

2008

This one ended with a bang and not a whimper! I said no more weather blogs for now so forward to other personal and professional topics.

I added a bunch of camera bodies this past year both digital and film to the DSLR/35mm arsenal, found a very cool and great condition collection of lens boards for the Sinar. Two of these boards of have interesting 'attachments'. Well Zeiss optics and Compur-Rapid shutters that appear to be in near perfect condition are interesting 'attachments' to me!

The publishing industry has taken a strange turn in these turbulent times resulting in some business changes for me including new authors to make jacket photos of and older ones who aren't releasing anything new or opting to use older photos. That may be vanity as they could just prefer to express a more youthful image, and they aren't anymore!! Only so muchcamera magic in the world!

Books added to my to-read list related to photography include several of the Edward S. Curtis compilations including the Taschen micro-version of his magnum opus of Native American peoples. I was first introduced to his work many years ago when his work was used as illustrations by T.C. McLuhan in Touch the Earth. Controversy over the candidness of the later era of the Curtis photos aside, these are some of the most powerful images captured by any photographer of the fading era of the pre 19th/20th Century world.

Edward S. Curtis by Hans Christian Adam

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews.


I also found a publisher's remainder of Kertesz works that I wish was slightly larger and not just contact size prints. Several version of this exist I've found, not all of which are easily located due to limited production runs.



Andre Kertesz: The Early Years by Andre Kertesz

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars



View all my reviews.



Then at the B/N post Holiday Sale there was a new still shrink wrapped copy of S. Partsch's KLIMT book for about %75 off list price. Well it came home with a few magazines and a Starbuck's empty. There are some other art history tomes, technical books, popular novels/bestsellers and the like to keep my occupied in my down time for a few months. Down time is an expression that I believe to be mythic, but I am on a Quest!

A few more photos of the Festival of Trees including one of the Puttin' on the Ritz tree that provided someone with a bit of mirth for their NEW YEAR'S celebration. The wood tree ornaments are a sample of many that the creator just wasn't sure would sell. I would have bought the $900 dollar tree if I knew where to put it just for this collection. Serious artwork in wood!

Finally I've been looking at Color in Photography. I'm seriously starting to work with color as a subject again in all phases of my photography. What will emerge in the year to be is yet to be seen. There are two classic auto restorations I've been following intensely and will be shooting in 2009. The rest of the automotive world may be a washout. There are new subjects to shoot for color that I've not shot or its been many years in the past. Something need to be bright and eye-catching this year. I am also going to really avoid eye-candy and easily marketable 'stuff' except as absolutely needed.

Happy, Joyful, Prosperous Year to All!

Now we return to our regular programming . . .

[ there's a man singing about 'the land of the talking drum' in the background ]

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#63

I'm blogging about weather again! The weekend after Christmas we had - - - A Tornado!!

No electrical power for 29 hours. But we had mud and debris. Fortunately there are these wonderful things called generators but they are limited as to how much they can power. So several hot card games ensued.

Bentley, the dog, was a little shook up still and spent a great deal of time under the card table. Here he, and Don (with the cell phone) are waiting for everyone to return from food, bathroom, and other necessary breaks while the generator went Hummmmmmmmm. . .

It was determined I should learn how to play Canasta. I slow played them all, until the last hand, three Red Canasta's, a Black Canasta, 300 basics (3 red 3's!) and every Joker and all but two wild cards in a double deck. Heh, heh, heh, ... well next time it won't be so easy.

Finally, the power folks did their magic and all has now returned to the hectic pace that is the norm.

There's a pano of a corn crib that got stomped and swirled by the storm system. Click on it for a larger version.

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#62

Crack, Crunch, & Crash! That was for the second night in a row. The wind, the cold, and yes, today it officially Winter! The first day and this is just the start I fear.

The ground is like walking on breaking glass. This is the worst I've seen in several years. Great photo ops if my hands don't freeze to the camera.

The window view is through a kitchen window over the microwave. The other is a tree that is so badly topped by the ice its going to have come down. It was a great shade tree for the yard. I'll be buying some trees come spring.

The chainsaw massacre will produce some photos later. Right now this stuff is frozen to the ground and won't come loose!

Stay warm everybody.

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