And So It Goes...

I am still working steadily on the book, "Impressions through a Pinhole". I've also installed BookSmart from Blurb, where I'll be publishing the book. I've started playing with the layout of the images and have found that many fit so well as a double page spread. I am thinking that I will single out my favorites or the strongest images on a spread of their own.

I am going to have these professionally scanned so I can make decent size prints of them (the negative is smaller than 35mm) and hopefully find a venue for a solo show once the book is done.

I have just recently gone through another roll from the P-Sharan and got 5 images out of the 16, so this has really gotten my excitement going again. I have nearly 25 images to choose from now. And now for another sneak preview...

No Mo SoFoMoBo

As my faithful readers know, I signed up for SoFoMoBo way back when with the full intention of completing a photo book of 30 images in just 31 days. Well, I'm just 6 days to the end of my "month" and I have 15 images that I just absolutely LOVE and 15 images that I haven't even seen, yet. So, what to do? Well, I have decided that I will not be finishing the SoFoMoBo book. It is not because I am Giving Up. It is simply because I do not want to make a book filled with images that are just "OK" to me. But, SoFoMoBo has been an incredible jumping off point for what I am going to be doing. With these 15 images that I have already (all from the P-Sharan, of course), I will be completing a book by the end of the summer. It will be the book I wanted to make for SoFoMoBo, but with the time, effort, and creativity needed for the quality book I will be proud of. So, keep watching the blog for previews of the images for "Impressions Through a Pinhole".

My Heart is Broken...

As I was making the daily trek to Fredericksburg this morning, I saw a heart-breaking sight....

2 months? No post?

Well, I would love to tell you that I haven't had time to post because of all my creative endeavors that have been going on, but that would be so FAR from the truth. Actually, I've been in a creative rut lately and I'm supposed to be working on my SoFoMoBo. Well, I'm thinking as nice as it would be to do it in film, I will probably be doing digital since 30 days is such a short time and film so time consuming. In 15 days I'll be heading to Pittsburgh for my wonderful weekend at F295. I expect being around that many creative alternative photographers will spark the creativity in me.

I love my P-Sharan pinhole

I know, I've gone on about this camera before. But, this camera is just giving me dead on exposures every time (and I mostly use the helpful little suggestions printed on the back). And that ghostly quality of them, is just to die for. ;) But, I mentioned in an earlier post about participating in SoFoBoMo 2009 and I've been thinking about how I was going to accomplish this task. I think I've decided to dedicate the whole project to the pinhole images I make with the P-Sharan. The most obvious obstacle, and biggest, of course, is the time it will take between making the images and waiting for the processing. Maybe this will get me back down in the darkroom for home processing. At least, I won't be waiting 2-3 days... This will put a crunch on at the end of the month, I suspect. But, seriously, how could I shoot with anything else???

First roll from the Yunon...

I'm decently pleased with my new Yunon YN500 since every image came out perfectly exposed. I shot a 100 speed Fuji B&W film (the name escapes me and I'm not running down in the basement darkroom to find out, it's cold down there!). The only issue is that occasionally it only partially wound the film. It happened 3 times on the roll and seemed to occur randomly. So, I had a look. Well, since it is completely manual, it has this nice little button under the right-ish side of the camera to be used while only rewinding the exposed roll. It is a perfect place for someone's thumb while using the camera because it is aligned with the shutter button. So, apparently, I was occasionally pushing the button while advancing the film which, of course, caused the film to only partially wind and I got lots of junk. No happy accidents. Unfortunately, it also caused a partial double exposure of my favorite image on the roll, which I thought would have been better with out it. Luckily I could do a little dodge & burn in photoshop to lessen the effect, but you can still see a little of the ghost frame. The good thing about this??? I've got a sure way to do double exposures on this thing. So, I suppose I did get a happy accident, even if it was a discovery and not an image. Boy, did I ramble....

We are LIVE!!

I've finally gotten around to finishing my new website. It's been a long time coming and I've still a few details to work out. I'm not sure if I'm happy with my "gallery" organization, but it's the best I can do for now. It seems that I'm not much of a cohesive themed photographer. :) Thank you to the good folks whose free stuff helped make this happen! I used a CSS Template from DCARTER, an Image Viewer CSS template from CSSPlay, and a contact form from The Site Wizard. Please be kind and give me any comments, improvements, and constructive criticism you may have. A note from my Contact page would be lovely! ;)

The big snow...

...and the pond at the end of our street.

SoFoBoMo 2009

I was reading Matt Allen's Photo blog this afternoon and he mentioned an event for photographers SoFoBoMo similar to the NaNoWriMo event for writers. So, in a nutshell, you have 31 days to make 35 images and create a PDF book of them. So, since I have been wondering about my project for the year and finding some sort of idea recently, I am going to take this opportunity to create something tangible that may actually turn into an actual paper book! We'll see. Thanks, Matt, for the info!!

Trees in the Wind...

It's funny to look back at my photography just 7 or so years (postcards) and to see how different I see things now (abstract? or impressionist?). It seems the less discernible things in the photograph, the more I "see" in it. I was enjoying the backyard in this very windy, yet warm, winter day with my dogs and my daughter. I liked all the movement of the trees (while hoping they wouldn't fall on the house!), so I grabbed the D70s with the pinhole body cap and tried to capture the feeling of the afternoon. This one really struck me...

I received an email from B&H...

Ok, not to exciting, except that its subject was "Proposal from B&H Photo". Now that was intriguing. Seems, they were interested in a "partnership" with my business website at inherdarkroom.com. This "partnership" means that I have a B&H Photo banner somewhere on my website as advertising. In return, I receive a small commission for each person that clicks through to B&H from my site and purchases something. So, tell your friends! Tell your enemies (you know, the ones that use that "other" brand of camera)! And let's all go shopping! :)

Black Film...

That's what I got back from the 20 year old Kodacolor VR. I did, however, find these really cool green blobs on one end of the strip...

Kodacolor VR

Hmmmm... Just finished the roll out of my new Yunon and I discovered this little gem inside. When I purchased the camera I had opened it to look inside, discovered the film, and immediately closed it. I knew it was Kodak because of the yellow, but I had no idea it was old. According to the wiki it was discontinued in 1986. There is no date on the canister, but this thing could be more than 20 years old???

Someone stop me now...

Yes, I bought another camera...

Yesterday, while waiting to pick up Alexis from school, I took a little stroll downtown Fredericksburg. Anyone that's been downtown knows that it is not short of antique stores. Not being one for antiques, I never have gone in any of them. Well, after reading blogs of people that go out to these strange stores and find great deals on old/weird/fun/cool cameras, I had to try it myself. Well, the second store that I went into had an entire case full of old Kodak cameras (brownies, instamatics, etc) as cheap as $3 each and were in great condition. Well, I'm really not into buying cameras when the film is nearly impossible to find (i.e. 620, 126, 127, 110), so I passed them all up. Well, there was this one very oddly named camera that looked like a very small SLR. So, I asked to see it. It was, in fact, a 35mm plastic camera called a Yunon YN500 from Taiwan. I've never heard of one and I've not found any good info online. Well, this one is perfectly clean, with strap, case, & instructions. The coolest thing about it is that there are 4 apertures on the lens with the pretty pictures (clouds, partial clouds, "shiny", bright sun) that correspond to the following numbers on the other side of the lens (6,8,11,16). There is only one shutter speed, however, and no bulb. There was already a roll a film in it that I can't wait to finish and see what surprises this holds. Oh, and it was only $6.40 after the 20% Valentine's sale! :)

Isn't she a beauty???

Sifting and Sorting

I'm still going through the negs from last weeks trip to the Fredericksburg Battlefied Cemetery. Seems the P-Sharan was the winner of the day with quite a few images I'm pleased with. The P-Sharan SQ-35 has 4 different photographic "styles" (regular pinhole, "soft focus", regular pinhole w/ vignette, "soft focus" w/ vignette). I was playing around with all of them that day and I'm liking the regular pinhole w/ vignette. I've noticed that the "soft focus" leaves a little ray of circles (like the pattern of the soft focus pinhole) and I'm not too fond of that. Besides, handholding the camera gives everything a soft focus, right?

I've Found It

I've been trying to find a photographic project for myself. And it seems that I've been going about it in all the wrong way. You see, I've been thinking subject, subject, subject. Well, I've found my project and it turns out, I should have been looking for feeling, feeling, feeling. So typical of me.

My inspiration...

Around the Yard

It was an unusually warm day for February. So, Alexis and I spent the afternoon putsing around the yard. We threw the ball for Moose, filled the bird feeders, hung the corn for the squirrels (who've eaten through a bird feeder to get to those seeds), and built a nest in the yard for a very large baby bird (Alexis). All in all, a very productive day. Don't even get me started about the frenzy of dessert making that I did this morning... I took out the Nikon D70s with the digital pinhole bodycap and made some images. Mostly, crap, but fun nonetheless.

Took the Kids for a Walk...

No, not the human kid. And not the doggie kids, either. The fantastic plastic (and cardboard) toy cameras were out in the nice weather today. I headed to the Fredericksburg Battlefield & Cemetery because it has lots of walking space and incredible trees and hills. I actually shot 5 rolls of film. Of course, that's not too difficult since the Holga WPC only takes 6 images per roll. But, I did forget to wind the film correctly in it, so maybe in a few days I'll have another happy accident. Here are my babies, posing for the camera phone on the Sunken Road wall! :)

New Holga WPC....

I just scanned the first roll of film from my Holga WPC. Very cool. My only concern is the terrible vignetting on only one side. It is almost as if the pinhole isn't centered. Don't get me wrong, I love a good vignette. I just don't want to feel as if I'm looking through a very small hole. Even though, essentially, that's what is happening. Anyway, I need to check that out after my next roll of film, because it's all loaded and ready to shoot color this time.

Anyway, about *this* roll of film... It was Fomapan 200 BW (I think). The exposures for the roll were 6-10 seconds each. And if you know me, I never read instruction manuals for anything. But, I decided to read this one because I knew there was some kind issue with skipping frame numbers to account for the extra long negative (6cm x 12 cm). Well, I set the counter for the wrong size anyway, even after reading instructions! So, the first few pictures were blended together. Not only did they make an even LONGER negative, but the images were taken along the river and included the upper & lower parts of the river. It turned out really nice, I think.

I need a project...

Seriously... For this last year, my husband and I have been trying to get a business going and I've really put off any serious projects. My last big project was my solo show back in May 2007. I just cannot imagine another year of a little of this, a little of that, with nothing significant to show at the end. I am a goal oriented person, too. I am really not motivated without one. I cannot just go out and make a coherent portfolio with no "end" result. So, the next few days are going to be used to figure out what that goal is. In the meantime, I'll be shooting with my toys, enjoying flickr, knitting, and taking a metal clay jewelry workshop... See? No direction...

And all this has nothing to do with these two cute critters...