Idea Idea Ideas

Feeling Good. Just got back from Boston after going to the Opening at Panopticon Gallery. On the drive home my brain was running, its been going real fast lately. I was thinking of my ideas...where I was going...what was I producing. Studies of the small things that make me happy like leaves, flowers, color, etc. Now I was thinking earlier about collage, puzzle, piecing things to make sense. Then Im also very much so intrigued by process, photosynthesis, anthotypes etc. Sooooooo what comes to mind branching off my thought earlier in todays post is this:

Photograph black and whites of these certain beauties I see that calm me. The small things in life that help me to cope with life itself.
Take those images, develop them to have high contrast, cut them or place them in block like compositions onto paper.
Expose using an emulsion from a plant matter.
After that print is done, frame it using materials in and around that area that was focused on such as a walk by the lake. Taking sticks and when that anthotype is done framing it using its natural materials that it came from.
Going back to that area and placing the frame somewhere in the landscape and then photographing it again before it all completely dies.

Would I then leave it there? Should I photograph in color or black and white?

This idea while driving was very fascinating to me and I look forward to my experiments to see what I may be able to accomplish with this thought.

Sleep now.

First Roll Developed in my New Darkroom!

Hey all!

First roll was developed today using my own in house built darkroom. I am very excited and hope that maybe Sunday to shoot off three rolls of film and develop them before work so that Monday can be a marathon printing day in my darkroom!

I have a leaf exposing outside and its been all day. Changes are happening! Should hopefully see some results by the end of the weekend.

Going to the Panopticon Gallery opening tonight, looking forward to it!

Have a big day of hiking tomorrow, my day off of work, and look forward to exploring with the camera phone.... will post some.

All my veggies froze in the fridge while I was trying to keep it under control from the humidity. Apparently Im terrible at that so now the plan is to use the juicer to grind them up and make some emulsions to print on Sunday.......

Darkroom building process has set me a little behind but Im coming into a comfortable spot to really start cracking away at it all and I can not wait to sit down and finish the books I bought.

I also was thinking today....about photographing with black and white, developing at a higher temp to get contrasty negatives, photographing leaves/nature/etc. and then collaging them on top of a leaf like I am doing currently....then photographing it again within a context like back in nature or maybe not....Like in the city but has all these remnants of nature or what was once there. Make sense? I hope...lets try it!

Thats it for now. Busy day doing other duties in life. So far, feeling good.

Photosynthesis

Film!

I will be developing my first roll of film either tonight or tomorrow morning! Super excited.

Reading How to be an Existentialist by Gary Cox right now.

Picked up the latest Times Magazine on the Pursuit of Happiness and will be reading that later.

Trying to figure myself out. Why is it I can go by each day now with a smile and extreme productivity. Why is it that I rarely sit and take a break? Brain racing, next week is going to be a productive one. Cant wait to meet Caleb my first mentor by the end of this month. Very excited and hoping to have a couple new projects to show off when we do meet.

Here are some images from the other night when I was deep in reflection of my dear friend who has passed away. I sat and listened to the rain and played. This is what was made play.

These are all images, tests, absolutely nothing final. These are my ideas. Funny I was playing with a square format and now I have a square camera. Comes with a 6x4.5 adapter and 6x3. The 6x3 may be pretty fascinating to try. A picture from my hike as well, some were taken with the phone.

Hasselblad

OK. Maybe I didnt get to printing an Anthoype today or at least attempting but a lot of other great things happened.

I purchased myself this.....

I also got a lot of equipment thanks to my friends at the New Hampshire Institute of Art to really put the final touches on the darkroom. Going downstairs now to finish it up and maybe develop a roll of film I photographed with my new camera! 

Books for this Month

What I picked up at Barnes and Nobles:

  - How to Be an Existentialist by Gary Cox
  - The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays by Albert Camus
  - A Slap in the Face by William B. Irvine
  - Time Magazine; The Pursuit of Happiness

ordered from Amazon:

  - Morgans Passing by Anne Tyler
  - Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel
  - Will the Circle be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith by Studs Terkel

Starting with How to be an Existentialist.

Is death morbid?

Today I found out about another death in my family. Blood family, no but damn near close enough. I was in TJMaxx window shopping at all the terrible new styles that I can not seem to escape like all these shirts with sheer backs to them, like someone really wants to see my bra. My mother calls me, I answer, she says Teresa called..... I knew right then. Peter had passed away. Peter was a man my father looked up to and adored. When my father passed away, I adopted Peter as my "new" father. Peter and Teresa lived in Telluride Colorado and he was always telling stories. Need less to say, I balled my eyes out at TJMaxx and I rarely cry. I drove home, staring at the road like I was in another dimension searching for answers. I had just picked up some reading material at B&N on Existentialism, eager to read them, I got home and starred. I put my running shoes on and went for a 7.1 mile run. Running 1.5 miles in pouring rain. While I am running and my feet at beating against the water and my shoes are soaking and I can feel the padded socks pushing into my soles, I realize I am motivated.

Does death motivate me? Is it morbid to find death a means to enhance my own living standards?

I get home from my run and I stood outside for five minutes. Bare feet, rain falling, breathing and releasing. Pulling up a nice wicker chair with a few soft cushions by my front door with the screen door open, I drink my glass of wine and I sit to listen to the rain. What I had just embraced and escaped. A thought comes across my mind, I should photograph this moment that I am living in remembrance of Peter. Finding myself taking my digital camera out and playing with it, composing, moving, blurring, etc. I didnt feel like crying anymore, I felt like creating. Life is a gift and I will make of it the most I can. This death will be my motivator and I will study this sort of strength through this process of understanding and use of it. An end to a beginning. R.I.P. Peter Lauterbach, one of the greatest men I have known.

Inspiring Artists

Check these guys out.

Accra Shepp
http://www.flagparade.org/other/accrashepp/

And Binh Danh

http://binhdanh.com

Going to work now but I got my contact print frames and Im ready tomorrow to toy with this process. That is if the rain holds back.