a quick arrival
fresh rain smells and a cool breeze
just as quickly gone

With this, I’m trying to marry my ideas with my art – combining my photographs with messages I’d like to convey. I want all my art to convey some of the messages I feel strongly about, but so far I think they are so subtle only I know what I’m trying to convey. This photograph is an attempt to be a bit more overt about what I’m trying to say.

I’m still not beating people over the head with the message, but I think it’s obvious enough that I’m hoping to talk about consumerism and the power it holds over us. It’s a seemingly unstoppable force that grows as the focus of American Life.

I don’t think this photograph is the final place I want to go, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’m starting to form a stronger concept of where I do want it to go, which for me is great progress. I can stop swirling in ideas and actually move forward.

I finally got a Hasselblad. I wanted one since high school, however, with the advent of digital photography, the desire went away. Being back in the darkroom, though, has re-interested me in the traditional methods of photography, and with that, the desire for a top-notch camera.

This was off the first roll of photos I took with the camera. I’ve never used a medium format camera before. I read a ton of information on message boards, web sites, and watched stuff on youtube to learn how to do stuff like load film, use the lens for functions like aperature and shutter speed, use a light meter, and so forth. It’s very much unlike a 35mm camera.

Once all the equipment was ready to go, there is then the change of looking through the top of a camera, into a square, and seeing the image flipped. It takes longer to compose the image, move your body to get the framing correct, and then moving the whole camera around to determine the composition. You also only have 12 shots per roll of film, so there is a greatly increased desire to really choose one good shot to take, instead of snapping off 30 and hoping one is right.

The result is a much slower picture-taking process. Oddly enough, I love it! I think having to be so careful and considerate of everything I’m doing is really helping me form tighter photographs that pack more meaning into each frame. I’m carefully consider f-stops and shutterspeeds, whereas on digital, I generally only pick one to focus on and let my camera figure out the other.

I’m also starting to explore with using various chemicals in the darkroom to help me get finer photographs. This adds another element of personal control into the photograph. Basically, much more of ME is in each picture.

And, the results are great. I haven’t done a really great side by side comparison yet, but the Hasselblad might be delivering me sharper, crisper results than my new Canon 5d Mark ii. Or at least the lens might be. There are so many variables it’s hard to know for sure, but I do think my Hasselblad can stand on its’ own against some of the more powerful modern cameras.

So, I’m very pleased with this photo. I love the shades of grey I’m getting, and the crispness of everything, even though I intentionally blurred the fence a bit. I love the square composition – it seems like everything has a bit more room to breathe, but is also more focused and eye-directing. The building really was not so powerful in reality, but the crispness and square that the Hasselblad gave me seems to have focused the most important elements into a photo I really feel is outstanding.

I know it’s almost heretical to say, but I’m enjoying the Hasselblad more than my Canon 5d mk ii right now. I think both will balance out, however, and give me a wide range of versatility that I love as an artist.

This photo got absolutely no love from Flickr and the challenge group I’m in, but I really enjoy this photo.

I took several frames and played around with exposure times, and this seemed to have the nicest balance of light, yet still acknowledging it’s night. With the new Canon 5D mk Ii camera I have, it has the ability to make night photos look like it’s bright and sunny. It’s crazy!

With this, I like the shape of the main tree sweeping across the frame, while the clouds blurred across the sky in rows. There are also a few stars up there too. The moon is just rising into the frame, but I kept it cut out so as to not blow out the frame in light.

It was windy, so that’s why some of the branches are fuzzy. I think I would have preferred a more still look on the tree, but I’m not sure I’d get the cloud effect without it.

Either way, the photo embraces a sense of calm for me, yet deep interesting colors. I like the stillness, yet also the hints of movement. Stillness, Peace, and Quiet.

subterranean002

Originally uploaded by pearmon

I’ve been lusting after a medium format camera lately. I’ve gotten back into the darkroom and “traditional” photography due to my class this semester, so the enjoyment of film and processing your own film and pictures has slowly been coming back.

Mind you, I can’t see becoming someone who shuns digital photography. It’s just advanced too much to dismiss it like some people who want to hold onto what they’ve always known.

Film does have its’ own unique qualities. It’s not as easy to master as digital photography is. As it’s taught less and less, that will only become more true. It takes more effort and determination to create a beautiful print.

It’s also slower. That might be seen as a drawback – and sometimes it is. But I’ve appreciated being made to slow down and really craft the limited exposures I have on each roll of film. I don’t zip off a million captures – I have to think through my aperture, time, composition, focus, and so forth before I snap the shutter. I’m starting to fully appreciate the crafting of an entire frame.

It’s also slower in the darkroom. I can’t say that has any benefit. But it is also more solitary and focused. Processing images on the computer can be distracting. There’s also a world of options to fiddle around with in a program like Photoshop. In the darkroom, for the most part, it’s just you, the enlarger, a few filters, and your chemicals. With that focus comes more time to really examine your image and make sure every part is just how you want it. It’s hard to explain, but it’s also very soothing. It’s nice to have a process that is removed from the overload of modern society.

I tried to explain why it’s nice to keep film photography around along with digital by likening it to painting, or sculpting, or any other other art. Most artists don’t use just one tool – one brush, one material, one color, or so forth. Artists generally like to explore tools and techniques and combine them in an endless array of possibilities, searching for the one that will best convey whatever message is struggling to wrest itself from inside the artist. I liken traditional photography to that – I can’t say that a digital camera will ever be replaced as my camera of choice. But, I am really enjoying having the film camera back into my lineup. I think it sat on a shelf for 4 or 5 years, at least, before this semester.

However, my trusty 35mm camera has not been friendly to my eyes. It’s quite difficult to focus – especially in low-light situations that I’ve been favoring. I guess age is starting to show – but I’ve always had pretty bad uncorrected eyesight. I also long for the greater detail and richness that a superior camera can bring to the traditional world. The medium format camera was always this expensive dream of mine – but now prices have finally fallen to a reasonable area (thanks to digital). So I’d love to have one to finish out my work this semester.

But as to the image included in this blog – this was from a recent shoot – an assignment of 5 prints that shows my photography being influenced by another artist. I’m really fond of this print. Out of 3 rolls of film (100+ exposures) this is one of the FEW shots I really like. Great tones, lines, mood, and so forth. I think I composed this very well and have a lovely range of grays.

Bonus points to anyone (except my model) who can figure out what I’m claiming influence to.

I’ve been uploading quite a few images to my Flickr account and this was one of my favorites from the past few days.

I took this sometime around 1997, during a trip to California. I believe I was in the Laguna Beach area, which was quite beautiful and had a variety of rock, surf, and sand to take pictures of.

When I look at this picture, I admire the natural geometry found in nature. The rocks are chipped away at interesting angles, yet all working together to create a lovely diagonal.

I like to let my mind wander and think about how many waves and other natural friction to create this pattern. Then I think of how it will continue to be shaped by the forces of nature. The interesting arrangement of grays also mesmerizes me. There seems to be no set pattern, just random streaks of darker grays set upon the lighter grays.

I love this shot and need to find the negative. This is just a scan of a print I made way back when I took it. I’m interested to find out if I can get it any sharper and maybe improve upon the tonal range – though I’m quite fond of it, as is.

I took the orchid that Laurie gave me outside today, and took a few up-close shots of it with my camera, in the natural light.

I used my Macro lens, so it’s hard to get every part of the flower in focus, as it has a very narrow depth-of-field, but it creates a very nice background, as you can see in this picture.

My favorite part of photographing this flower was the odd abstractions I could get from its’ shape. This picture doesn’t really read “flower” to me, but more like an oragami-like structure of petals – just folded over one another. I think it has a very abstract feel to it, which I love. I like people to think about what I’m doing. If my work is too obvious, I generally don’t like it all that much.

I would have liked to focus on the petals a bit more, but I’d probably have to experiment with a different lens.

Last night I went out and took 50 or so long exposure photographs. This is one from the series, depicting downtown Lockhart around 8pm or so.

The streets were slick from a bit of drizzle during the day, so I knew the streets would be extra reflective and make for some interesting reflections or shimmer. Luckily, the Christmas lights were still up as well, adding in tons of interesting lights. There were not as many passing cars as I had hoped for, but I got a few to add in a bit of taillight beams.

I ended up really enjoying taking these, as I appreciate the stillness found in the scene, but still there are hints at movement with the long exposure capturing moving cars and such.

Using my new camera also makes these long exposures a joy. I’m becoming more familiar with the extra controls and features my camera has (the Canon 5D Mark II). The noise is also kept to quite the minimum. I was very happy to see how crisp these came out.

I hope to do some more experimenting with long exposures. I want to continue exploring the juxtaposition between stillness and movement.

This picture is from my vaults – 2004 to be exact. I took this during a trip to Florida. But I decided to take it into Photoshop and tweak it a bit today.

Other than being an interesting take on the beach scene, I like how I just “overdid” some of the rules of photography and over-saturated the back greenery, increased highlights, and contrast. It took a picture I was not really overly fond of and made it something a bit more visually interesting.

I still can’t say that it’s one of my favorite pictures, but I do really like how I took a picture that was pretty drab and gave it a bit of new life by just poking around with what a bit of post-processing could do. I’m generally very understated when post-processing, but with all the stuff I’m learning in school, I’m slowly expanding the options I have to take to my photographs.

This isn’t a photo I consider to be technically well-done or even overly interesting for the standard viewer.

However, I like it because I actually took the time to stop and take the picture. I was driving home from my parents house, ready to get home and relax, but I noticed these clouds in the sky. I watched for a while, trying to figure out if there was a great angle I could find, something that would help create a great composition with these very unusual clouds.

But, there was nothing. It was flat, not a hill, or interesting tree, or anything to help frame it, in sight. I was ready to just give up, and keep driving home.

But then I thought, I hadn’t seen clouds like this in my entire life. Other interesting shapes, sure, but wavy triangles, nope. I realized it would be pretty lazy and dumb of me to not take a shot of something I hadn’t seen in 30+ years. Who knows how long it would be if I saw this again, if ever. Maybe it wouldn’t be an overwhelmingly fabulous shot, but it would be one that meant something to me, and at the end of the day, that’s really what matters.

So I pulled over, took a few shots, and this is probably the best of the bunch. Nothing great, but for me, it’s enough to remind me of a lovely evening when I had the joy of observing something unusual and rare.