Saturday, November 18, 2000

This is one to bookmark. An easy to follow explanation of the Zone System, accompanied by the level of technical information that you want.
8:21 PM ::link::

Well put together essay on living in the moment at Headspace. If this is Zen, then I need to add a number of books to my "to read" list.
2:40 PM ::link::

Photos of the Mexican Days of the Dead celebration may be seen at the John Greenleigh Studio.
2:33 PM ::link::

Don't let the name put you off, there are some really nice pictures of the Woodlawn cemetery in the Bronx, New York at Vulture Views.
2:22 PM ::link::

Three stolen cannons are returned to Peoria's Springdale cemetery in time to mark Veterans Day observances.
2:00 PM ::link::

Like to try your hand at those wide wraparound panorama pictures?
1:47 PM ::link::

Friday, November 17, 2000

What causes over 25% of all camera repairs and almost 20% of poor quality images?
Improper lens cleaning.
Learn how to do it the right way and save yourself some headaches.
11:10 PM ::link::

Minor Rant

Some folks seem to think that because I enjoy photographing the artwork found in cemeteries that I must have some kind of morbid fascination with death. To the contrary, folks. If I am fascinated by anything, it is by the wonderful variety of beauty to be found in this precious gift of life. Maybe the path that I have chosen to express this love of beauty and life is a bit different. That's because I am a bit different. We're all a bit different, a unique and never to be repeated combination of all the physical, emotional, social and intellectual parts that make life such a wonder. So enjoy and appreciate the beauty around you, where ever you might find it.

Major Request

I've been reading the blog of a pretty amazing person lately. Someone who appreciates just how precious and delightful life is and is determined to grasp for every bright bit of joy she can. She's in a tough spot but isn't asking for your sympathy, your pity or your admiration for her warrior spirit. She's just asking you to smile and if you can, to help someone else to smile. Her name's KayCee. Keep her in your thoughts, keep her in your prayers, and above all, read her journal and smile. :-)
11:45 AM ::link::

Thursday, November 16, 2000

Tony Howell, a British photographer, has several very well done cemetery sculptures in his Religious Art section.
1:27 PM ::link::

Finely crafted statuary in Milan's Monumentale Cemetery from the Northstar Gallery.
1:05 PM ::link::

The Grave Site has some nice photos of the burial grounds of New Hampshire's seacoast, including the large format pinhole work of Stephen Salniker.
11:01 AM ::link::

Kodak announced the development of a 16 megapixel digital camera at the Comdex trade show. It's said to allow a print up to 8 feet by 12 feet without pixelation.

The new camera, ProBack, is to ship next year. Given the file size that would result from a digital image of this resolution, I can't imagine it being used in the field unless some pretty radical storage solutions are going to be used. Should be interesting though.
9:39 AM ::link::

The City of the Silent has a new aid to interpreting Latin inscriptions found on tombstones.

Although it is usually possible to translate the more common phrases without too much trouble, this list will come in handy when encountering the rarer examples or for dealing with what can be very cryptic initials. Nice job, Joel.
8:31 AM ::link::

Wednesday, November 15, 2000

Looks like Maggie's worried that you procrastinators are going to miss out on the deadline for the Webloggers Holiday Gift Exchange. So what are you waiting for? Don't come around whining on the 21st that no one told you that the deadline is just a few days away. You know you want to join in the fun.
8:17 PM ::link::

One of the test shots from the latest pinhole/infrared adventure has found a home at the Cityscape project. If you have a shot of your town's skyline, join in the fun.
7:52 PM ::link::

Turn your bedroom into a camera obscura and watch the world on your wall when you wake up each morning.
11:00 AM ::link::

Paris celebrates its 20th Month of Photography. A fitting celebration for the City of Light, Paris has been in love with the camera and with itself since the early days of photography.

8:57 AM ::link::

Tuesday, November 14, 2000

I got the negs and contact sheet back from the lab this evening and had a moment before class to sneak into the graphics lab and scan a few of the shots from the infrared/pinhole experimentation. I got luckier than I deserve to. Here's one from Saint Stanislaus cemetery. You know what to do to the little picture if you want to see the big one.

11:06 PM ::link::

If you are considering switching from traditional film to a digital camera, the list of reviews at All-Digital-Links.com will provide all the information overload you could ever want on the subject.

While I have certainly considered the switch myself, I'm wondering what effect the ability to take essentially unlimited numbers of images would have on the process of composition. Does the immediate feedback available with a digital camera enhance the ability to record an image which reflects the vision in your mind? Or by immediately deleting an image that initially appears unsatisfactory, does one lose those happy accidents that upon later examination might prove to be of more merit than had been supposed?

I've been trying to slow down the picture taking process. I think it's helping a bit when I try to weigh all the factors that make up an image before pressing the shutter release. I've stopped using my zoom lens, sticking to either a 50mm, 100mm or the pinhole. This is making me move around more, rather than standing in a fixed spot and sliding the zoom ring. During the movement, I will often discover views that I never would have imagined. I'm using the tripod more as well, this impediment turns into an aid by helping me carefully consider what's in the viewfinder. I think it's helping, I hope it's helping.

How do you do it?
11:44 AM ::link::

Monday, November 13, 2000

The infrared roll is at the lab and I should have the negatives and a contact sheet back by tomorrow afternoon. I have some hope that at least one of the shots will be printable although I knew at the start of this experiment with the pinhole that it was all a gamble. I mean what kind of nut tries to take pictures without a lens, using invisible light?

I'm pretty confident that something will emerge from this, however. I'll definitely have a better baseline to work from for the next time. Even if my exposure was completely off, I swung through a wide enough range that it should provide a pointer towards the factors to use in the future. That's part of the fun, making a mistake, then using the knowledge gained in the mistake to improve.

I guess that's really the way we all learn. No one is born perfect, knowing all there is, able to do it all right the first time. The important thing is to learn from your errors. It doesn't hurt to have a friend that can point to things you might have missed on your own. Learning from others and sharing knowedge is what makes our civilization. It's why we have schools, libraries and it's the best part of the web... sharing knowledge.
8:08 PM ::link::

Sunday, November 12, 2000

Explore the delights of London's Highgate cemetery and the famous Pere-Lachaise of Paris at Sommeil Abysse.
6:16 PM ::link::

Thanks to a nose in the ribs from a dog who was quite eager to go out at 5:00 a.m., I got an early start today. After a few non-cemetery photos from the top of Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor area, I headed back to the East Baltimore area for some attempts to combine pinhole and infrared.

I drove past last week's stop of Mount Carmel and headed a mile or so down the road to Saint Stanislaus Cemetery. It was my first time there and I was happy to see that it contained a number of very nice statues. The cemetery is immaculately maintained, which loses it some points on the "charm" scale, but should make up for it in the open views of row upon row of statues which I am hoping the pinhole caught.

Exposure for this series was, quite honestly, almost a complete guess. All I had to go on for this particular pinhole are the results of one roll of color film from last week. Infrared is difficult enough to predict as it is, so I used a fairly wide range of bracketing for each picture. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on these.

I stopped off at Mount Carmel again on my way home. I spent most of my morning there, poking through the overgrown sections in search of a hidden treasure. I came upon a wonderful angel, high on a pedestal, with wings outspread and a heavy growth of vines partially concealing it. I had finished the roll of infrared earlier, so I tried some T-Max 100 black and white using both the pinhole and a 50mm lens.

To top off the morning, I took one more stroll through neighboring Trinity cemetery, getting some nice smaller statues and several interesting carvings.

I'll probably have the infrared contact sheet back from the lab by Wednesday and should have prints from the regular black and white in hand by Thursday or Friday.
5:21 PM ::link::

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