My Archives: January 2004

Friday, January 9, 2004

The first post-holiday week is always the longest. This one was especially killer as we're busy gearing up for a new semester. My eyes are burning and my shoulders aching after a more than full day of scanning books and journal articles. Little time and less incentive to get near a computer during my off hours.

It hasn't been all work, though. I snuck in a play session doing some testing with light painting. The results from the 4x5 were good enough for smiles when I pulled them out of the tank last night. Some problems, things I'll know to address before the next session and some success as well. Even more encouraging were the results from a test roll of Kodak HIE. I'd never shot with it under tungsten lamps before and I'm happy with the way the negs look. I bracketed enough to get about half a dozen adequate shots under two lamps. Best surprise was the IR light painting test. I wasn't even sure if a flashlight would work with IR, but it did. Most of the attempts were quite underexposed but I expected this to be a learning session. How good were they? Good enough that I hope to be in the darkroom Monday evening after work.

Posted by coldmarble @ 11:08 PM ET [Link] [blab]

Sunday, January 4, 2004

It's been a sleepy time here, lazing in bed until the cat screams for treats in her bowl or until the dawg noses hard enough to be carried outside for "walkies." Despite the fireworks in the Inner Harbor and the swarm of Raven's fans yesterday, most of this holiday time has been spent in quiet relaxation.

I did play a bit yesterday combining cyanotype and gum bichromate, with some new additions to the photo gallery. I'm pretty happy with the way the combination worked out. I'm also glad I tried printing with the red pigment supplied with the Photographer's Formulary gum kit before tackling a tri-color gum print. The Venetian Red tube is a very soft brick red, quite different from the bright magenta I'd need to do a realistic color print. The Venetian Red worked well with the cyanotype, so I'm not disappointed with the results. Live and learn... and be ready for happy accidents.

More coated paper is drying now, a layer of gray/black gum to be added to some of yesterday's prints. I feel the need for new negs to work with and hope to have something worthwhile from upcoming light paint sessions in the next few weeks.

Posted by coldmarble @ 01:22 PM ET [Link] [blab]

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