Friday, September 26, 2003
Managed to get out of work sort of on time last night. Early enough to be able to tone some prints made Wednesday evening, some more play with the Forte Polywarmtone. I went a little lighter with the selenium toner and was able to get a nice split effect. The darker shades went to a deep brown while the midtones stayed more gray.
Posted by coldmarble @ 01:52 PM ET [Link] [blab]
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Didn't stay at work forever last night but snuck out after only 10 or so hours of being a scan slave. First stop was at Angefall Studios for the opening of a new show. There were some interesting works there, with the radiographic renderings of Laura Vernon-Russel being the first to catch my eye. She has an interesting concept, printing radiographs of waterfowl on photographic paper and then using paint and pencil to transform them. The work of Laura Amussen is quite outside my usual taste in art but I found myself caught in the folds and colors she'd wrought in her unusual canvas pieces. At first glance, I would have sworn they were scuplted with molten copper and brass.
Resisting the call of a glass of cold wine at the opening left my head (partially) clear enough to attempt some printing in the darkroom. I looked back over my negs and realized that I haven't printed half of what I wanted from my shoot with Marion, way back in July. I picked an old favorite and two as yet unprinted images to play/work with. I was moving slowly but did manage to get all three done to my satisfaction on that Forte Polywarmtone I've fallen in love with. They've been toned tonight with selenium to various shades of red/brown, some deeper, some subtle splits between brown and gray.
I still need to make one last swing by the camera shop after work tomorrow to give in to and test the claims of wonderous beauty from Ilford Delta when developed in Xtol. I've heard a lot but haven't seen the proof so I guess I need to work it out for myself. That's a rational excuse to go out and buy more photo toys, isn't it? I'm hoping the upcoming trip this weekend will give me a nice backlog of negs to print.
Posted by coldmarble @ 08:14 PM ET [Link] [blab]
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
This weekend will be the first since early August that I haven't dragged myself into work. It's time once more for the annual IMSAR Seneca SeaFest. Time to pack up the camping toys and fill the cooler with beer and delicious seafood to share with old friends and new. It's been, hell, I don't know any more.. 16, maybe 17 years that my old rock climbing buddies have gathered at Seneca Rocks, WV for a weekend of telling tall tales, stuffing ourselves with fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, sushi... almost any kind of seafood you can imagine. Definitely not Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks. That happened once and the poor fools are still catching hell about it.
I've long since hung up my rack, rope and shoes. I'm still enchanted by the rock but no longer feel the urge to pit my strength and agility against gravity. If I can restrain myself from carrying every camera I own, I may do some hiking in the woods and hills. A nice pinhole shot from inches above the Potomac, with the vertical cliff face rising in the background, might be a fun challenge. I may be a lazy slug and play in the valley with the view camera. There may even be some digital play, though I'll try to stay with film as much as I can.
Weather.com isn't holding out a lot of hope for perfect photo conditions just yet but a lot can and probably will change in the few days before I head out. Seneca's always had its own strange little weather pattern, so no matter what the forecast says, conditions are always an unknown until you get there and subject to change at short notice.
In the end, it doesn't matter what the weather is just so long as the food and beer hold out. I've been busting my ass for weeks now, and I think we're caught up enough that a weekend away won't leave me with a nightmare Monday when I return. I need a rest and if it means a four hour drive to get away, then so be it.
Posted by coldmarble @ 09:16 PM ET [Link] [2 blabs]
Monday, September 22, 2003
I hope the scan and levels adjustments on this crappy monitor do justice to the wonderful warm red/brown tones brought out by selenium toning a sheet of Forte Polywarmtone paper. The paper's a bit pricey but worth it for results like the recent reprint of a 
Throttle Handle at the B&O Railroad Museum. I think I'll be making it a bigger part of my printing, especially for older subjects. Might work well for some IR and/or pinhole figure work too.
Posted by coldmarble @ 08:26 AM ET [Link] [blab]
Sunday, September 21, 2003
I've seen daffodils in all shades of yellow, orange and even a few pink ones but the blue ones are pretty rare. [more]
Posted by coldmarble @ 08:40 PM ET [Link] [blab]
