Tag Archives | 4×5 photography

Session end approaches, etc…

By John on November 24, 2013 in autumn, beauty, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, Paros Portraits, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

I have a lot on my mind these days and it feels difficult to try to sort it all out. Thoughts meander…

My most recent post was in the form of notes. I think I will keep it that way for today as well.

–The session here at the Aegean Center is almost finished. This week is the final full week of work. It is also American Thanksgiving and Chanukkah. Lots to do (food, work, art) and I imagine emotions are running high for those younger students who have never been away from home on these holidays. We will have a big pot-luck feast on Friday evening, since Thursday is a work day. We supply the side dishes. JP supplies the turkeys and gravy. I am making roasted butternut squash.

–The students who are working in the darkroom are making some interesting work.

–I have been able to noodle about with my own work, but nothing really substantial. I have tried some portrait work with minor success. Siga-siga. If one were to ask how I think I am doing these days, the answer would have to be divided into three parts: personal, artistic and academic. Personally I am doing alright. I am building solid social bridges to people in the community who have little to do with the school or the arts. I am biking a lot and feeling good about that that. Artistically I am, as I said, noodling around. I am letting the students have the lion’s share of the darkroom time. The third aspect is etsy-ketsy. I do what I can.

–Am I an artist-in-residence or faculty? I have no idea anymore. I have worked to define these boundaries within the small community in which I labor. I can only guess that I receive unknown support and back-up from those I respect.

–I am opening a Flickr site and will post photos there, images that never made it here and other things. Mostly travel stuff. I’ll add a tab to the website next time I post. Until then I have added an autumnal image: olive oil fresh from the press. Yes, it really is that green.

Happy Thanksgiving!

–JDCM

Fresh olive oil from the olive press at Kamari.

Windy Monday…

By John on September 9, 2013 in autumn, beauty, black and white portraiture, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, Paros Portraits, portraiture, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, working

The sun was brilliant today and the Meltemi had a decidedly autumnal feel. It has howled all day, and continues the howl through the tangle of electrical lines crisscrossing the small section of Paroikia I call home. The cypress trees whip back and forth and Bougainvillea blossoms, free from their thorny moorings, sail their over-saturated colors into my small apartment.

It is Monday, September 9, 2013 and I have taken down my exhibit. I have enjoyed the three-week long event. I think of my images differently than when I hung them. What was once ‘Giorgos and Giorgos‘ I refer to as ‘Don Quixote and Sancho Panza‘; ‘Erin‘ is now ‘The Vermeer Photograph’; ‘Angelika‘ I think of as ‘The Abstract Realist.’ Things change, the Earth tilts and wobbles, the days shorten, the air cools and we slide into bright autumn. I can almost smell the rain, but I know that is just an illusion.

Now I am filled with melancholia, ennui, a sense of emptiness. As I write this at Mikro Kafe I realize that in an hour there will be no need for me to open up the Aegean Center, turn on the lights and arrange the easeled sign outside on the marble steps. All of that is past. My portraits are safely in their crate, currently a large piece of furniture in my flat. The sign, too, is there, tucked behind a bookcase.

I have little choice but to get back to work. That is the best way to shake off these ghosts.

JDCM

The reward of September…

By John on September 4, 2013 in autumn, beauty, black and white portraiture, craft, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, Paros Portraits, quiet islands, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

Blue Menu #1

August is past and July is a memory. The streets of Paroikia are no longer mobbed with summer tourists. The groups of families have departed, returning to their homes. The weather is lovely,warm and sunny–breezy and cooler at night. The beaches are quiet, all but deserted. The wind is from the north, about Force 5, gusting to 6, which is about 33 to 38 km. This made for a nice headwind as I rode my usual 11.5 km out to a beach on the northern part of the island today. I was alone for a solid hour until a couple walked onto the sand. I swam, read my book, and left in no particular hurry. I had a tailwind all the way back to town.

I am still very pleased with my exhibit. I take it down in a few days and put it away. It has been a good run. I have had excellent conversations with other photographers about the craft as well as people wanting to know more about the Aegean Center. I feel my work spoke for itself.

So for all of our industry and patience during the summer months, those of us on Paros are presented with the reward of September.

JDCM

Gallery sitting…

By John on August 28, 2013 in 4×5 photography, autumn, beauty, black and white portraiture, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, Paros Portraits, portraiture, quiet islands, skill and craft, working

It is quiet here on Paros. The tourists are leaving in a steady flow. French, English, Italian and Greek…For many of them next week is the beginning of the school year for their children. Here at the Aegean Center, this is true as well. The Autumn Term begins next week in Italy. My show comes down in 11 days. I am very pleased with the reception I have had. I am still seeing about 25 people per night visiting the exhibition and have had many interesting conversations with tourists and locals alike.

The summer is winding down and I am about to experience my first September on Paros. I have heard it is the best time of year, a reward for making it through the high season: warm, sunny, quiet…

So I will ride my bike, swim in the sea, take care of some maintenance in the school darkroom, sweep the courtyard and water the plants.

Before I know it it will be September 25th and I will be in Athens, meeting up with the school and then returning here on the 28th. To paraphrase Bukowski, time runs like wild horses over the hills…

JDCM

The exhibition…

By John on August 20, 2013 in 4×5 photography, beauty, black and white portraiture, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, Paros Portraits, portraiture, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

My solo exhibition opened Sunday evening. It was a joyful relief to have it up an on its way. I realized that I have been building this portrait project since October 2011 while also working on (and completing) several other portfolios in both photography and painting en route to this destination. No small feat. It feels as if this has been an overreaching arc representative of all my labors to date here on Paros.

I have had some interesting comments regarding the 22 photographs. One on-line viewer remarked that I had created a community. I can see that too: a small town. I have a butcher, barber, teachers, students, potters, cafe owners, artists, farmers, families, etc…The portfolio could stand alone as a village almost anywhere. A visitor to the exhibition last night said that I had captured the souls of these people. I like to think I only borrowed them for a brief moment.

I was too busy to take any pictures of the opening, but I know others did. When I have some of those, I’ll share them.

I think I will concentrate on portraiture for a while. My other photography is good, solid work. It is like doing push-ups or lifting weights–all preparation and training for the real event. I will begin a second round of portraits in late September, once the light has shifted a bit and people’s schedules have settled down.

Thank you, once again, to all those who helped make this happen. You know who you are. Yes, I did the work, but without the support of the Aegean Center and the people of Paroikia this project would never have seen the gallery lights.

JDCM

News from Paros…a journey of small bites…

By John on March 10, 2013 in 4×5 photography, beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

Lupens blooming along the path to the monastery of Agios Kyriaki

The first week of the spring 2013 session at the Aegean Center has all but ended. As I sit in Pebble’s Jazz Cafe, overlooking the bay of Paroikia, the sun begins a slow descent towards the faint outline of Sifnos to my west. Since my return at the end of January the sunset has moved slowly north along the ridge of that island, the daylight has increased and the temperature has become warmer. There have been welcome harbingers of a lovely spring: warm, breezy with high clouds and only sprinklings of rain, barely enough to dampen my laundry hung out to dry, birds singing in the bright morning…

My work for the next few months has been laid out for me, a buffet of grand proportions. My own large-format portrait work, which I have written about before, takes priority if I wish to have the printing finished by the end of May and the work at the framers by June. This is the beginning-of-the-end of a long-term project, the seeds of which I planted during the winter of 2011/2012. I have two or three more sittings to arrange and then I can begin crossing tasks off the list.

I am also teaching in the darkroom, guiding the bright and eager minds of our small cadre along the meditative paths of silver photography. I have been impressed in this first week by their enthusiasm, previous experience and general attitude towards the idea of ‘slow photography’. I can only hope that they, too, feel as if I am an able mentor for their journey. There are two or three returning students working on the darkroom, which benefits everyone.

The third element is my return to oil painting. I loved it the first time last spring and this time around seems no different. Just today I was working on a piece and I was struck by how much I love oils: their malleability and fluidity, the ability to push them around on a properly prepared canvas…

The fourth menu item this session is a fascinating journey into the world of Johannes Vermeer, more precisely his use of the camera obscura in his work. There are three of us working with Jane Pack and in the next few weeks we will construct a full-scale replica of the master painter’s camera, discover how he applied it and use it ourselves to draw, and then paint, some still lives.

When I realized a few days ago the scope of the labors set before me, my heart and mind quaked. I quickly spoke to an advisor which helped. I know that I can accomplish all of these things, but like a plate of food at the above mentioned buffet, this kind of smorgasbord can seem impossible to consume. Like any dinner, it starts with the first bite. Before I know it will be the end of May and I will be ordering coffee and dessert.

JDCM

Darkroom work and questions…

By John on November 18, 2012 in 4×5 photography, beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

In the past few weeks I have begun printing some of the images I made last summer during my island hopping following the spring 2012 session here at the Aegean Center. For the most part, they are photographs of the stone walls that criss-cross the Kyklades landscapes like so many topographical scratches: property lines, terrace farming, some ancient, some new. The proofs are working out fine, but I have begun to grow uneasy. I am still coming to terms with the idea of ‘art’ and my photography. True, I can compose within the format, be it square or rectangular, but am I an artist or am I simply a skilled documentarian? The same applies to the portrait pieces I am photographing with my 4×5 and then using the scanner to render them into a digital format. This is not my discussion alone, but one that has been on the table since photography began. Is a photograph art?

I was told tonight by someone at a cafe that if a photograph ‘moves him’, creates an emotional response, then it is art. I’ll buy that. So what kind of emotional response is my ‘wall photography’ generating? Nostalgia, loneliness, sadness…The scenes are desolate, full of ruins and, in some cases, the detritus of man. Overturned ore carts, rotting and rusting in the harsh Aegean climate; volcanic chunks of stone piled two meters high to create the snake-like patterns running over hills one sees from the aft deck of the Blue Star ferry as they sail from Pireaus south. There are no people in these images. There are only the bones of ghosts.

The portrait work, on the other hand, is completely different. I am trying to capture the essence of the person, or people, in their own environment. Some are in studios, others at home. In each case I have been able to catch a glimpse of something that reaffirms the great possibility of life. The terrace farms may collapse due to misuse over the centuries, but these people will live on through the images I am creating. I am creating. I can create. Perhaps that is as close a definition for ‘art’ as I will ever get. Art is creation, a recognition of beauty and grace despite the ravages of time. I can be a creator of something. I can document with a deft hand, be mindful of the alchemical processes and thus reveal something to the world that I find beautiful. There is a lazy part of me that wants this feeling to go away. The realist in me understands that questioning is essential. Without doubt and self-examination, how can I possibly progress?

JDCM

Serifos, 2012

Andiparos, 2012

Sunny days, cooler nights…

By John on November 4, 2012 in autumn, beauty, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft

The mid-term break here at the Aegean Center on Paros has drawn to a close. The first day of the rest of the session begins tomorrow with our Monday morning meeting, and back to work we go. As usual, most of the students went traveling, as they should, and many came back in time to knuckle down and get back into the swing of things before the final push begins: 31 days until the student exhibit and I, for one, have not done enough. Granted, I have been shooting a lot of film and developing it, but my digital projects have slowed and I haven’t been printing as much as I should. I am not worried, however, as I know what and how much I can do and how to accomplish these tasks, but the newer students are just now acclimating to the idea that they are here to work as well as explore. First the push, then the crunch and before anyone knows it, it is time to say ‘farewell’ to Paros, unless they are lucky enough to return in the spring, a session that breathes at a different rate then the fall.

As I write this dispatch from Pebble’s Jazz Bar, overlooking the quiet bay of Paroikia, in America the election for the President slouches towards the the doorsteps of millions, like a wary and red-eyed dog begging for greasy scraps. On Tuesday evening the tally will reveal the overall tenor for the next four years of that country’s leadership and how this beast will be fed. Of course, this election will effect the whole world. If Obama wins, I hope he will have a chance to do more than just clean up his predecessor’s terrible messes. If Romney is chosen to succeed, I fear the world will see what kind of mess can be created by a man with a parochial world view, a medieval stance on civil rights, freedom of speech and a religious background that I, for one, must call cultish at best. I imagine the worst. For a good idea of what this could mean, please feel free to read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood. To think that a military theocracy is impossible for the United States in this age is to bury your head in the sand.

The days have been warm and sunny. There has been a shift in the breeze, from south to north, resulting in clearer skies and cooler nights. I am hoping for more rain this week. As the temperature slowly drops this becomes more likely, but the weather report doesn’t list this as a possibility. More good news along with the weather is that the water in the darkroom has dropped to a lovely 21C. This makes my life easier: small mercies for a possible bleak future. I hope Yeats is wrong but poets seldom are.

JDCM

Paros and Emerson…

By John on August 2, 2012 in 4×5 photography, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working, Wright Morris

My trip back to Greece was uneventful although the security in the large airport from which I departed the USA was tighter than usual. As a wise man reminded me, “These are the signs of the times we live in.” So true. And yesterday we all said goodbye to another wise man, Gore Vidal–writer, critic and general thorn in the side of anyone he felt needed a sharp poke as a reminder of their mortality and insignificance. I have a feeling that he and Marcus Aurelius would have been good friends, cynics both–grumblers concerning the state of the world–and brighter stars in what can often be a dull firmament.

It was a pleasure and a relief to arrive back in Greece even though I have had to leave dear friends and family behind. Such is my current path. PAGE Literary and Art Journal is going to print and the files have been sent to the printers. The only remaining task is to choose the paper stock for the cover and interior pages. This is a hands-on job so I will not be taking care of that responsibility. It is a very pretty publication, with relevant articles, both new and republished, and interesting work from the artists in that microcosm of the Northeast. With that behind me I have returned to Paros and I am happy to be back. My visit to the USA was so short it feels surreal to walk down the narrow streets of this port town, now more crowded with tourists, feel the heat of the Greek sun and hear the ancient familiar music of the Greek language. It is as if I had never left, yet I have the jetlag to prove it. I have work to do here before I leave for Italy in a few weeks so I will be busy and I am looking forward to that. For me idle hands are the devil’s playground. In short, I need to have work to do and some structure to my life, a schedule of some kind. People to see, places to go, things to do. Then I can rest.

Today’s (2 August) reading from ‘ A Year with Emerson’ is appropriate since I am back here and in contact with my teachers, mentors and those who would guide me. When he was thirty years old Ralph wrote a letter to his Aunt Mary and gave a description of his ideal teacher. He wrote, “God’s greatest gift is a teacher & when will he send me one, full of truth & boundless benevolence & heroic sentiments. I can describe the man, & have done so already in prose and verse. I know the idea well, but where is its real blood warm counterpart…I may as well set down what our stern experience replies with the tongue of all its days. Son of man, it saith, all giving & receiving is reciprocal; you entertain angels unawares, but they cannot impart more or higher things than you are in a state to receive. But every step of your progress affects the intercourse you hold with all others; elevates its tone, deepens its meaning, sanctifies its spirit, and when time & suffering & selfdenial [sic] shall have transformed and glorified this spotted self, you shall find your fellows also transformed & their faces shall shine upon you with the light of wisdom & the beauty of holiness.”

“You entertain angels unawares…” How lovely. We are only ready to receive that which we are ready to understand. In a way he is reminding me to remain open to the ideas around me, to not shut myself off from the “sunlight of the spirit” and to look keenly into the eyes of those who know. I must admit that I cannot say much else after that. That’s alright. I think Emerson, Vidal and Old Aurelius would agree. As a parting shot I would like to introduce a circular idea I have been mulling for the past few months: learn, practice, teach.

JDCM

The Big Push…for me at least…

By John on April 23, 2012 in 4×5 photography, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, silver darkroom, spring in the Aegean

The spring break is over. I was able to have some time in Athens visiting friends and the teacher from school who is in a very positive recovery from her stroke. All seems well with her and we all hope to see her back on the island soon. I have been expanding, albeit slowly, my 4×5 portraits and will be developing some sheet film tonight. These are family photos of a wonderful homesteading family here on the island, an English couple who raise their own chickens for eggs and bees for honey. In return I received a half-dozen fresh eggs. I’ll take that as a solid barter.

We have less than 40 days until the show and even les for me since I will be off the island for a long weekend so that leaves about a month to do what I need to do and still have two or three days of free time before the show. That is a lot of work for me. I am focusing on quality rather than quantity but there is still a quota I need to fill. I think ten large-format scans from the digital lab and 15 silver pieces. This, of course, doesn’t count the paintings. I think there will be 8 to 10 of those as well. Those have to be finished by the week before the show so that the paint can dry fully. I have my work cut out for me.

The weather has turned to spring/summer warmth, sun and the kind of light that begs for early morning photography. It also seduces the less fortunate into spending time at the beach rather than in the studio. So be it. This is not my problem. The phrase ‘youth is wasted on the young’ is apt here as always. So much energy and so poorly used. It is interesting to see how young kids blow off huge amounts of energy too soon and then have none for the rest of the day. They are naturally out of balance. This changes in the future as they age and learn how to manage time. I think so anyway.

More to come…

JDCM

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