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Getting down to brass tacks….

By on January 13, 2011 in Uncategorized

47 days until I leave for Greece.  I was lying in bed last night and realized, again, that my goals for the next 5 years are not as formed as the previous set.  I’ll ask around and see what people think.  I feel like the path I am on is correct, but where does it lead?  I suppose I have little choice but enjoy the journey.

I have to begin some test packing today.  I am able to bring one camera bag on the plane with me and it will be pretty well loaded.  I’ll have a 4×5 press camera and the film holders, a medium format TLR, my Canon 5D Mk II with the two lenses, my Voigtlander R4m and one lens, and my Canon G11 and my iPod and its speakers . Add into that two boxes of 4×5 sheet film, batteries, cables, cleaning gear, some roll film (120 and 35), a book or two, charging dock (iPod) and assorted paperwork for the trip and it’s full.  I’ll pack my tripod in the checked baggage.  Since I am traveling Business Class there are no weight restrictions so I am OK with packing as much stuff in the backpack as I can but I need to test pack the camera bag and see how I can best use the space.

OK.  Time to shovel snow off of my roof.

JDCM

A new year begins…

By on January 2, 2011 in Uncategorized

Happy New Year to all!  Please let this new year be a bit kinder and warmer than the last, with all of its fears and worries over what people felt to be really important.  Money.  What we need to do is act a little kinder towards one another and stay away from Belarus!  No a place to go these days for a vacation.

Longnook

I leave for Athens in 59 days.  I am going back to the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts for another term.  I have been courted by both the digital printing guru and the darkroom sorceress and have chosen the ways of the darkroom for my work-study program.  I will be working with my 4×5 and medium format primarily.  I’ll bring my new digital–oh yes, I have upgraded to a Canon 5D MkII.  It is lovely and full-frame which finally allows me to use the L-Series lenses to their full effect.

I have submitted 5 pieces for a juried show in Hudson, NY to be exhibited in the old Opera House in February.  I hope that at least one is chosen and they give it a good space to see it.  The pieces are all 11″x14″.  As you can see by the image, it is following the abstract path I have been on for the past year.  Whether I stay there, I don’t know.  The Aegean Center will see to that.  If this spring is half the catharsis that last spring was, then I should be in good shape for whatever the arts world throws at me.

I recently had the chance to visit a friend’s home and look at his art collection.  I was unimpressed.  Yes, it was all “very important” art and the artists were all “very important” but the work itself left me cold and uninspired: Modern art devoid of warmth, life and verve.  It left me grateful that I love the work that I love and this work varies throughput the ages.  Trust me, there is some very modern work that blows my mind as well as some older pieces that find dull and insipid.  I think that actually it was the collector that I found dull, with his repetitive phrases of “important” and which museum wanted which pieces when he died. Very tacky.

The light is very flat today, but I hope to get out and shoot a roll or two.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunnier and I will take the 4×5 out and make some exposures.  I am working on farm images these days.  I have to call a nearby farmer and get permission to shoot on his property.  That’s all I’m saying about it.

JDCM

A re-scheduled life…

By on November 11, 2010 in Uncategorized

With the end of October and the first week of November came a drifting ennui that left me feeling fat and lazy.  Granted I am not overweight at all (182#), but I was on the way to gaining a mental spare tire, so to speak.  Thankfully I was kicked in the ass by a friend, which is what I needed.  As a result I have re-scheduled my days to be more productive and directed.  I have a daily list of ‘to-dos’ which reads the same pretty much every day.  There is time for photography, at least 3-4 hours a day, either film, digital or both (this includes processing); there is time for a few hours of reading; and then I spend some precious qt with my family and meeting friends for coffee.  Social time, if you will.

My five years at SUNY gave my life structure and without it there was nothing to guide my life, just too much free will and randomness.   So I took a month off from thinking…

I am beginning some work (digital and film, abstract and realist) for a nearby hotel which will hang with a couple of other artists for a few months; I am currently printing a small series of snapshots from last spring for fellow students and my own records; my reading list includes some books on artistic aesthetics as well as technical dark room stuff.  In short, for the next three months I am understanding that I am still in school and traveling the academic path to knowledge.  What a relief.

I am always relieved to know that I find greater freedom in structure.

More to come…

JDCM

Re-focusing my energies…

By on November 2, 2010 in Uncategorized

Since my graduation from SUNY last month, I have discovered that I have become unfocused.  The last five years have allowed me to concentrate on a specific goal, i.e. securing my history degree, long overdue.  I have done this to the best of my ability.  I have written recently about setting new goals and have, I hope, been able to communicate how difficult a task that can be.  Sure, I have my photography, but I am slacking in some areas of that. There are rolls of film piling up that demand my attention; there are prints promised that have yet to be made, let alone test-stripped; I need to get back into the swing of things with a vengeance, as if my life depended upon it, which in a strange way it does.  If this is the path I am to tread, then I must get on with it and stop gazing at the scenery on the side of the road!  I need to focus and get the work done.  Maybe I should make a list of projects.  I’ll start here..

1. Develop all the rolls of 120 film from my trip to Provincetown.

2. Sort through the negatives of fellow students from last spring.

3. Choose the negatives I wish to print and get that done!

4. Sort through the “Lighthouse” negatives and print some of them.

5. Begin work on the “Beekeeper” project.

If I really apply myself, these labors could occupy much of my time.  That’s the issue, I think.  I have a lot of time on my hands and am not using it wisely.  I lack the discipline I have had in the past few years in regards to my academic work.  I need to think one word–

PORTFOLIO

–take it seriously and go from there.  This includes 4×5 contact prints, once I am more capable with that camera.  The most recent exposures are better, not so bulletproof.  I will make this happen.  No more hoping, no more dreams of completion.  I will do it and be happy because I will have worked hard to accomplish these tasks.

More to come…

JDCM

Time for Phase III…The Next Five Years…

By on October 6, 2010 in Uncategorized

Much has happened in the past few days.  The 14th Colony Photo Show went up without a hitch and the six b/w medium format pieces I submitted look lovely on the wall.  To top this off, I have sold one which makes me very happy.  I am here to get my work out there, not make a million bucks.  By the way, if anyone ever asks you about the difference between “b/w photograph (non-digital)”, “silver print” or “silver gelatin print” make sure you tell them there is no difference.  The fancier name was dreamed up by museum currators who felt that “black and white photograph” was too plain sounding and the  “silver gelatin print” sounded more important.

There is one more group show this month that I am in and that will be it for me until next summer, unless someone invites me to be in a show, that is.  Plus, I am off to Greece in March for more work at the Aegean Center, so that will pre-empt any shows I might be in.

After five years of hard work and ceaseless toiling through a byzantine bureaucracy, I have graduated from the State University of New York with a BA in Historical Studies.  I am amazed and really don’t know what to do with the feelings: relief, joy, pride, etc…I also have pretty much visited most of the places on my to-do list.  This brings an end to my first Five Year Plan so I need to develop a new one.  What will it be?  I’m taking suggestions…Perhaps life will, as it does, show me the path to take and perhaps I am already on it.  “Keep going” my father said.  I will.

JDCM

New directions, new work…

By on May 18, 2010 in Uncategorized

cityweb2

As I have already written, my digital work here as undergone a profound fundamental change.  Gone are the days of treating travel snapshots with the contrived gravity that only my own mind could grasp.  Although my film work has changed as well, it remains more within the traditional scope of photography.  The other has become more abstract and modern.  The example I am posting is a close-up of the ground.  It is from the seaport of Piraeus on a sunny day.  The only manipulations I have performed are exposure and curve controls and some selective colors that augment rather than alter the reality of the image.  It was taken with my old Canon Digital Rebel XT with a fixed 50mm lens.  I tell you all these things because I do not believe that abstract art should be thought of as a riddle to unravel, but rather a representation of color and light.  Be aware that the actual image is 250 x 400cm and fits on an A3 piece of paper.  Also, the colors are much more vibrant.  The yellow is brighter with more orange rather than the mustardy color on the screen. I apologize for that.

More to come,

JDCM

Angst, disconnection and the trials of youth…

By on May 11, 2010 in Uncategorized

There is a little over 4 weeks until I leave Paros and head back to America.  As I wrote before, my digital work has undergone an enormous transformation.  My film work has shifted as well, but more in terms of process and technical skill than any real artistic sense.  Socially I am still a 45-year old man in a school of predominantly women under the age of 25.  They are at that odd place in life when although society considers them adults, they have yet to suffer Hamlet’s slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.  Their emotional forms are soft and romantic, unsullied by the realities of daily life in the cold, dark world.  Granted, there will be joys and pains immeasurable in their future, but for now they are safely nurtured in their own cocoons.  The winds of inevitable winter will toughen their skins, as it always does.

In regards to that, my age and gender have kept me from being a part of their youthful gaggle.  My own work is more focused, my own energy more economized to slog through the next 28 days until the school show.  I have had some technical setbacks in the darkroom and unfortunately I am feeling the social disconnect there as well.  Much of this is in my head.  I will shake it out and get back to work.

More to come…

JDCM

Waiting for an assignment and off to Paris…

By on April 11, 2010 in Uncategorized

I am still enjoying being here.  This comes on the heels of a crisis of artistic faith in which I find myself seeing novelty and light in all things film and dull same-old-same-old in the digital realm.  The solution is simple.  Since I cannot see the forest for the trees I will be given an assignment by the director–actually we all will.  I hope it is soon because I am running out of time to complete my portfolio.  This is not entirely true.  I have almost 60 days until the term ends which is plenty of space.  The director, John Pack,  said that I take great pictures of many things but that they are all very comfortable and secure for me to photograph.  His challenge is to push me out of my comfort zone and see what comes of it.  I agree with his ideas but I am waiting for the assignment to arrive.  I am enthusiastic.  I was told by my other photography teacher that if it seems too agreeable to ask for something else.  That’ll work for me.

Our spring break begins next week.  I’ll be heading off to Paris for a few days to visit my father who is there for the spring on sabbatical from school.  He is there with his wife until June and they have a nice place in the 4th Arrondisement.  My goal is to shoot at least one roll of film per day while I am there and a lot of digital to work on when I get back.  Of course if I need more film I’m pretty sure I can get some there.  I’ll check on-line and find out.

Just a side note…How lucky am I to be living this life?  What blessed stars shine down upon me and guide me through the wilderness and into the light!

JDCM

Photography and Easter in the Eastern Orthodox Church…

By on April 2, 2010 in Uncategorized

I have been logging many hours in the darkroom and digital labs.  What I am learning in the DigiLab has made me aware of the serious shortcomings inherent in the US university system, one of which is laziness and the other is a jealous regard that some teachers have towards their students.  It is true.  There are many teachers who will not teach their students all they know, but rather keep information to themselves lest their students rise above.  I mean, I had never heard of ICC profiles before I came here, and that, as well as other tools, is essential for properly printing photography in the digital format.  Without these tools the computer and printer will never agree on the colors and tones appropriate for each brand and style of paper.  I know, for example, that Bard College never used this system until a student fro The Aegean Center went back there and told them they were doing it wrong.  So next time you go to a “professional printer” and give them some business, ask them what their paper stock is and whether they have an updated profile for that product.  If they give you a result on paper that doesn’t look right, watch out when they blame your camera…Ask to see the ICC profile.

This weekend is Easter and in the Eastern Orthodox Church it is the single largest holiday celebrated, without question.  The island is packed with people coming home for the event and ending their Lenten Fasts.  The primary church here on the island is called Panagia Ekatontapyliani or “Church of Our Lady of 100 Gates (or Doors) and no ordinary structure either.  It was built by the Emperor Constantine’s mother (St. Helen) and pre-dates any other Christian church in the world. Construction began in the 6th Century.  The story goes that St. Helen, the young Emperor’s mama, put in at Paros during a storm.  As is the custom in Greece, she vowed to build a church on the spot where her life was saved.  She died before that could happen, but she was able to inspire others to make it happen.  Pretty cool.  I’ll be there tonight and tomorrow for the festivities, along with about 300 other people.  I’ll try to get some good night shots, in RAW of course…

Tomorrow night at midnight, Lent ends and the whole town will descend on the restaurants and tavernas for the traditional meal of ‘Gut Soup’, which is a soup made from lamb tripe and vegetables–dee-lish.  A whole bunch of us will go out and experience this event as well.  Sunday is not a public day, but rather reserved for family.  We are having a lamb roast, with the whole lamb on a spit over a charcoal grill, turned by hand for several hours.  On Monday the bus and boat schedules change, heralding the real spring season with schedule and fare changes.

More to come…

JDCM

Jazz, cook-outs and leaky tanks…

By on March 14, 2010 in Uncategorized

My schedule is settling down and I have a very busy load. The two primary courses are the Digital Printing and the Silver Darkroom classes. These both meet, officially, twice a week, but as a student I have keys to all the labs, so I can go in there any time of the day or night and work. This is very nice. In the digital realm we are working with RAW, but in such a way I have never encountered. The secret is to over-expose the image in RAW to capture as much information as possible, then process on one of the Macs. First rate gear here…none of that buggy PC junk. The b/w darkroom is a real test of my abilities and patience. I am fine tuning so many variables it is hard to list, but ultimately it comes down to being precise with temperatures, times, and note-taking. We are using all Ilford chemistry, film and paper, which keeps developing as close to consistent as possible. The four lovely enlargers are all imprecise in their own way, so consistency is a must. As one fellow student reminded me, “We are doing fine art photography here…” So right, so true. Am I up for that task or am I the equivalent to a shoe-maker in the kitchen?

The rest of the course load is a series of hour-long lectures that run throughout the week. These are, in order, Creative Writing Workshop (twice a week), The History of Photography, The Camera (a tech course), Art History, Classical Greek Literature, and Documentary Photography. As a school, we all go on a hike on Fridays. This is the Socratic method at work, with time to not practice out crafts, but to have time for the self as well while we absorb the knowledge that is heaped upon us all week. There are other courses such as painting, figure studies, vocal ensemble and basic drawing, but that will have to wait until next time. At this point I want there to be a next time.

I was in the darkroom the other day I developed a roll of film and the metal tank leaked, not light, but developer. So this teaches me to check my gear before I work. Last night we all got together and had an amazing bar-b-que/cook-out/grill. A real potluck for 20 and it was a blast. I made grilled Dorado marinated in garlic, rosemary and olive oil. Others brought salads, kebabs, sausages, peppers stuffed with feta and oregano…Super! After that a few of us went out to see a jazz duo (piano and baritone sax) from Athens. What a great time we had. I was able to close my eyes and let the music just flow through my head, savoring every note and movement. As I listened I wrote the second half of a short story I am writing, but in my head. When I returned to my studio apartment I put most of it on paper and revised this morning. I’m doing pretty well.

The director of the Center, John Pack, had a meeting with us all the other day and he reminded us that for whatever reason, we all ended up here. I was directed here by a friend, and so many others are here due to some other twist of fate or fortune. We are all woven together like a creative fabric.

JDCM