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Archive | October, 2010

4×5 Crown….

By on October 30, 2010 in Uncategorized

Graphlex Crown, 4x5 camera

I am back in the darkroom these days, developing film and beginning to formulate a working model for a new project, one that I might engage in for many years to come, weaving it through my waking days and dreaming nights.  Beekeeping, I have found, is a fascinating subject.  The interaction between the Keeper and the hives, the product resulting, the need to allow the bees to keep the honey in order to survive and the recent onslaught of Colony Collapse Disorder are all intertwined for me.  Documenting this would be a fascinating adventure, one that I could pursue throughout the world.  I can use digital and film, anything, really.  I am hooked.  And its all because of Brueghel and his “The Beekeepers” lithograph.  With this inspiration comes the possibilities for a photo shoot this Wednesday in Harlemville with a Beekeeper and some of his handmade, sacredly-geometric hives.  I am ready to go.  The weather is supposed to be nice, with lots of sun which means dynamic light.

I have purchased a Crown Grafix 4×5, my first foray into large format work.  The film is not a problem to find and the development is easy.  I find that it is wonderful to develop the film in complete darkness although I have a small tank that can immerse 6 sheets at once.  I’ll be doing that this afternoon.  As of now I can only make contact prints, but I hope to be able to scan the negatives sometime and also find a 4×5 enlarger to do some printing.  This, by the way, is similar to the camera used by an inspiration of mine, the photographer and writer Wright Morris. I think he used a different model of Graphlex, but I feel like I am on a well-worn and honorable path.

OK.  It’s a sunny day and I have errands to run; the PO, the bank, the gym and then home until I skee-daddle out to meet friends for coffee.

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

Finally…an update…and ideas…

By on October 2, 2010 in Uncategorized

Forgive me Cyber Readers, for it has been too long since my last blog entry…

August 20th seems a long time ago, and I suppose in the minds of the Facebook addicted eejits, it is, but really it isn’t even the imagining of a drop in the bucket of time.  Let’s not even talk geological passages, here.  Face it folks…A lot has happened and not much time has passed.

The 14th Colony is swinging along.  I was well received in the first group show and both my digital pieces looked lovely on the wall.  I didn’t sell anything, but exposure is what I need these days. I have some misgivings concerning the co-op concept, however.  Granted, I feel that that if a person wants to hang their work, a space should be available.  This is regardless to style or skill.  If they need the outlet, it should be provided somehow.  But…should “naive” art be hung next to more skilled and professional work, thus diminishing one or both of the pieces?  In a democratic/anarchic co-op system, shouldn’t there be criteria when exhibition is involved?  I don’t know.

Right now The Photo Show is up.  This was a show conceived by the “leader” of the co-op and myself.  Originally it was going to be a documentary piece, but that was ruled to be too exclusive so opened up the event and I dropped any leadership role I had assumed.  Suddenly there were 30 photographers signed up.  I didn’t know the group had 30 photographers.  In the end about 20 delivered work to hang and it looks really lovely.  It is a very diverse group show illustrating the many talents of those of us looking through a viewfinder.  Some I like better than others, but that’s to be expected.  I brought 6 medium format silver prints to the show and they all went up, which was a great relief since I had shot, processed, matted and framed all 6 for this show specifically.  I didn’t want to break up the flow based on available wall space.  They are also priced to sell…

The concept of criteria brings me to my next idea.  Using the 14th Colony as an umbrella, I am going to start a small rebellion.  I am going to found what I will call “The Monochrome Collective.”  This will be a small group of photographers (digital and film) who work only in black and white.  Heavy Photo-shopping will not be allowed.  We will deal with fundamentals of b/w work, namely the Zone System. This criterion will weed out many people and, hopefully, allow for a professional edge to emerge.  I wish to keep the Collective small, allowing for more intimate meetings, shows, etc…Like the 14 Colony, it will be a place to exchange ideas, network and support each other’s art.

That being said, let’s clear something up about labels.  ‘Silver print’ is the same thing as ‘silver gelatin print’.  Exactly the same thing.  The idea was coined by museum currators who felt that ‘silver gelatin print’ sounded more important  than ‘black and white’ or just plain ‘silver’.  This is in the same vein as those who try to make a real difference between ‘giclee’ and ‘inkjet’.  They are the same thing, except that ‘giclee’ is used to make a statement regarding paper and inks, which are better, yes, but no different than commercial inks, i.e. more expensive.  Check the web, folks.  The illusion has been shattered.

I’m off to the showers and then getting ready for the opening of the show this afternoon at 3PM.

JDCM