Archive | darkroom work

Spring unfolds at the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts…

By John on March 4, 2013 in autumn, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

The spring session has begun here on Paros at the Aegean Center. The students have mostly all arrived, riding in on the winds and waves. It poured rain all day yesterday and the streets turned into small rivers. By last night the clouds had rolled away and today is sunny and bright. I have many thoughts running through my head, so many raindrops, really, and in many cases just as discarnate. Add them up, however, and they are a flood, a river of their own. I found it comforting to stop thinking. I loaded up some Plus-X, grabbed my tripod and headed down the now undimmed streets of Paroikia. Action, not thinking, always improves my day.

I will be painting again this session. I will also apply the finishing touches on a large format photography project that I began last year, a series of portraits of people I know here on Paros. They are students, ex-pats, local Parians…My Greek barber, Nikos, for instance, as well as the English owner of a local cafe. A motley crew to be sure. I will finish the principle photography and printing in the next three months, bring all the final proofs to Athens and have them matted and framed. I hope to accomplish this before the end of June when I head back to America for a month. When I return in August I will hang the show and open the exhibit. It will be the culmination of my work here at the Center, my Masters Thesis in Photography, if you will. I have no idea where the show will be. I’ll stick my neck out again. So far that hasn’t been the most successful venture here on Paros. I have lost my head more times than not (certainly gaining wisdom) but what choice do I have? “Action and more action…”, as they say…What follows my exhibition is anyone’s guess. I suddenly feel lost at sea with the prospect of September.

I will be assisting again in the darkroom with the students, as I did last fall, so my energies will be focused on their work more than my own. Like the weather moving in circles, alternating rain, sun wind and calm, the Aegean Center is part of the cycle of change. I cannot do much except sit back and trust the process, let the story write itself and accept the results. Once again, to assume anything would be foolish, self-serving and arrogant. As of this morning I am excited to work with five or six (maybe seven) students, some who have never handled silver emulsion and some with more knowledge. We shall see how the session evolves. I remember having many preconceived notions of photography when I arrived here on Paros three years ago. They were soon dashed in favor of a new and vibrant dynamic. As a lotus blossom, spring unfolds…

JDCM

Parian viewpoint…

By John on January 29, 2013 in craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

I returned to Greece last Friday and after a long and uneventful journey I found myself at the “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, the gateway to Greece. It was quiet at 16:40 hours on a Saturday. Aside from my Aegean Air flight, there was only one other craft that seemed to be in use, a KLM A320 parked at the terminal. This speaks to both the slower winter season and the decision for other airline companies to curtail their schedules into this country, a nation hit hard by both the global economic crisis and a media-fed-fear of governmental instability. While the economics are true, the other claim holds no water. This is a land of change and transition and so many people are preferring to sit on the sidelines and watch the drama unfold.

It was raining and the skies were lead-grey. I hailed a taxi and as we headed towards the city I was struck by how green everything had become since my departure in December. The traditional music coming out of the small radio made my heart melt and run like the rain. As we sped along the motorway, the driver handed me an orange. “From my garden–this morning”, he said.

Change is a difficult stage of life for any organism, whether it is a country or an individual. The best course of action is to change the dynamic. When an old path isn’t working, one does not stay on the same road and travel with more verve. One takes a turn at the next crossing, thus expanding the journey. If one has a philosophy that is dear, it is important to keep this philosophy as a compass and at the same time open up prospects for new and exciting ways to implement the fundamentals. 12 years ago I grew weary of the career in which I had been laboring. Instead of finding a new niche within that limited community I shifted gears and turned off the main road and connected with a new highway. Now I am in Greece, practicing my skills and craft in photography. The remnants of the old ways are gone, leaving only memories and an ability to create this marvelous dish. I can only offer advice based on my own experiences. When something isn’t working, get out of the way and take a new road. After all, change is the only true constant in the Universe. Photography is the same. There are so many variables within the craft, especially with the added tools of the digital medium. It would be foolish and arrogant to discount them in an attempt to hold onto some mythological idea.

Speaking of that, I had a change of heart recently regarding the noted photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. When he said, “In order to give meaning to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry” I have to applaud. I agree wholeheartedly but it was disappointing to watch the documentary, ‘The Impassioned Eye’ . This film revealed that he cared little for, and avoided at all costs, the developing of his film and printing of his images, a part of the journey that I feel is so important to the photographic life. I believe that he was little more than a guy with a camera in the right place at the right time. A small bubble has burst, but a bubble nonetheless. Now I am a little more free than I was. Change is good and necessary. Change is essential.

A view of Agios Phokas, Paros.

More New Year’s ramblings…

By John on January 3, 2013 in beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

Leica M8, Voigtlander 75mm lens, f/3.4, 1/125 sec, ISO 320

It is bitter cold outside. This morning the thermometer read -6F. The sun is out and the snow is all but blinding as I look out the kitchen window at the frozen pond and the string of suet cages hanging in the still morning air. The usual suspects are pecking away, probably using as much energy to fly back and forth from their nests as they are in the eating.

I depart America in about 3 weeks. It has been a good visit so far and I have been reminded by its truncated duration of the decision I made a few months ago: to leave this place. I am only a visitor now. Yes, I have an office where I am typing this post, a bedroom where I sleep, a makeshift darkroom where I can develop film and even make prints if need be. I even have a car. While sitting at the table this morning, watching the birds and drinking my coffee, the thought went through my head that I had better get packing. It is time to go. Time to go home. Time to go back to Paros and the home I am making for myself. Everything is as it should be here, whether I like it or not. I have a few tasks to take care of and my conscience will be clear. Yet I am still in limbo.

And what is next…? I really haven’t a clue. I have some ideas, some concepts of the possibilities, but there is nothing firm, nothing definite in any of them. Photography, painting, hiking…these aspects are in the mix. Teaching? I have no idea nor would I assume. The Camino del Santiago in the autumn? Moving to Athens, enrolling in language school…? Once again, nothing to hang my hat on. The only thing for sure is that that I have some airline tickets booked on certain dates and I have to be there to board the plane or I miss the flight. Whatever happens in between is a crapshoot.

The 17th century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote, “We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.” I’ll write some more about uncertainty and not knowing later. Hmmm…I just thought of something, something I have been bitter about for a while. Last summer I walked in a conversation and the subject was how sad it was that ‘he’ had not achieved self-actualization by the time ‘he’ was 35…I am just paranoid enough to think that those folks were talking about me. If this is true I can only respond that I find it terribly boring that one would be “actualized” by the time they were 35. What purpose then further growth? I think this ‘actualized’ idea is just another post-modern trap perpetrated to help with the easy pigeon-holing of the human spirit. Kind of like “finding your voice.”

JDCM

By John on December 27, 2012 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, nude studies, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

A dilapidated hand cart on the Greek island of Milos. Mamiya c330, Kodak Plus-X, June 2012

This is a short post. Some of you have noticed that I have updated my blog. It is more spiffy, easier to change and I am liking the header photo idea. I have been taking some pictures to use specifically for this image. It changes my eye, this is for sure.

I have also spent the last few hours updating my photography site right here . There is link on the right hand side of this page, but this makes it easier. New to the gallery is a portfolio called ‘Kyklades Wall Project’ which is an idea I have bounced back-and-forth with Liz Carson for the past year. It is a medium format study of the stone walls throughout the Kyklades. I still have many islands to photograph, so this is just a beginning. I am hoping to make the best of them into a book someday. There is a reason for these photos, but that is my business. If you search for ‘island hopping’ in my blog you will find more details on these images…

I also cleaned up the b/w image bank. I have separated out the Greek from the American and the European from the Greek. Nice and neat. I have changed the slide show so that the photo captions can now be read and the user gets to move back and forth at will. Overall, I think it represents a more current file of my work to date. ‘Goodbye’ to the Bosnian color pieces and ‘farewell’ to the Roma of the Former Yugoslavia. They were getting me down.

Christmas has passed and 2013 is just around the corner. Then I have three more weeks before I head back to Greece, Paros, The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, gavros, gigantes, horta and the next round of photographic adventures.

JDCM

With a little help from my friends….

By John on December 22, 2012 in beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

Ancramdale, New York December 22, 2012 07:45hrs

I have found through trial (many trials) and error (many errors) that I can accomplish very little in life without the assistance of those around me. Whether it is the gentle and loving care for my mother, my continuing work at the Aegean Center or any spiritual journey I may undertake, I cannot do it alone, nor do I really want to anymore. Yes, there are times when we all need a little solitude for reflection and meditation, but overall I long to embrace the company of my fellows, whomever they may be.

I return to Greece in just over a month. Christmas will come and go and the New Year will ring its bells and I will, I hope, have some work to show for the time I have spent here. I am opening up my darkroom and am about shooting film (both 35mm and MF) as well as recording some digital images. Besides my Leica M8 I have resuscitated my old Canon Digital Rebel, the first decent digital SLR I used. It needed a new battery so I picked one up from Adorama. I hope to use it as a point-and-shoot while I am here, reserving the Leica for more contemplative images. The MF film work is up in the air. Maybe I’ll work on some more short depth-of-field images and bring the negatives back to Paros. The 35mm film is being used in a really old Canon AE-1 with a 50mm lens. In both cases I am shooting Kodak Tri-X 400. If I am industrious I hope to begin developing by the end of this week and printing by 2013. 2013! Imagine that…A lot of water has flowed under the bridge, over the dam and out to sea since I started this blog. It seems like a lifetime ago that I switched gears and turned onto this road, a journey that fills me with endless gratitude and wonder.

It snowed early this morning before I awoke. The weather outside is grey and leaden, a wintry wind is reminding me that all things must pass and, as they do, new opportunities for knowledge and growth appear on the horizon. In some cases it is better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all and I have to believe that there is something better for me down the road. As a friend and I were remarking this morning…one door closes, another door opens. Life is a series of hallways and corridors. Take a risk and turn the knob.

My never-ending thanks to Kit Latham for all of his wonderful support in the much needed update of this blog space. You will notice that the old images of the Bosnian Roma are gone, replaced with more current and relevant images from my portfolios. To have them off the site is a great relief to me. They represent a time of my life that has passed. I have also cleaned out much of my gallery site, letting go of a tired and used vision for something a little more current. In a few days there will be an even larger shift. Siga-siga, as we say on Paros.

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

Quiet Andiparos…

By John on October 27, 2012 in autumn, beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, working

I am visiting Andiparos for part of our fall break from the Aegean Center. I have been sleeping in and staying up late reading and watching movies. Today I drove around for a while and photographed some of the stone wall formations that wind their way across the rugged landscape. I am disheartened by some of the building I see going on–large luxury estates high up on the sides of the mountains, along the steeply sloping terrain, ruining the views of the sea. Still, with my Mamiya c330 I can extract the beautiful lines of stone from the uglier new constructions, taking them out of context by cropping out the obvious greed and ego of modern man. Such is my fantasy.

Throughout the day I have had the song “Wichita Lineman”, written by Jimmy Webb and made famous by Glen Campbell, stuck in my head. I have always loved the melodic loneliness and deep heart of this song. A friend, mentor and colleague reminded me recently that country music is just as much ‘soul music’ as the famous hits of Aretha Franklin. This song is a good example for it is in that broad expansive landscape that one hears the lonely soul of America, forever distanced from its European and Asian roots, forever isolated from the rest of the world. Webb wrote,

I am a lineman for the county

and I drive the main road
Searchin’ in the sun for another overload

I hear you singin’ in the wire,

I can hear you through the whine
And the Wichita Lineman

is still on the line

I know I need a small vacation

but it don’t look like rain
And if it snows that stretch down south

won’t ever stand the strain

And I need you more than want you,

and I want you for all time
And the Wichita Lineman is still on the line

Campbell has many religious and political views that I do not share but one enduring legacy that I admire him for, however, has been his musical work, his labor. As a member of the “Wrecking Crew” he was one of the most sought out session players from the 50s through the 60s. He wasn’t a mainstream star until later. Last year he announced publicly that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. He is currently on tour with his family, a tour which will be his last. When I read Webb’s lyrics again, hearing Campbell’s voice, I cannot help but cry.

County Line Road, between Washington and Marshall Counties, Kansas.
Photo courtesy of Robert Crowe, photographer, St. Louis, Missouri.

For more of Robert Crowe’s photography and prose, please go here.

JDCM

Seasonal turns in the Cyclades…

By John on October 24, 2012 in Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, Uncategorized, working

In his collection “A Year With Emerson” Richard Grossman envisions the poet and essayist discussing the merits of the simplicity of life with his close friend Henry David Thoreau. Emerson wrote, “To find the unity in diversity is the role of the seeker of laws. When we find the unity behind the complex array of nature, we find the inherent simplicity of nature and are at home in it. We can never be at peace while we exist in a myriad of facts.”

I wrote this entry a few days ago and saved it in ‘drafts’. I am glad I did. I had little else to say on that day and surprisingly, not much else to say today. My energy is stable, not over-the-top. Tomorrow most of the students are heading out to a week off from the Aegean Center. Exotic locales, travel plans, etc…Turkey, Copenhagen, islands in Greece, islands of thought and distance. I think we all need a break. I am off to the quiet island of Andiparos, adjacent to my current locale and only a 10 minute ferry ride from Paros. I will have 5 or 6 days there. I hope to do some reading, take some pictures of stone walls, maybe a little swimming (weather permitting) and generally just hang about. I’ll be back well before the break ends.

It is very quiet here on Paros. Tourists are few, visitors to the school are fewer and this weekend we set our clocks back for daylight savings time. We are a week ahead of America, I think. Clouds have rolled in and the welcoming rains have been washing the streets clean, rinsing dust from the trees and filling the sky with richly contoured thunderheads. The rains have been mostly at night, with mixed sunshine during the day. The lightning and thunder has been dramatic, waking me at 3AM, reminding me to check the open windows in my small flat. So far no floods. Tonight I will develop some film and be available for the other students should they need any advice. It seems a simple, quiet life I have stumbled upon, a veneer for a complex interior. Too complex to actually comment upon. I wouldn’t know what to say. I will take David Byrne’s advice, “When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.”

JDCM

Some Emerson from an autumnal island…

By John on October 10, 2012 in autumn, beauty, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

The weather here on Paros has been a blessing. It has felt like summer in early October and although the students at the Aegean Center are working hard and discovering the rhythms of the school, they have also enjoyed the sun, swimming and island life. The heat, however, has forced those of us in the darkroom to take measures for chilling our chemistry. This is not a problem, but it does require an extra step or two if one wishes to develop film properly. We will begin printing next week and by that time the ambient temperature should have cooled and our lives will be less complex. The breeze moving down the streets and alleys this evening is more crisp and there was a heavy dew this morning. We are supposed to have some rain next week which will slowly turn the amber and silver-grey hills around the bay light green. I enjoy the change of seasons and this time of year I am reminded that Paros, and all of Greece, has distinct times of year beyond the sun-drenched blue and white stereotype of tourist advertising.

red tomatoes in a blue bowl

I realized the other day that I left my collected Emerson paperback in Italy, perhaps in some hotel. I imagine it slipped from my backpack and under the bed, forgotten in my eagerness to return to Greece. I hope it ends up on some shelf to be read by a passing traveler. I do have my ‘A Year with Emerson”, which will quote for today, October 10. He wrote about his ideal scenario regarding readers and how he would like to be perceived: “I would have my book read as I have read my favorite books, not with explosion & amazement, a marvel and a rocket, but a friendly & agreeable influence stealing like the scent of a flower or the sight of a new landscape on a traveler. I neither wish to be hated & defied by such as I startled, nor to be kissed and hugged by the young whose thoughts I stimulate.”

He also wrote,

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide
upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There
are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are
right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some
of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it
takes brave men and women to win them.”

Both of these concepts–the idea of the more quiet path, modesty being the philosophy and the understanding that one must always be true to oneself and not falter regardless of outside influences–inspire me to be a better person. The given fact is, of course, that I am human and will sometimes stumble, sometimes reach for glory or even react in a self-deprecating manner. Imperfection makes the best and most lofty ideals attainable.

(Tomatoes have nothing to do with this post. I just liked the picture. Think of it as an interlude. It is also 4 years old and from New York. Nothing to do with Greece, Emerson or anything at all, really.)

JDCM

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