Can’t even believe it. This is my photograph, Annular Eclipse, 22 September 2017, on the cover of the most recent Shots, issue number 140, entitled Forces of Nature. Shots is a special magazine. It’s like nothing else on the newsstand. The publishers don’t give a damn about how well known your name is or...
"Shots 140: Forces of Nature"Continue readingBlog
Douglas Stockdale: Middle Ground
This morning brought an interesting project by Douglas Stockdale. He’s made a book of photographs shot out the window of his car. Yes, normally, that’d be yawn-inducing. But in this case, the photographs are fascinating and I feel a sort of kinship in his consideration of mundane manufactured landscape. Also, his titles are really...
"Douglas Stockdale: Middle Ground"Continue readingMQ Base, a flexible black and white photographic print developer
MQ Base is a three-part photographic paper developer based on metol and hydroquinone (MQ). The developer is in three parts to maximize its flexibility. Follow the instructions below to mix the stock solutions. Then combine varying amounts of MQ Base, carbonate, bromide and water to make these tray-strength developers: Kodak D-72 (a.k.a. Dektol) Kodak...
"MQ Base, a flexible black and white photographic print developer"Continue readingJulia Margaret Cameron, fellow lover of terrible equipment
Here’s an interesting post from Artsy about how three Victorian women photographers influenced photography and painting. It’s a fascinating article and not too long. I am glad that these photographers are still relevant. I’m also glad to read modernist lion Beaumont Newhall criticizing Julia Margaret Cameron’s work: “She ‘used badly made lenses to destroy...
"Julia Margaret Cameron, fellow lover of terrible equipment"Continue readingDon’t Take Pictures: Structure
I’m so pleased to announce that Don’t Take Pictures has selected my photograph, Ducts, for their Structure exhibition on their web site. Most of us spend the majority of our days inside of buildings. More than strictly shelters, the architectural styles and details of buildings show different geographic, cultural, and historic aspects of our...
"Don’t Take Pictures: Structure"Continue readingIs perfect scene reproduction necessary?
Today I’m looking at images from The Mobile Darkroom, a project by Shane Arsenault and Natalia Barberis. They’re shooting Harman Direct Positive, a photograpic paper that produces a positive image directly without needing a negative, in a 16×20 view camera. (Their site is down currently, it was at https://www.themobiledarkroom.ca). Arsenault and Barberis have me...
"Is perfect scene reproduction necessary?"Continue readingLaurent Girard, master printer, dropping science like beat poetry
Laurent Girard is a master black and white printer based in NYC. I just discovered his astonishing blog, A Printer’s Life. I’m not going to try to tell you who he’s printed for. The list is too big to comprehend. He writes like beat poetry. It’s frantic. Here’s a taste. “then the developer, i...
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Characterizing Instax Mini, part 1: the setup
Inspired by Steve Yedlin‘s work with cinema film, I’m going to try to characterize the look of Instax film. I’ll then apply the look of that photochemical process to digital photographs. This project will be ongiong as I dig through the data and build a model to simulate the film. In order to understand...
"Characterizing Instax Mini, part 1: the setup"Continue readingSteve Yedlin and display preparation
Cinematographer Steve Yedlin has been doing some super cool work on how to prepare digital images so they look like they were captured with film. Maybe you’ve heard of him, maybe you haven’t. I knew his work from Brick and Looper even though I didn’t know his name until recently. I’m very much looking...
"Steve Yedlin and display preparation"Continue readingDigital Media Symposium at Drexel University
I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Digital Media Symposium (link courtesy of Internet Archive Wayback Machine) at Drexel University. I’m presenting some recent work and VFX industry advice at 2pm....