November 30, 2012

Music...

Music | Consequence of Sound by Regina Spektor

Several months ago, I decided to update my operating system on my somewhat older computer. In doing so, I wanted a back up drive, so I have to move things around to open up one of my external drives. I ended up with music all over the place. Some on one drive, some on another... My main listening app is iTunes, and as far as I know, it likes having everything in one place.

So months have gone by where I had none of my own music available to me. All of the usb, firewire and power cords was more than I wanted to deal with, so Pandora became my best friend... Well, I've been house sitting the last several days and I thought, what a perfect time to pull all 4 of my external drives and cords and get my music organized.

In getting my music back, I was able to get Dara her ipod filled with some of her favorites. I now have music on my ipod, so I can listen to what I want in the car. I didn't realize how much I've missed some of my favorites!

You'd think this would be a good example for me to get other things organized in my life...

November 25, 2012

Ill'in

Music | Multicolored Blue by Billy Strayhorn

Been feeling not well the last few days. It was worse the morning after Thanksgiving when I could feel dread come over me. Joints faintly starting to ache, body feeling clammy... I went outside in the rain to throw some garbage out and as I came in, I was hit. My body took on a 180º turn downward. I suddenly got the chills so bad, I could hardly move. I managed to get the hot water running for a bath, dropped in some salts and hoped to ease the chills. As it turned out, seems my body worked like ice because the warmth of the water was soon gone. Every movement I took was a struggle. I put on every blanket I had on the bed, crawled in and fortunately fell to sleep. Unlike any other time in my life, I woke up without any idea what time of the day it was. I didn't know if I had slept 3, 10 or 24 hours... I felt a bit disconcerted, but after centering myself, I realized I had slept for maybe 6 hours as it was 4 p.m. After calming down, I again fell to sleep, getting over the chills, but still feeling uneasy. Nothing I wanted to do, so I just slept til around midnight. 2 hours of tv, then back to sleep til the morning. I had felt well enough to go to a meeting for 9:30. I was just weak from nothing to eat, but felt well enough to make it thru.

I was planning to spend the rest of the day with Dara, but could only muster up lunch and a movie. I was happy to be able to keep the food down, as I was a little concerned about that. Unfortunately, I brought back Dara to her Mom's and I knew I was not going to be good company by being a log on the bed...

The other strange thing, when I woke up Saturday morning, my left leg, below my knee was surging like I had got stung, or bit by a spider. I didn't notice any marks of any kind and the pain became stronger through out the day. It is still bothering me, but it is tolerable...

This afternoon, I had the urge to get out. It looked nice out and a bike ride sounded good. I rode to Cathedral Park just to get out and get some fresh air in me. I really enjoyed the ride and being out there in the cool brisk air. Hopefully I'll be getting better, real soon!

November 20, 2012

Iron

Music | I Don't Know by Bill Withers

More 2.5 inch plates this afternoon. It has been several weeks since I shot a plate, so I seem to be back at square one figuring things out. I'll say working smaller is not necessarily easier, but I do find I really enjoy making them and seeing the final product. I'm not sure why this is, but my plates have a vast difference from when I process and fix my plates to when they are actually dry. Though that is a common occurance, my plates tend to sometimes gain contrast or lose contrast when they are dry. I have it somewhat easy as I am shooting with strobe, so my work flow is much tighter regarding exposure than if I were shooting under the sky. I'm wondering if my fixer, which is sodium thiosulfate is the culprit. I may try switching to a rapid fixer or even potassium cyanide.


Antique Iron

November 18, 2012

The Modern Freedom Fighter

Music | My Heart Stood Still (Complete Take) by Bill Evans

With the introduction by Emma Colburn to the Roosevelt High School Writing Center, that brings students face to face with local community Freedom Fighters to engage in dialog and interviews, I got the chance to photograph those leaders involved. Though last minute, I was able to photograph 19 portraits of some really great faces.

Propositions like this one are always a surprise. You never know what you are going to walk into. I ended up having an office to shoot in for the make shift studio to create the photos. Though ambiance was lacking, the 5 to 10 exposures of each participant was taken seriously by both of us.

I didn't have any idea when I shot these portraits that they may be apart of an exhibition to be shown on a national scale and a book to be produced. I decided to do some outreach programs to become more involved in the community. This is a great start...


Just a few of the Freedom Fighters series..."

November 14, 2012

When Old is New...

Music | Grandfather's Waltz by Bill Evans

I've gotten to the point where I have enough in my archive of Wet Plates that I don't remember images I have shot in the past. This is a good thing because I can see things with fresh eyes. Apparently, this image was a reject, for which I can see why, but as I see it again, the image speaks to me in a way it did not when I first shot and viewed it.

I love the idea of apparitions. I also love the rawness of the plate, with such of soft and lovely face.

Jen from 2009

November 09, 2012

more Facebook, less...

Music | Freedom Suite Part 4 (Live) by David S Ware

9 days and not even counting since a self imposed hiatus from Facebook. An experiment mostly, I wanted to see if I noticed any nuance of change of my daily routine. One big thing is that I am hardly on the computer as much. Though this week I have mostly been assisting on another photo shoot, even while at home, I'm not in front of the screen going over the mundane aspects of many peoples lives... Nice to know I don't really care or feel like I have to have the facebook time leaching I honestly thought I would have.

I do miss some of the communities I am a part of. My Wet Plate Brethren has probably been the most missed, though I am not too affected as I can keep up with latest projects they are working on from other venues, like their blogss or accounts on Tumbler and such.

Statigram, Twitter and Tumbler have made up for my FacelessBook, but doesn't take up as much time. I'm in and out much faster and getting the feed I feel I need.

... more to come...
 
-- --