New Gallery added tonight, well, new photos in the Butterflies gallery. Check it out.

You or U, it doesn't matter anymore

This weekend, I acquired www.canupicturethat.com and it directs you to this site. I had been asked many times in the past if you spell out the you in Canyoupicturethat, and now, it doesn't matter. if only I could get canyoupicturethis since some people can't seem to remember the site name.

Non-digital photography in a digital age..Tuesday night lecture

I encourage everyone to go to the following event at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop tomorrow night. 545 7th St. SE. www.chaw.org

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 : Andy Grundberg, art critic, speaks on the dynamics of non-digital photography in the digital age. 7:00-9:00 p.m.

I'll be there. anyone game to go, email me.

Many Celebrations!

I took a break from the blog for the weekend, since it was my birthday on Friday and that meant much celebrating, including an awesome surprise visit from my brother an ensuing night at the Brickskellar (try Dragon Stout and pine Elder Pale if you can get them), and then a sickish house party.
Today I found the slides I was looking for!!! I am incredibly relieved, and also inspired to reorganize my space to prevent such scares in the future. Pathetically, the slides were in an envelope that had been searched 3 times. ugh
I'm including them below. These are two of the shots I have been most happy with in the last 6 months or so, and also two of the most requested for orders. The one is of sickle-like weeds at the foothills of the Sandia Tramway Mountain in Albuquerque, NM, and the other is a reflection of something you'll have to guess...




And, check out Erin's blog at http://halophoto.blogspot.com/
Another DC area photographer with a blog! I'll start linking to them all in the sides soon when I figure it out.

Deep Linking...not a fan

Deep linking, as I've found out, is the practice of linking to an image on a website through a blog or elsewhere. I was looking through my site hits and referring pages yesterday and there was a large amount of hits from various livejournal users...trying to browse through them all, I couldn't find a link, so I went through my recent users, and there I found the one blog that had one of my images on it! The guy posting it had written a blog entry, and then had about 4 images following, in this case, mine was the one from my amusement park series of the old ride through a fence.

This brings up some concerns about security of images on the web. Its bad enough that every friggin image on my site is indexed by google. At the top of most of my gallery pages, I have the following: All images © protected under Copyright laws- Please do not reproduce in any form, digital or print, without permission. Now, I don't have any images that are much bigger than 500 pixels, so the printing or stealing in a hard form isn't that likely, but I would like to have my images floating around only with permission and with a by line or link to the site.

I emailed the livejournal user by contacting him through myspace, and it appears he removed it from the blog. I don't know what bothers me more here, the picture being used and seen without permission, which could happen a lot, or the fact that I found it because he was essentially using my hosting space and bandwidth as part of his blog...

anyone else experience this type of thing? What if I started to put watermarks on photos?Wouldd it ruin the feel?

Reasons to be more organized...

I have agonized over not being able to find 2 of my slides for the last 2 days. It's driving me nuts, and this isn't the first time. Time to invest in some more binders and mark everything clearly, and then, after having things printed, actually put them back where they belong! And these are two of my best slides. :(
In other news, check out http://www.artdc.org for a local arts discussion forum and community online.
And Then check out http://solarizethis.blogspot.com for Alexandra Silverthorne's Blog..excellent content and reviews and interviews too.
And then, Robert Walton's daily blog and homepage, http://www.teamwetdog.com , an excellent name and photos to match.
And then...NO AND THEN!

More new photos, and an everlasting car alarm

Check out the newest additions for photos in the galleries, some from New Mexico including Albuquerque, Taos, and Santa Fe. And a new gallery all to its own for photos from the Peace protests in 05.

So the car alarm was still going when I got home from work today, the cops were there, and all they could do was ticket it. It eventually stopped, thankfully.

Les Miserables, Car Alarms, and new photos

This weekend, I got to see Les Miserables for the 6th time in my life, the first time I haven't seen it on Broadway in NYC. You may say I'm a bit obsessed, and yes, that may be true...I've read the 1400 plus page book and am in love with the French Revolution era in general. Anyway, to the show... First, let me tell you about something that bothered me greatly. Each row of seats in the National Theatre has a small plaque on the end seat which reads who the row is dedicated to... In this case, George W. Bush! AGGHH!!! But I couldn't argue, it was row H, 7 rows back and able to hear every voice without amplification. The cast was overall incredible. Valjean and Javert were as a solid as any I've ever seen, and the supporting cast from Enjolras to Gavroche were also right on. The female leads left a bit to be desired, and Eponine, though well acted and a great voice, for the first time did not leave me falling in love with her. A round of applause after "Bring Him Home" rang for a minute or more, this surreal moment of holding everything while the audience appreciated an incredible performance capped by an ending high note which was perfect. I kept waiting to see Valjean crack and smile, but character was kept, of course. Overall, the magic is still there, even with a traveling cast and years since the last time I saw it.

On to car alarms...Some dipshit and their car...Last night from about 11PM until this morning, and it could be going now, this car alarm was going off. It would scream for a minute, take a 2 second reprieve, and then go again..ALL NIGHT LONG! Needless to say, not much sleep was had, and it filtered into my dreams somehow. I thought about calling the cops, but what would they have done, and I thought about going out to the car and trying to pry open the hood to remove the battery, but it was raining.

Anyway...
If you haven't noticed, I finally got some more work up on the page. I've added photos in two sections, the Huber Coal Breaker and the New Orleans, LA sections in Black and White. The Breaker pieces are part of a continuing project as you'll see described on the main page. The New Orleans photos may also be considered part of a continuing project, these most recent are from Mardi Gras of last year, some during the heights of it on Bourbon St. Check them out and wait for more to come this week from other recent work.

WOOHOO!!! It arrived!

It being my 4x5 camera. It is a Tower (Busch) Pressman. It is in great shape and I will be trying it out tomorrow. Loading film into the holders is a new experience, but I caught on to it. It looks like this photo:
Happy for now! Just gotta test it out. For more on Large Format photography, go to www.lfphoto.info if you are interested.

2 Weeks of Bad News for Film

In case you haven't heard, and unless you're a photographer, you may not have, Nikon announced last week that it would be stopping its production of Film Cameras, except for two, the F6 and the FM10, Pro and entry level. This, of course, lead to me scooping up a F100 body before it was too late and to get the $200 rebate. This is sad, very sad news...and it is strange that they discontinue the F100 really, one of the best and most revered film cameras for its feel, durability, etc. etc. Blah! Read all about it here.
And another giant fell this week, Konica Minolta, the part I care about being Minolta. I started photography using my Dad's Minolta Maxxum 7000, the first ever fully automatic / fully manual camera. I learned the ropes with this monster of a machine that survived many falls and dings and bangs off of rocks and tumbles down hills. Ever since Minolta merged with Konica, I haven't been happy with their cameras and lenses, but it is sad. They transferred DSLR to Sony and are pretty much leaving the photography business completely to focus more on their optical and business path. For their press release (in what seems like pidgeon English at times), go here.
And on to 4x5...

What month is it?

Just came inside from a lunch in Lafayette Park. I was sitting outside in January in a thin dress shirt and it was fine, felt like Spring! Something's weird about that. A Washington Post column on this topic this week is here.

One, but not the other!

I came home tonight expecting my new Tower (Bushman) Pressman 4x5 Camera to be awaiting me. Unfortunately, it is not here yet, but my new F100 body was! So not at all as bad a night as the day was. Can't wait to get the 4x5 though!

Painting..acrylic, watercolor, Chinese Brush painting

Many of you, if anyone is reading this yet, know that I recently began acrylic painting. I also am venturing into Chinese brush painting with an excellent kit bought for me for Christmas. I'll let you know how it goes. Its just one more new world.
For your amusement, if you haven't yet seen the most awesome cartoon on the internet, go here: End of the World

3 Photographers at CHAW

I attended a presentation as part of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop's Photography Month tonight. It was a presentation of work by locally based photographers Chan Chao, Roberto Bocci, and Franz Janzen, presented inthe reverse order. I am sure I won't do them justice, but just a brief glimpse.
Franz showed work of his that was originally black and white in 4x5 Large format, and then some new work, very compelling, which was from a "looking down" series, and combined at some points some 1100 images shot looking at a floor to create the floor plan of a pub or building. Very intriguing work as a whole, done with a small digital camera.
Robert Bocci had some work which really inspired me, since I am about to get into 4x5. Some of the most intriguing work was large images captured on long, long exposures, wherein he "painted" the canvas of the negative by illuminating certain parts or subjects in the image, many times the body in different poses and forms. Some really dramatic spectral images emerged, in b/w and color.
Chan Chao showed work from Burma, Cypress, as well as nudes. His style was somewhat of an in your face realistic portraiture, which he explained he likes to "leave alone," in order to let the viewer get it. He would have a series of 4 or so images with subtle differences to draw attention to the message in a subconscious way, and it was effective. I initially though I wouldn't like the portraits due to their 3/4 and face front pose, but it works, quite well. He also proved that you can use a 4x5 field camera and carry it, a tripod, film holders, film, etc. with no assistant, though I'm sure that's not preferred.
That's all for tonight. Check out CHAW's other events this month.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I hope this day is an inspiration for all. I felt that it is a good time to share photos relating to MLK and the Civil Rights Movement. Most of these are from my various trips to Alabama, Georgia, and elsewhere studying the movement and seeing the places and people involved. Enjoy:

(Left: Gravesite of Martin Luther King, Jr. At the King Center in Atlanta, GA.) (Below: Memorial plaque at Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL) (Justice Rolls Down: Fountain and Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL)

Note: Another image can be seen on the page to my color galleries using the left link on www.canyoupicturethat.com. I guess I'm not that good at getting that image, and 3 others, on to this blog thing yet!

The first post...starting something new.

Greetings! I've finally caved in to the "blog" world. I wanted a space to discuss art and photography, and hopefully I will be able to integrate this into my site well and keep everyone updated (not to mention make me update the site more often).

Tune in soon for more, including reviews on this weekend's art shows and new site updates.