Postcards from the Creative Journey

The First One

Porch, Seneca Hotel, Seneca, Oregon

On a photo safari in Eastern Oregon the sky turned a dull grey overcast and there was not much to photograph. It got even worse when it turned cold and rainy. Rolling into Seneca, Oregon didn’t seem to raise our spirits that much. There wasn’t much there to interest us photographically. We nosed around for bit and came upon an abandoned hotel. The locked door on the front porch was as far as we got. I decided to make a photograph because to come that far and not make a photograph just wouldn’t be right. This was the best photograph I could make under the circumstances. I didn’t think too much of the negative because of the contrasty lighting.

It turned out this contrasty negative was absolutely perfect for platinum printing. This negative was the first platinum print I ever made. This was the “fun” with large format photography (or any film photography for that matter). You never knew what the outcome was until you developed the film. And in this case, it wasn’t until I began platinum printing years after the negative was made. 

Behind the Scenes Effort

In Susie's Barn

Are you interested in the subject of the photograph or does the making of the photograph excite you? Does it make a difference to you how much work went on behind the scenes of the photograph when it was made? The photograph you see is the result of the photographer’s efforts. It’s quite obvious what went on in front of the camera, but what about what went on behind the camera? Does the work the photographer put into making the physical artifact important to you? Would you go to an exhibition of photographs based on the choice of media or size of the image? Is the artifact the thing you go to see or is the artifact the beginning of a conversation?

If you are there just for the artifact, the discussion seems to be fairly short. Did the artist do a good job? If you are there for the ideas behind the artifact, then the discussion can be never ending. The discussion can branch out to many more.

Only photographers are interested in the journey. Everyone else sees the destination.

No People and Five Dots

High atop the Patriarch Grove

Near the end of the day I followed one trail from Patriarch Grove to a point where it ended at an overlook. I took out my smart phone and made a panoramic photograph. As I closed the app and looked at the phone I noticed I had 5 dots of 4G service available. This is one of the oddest photo moments ever. I was standing on a rock at over 11,000 feet above sea level, not a person in sight for miles and I had the best cellular phone service of photo safari 2015. Of course, I posted the panoramic shot to the family cloud sharing photo site.

It’s pretty amazing that fifty year ago, heck maybe even twenty years ago (a) making this panoramic photograph would have been difficult if not impossible unless you had a widelux camera, (b) it could not have been processed on the spot and (c) the photograph could not have been published immediately to a wide audience immediately after being made. I am amazed at how far technology has advanced during my photographic career. I imagine the advances will not stop, either. 

The Sound of a Photograph

Coastal Artillery, Puget Sound

Photographs have sounds. There are noisy photographs and quiet ones. I wrote about trying to photograph the quiet in “An Open Door”. My photographs of the Labyrinth are deserted and silent as a tomb. The photographs might look quiet, but they were anything but. Fort Worden is part of a State Park and a popular spot for elementary school field trips. Several of my photographic locations were overrun by busloads of exuberant students, running, yelling and generally blowing off the accumulated energy of a slow school bus ride on a field trip. While the photographs may be quietly mysterious, the place where they were photographed was filled with the noise and energy of children.