Postcards from the Creative Journey

807 – The Nose Knows, First Published 5/8/2016

From the project Pattern and Rhythm

Was there ever a better photographic smell than opening one of those aluminum 35-millimeter film cans with a 36 exposure roll of Kodachrome inside? That’s just a random thought that struck me today. Analog photography was certainly an aromatic process. Besides fresh film, printing paper had its own aroma. On the other hand, sometimes the smells weren’t all that great. Stop Bath was just really concentrated vinegar. Even the “no smell” fixer stunk up the entire house, no matter where your darkroom was located or how well it was vented. A bunch of scrubbing was required to get that horrible odor off your hands, too. The rotten egg smell of sepia toning was so bad it was always a job done outdoors. Come to think of it, the bad smells outnumbered the good ones by a wide margin. As Brooks Jensen once opined, “Photographic desirability is directly proportional to the offensiveness of the smell and cost of the chemical.”

In comparison, digital photography is absolutely sterile. I feel kind of cheated because while I am spending a bunch of money on supplies, how can I tell if they are any good if they don’t smell up the house?

At least my wife is happy because the aroma of Sunday dinner doesn’t have to compete with darkroom chemicals.

806 I Lost Some More Photographs

Not my image, but soon, parts of it will be one of mine.

Well, dog gone it, I’ve done gone and lost some photographs. I say lost because I can’t find them. Or more precisely, I can’t seem to remember their location on my computer. About a month ago I wanted to continue my “After the Memories, Part II” project with a few more images. I found the images I wanted on the computer, wrote down the file location of about eight images and went on to other tasks.

I lost the paper with the numbers.

I share this with you because I know I am absolutely the first person in the history of photography that has lost not only their images, but the clues to where they just might be. I will eventually figure this thing out and get that project in gear.

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I wrote this post a few weeks ago and I am happy to report to you that I have located all the files so I may continue with the project. I was able to do this because I found the piece of paper with the critical information. As you can see from the image below that “lost” post-it note was stuck on the front of my computer monitor. Little wonder I could not find it.

I have a very good memory. It's just a short memory. 

805 - Practice and Performance First Published 1/20/2019

There is value in practicing the arcane transmutations of digital editing so those skills can be used on worthy images. Learned skills are used to make good images great or to make your visual statement abundantly clear to your audience. Making an unusable image mediocre is really a waste of time. Well, unless it’s a family snapshot of Aunt Emily at the family reunion. That can be forgiven because the audience is your family.

From almost the beginning we were taught that the less manipulation you do, the better your photograph will be. I think that was because the ability to manipulate film negatives and prints was limited, primitive and fraught with peril. Manipulating a negative was difficult and physical alterations of prints often resulted in a ruined print. I almost always made three copies of the final print "just in case" I ruined one (or two) in spotting or dry mounting the print.

With the advent of the digital darkroom, we now have almost an infinite number of ways to manipulate the digital files we capture; and we don't have to worry about ruining an image - ever. We also have an almost equal number of YouTube tutorials with tips and tricks on improving our images. “Working an image” just to use those recently learned skills is like a musician playing scales just to show off his dexterity. There is practice and there is performance. Please don’t confuse the two.

This stairway is a happy snap from the summer of 2018. It’s from Passau, Germany and I’m pretty sure this is the entry to the Museum of the Treasure of the Cathedral.

804 All Those That Wander

Wandering around is not possible in the 21^st century. Wandering is possible but with the advent of GPS, you always know where you are. That kind of takes the adventure out of wandering around the back roads looking for something wonderful to photograph.

You can get routed to your destination via back roads or whatever route you choose. Google will get you where you need to go. It’s still up to you to stop when you see a photograph.

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Ah, the memories. I made this image on a photo safari in Southern Utah, near Factory Butte. At this point in the day, we had accomplished some photography and were getting ready to head back to base camp. The SUV would not start. The electric cooler we had in the back seat drained the battery to the point where it could not turn the starter motor. We waited about a half hour and the wait gave the battery enough time to recover and the SUV started with a minimal use of the starter. We were relieved.

803 A Photographic Memory, First Published 6/10/2012

From the Project, "By the River."

Something odd happened today. I saw a photograph for the second time and remembered the photograph in detail. It was one of those ”I know I have seen that photograph before because I remember it” type of experiences. It took me a few minutes to remember the circumstances about seeing the photograph, and then a few minutes more to remember the name of the photographer. I’m not sure how to interpret the fact that the entire experience surrounding my initial viewing of the photograph was less memorable than the photograph itself. It says a lot about the photograph, or maybe it says I need to pay as much attention to the people I meet as the photographs I see.

I think we all wish to create photographs that will live on in the memories of our viewers. I know that making memorable photographs is the real goal of my photography. I would like my thoughts, emotions and feelings about the subject to create such an impact upon the viewer that the image of these feelings will stay with them long after they have stopped looking at the image. If my images are the first visual memory they have when they are in a similar situation, then I know my photograph was a success.

802 I Keep Finding Panoramic Photographs

When looking at my Lightroom catalog I keep finding panoramic photographs. I try to go through the images slowly, but sometimes the panoramic photographs escape detection on the first, second, okay, and even third times I go through the images. I’m not quite sure why this happens, but it does. Sometimes the complete compositions jump right out at me when all the images are nicely arranged on a single row and sometimes they hide from me by being spread out across two rows.

Finding one is always a happy event. I found today’s panorama while looking for the image used in the May 16^th blog post. I had no idea I had made it.

801 - On Editing and Sequencing, First Published 6/24/12

Selecting the photographs in a project has now progressed to where this is one of the most important photographic tasks I do once I finish photographing. It used to be that getting that “one great photograph” to hang on the wall was my goal for photography. My photographic goal is to now tell a complete story with a group of photographs. Figuring out how many and which photographs I need to tell my story is now very important. While some photographers look for “the” photograph, I have come to the conclusion “the” photograph doesn’t arrive alone; it shows up with friends. If I had to make an analogy, selecting the photographs to be in a folio is creating the vocabulary of the folio.

Once the photographs have been selected, it’s necessary to put them in the right order to tell the story. If we continue with the literal analogy, sequencing the photographs is writing the story. It’s necessary to lead the audience through the photographs in order to tell the story. Images need to be displayed in a definite sequence to make sure the mood, intention and feelings required to tell the story are properly conveyed. There are beginning images, ending images and key images throughout the folio. In between these images are bridges or transitional images that fill in the details of the story and make the connections between the key images.

Like most everything worthwhile, it’s a very easy concept to explain. The problems, difficulties and frustrations arise when faced with a pile of prints that must be sequenced to tell a story.

800 Reverend Joe Dan Donny's* Home for Orphan Prints

While I am trying to get rid of old prints, I’ve gone through the cyanotypes, platinotypes and the silver gelatin prints (both on fiber base and RC paper). I’ve disposed of the silver gelatin prints, but the alt process prints I’ve removed from the mat board and keeping them in some of the remaining archival storage boxes. So far, I’ve emptied five 11x14 and six 16x20 storage boxes.

I keep finding orphan prints. I don’t know why I have so many prints that do not belong to any project. They are the orphan prints that have lived here for decades. I think I have a stack of orphan digital prints several inches thick that belong to neither project nor exhibition. They are all fine photographs. I can’t imagine why I made so many photographs that have no “home” (that would be a project or exhibit). Out they went with their analog brethren. If I do need to make a reprint (in the near future, at least) I have the printer and paper to make another.

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*The Reverend Joe Dan Donny is one of my alter egos, the itinerant, tent show preacher and founder of the Church of the Holy Polaroids. The founding emanates from the days of developing Polaroid film on cold mornings by sandwiching the film pack between your warm hands to hasten the development of the image. It looked like prayer, and prayer was often needed to assist with the success of the photograph.

 

799 - We’re Photographers Too! First published 4/24/2016

Many years ago, (it’s starting to get a little disconcerting that so many of my stories begin this way) I was out early one summer morning photographing the Carpenter Feed Store. I was on one of the loading docks with my view camera taking a picture of something that wasn’t going to move (that happens a lot when you use a view camera to photograph). Suddenly, a station wagon comes to a stop by the loading dock. A lady rolls down the window and says, “We’re photographers, too!” The station wagon drove off while she was rolling up the window.

I always wondered what they were going off to photograph.