Tularosa, New Mexico

This photograph, from a Tularosa Cemetery, was my last on a March trip to Arizona and New Mexico. It was the 18th exposure I'd made with my 8x10 view camera that day and the second sheet of film in my final holder. While my traveling companions generously offered me use of their extras I was simply out of gas and ready to relax and enjoy my surroundings.

Later on we found our way to a hill top in the middle of the Tularosa Basin where the moment moved me to capture what I could, but this time with a pen and my trusty Moleskin.

3/10/09 Sometime in the late afternoon. Valley of Fires.
A young man plays his guitar and sings with quiet, brooding emotion as I look east from a perch atop the Tularosa Valley. Mount Carrizo looms large in the distance while the sun glistens off the snow shrouded peak of his big brother, Sierra Blanca. A soft breeze adds a slight chill to an otherwise warm and sunny day. The valley's yellow grasses come alive, blazing against the black lava strewn about me by some ancient event, still evident so many years later. Time has slowed to a crawl and troubles seem far away, nearly forgotten in the simple splendor of this moment. Sunshine and song reign supreme here. Even the yuccas pay homage, raising their many hands in worship and warmth. It's hard to imagine leaving this place... so many promises to keep.

Wanderings

“The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep”. Paul Strand

This idea is central to my work and a constant source of inspiration as I explore the visual relationships of my immediate environment and their subsequent physical and emotional manifestations. After all, art is more than just something to be sought, found and presented. Art is something we create from inside ourselves... and if we're diligent about the work it begins to flow out of us naturally, revealing layers of our subconscious we're simply unable to express any other way.

Yet sometimes it's just nice to blow the dust off and head out with nothing on our minds at all. To respond to new and exciting surroundings in a completely intuitive way. It's been a while since I've done that...

Time in a 3-Ring Binder

These exposures were made in McConnells Mills over the holidays and are among my last prints from 2008.

I've been keeping my negatives in plastic sleeves and 3 ring binders marked by year since 2004 and I can't help but think that as each year passes, so passes my opportunity to add to another set of binders.Each year's work becomes fixed in potential. With these thoughts comes the urge to try and make up time, to take one last shot at creating something from the passing cycle... Of course that cycle ends whether we're ready or not.

Thankfully, the new year brings with it another beginning. Unknown sights, discoveries and experiences await as well as a new binder, empty, yet full of possibility. Tonight I added my first group of negatives to it and printed 2009 on the spine in black marker. A wonderful feeling.

The "Little Things" Portfolio

While I'm just starting to make my final set of prints from Project Pond Scum on Michael Smith & Paula Chamlee's new silver chloride paper I'm also beginning a new series. I was fortunate enough to buy 1500 little sheets (2.5inches square) of vintage Kodak Azo silver chloride paper at a great price. I've fallen in love with having my new to me 6x6cm camera (tiny compared to my 8x10) on me most of the time and being ready to capture those little visual miracles we encounter so often if we're open to them. I've also fallen in the love with the way small contact prints draw the viewer in and the intimate nature of that experience. This particular photograph was exposed in the parking lot where I work... Unfortunately the tree shedding all the leaves was cut down a few days ago so this was the last such display I'll find when I park my car for the day.

This image is really a prime example of what I have in mind moving forward. I've decided to use the paper to create a portfolio called "Little Things", a reference to both the size of the prints as well as the subject matter. I'm more excited about my photography than ever and can't wait to see what else I discover on this journey. I'll be sure to post my ongoing results here as I did with my last series. I hope you enjoy viewing them, I sure love making them.

Little Squares

WARNING: there is a little equipment speak in this post... I promise it won't happen again!

If you're reading this you probably know I've been neglecting my blog for several months. My job has changed since February and I've gone from full time to consistent overtime. It's enjoyable but cuts into my free hours none the less. I make sure time for photography is at the top of my priority list so my writing fell victim... Tonight I'm setting a new precedent and giving up a little sleep instead as I feel this outlet is important enough to merit it.

I've also made another move to free up a little more time. I have been trading my 35mm equipment from the 70s (which has been made more valuable by it's compatibilty with current digital cameras) in on medium format equipment (which has been made less valuable by those same digital cameras). While I used the 35mm primarily at night, the larger size of the medium format negatives offers me the ability to make prints during the daylight that meet the high standards I've developed over the last 4 and half years of making 8x10 inch negs and contact prints. While I still prefer and use the big cameras I can now work in situations and time frames that I may otherwise have not...

I decided to go with a square format camera as both a means of expanding my compositional horizons and , quite simply, as a change of pace. Shape and size are not the only differences, I've also been exploring a look using subtle selective focus and softer, warmer tones. I've never been more excited about my work and look forward to using this new tool to caputure those fleeting moments that so often times escape me when armed only with my "Green Monster".

These accompanying images were exposed with the new camera last weekend at a gathering of artists near Cuyahoga Valley National Park (hosted by the ever so generous John Powers and his wife Dolly. THANK YOU!) It's a beautiful place I've managed to overlook for some time and can't recommend it enough if you live nearby.