Wasp Nest

The guy across the street had this basketball size wasp nest in his tree.  I was sorry I wasn't home to watch the spectacle when he took a baseball bat to it.  

Some people are the definition of felony stupid. 

Big empty spot

Monsieur Weinbach is gone.  The strong men with pads and blankets came and took him away yesterday.  He went willingly and I let him go. He is moving on to a new owner who will play him with the ruthless energy a piano like that deserves.  The last few days I recorded (with my trusty Edirol) my favorite music: Shostokovich's Lullaby, Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique,  the Sketchbooks, Sonata in C sharp minor (Moonlight), Granados', Allegro De Concierto, Clemente's Six Progressive Variations, Schuman's Papillon.  I photographed different aspects of my Weinbach and between sight and sound, am willing to let him go.  

There's a big empty spot in the room where it stood.  The heavy dents in the carpet remain as a testament to the presence of sound that still hangs in the air.   

Alyssa Blair- Ballet Goddess

Alyssa and I have had a few classes together and I have known about her interest in ballet.  I asked her if I could go to her studio while she was working with one of her classes (preferably ballet) and photograph the motions of ballet.  The girls in the class were cute enough, but one can't help but want to photograph Alyssa.  She is beautiful, graceful, funny, gracious and smart.  I am looking forward to imaging her dances without the constraints of the class around in the very near future. The challenge?  The bad lighting and plethora of mirrors.  

Denver RollerDolls

I was able to go to the Denver RollerDolls meet at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver last Friday.  This sport is fun to watch and I'm looking forward to my interview with the racers next week.  

Roses

Kiln

This kiln in another favorite thing to shoot.  It's where I figured out and had success with the Zone System. I like that I can see the detail outside the kiln and inside as well.  I have always wondered what it was used for.  It probably doesn't have a romantic story about its use, but I know it's been around since I first saw it in the very early 70's. 

Favorite Tombstone

Yep, that title is right.  This is my favorite tombstone.  His name was Angelo Benedetto, and his epitaph is great.  

Central City Cemetery

Since I was exiled from my house today due to all the showings from realtors, I wound around from Evergreen (twisty roads make me miss my motorcycle, sniff) to Central City and ended up at the Catholic Cemetery at the top of the hill.  When my parents were alive, we would go up there and have picnics (strange, I know) and look at the tombstones. I decided to practice with "Sunny 16" to see what the results were using the tombstones as a subject.  I set my camera at ISO 100, f16 @ 1/125 and the results were pretty good.  I guess. 

I still battle with the facts that Metro's technical training is so bad.  I don't understand a school that gives a BFA in photography, but doesn't stress the technical aspects of a camera.  Just one class is all it would take to give student's the confidence to explore further, especially those like me who want more, not just "photo-fluff."  In my mind I can see the worried looks on the faces of art students dreading such a class, fearing the definitive answers to questions and not being able to diffuse course requirements with artistic esoteric bullshit.  Enough said. 

Iron Brand

Tim Flood of Denver and Sculpture Club President is "branded" by an iron fired in the heat of a cupalo during Saturday's Iron Pour.  Today's pour was rescheduled from last Wednesday due to the rain and snow that caused the iron to freeze and become unusable. The event brought out many participants and spectators to watch the centuries old methods of casting raw iron into shape for either function or decoration.  

Though the symbol is now permanently burned into his protective jacket, the branding iron didn't leave a mark on his arm, the very reason this type of leather is used to protect craftsman from the 3000 degree heat. The symbol burned into Flood's suede leather jacket is the chemical symbol for iron. 

Concept

I had my critique for Photo III and the "Tweak" assignment.  I got the feeling it didn't meet up to expectations.  However, the images are stunning.  As my subject I used my piano and the delicate network of wire, screws, felt and wood.  The lines are luxurious and sensuous and demonstrate musical flow visually.  Abstraction combined with the change in color make some really beautiful images.  I ended up using expired daylight slide film under tungsten light and had it cross-processed, which made the resulting negatives green.  The images had the distinctly yellow cast to them, but I was able to change their characteristics using CMY.  I am looking forward to getting the assignment back so I can scan in the images.  I'm also going to scan the negatives and see what I can do in PS.  

Next project?  No idea.  But it will be in analog form, although the medium doesn't concern me, the "concept" does.  

The Littleton Handbell Festival was held Sunday, April 13 at 7pm at the Littleton United Methodist Church.  Handbell groups from the Denver area came together to perform separately and together and showcase their talents.  Bev McLaughlin of Littleton, is a member of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church's Jubilate Ringers. A trained violinist,  she confesses, "I never learned to read bass clef, so I struggled with that but I make notations on the music to help me remember what notes to play." McLaughlin strikes one of few large bells used in the concert with a mallet which gives the bell-sound a softer, muted tone.  The quality of sound from the bells are controlled by arm movement, a variety of striking devices and muffling the sound by holding the bell against either the padded tables or ringer's chest.  Laughlin's strict attention to the conductor demonstrates the passion and attention to detail needed to ensure flawless performance, and she makes it look easy.  

More Arty Stuff

Another arty image.  This is a reflection, the line is a detail in the wood.  

Adieu to Piano

Making a choice between possessions and dreams, I do a lot of that lately.  Saying good bye to my grand piano has been harder than saying goodbye to my house.  My Weinbach has a sweet, mellow tone that sings with or without pedal. Friends who are professional pianists coax fiery melodies from her-Granados, Schumann, Beethoven.  

She will leave me soon and I grieve for the talent that faded through neglect.  I had dreams once of playing piano at the concert level, but as Ansel Adams stated: "You can be on the wrong side of the fence through lack of opportunity." One thing I've learned lately is that opportunity is something that is can be made, it's not always bestowed. 

I wish someone would have told me that 40 years ago.

Adieu old friend.

Megadeth at the Fillmore tonight!

Hey Dana-

I really messed up!  I'm sorry I couldn't get you in to photograph and interview Chris, I thought I had another month!  I didn't realize the concert was tonight and then they are on to Albuquerque and then the rest of the world.  I know this isn't a consolation, but here's Megadeth's newest guitarist at his senior recital in 2004.  No shredding happened on stage, although there were plenty of Jag Panzer fans in the front row of the auditorium.  Made for a very unique senior recital.  I'd known Chris for a while, and asked if I could shoot some images for him to use on his website, www.chrisbroderick.com.  

Chris is THE nicest guy I have ever met, he's real genuine, friendly and humble.  He even still gets nervous before he plays. Not nervous in front of thousands of people, but when he plays for smaller groups.  Who would have thought.  Made me feel better about my own nervousness before I play.  

I'm really sorry I didn't get this lined up for you.  You would have done an awesome job.  

Film

My "Tweak" assignment for Photo III is letting me stretch my legs a little bit.  Do you know what you get when you expose an image taken on daylight print film in tungsten light exposed in an enlarger at 36" 150C, 0M and 0Y for 5 secs? 

Pretty, pretty RED.  Hurts my eyes to look at it.  

I'm creating eight prints from film that are all the same image, but modified in the enlarger using the CMY controls to change the color outcome of the image.  Certain settings in CMY have to have the time increased or decreased depending on the temperature of the color and it's place in the spectrum.  There goes another 100 count box of Ilford.

When I'm done, the images are going into frames after I cut the mats. Hobby Lobby has their frames on sale 50% off and I've seen them and they're nice.  Nice enough to ditch the prints after the critique and put images that can actually be displayed without an artist statement. 

Tomorrow: expired slide film that will be cross processed and then mercilessly thrown into the enlarger for more fun.  

Corey Larder - Aspen Flying Club Instructor

Corey Larder of Centennial makes a left turn while piloting a Cessna 172 in preparation for landing at Centennial Airport.  Larder is a 2006 graduate of the Aviation Technology Program at Metropolitan State College of Denver and currently works as a co-pilot for Great Lakes/United Express airlines. "Flying is all I've ever wanted to do" he explains as he expertly navigates from the right hand seat.  As an instructor at Aspen Flying Club, his students sit in the left hand seat, in pilot position.  Larder is currently building hours towards his Captain's license, which a pilot attains after 1500 flight hours.  Soon-to-be Captain Larder expects to have this goal met in the next two months and at that point he will move permanently into the left hand seat.  

Getting started

As I work through the images I have and try to decide which ones to put on my blog, I look for signs of progress.  In contrast, I realize that as I work on my Fine Art degree, I'm required to make images that are in direct contradiction to what I'm trying to accomplish in photojournalism.  We have an assignment in Photo III that requires us to take an image and "tweak" the color in the image to create a different meaning.  Does anyone know how hard I've worked lately to get white balance and color balance right so that my images actually represent what I'm shooting?  Now I'm supposed to screw with the color/white balance and make "art."  Yes, I can appreciate the control I need to manipulate the image but I'd like assignments to fine-tune my imaging skills, not redress what I'm trying to leave behind.  Sigh. 

Monterey Marina

Kim Weston in his studio

Kim Weston

Before I went to Monterey, I contacted Kim Weston about an interview with him at Wildcat Hill which is the home of Kim's grandfather, Edward Weston.  Edward Weston's Green Pepper #30 is a famous and enduring image that stylizes sensuality and grace and seeing the negative was a profound experience for any Fine Art major. I was also given the opportunity to photograph the living quarters, studio, darkroom of Edward Weston, as well as Kim Weston's studio and his gallery of images.  I spent about an hour with Kim learning about Weston family history, artistic approaches and photographic techniques.  It was a memorable and inspiring experience. 

Pat Hathaway searches through a portion of his 33,000 images that catalog the history of the northern California area.  

Pat Hathaway

While in Monterey, I had a chance to meet with Pat Hathaway, the owner and curator of "California Views."  Pat has 33,000 images of northern California with a special emphasis on the Monterey area.  Images are available both in his store and online with orders coming from all over the world.  Only a fraction of his collection have been transferred to digital, with Pat doing all the work himself.  We had a great visit and I was able to make some good images.  

Monterey Morning

This was the last morning in Monterey and Dana and I decided to try and capture the morning light one last time.  This is at Pebble Beach just off 17-Mile Drive.  

Monterey

The Social Documentary class that went to Monterey, Calif.  March 19-23 was a great experience. It changed how I view photojournalism, photography and writing.  The photo critiques every evening and the writing critiques in the morning kept enthusiasm levels high. I recommend it for anyone with the courage to give it a try! 

Hint:  do prep work before you go. . . research the area, e-mail potential story candidates, make follow-up phone calls, look at maps and pictures from the area, look at the local newspaper online and have fun.