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I have a short list of recent blog notes and ideas, some appropriate to the season, and others, appropriate to a certain home project that I am eager to finish! But, today, I was inspired to talk about a fun trip to Pueblo with friends. I had the opportunity to take a beautiful Monday morning and head down to the river walk and historic district in Pueblo with my friends Michelle, and Richard. Two like-minded photographers, teachers, and creative spirits!

I decided to take a digital camera today – oh, the travesty! I felt a bit guilty. But, I have a pile of film I shot this past Friday to tend to, so I wanted a bit of a change for a relaxing day. I decided to focus on the light and do some light studies. I looked at what light does to surfaces, and how it creates depth, contrast and shape. Light is so important to photography; really, it is what we need to create our art.

To quote a couple of the greats, Alfred Stieglitz once said, “Wherever there is light, one can photograph.” And, a favorite of mine, the man often credited with the birth of photography itself, Louis Daguerre said, “I have seized the light, I have arrested its flight,” upon his invention of his photographic process, the Daguerreotype.

From that day forward, photographers have been seizing the light to create our art. I like to pay attention to changes in light from season to season, and from morning to dusk. It’s amazing how light can transform shapes rendering something that looks so three dimensional at one point of the day to a flat two-dimensional surface at another time of the day. Just look up at Pikes Peak at different times of the day! The color of light changes as well. From winter to summer, we see a shift from a golden red light to the clear, whiter light of summer. Light helps us to reveal textures as well as helps us to create contrast.

It is also fun to explore how light reacts on different surfaces. Consider, light on water, on metal, on glass, on concrete, on grass, you name it! Explore it, and shoot it. It is fun to cut loose and do light studies. Consider the shapes it creates, the reflections in water, and the shadows – long and short. Pay attention to light as you go through your day.

So, back to Pueblo, it was a fun day chatting photography with friends, wandering the streets on a beautiful, comfortable spring morning, and checking out the light. I highly recommend the river walk for those who have not been. And, I realized today just how many cool little restaurants line that river walk and what a fun and festive place it must turn into at night. So, needless to say, there is going to be a date night there in the near future!

And, while you’re in Pueblo this summer, be sure to visit the Ansel Adams (speaking of awesome light!) photography exhibit at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center.

Here, I share a couple of light studies – I most enjoyed the mid-morning light on the Arkansas River.

Today, May 15, 2016, is the ten-year anniversary of my lower back surgery. I had this surgery on May 15, 2006, that was a Monday. I have to cheer today, and give thanks to my neurosurgeon, Dr. Joel MacDonald at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and to my local neurosurgeon, Dr. Mike Brown, who referred me to his good friend in Utah.

I injured my back in 1997, just before my 27^th birthday, and yes, it was photography related! I was working for Russell Image Processing in Atlanta, and had an early job where I needed multiple enlargers (yes, darkroom!) to meet a deadline. By myself, I decided to carry an enlarger from one darkroom into another, because I was the only one in the lab at the time. While toting this massive beast, I felt like I was going to drop it, so I twisted and kept it from hitting the ground. Once I heaved that thing onto the counter, I had a strange rush of heat run down my back. I didn’t think anything of it. I was young, strong and invincible. Right?

Not so much. That would be the beginning of eight and a half years of progressively growing pain and the diagnosis of degenerative disc disease. Over the course of those eight and a half years, as the pain progressed, I did everything under the sun – physical therapy, experimental procedures like IDET (Intradiscal Electrothermal Annuloplasty – I was patient #13 for my pain doc), steroid injections and facet block injections, and acupuncture. Do needles scare me? Yea, right!

Finally, I hit a wall, in 2006. I had two episodes where the pain reached a new height. My reaction to it was actually passing out. I had become really good at dealing with pain, and just living with it. I always boasted a “high pain tolerance” and, I had a pain management doc once tell me that my pain would sideline a linebacker, but here I was, standing there in front of him with a smile on my face. I guess the passing out phase was my body’s way of saying, Alright Already! That led to a local hospital stay, and a drugged up discussion with Dr. Brown where I apparently tried to negotiate the type of surgery I needed!

That conversation led me to the great state of Utah, and Dr. Joel MacDonald. He is the head of neurosurgery at this wonderful teaching hospital! On Monday, May 15, 2006 he performed an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion at L4/5 and L5/S1. I have all kinds of cool hardware – two fancy new titanium cages where the old discs collapsed and disappeared, and a couple of rods with six screws to top it off! And, I grew a ½”!

Today, 10 years later, I’m doing great! No back pain whatsoever, and the ability to do all those things I enjoyed doing before – hiking, skiing, yoga, wading across the Arkansas River in waders with my camera bag above my head – that’s a story for another day! The only thing I can’t do is anything that causes major compression like horseback riding. Trust me, I don’t miss that.

My advice to you, especially you photographers who carry so much equipment, always, always lift with care, have someone help you with the heavy stuff, and take care of your back. Photography gear gets heavy, even an overstuffed camera backpack, so from someone in the know, be careful!

Happy Anniversary to me! And, a shout-out to the best neurosurgeon in the world, Dr. Joel MacDonald!

Why do we celebrate Mother’s Day? Well, for a million and one reasons, that’s why. Mothers are the heart and soul of our lives and our homes. I think back to all the thankless nights my mom experienced when my brother and I were “horrible teenagers.” My mom had to cope with car accidents, running the streets with friends at night (this was long before the gamer generation, all we had was Pong, or a pocket full of quarters, a group of friends and a round of Tempest), and getting kicked out of Godfather’s Pizza for a fight between boyfriends (one ex and one current!). Oh, and running out of gas downtown accompanied by a late night call, oh, and receiving a court summons in the mailbox because I stuffed every parking ticket ever received into my glove box “to deal with later.” Regardless of our antics, she was, and is, always there for us. Mom helped to guide us through that tough transition from terrible teen to “decent and contributing members of society.” So, thank you Mom, for all that you do.

I want to celebrate photography’s famous moms as well with homage to Julia Margaret Cameron. Her daughter gave her a camera when she was 48 years old, and that began her career in photography in 1863. She had a short career, only eleven years of photographing, but during that time made some of the most beautiful, iconic portraits of her famous friends to include Alfred Lord Tennyson, Sir John Herschel, and Charles Darwin. Sir John Herschel, who himself was very instrumental to photography and early processes, introduced Cameron to photography in 1842 though correspondence and examples of the new process.

Photography’s establishment would criticize Cameron’s images. She would intentionally crop very close to her subject’s faces, allow the image to be in soft focus, and often the scratches or smudges of her process would remain on her plate. But, today, this is what makes her images so beautiful, and so iconic. Wedding, portrait and fine art photographers continue to emulate her soft focus style.

“My aspirations are to ennoble Photography and to secure for it the character and uses of High Art by combining the real & Ideal & sacrificing nothing of Truth by all possible devotion to poetry and beauty.”
– Julia Margaret Cameron to Sir John Herschel, 31 December 1864

Mother’s Day gives us a chance to say thank you and I love you, to the very special people in our lives – moms, mothers-in-law, aunts, grandmothers and special friends who might be moms as well. Thank you and I love you, to my mom, Tina, my mother-in-law Jean and my aunt, Vicki! You all have made a huge impact in my life!

Have you ever had a model scheduled for a photo shoot, and then she shows up and looks like she’s been in a fight? Maybe not your human models, or, well maybe depending on the company you keep. For me, I recently posted several dog portraits, specifically of my Maggie. Lots of dog park visitors call her Petey, because she looks like the dog from the Little Rascals. Maggie is my star, she is the one who can pose in front of my camera, and give me those quizzical looks. I had every intention of doing another round of images this week, as we’re trying to get some new photographs for Spotted Dog Excavating’s website.

Well, things took a turn, and yes, my model showed up looking like she’d been in a fight. This past week, Maggie and her much bigger, older, alpha sister Olive decided to duke it out over a dead squirrel. I came home from work to a blood bath, and a dead squirrel in my garage to boot. After a late evening at the vet, I came home with a dog that doesn’t resemble that perfect little angel sitting in front of my camera. She has a new eyebrow carved out over her left eye, and a puncture wound in her right eyelid.

Glamour portraits will have to wait. Yes, I could do some retouching, but what fun would that be, and besides, you can’t exactly add that twinkle in someone’s eye. It has to be there, in their mood and joy for the moment!

So, moral of this story, remain flexible! Your schedule really doesn’t matter, nor do your self-imposed deadlines. Instead, enjoy the ride!

Speaking of this week, we have a lot to be thankful for. Today, May 3^rd, is National Teacher Appreciation Day. So, thank you to all the wonderful teachers I’ve had in my life, and to all the great teachers I work with today! And, thank you to my mom for sending me a sweet reminder of this special day!

This is also the last week of spring semester. A week of final exams, final portfolio presentations, and if it’s Angela’s class, a potluck! Because food goes great with everything, right? As we celebrate the last week of classes, I want to remember all the great photographers who came before us and helped to enrich our lives with this beautiful medium. I’ll share a few, “This Week in History,” bits of trivia.

Today, May 3^rd, in 1888, Kodak registered their trademark name in the U.K., and before that, in 1849 Jacob Riis was born. Riis was a Danish photographer and journalist known for his amazing social documentary work in the slums of New York City. Check out his work, it was praised by the New York Police Commissioner (and future POTUS), Theodore Roosevelt. I wonder if they ever called Roosevelt, POTUS?

I scored this little beauty a couple weeks ago at an estate sale. I couldn’t test it, but on a hunch, I bought it for a song. At least what I consider a song, compared to what I’ve seen new SX-70 models going for by Polaroid junkies! I figured, I’d order a pack of film and test it. If it doesn’t work, it looks cool sitting on my shelf in all its leather glory, but if it works, endless fun! Polaroid first produced these SX-70 models in 1972.

Just before I gave ordering the film a second thought, I stumbled upon a box of this glorious film here in Colorado Springs! I went to the annual Swap and Shop at Godec’s this past Saturday and spotted the Impossible Project’s Instant Color Film for SX-70 cameras! That’s it! I bought one just to test the camera. I had eight pictures to see if the camera is working, and if the “lighten/darken control” worked properly.

I got home, put the film pack into the camera, and it instantly (no pun intended) came to life! The dark slide spit out with a beautiful quote imprinted on top,

“What is the beautiful, if not the Impossible.” – Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

So, I started taking photos…and learned quite a bit about the differences in this “new” Polaroid film versus the stuff I used to play with. First, the “instant” isn’t so instant. The Impossible Project recommends quickly shielding the image from light, then waiting 30-40 minutes for development. I don’t remember it taking that long way back when. Oh, and no shaking. Sorry Outkast, no more “Shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Not that shaking it ever did anything to speed up the process.

In 1972, Polaroid created this film that was fully contained in response to the public’s concern for ecology. Really, quite revolutionary and before its time as today, we love anything we can recycle. It’s all about the environment. The SX-70 was considered a waste-free system as it was self-contained, exposed and processed within minutes.

When I finished making my eight exposures, chemistry packs neatly contained within my final images, I tore apart the film pack holder to see what I could recycle. The answer is, everything. The exterior is plastic so I tossed that into recycle. The thin aluminum “spring” the SX-70 film sits on, I pulled that out and tossed it into recycle. Finally, the battery pack. I pulled those apart and took them over to Interstate Battery today for recycle, and yep, the fella there took them! So, the whole darn thing is recycled. I admit I kept the cute cardboard box it all came in and the ultra cool, quote-inspired dark slide.

Now a bit about what I learned. First, the film should be refrigerated when not used. So, good to buy fresh and refrigerated as the color isn’t very stable. Also, this film has a “production date” stamped on the box and the Impossible Project says to use within a year of that date. I’d say it’s probably safer to go less time. My images did not have the vibrancy I remember with some Polaroid. But that won’t dissuade me, I plan to buy more, and test their new B&W version too!

Of my eight exposures, I tested the lighten/darken control and it worked, I definitely got two overexposed and two underexposed images. I also got a few I liked…nothing special, just some fun to share here. My favorite, of course, is my Maggie. She is always so patient with posing for me. Then I took two of “yard art.” One is a bright orange metal flower we have in the yard. And, the second, an abstract look at one of my husband’s abstract outdoor sculptures.

 

So, here is to Polaroid, and Edwin Herbert Land! Mr. Land invented the first in-camera instant photography and co-founded Polaroid. And, an early Happy Birthday to him, as his birthday is May 7th (1909).

I also pulled one from the archives to share. Here’s a Polaroid transfer I did using the peel-apart, two-part film. Loved the stuff…made the exposure, pulled apart immediately, tossed the print and slapped the negative down on a treated piece of art paper and magic! A Polaroid transfer! This one created with a contraption that let me expose 35mm slides onto Polaroid film. I still own this contraption!

 

 

 

Some of you know that I love to photograph my dogs. I typically make this really difficult by trying to capture their antics at the dog park with a Holga. Yep, a $20.00 plastic camera with no control over shutter speeds! You get one. And, I also make images of them with some of my other film cameras as well. I have to wait until I process the film to see if I nailed the perfect expression! I have a hunch of course, as I was trained on film, but with the slight of a head, a quick dart of an eye, you just never quite know!

Well, a new task at hand this weekend, trying to get a couple of good portraits to select from for our excavating website. When that website was built, our website designer used several stock images of Dalmatians. Makes sense, given our company name, Spotted Dog Excavating. But, I’ve really wanted to personalize it, and add our very own spotted dogs.

Here are a couple fun attempts – and outtakes – that I shot this weekend. And, no film this time. I went strictly digital capture to afford me limitless pixels, tethered shooting, and some “I got it” moments! I might have a winner in the batch, and it was so much fun I’m going to set up and do this again.

Maggie, now she was the best model ever! She followed my hand gestures, looked right into the lens with all her attitude and personality, and my strobe lights didn’t seem to bother her one bit.

Brooks did a pretty darn good job too, for a 7-month old puppy! While he may have shined at his first modeling gig, he did chew several holes in the sheetrock in the garage this past week, so he’s still on the naughty list. Who eats sheetrock?

And, Miss Olive, well we can forget a modeling career for her. She is my beautiful girl, but just couldn’t focus, and didn’t seem very fond of the strobe lighting either. She’ll just have to sit and look pretty for the neighbors.

I decided to go with a mini-studio for these guys. I set up one 11” reflector on a white background, a medium softbox for my key light and a bounce card on the fill side. This was a very small area we were working in, as I attempted to cut out distractions and keep them corralled as best as I could. My husband, Randy, laid down beside them in an attempt to hold on and keep them still. Seemed to work pretty well!

And, as I tell all my students, use SLOW RECYCLE on the power packs. Well, I usually follow that rule too, however, I felt like that delay kept me from getting some great expressions. So, I risked it, switched to fast recycle and I watched the power drain in my house every shot I took! But it worked…who said 1978 wiring can’t handle it?

So this week, my dog portraits, and oh how I enjoy this!