Photography has been with us now for almost two hundred years, so you might think there’s not much new to do with the art form. And you’re
A nice mention from Modenus
Mother’s Day is approaching and I am going to see my mom tomorrow, but I remembering her in Massachusetts on a warm Fall morning in the 90’s in her nightgown drinking coffee.
Thinking today about the Malloy Brothers and their outrigger canoe on the ranch over in Jalama. I went up there in February with my assistant Lisa Dodge and visiting photographer, Alex Boyd. Alex was dressed more appropriately for the weather than I was. Maybe it’s his Scottish preparedness. It was chilly! We started the shoot in Ventura with Jim Martin and then headed north.
Post AIPAD, Spring fever brings you this panorama of Brandon and Mary. Shot in February in California, I thought I could bring a smile to wet plate photography with Mary’s gorgeous grin. She pulled it off in my opinion!
Missing the west! #refugio #wetplate #tintype
Well, now that it’s snowing here in NY, I thought it a good time to recall last month’s visit to Orella Ranch, a beautiful family owned coastal ranch. The leading man in the shoot was Greg Schell with supporting roles by Oliver, Stacey and Tony, (let’s not leave out the horses Gipper and Tucson) …and the wet plate support team: Lisa and Eric. In the spirit of Los Caballeros de las Olas we went from Ranchland to Surfland, ending the day at Refugio with Oliver’s portrait and his amazing talents as chef translated into a really wonderful meal.
Photographing at Morro Rock was quite a western experience. We drove up the day before from Santa Barbara so we could get up early for the shoot. It’s a good thing we did. This was the last shot of the day and it ended in the early afternoon courtesy of wind gusts of about 30 knots. After packing up the camera and darkbox and just getting the sand out of my face we headed into town to have lunch.
Sitting in the cafe talking with my three surfers, Ben, Cori, Mary and their family I suddenly realized that the picture I had just taken reminded me of an Edward Curtis photograph shot at Canyon De Chelles. I googled it on my phone and thought I would post it here for fun. Looking at the pictures side by side, I don’t think they are as similar as I first believed. But I like thinking that Curtis was conveniently buried in my subconscious while I was at work.
At Surfers Point there are surfers of course and also the other folks who come to walk on the Promenade and check out the ocean. The local culture is colorful and entertaining!
First day shooting in California was foggy and overcast. Besides slower exposure times, the light was so much easier to work with.
There are no heavy shadows under the eyes, no squinting, highlights don’t blow out so much. But hey, I was cold, and so were the Malloy brothers (hands in pockets) sitting on their outrigger canoe. The translation/transformation of this canoe in wetplate was rather astounding. It went from looking like a big red plastic thing in the natural green environment to appearing more like a primitive water craft. To me, they look like adventurers from another time.
I met Sam, the falconer and his red tailed hawk last weekend. It was very interesting trying to photograph a hawk with a 4x5 camera.
