Posted in Analog, Photography, Travel | 3 Comments »
…and I’ll be in Santa Fe afore ye.
We attempted a James Dean look. Not quite successful. I blame my (relatively) clean Toyota. BW400CN, 35mm.
There are two ways to Taos (or, in our case, Santa Fe): the high road and the low road. The high road goes through Old Spain, with Chimayo and other small towns/pueblos along the way. It’s said to be pretty and scenic, and also a longer drive.
We took the low road — which largely follows the Rio Grande — because that’s the only way I knew. But there were still scenic byways.
BW400CN, 35mm.
Coming up next — even more scenicness… in color!
Posted in Analog, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments »
We went to Guadalajara Grill after checking out the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. I immediately searched the menu for the Azteca quesadilla (chicken), but I think Jeff’s attention went straight for the Mexican Coke sitting in the cooler.
BW400CN, 35mm.
Drink up, boy!
Posted in Analog, Food, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments »
Every time you go home after an extended absence, you hit up your favorite watering holes and restaurants.
Every time I go to Taos after an extended absence, I go to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
Portra 400VC, 120mm.
Dedicated in 1965, it’s the fifth highest bridge in the United States, and the Rio Grande River flows in the gorge 650 feet below.
Gorge in the foreground, the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background. BW400CN, 35mm.
It’s also near Taos Ski Valley and Wheeler, which at 13,661 feet above sea level is the tallest mountain in the state.
The Wheeler complex in the background. BW400CN, 35mm.
We visited the bridge after leaving Philmont and before eating a very late lunch — but that’s for later.
Posted in Analog, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments »
Okay — nobody’s perfect. Including me.
Portra 400VC, 120mm.
These two frames were supposed to show the flat Oklahoman landscape from the view of the road, but I severely underexposed the first frame and then bracketed in the wrong direction for the second. Oops. But these are the only frames I exposed incorrectly during the entire trip, so I’m fine with that.
It was not uncommon to see how distinct the irrigation lines are. Portra 400VC, 120mm.
On the second day of our roadtrip to Santa Fe, Jeff and I were out of Oklahoma by probably 11:30ish a.m. CST. Crossing the border meant we gained an hour and lost about 10 miles per hour in the speed limit. Ya lose one, ya gain one.
On US-412, leaving Oklahoma. Portra 400VC, 120mm.
Posted in Analog, Introspection, Photography, Travel | Leave a Comment »
Stunning Kansan vistas outside my car window. BW400CN, 35mm.
In my experience, there are two kinds of roadtrips:
- Wherein the fun and adventure are invested in the roadtrip itself — that is, each stop (planned or not) is its own destination of sorts; or
- Wherein (most of) the fun and adventure are invested in the destination itself — that is, you have little comparable interest in what necessary food/gas/overnight stops you have to make, relative to your substantial interest in the ultimate destination.
Last spring break, Esten, Jeff and I mapped out and executed the first kind of roadtrip. This time around, Jeff and I just wanted to go to Santa Fe and stay there — but we did our best to make the drives there and back interesting.
In consideration of maximizing the interestingness of our drive, we seriously considered this: Staying in Liberal, Kan.
Junction of Pancake Blvd. and Yellow Brick Rd. in Liberal, Kan. Portra 400VC, 120mm.
When we were mapping out our route, we decided to bunk up in Liberal for the night because it seemed like a good stopping point between mid-Missouri and north-central New Mexico. (Okay, the name itself — “Liberal” — also intrigued us.) We were also fascinated by the facts that the town hosts an annual International Pancake Day and is home to Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz.
Unfortunately, we missed Pancake Day by about three weeks, and I’ll be generous by saying simply that Dorothy’s House was a bit of a letdown. (That said, we were there on a Sunday — a day on which all commercial establishments except the Chinese buffet and the hotels in this part of the country are closed.)
So we snapped some photos around the Yellow Brick Road, ate at the Chinese buffet, decided against staying in Liberal and moved on to the slightly larger town of Guymon, Okla., where we spent the night.
Posted in Analog, Photography, Travel | 13 Comments »
To be honest — I’ve lost track of this second 30-day challenge. One of the downsides of shooting film is that the date and time of the exposure aren’t recorded in the metadata, since there is no metadata.
Therefore, because I’ve been shooting on film since before spring break, I’ve lost track. But I think I’ve safely covered my bases for the 30-day challenge. Here are some film exposures I made before spring break. I’ll post the spring break film shortly. (Not all of it is ready yet — I still have about half a roll on both the OM-1 and Mamiya before they can be developed.)
Also, I feel horrible that this is my first post in almost a month. I was off the grid for spring break, and since then, projects and work have taken over my life. In fact, they are still taking over my life, but I’m fighting to take my life back — especially since I graduate in less than a month.
Without further ado, some snaps from the medium-format:
The first exposure on this roll of BW400CN. This is the sunset over the golf course near University Field (the Missouri softball stadium).
Stairwell in the Arts & Sciences building.
Posted in Analog, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography | 1 Comment »
Today, Jeff and I are embarking on another westward spring break road trip.
Whereas last year, Esten, Jeff and I planned and completed an ambitious road trip that clocked more than 4,000 miles, went through eight states and included four national parks, Jeff and I are keeping things relatively simple this year.
We’re going to Santa Fe. And that’s about it.
The only other time I've been to Santa Fe, it was a daytrip in 2007. We visited the Georgia O'Keeffe museum and, afterward, were inspired to switch our cameras to shoot in black-and-white. Silly, but fun.
Actually, our itinerary also includes stops in Philmont Scout Ranch (my beloved home for five summers), Taos, Chimayo and, on the way back, Amarillo. I’d tell you more, but you’ll find out later anyway.
Something else that makes this year’s trip different from last: I’m shooting in entirely film. No digital for me, although I’m bringing a memory card just in case I want to swipe Jeff’s gear. But my shooting (almost) entirely in film means that my editing and blogging Days XXI through XXVII of the new 30-day challenge will be delayed.
Que será será.
I’ll be back in a week! Take care, everyone!
Posted in Capstone, Photography, Travel | 3 Comments »
This evening, I washed the oldest pair of jeans I own, to date. They haven’t been washed in a few months. In fact, they’ve been hanging, with mud caked to the knees and calf areas, since I photographed the Missouri-Nebraska football game last October.
The elements were not kind that game night — cold, windy, rainy. I slipped in the mud at the end of the game while photographing fans, and my jeans and rainjacket have hung in my closet ever since.
But now they’re all clean. Because I’ll probably need them this coming week — and it was about time I dealt with them anyway.
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My entire capstone class is finishing the group documentary project on Broadway.
Each of us has worked on an aspect of or place on Broadway — a street that is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in Columbia and which represents so much diversity within the city. My part of the project? I’ve been working on development — specifically, a neighborhood on East Broadway/WW.
One thing that threw a curveball at quite a few of us in the project? A freak snowfall last weekend.
March 20, through the back patio door of the model home.
On Monday, the snow was melting — because it’d gone from 31 degrees to 65.
March 23.
Gotta love that midwestern weather.
Posted in Capstone, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism | Leave a Comment »
These are the shoes I wear most often:
In February.
They’re comfortable and light, and they’re usually what I wear when I do photojournalism.
XV: March 19.
On XV (March 19), I wandered around a developing neighborhood, which I’m covering for a capstone project. I’ll blog more about that project later, but that day took me about a quarter-mile out of the neighborhood, to make pictures of its proximity to East Broadway/WW.
Then a freak snowfall and some rain hit Columbia… but I still had to make some pictures.
XIX: March 25.
And when I went out yesterday (XIX), I got stuck in the mud.
And had to jump out of my shoes.
And then had to gingerly jump back into the mud to retrieve my shoes.
I spent the next few hours walking around in just my stocking feet — in a real estate office, in my car, on campus — because my shoes were so muddy and would have trucked still-wet clumps of dirt all over the place.
The thing is, these are my most waterproof shoes. Which means, I should really invest in some good photojournalism-y shoes. Soon.
Posted in Capstone, Journalism, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism | 1 Comment »
By now, practically every photographer and visual artist has surely heard of one of the features that will arrive in Adobe Creative Suite 5‘s Photoshop upgrade: content-aware fill.
If you haven’t heard of this feature, all you need to do is watch the below video. And make sure you watch it through to the end.
I don’t think anyone can deny that this fill feature is an amazing achievement in technology and software. To eliminate whole trees and roads, and to fill in blue skies, rugged desert landscape, cloudy skies and anything else — with just a few clicks — well, that’s just amazing.
It’s also incredibly dangerous. I don’t think anyone with at least a basic understanding of photo/visual journalism ethics can deny that this fill feature allows for substantial manipulation and, if used, provides a very steep “slippery slope” toward letting nothing prevent one from publishing the “perfect” photo.
This afternoon, August and I briefly discussed the temptations and dangers imposed by the feature. The following is the end of our conversation:
- Me: This means the death of photojournalism.
- August: No, it just means the death of people’s trust in our photos.
- Me: Exactly — this means the death of photojournalism.
- August: Yeah… you’re right.
In short? If it works as effectively and efficiently as advertised, the content-aware fill feature is a godsend for portrait and commercial photographers. But I certainly hope that no photo/visual journalist considers using this tool.
Posted in Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism | 8 Comments »
[Note: I’m running behind on Friday and Saturday, which are XV and XVI. Friday’s photo would be a panorama, which I haven’t had a chance to stitch together yet; Saturday’s would be a photo (or two) of the model home I toured. I also missed Sunday, which would have been XVII, which is why today is XVII.]
I ran a raincheck for XI, which was last Monday, because I’d used a Mamiya 645 to shoot that day’s photos on a roll of Ilford HP5.
Well — here’s one of those photos.
A bicycle on Ninth Street.
Heavy vignetting? Nope.
Photoshopped dust and scratches? Nope.
Complete laundry cycle? Yep.
Accidental partial exposure when I discovered the roll in my jacket pocket the next morning? Yep.
When I asked Jakob to develop the roll for me, he was initially skeptical because I’d mentioned I’d accidentally/momentarily exposed the roll. But he agreed to do it, and we discovered additional damage to the film that we hadn’t thought of.
No, I didn't photograph a textured wall.
Laundry lint was sticking to the emulsion.
Wanna see how the whole roll came out? Here you go:
Posted in Capstone, Photography | 4 Comments »
I’ve fallen a bit behind in blogging this second 30-day challenge. Rest assured, I’ve been making pictures! They just haven’t gone on-line yet, mostly because I’ve been busy on a project for capstone. But here are last Wednesday and Thursday.
XIII
Wednesday was St. Patrick’s Day, and Jeff and I attempted to get into a free show at The Blue Note. When the men at the door told us no SLR cameras were allowed, we had no choice but to leave, since we weren’t going to hand our cameras over to anyone else. So we meandered around a bit before going home.
At Broadway and Ninth.
For one week every year — Engineers Week — the lights on Jesse Hall shine green.
Francis Quadrangle.
Engineering students at Mizzou and elsewhere claim St. Patrick as their patron saint, so they mark the week of St. Patrick’s Day with celebrations and other events. On an unrelated note, I wish there were a patron saint of journalism — and if there were, who would it be?
XIV
On Thursday, Jakob came in to develop a roll of Ilford HP5 for me — the same roll that I shot on the Mamiya 645. I accidentally ran it through a full laundry cycle and then exposed part of it when I discovered it in my jacket pocket. So there are laundry fibers stuck to the emulsion, and there’s not a single frame that escaped my accidental exposure. Only about two exposures remain somewhat intact.
These are the most complete exposures remaining on the entire roll of 15 exposures.
I’ll scan the roll later this week when I have a spare moment! In the meantime, I’m shooting another test roll, since this test roll didn’t quite come out.
Posted in Capstone, Mizzou, Photography | 2 Comments »
Required by law!
For all the marketing and buzz that the 2010 Census has generated, it was one of the most boring forms I’ve ever filled out. One question (Question 10 on the first page) didn’t even make sense to my roommate and me, since we’re currently living in “college housing” but don’t live here all the time.
Fortunately, through Twitter, I found the answer as to what students at college should do. Thanks, Pew Research!
You're welcome.
So yeah. For all the hype, commercials and privacy concerns that have surrounded the Census this year, it was one of the most painless, boring forms that I’ve ever taken five minutes to complete.
I’m almost disappointed.
Posted in Capstone, Photography, Politics | 6 Comments »
- UPDATE (2:45 p.m. on March 16, 2010): Earlier today, I discovered that roll of 120-film. It was in my jacket pocket. Which had just gone through the laundry last night. I’m still going to get the roll developed, since I’m interested to see how the detergent and dryer heat might have affected the crystals. Should be interesting.
I’m going to put up a raincheck for Day XI of the new 30-day challenge. While I did take some photos today, they won’t be ready for a while.
That is to say, I made pictures on film. Medium-format film. Film that places like Columbia Photo and the drugstores can’t process. Because it’s not C-41.
In fact, I made pictures with this camera and on this roll of film:
I haven’t figured out how or where I’ll be getting the Ilford processed, but it is definitely something I’ll take care of this week. Once the negatives are scanned, I’ll post the real Day XI.
Posted in Capstone, Photography | 3 Comments »
If you know me, you know I love puppies, small children and anything cute.
But especially the puppies, dammit.
Two Scottish terriers.
So when I heard that the Columbia Missouri Kennel Club Dog Show was this weekend at the Boone County Fairgrounds, of course I had to go.
When Jeff and I arrived yesterday on the second and last day of the show, the first thing I noticed was the smell. Then I saw that there were dogs everywhere (of course), and that just made everything so much better.
Dog handler Sarah Riedel with Jetta the standard poodle during the Best in Show round. Jetta won Best in Show.
I just had a blast with making pictures. This was my first time at a dog show, so I was a little overwhelmed by all the breeds at first. But everything started falling into place, especially once I learned about how the different categories (sporting, toy, etc.) worked.
Posted in Capstone, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism | Leave a Comment »
Jeff bought and cut up a whole pineapple.
We ate most of it within a few hours.
Posted in Capstone | 2 Comments »
Friday night photo-editing shifts at The Columbia Missourian always seem like the longest ones, even if they’re not. I don’t know if that’s because it’s the Friday-night mentality or because assignments actually do tend to run later.
Stephanie in barefeet, Jeff in muddy shoes with ridiculous shoelaces. This is how we roll.
The completion of a Friday shift, though, calls for celebration in multiple forms.
A quick - and our first - stop at Yogoluv, a frozen yogurt bar that's struck a chord among especially high school and college students.
I’m borrowing Nick‘s Mamiya 645 1000S for the next few weeks, and Erin gave me a roll of Ilford 400 to use as a test roll. I’m pretty excited — I haven’t shot medium-format film in years, and this is my first time using a waist-level viewfinder. It’ll take a while to get used to, especially since I feel like it takes an entirely different perspective and visual eye from an SLR-esque viewfinder.
A borrowed camera with borrowed film. That's how I roll.
Posted in Capstone, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Mizzou, Photography | Leave a Comment »
My sister-in-law Emily went to Singapore a few weeks ago to meet her husband/my brother Matt, who’s spent the majority of the past four months in a Navy submarine. Because Matt was deployed 36 hours after the wedding, this Singapore excursion was basically their honeymoon.
Before she left, Emily asked if I’d like anything from Singapore. The conversation, which we had over IM, went like this:
- Emily: want any cool souvenirs from Country X? [Note: At the time, Emily and Matt could not disclose the location of their meeting, and Matt typically can’t disclose his future port calls with us.]
- Me: um of course!
- Emily: what is something you would use?
- Me: I have no clue what you might find
- Emily: ideas might be textiles, potter (mug, plate, bowl, vase), pewter something-or-other. apparently there’s a gong factory, but gongs are too large for a suitcase 🙂
- Me: I WANT A GONG
So Emily brought back a gong, and it arrived on Wednesday along with some Girl Scout cookies.
Some assembly required. For reference, the whole contraption is about eight inches high.
So now I have a gong. And it is awesome.
Posted in Capstone, Photography | 1 Comment »
Words and Light 