Film Developer in the Darkroom

When I started teaching at Concordia University just over 2 years ago (and managing their darkroom), the previous photography professor met with me and very kindly went through issues like how fast the classes go through chemistry, how much film and paper to order, etc. It was all all very helpful! Thanks again, Cate!

We've been getting to the end of our "cube" of film developer, and I made sure we had a back-up at the start of the semester. So today I was happy to have used up the final cube of chemistry from my FIRST order:

Labeled "Sept 22."

I got out our back-up, and was shocked to see that it was labeled "Sept 22" as well! When I ordered my first batch of chemistry, I was told we went through it much faster than we actually do, apparently!!

Still some older film developer to use up!!

Note to self: we go through film developer QUITE slowly...

Related: here's the post linked above about starting to teach at Concordia University, and here are some shots of that darkroom from 2+ years ago.

Contact "Sheets" or "Prints" or...

I recently had this Facebook memory pop up from 2 years ago:

Film Processing!

We've had sucess in the darkroom at Concordia so far this semester! Here are 2 pics from processing film a few weeks ago:

Love seeing the happy faces when images appear!

We will be shooting and processing film in a MUCH BIGGER CLASS at the University of Minnesota here shortly. That class started as half of the semester in the digital lab, and has just transitioned over to the last half of the semester in the darkroom. My students have a quick photogram project due on Monday before we jump to film cameras. Stay tuned!!

Springsteen on Frank

I've always wished I could write songs the way he takes pictures.

- Bruce Springsteen on Robert Frank

(Supposedly, Springsteen has multiple copies of Frank's photo book The Americans).

Department of Art Website

If you go to the University of Minnesota's "College of Liberal Arts" website and find the faculty section...

... you can scroll down and find me!

Here's my very in-depth page:

I tease, but it's nice to be recognized even if it's just a "short term" hire. Thanks CLA!

Start of Fall Semester

The 2024 fall semester is underway! Here's a first day shot from my Concordia University classroom:

And a shot from my University of Minnesota classroom:

I taught in that very same classroom at the U of M from 2005 to 2011, and very little has changed! (Pretty much just the TV instead of projection screen, and the table right in front of the camera has been turned 90 degrees.) I'm back for maybe just the semester to help out with someone's maternity leave. I've been at the U of M College of Design (St. Paul campus) for the previous 5 semesters, but now I'm in the U of M's Art Department (Minneapolis campus) for this class. And here's my exotic shared faculty office at the U:

That's a bike helmet and bottle as I'm trying to bike like I did all of last school year.

And Concordia, we just had our first "nerdy lecture" covering some good stuff:

Happy Fall 2024!!

Photography as "Mirrors" or "Windows"

I've been reading "Strange Hours: Photography, Memory, and the Lives of Artists" these last few weeks. I found an interesting thought from John Szarkowski:

What makes this more interesting for me is that my "Faribault County" work from 20 years ago would fit as a "window," but my more recent "4 a.m." work is definitely a "mirror." I don't know what that means, but it's made me stop and think about my own art making...

Olympic Triathlon Photographer

Associated Press photographer David Goldman talks about the issues he needed to work through to photograph the Olympic triathlon and open water swims:

Direct link: youtu.be/YBz-uPDpUBs?si=INfAYqPUG_2wAP0Y