Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey"

There's been a lot said about Christopher Nolan's new movie "The Odyssey." I've been watching different stories about how it was shot. Here's a 4 minute clip from "60 Minutes" from Facebook:

Direct link: facebook.com/reel/1629829631643231

And here's a longer 9 minute version from YouTube:

Direct link: youtu.be/1GEqDZ3hQSo?si=XJsIHU4pharV03wv

Spring Semester Professor Feedback

I recently received feedback from my students in my Photo I and Photo II classes at Concordia this past semester. The part where students checked the box for "strongly agree," "agree," "undecided," "disagree," or "strongly disagree" came back in my favor. I was above the university average for all categories except one (which was about the relevance of the course among all majors):

Photo I. Click the image for a larger view.


Photo II. Perfect marks. Again, click the image for a larger view.

I always like it when students leave written feedback, but my older (more jaded and ready for graduation) Photo II students didn't leave any. And my Photo I students just left a few remarks:

Simple but sweet comments.

A.I. Generated Ansel Adams Print

This has been news in the art world lately. The Danziger Gallery has a colorized version of an Ansel Adams photo that AI generated that is for sale in its gallery. They did not contact anyone at the Ansel Adams Trust before "using" that image and altering with an AI prompt. That lead to this statement from The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust after using Adams' name and his photo for commercial purposes without its permission:

Interesting, as ArtNews pointed out, the Trust doesn’t seem to have a particular issue with the use of AI, but instead the process (or lack thereof) that the Danziger Gallery went about commercializing their version of his photo.

The gallery then released a 10 paragraph statement after the Trust called them out. I don't really want to paste it all here, but I want to hold on to it in case it disappears from their website, so here it is:

I would like to respond to the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust recent statement criticizing my creation and exhibition of an A.I. generated color version of Ansel Adams’ famous “Moonrise Over Hernandez” at the AIPAD art fair.

As the image is in the public domain I had every right to create a new and transformative work. My interest in doing this was based on my love of the iconic image, my interest in seeing how A.I. could be used as a tool for creativity, and to create an imagining of what Adams saw in real life as he was driving along US. Highway 84 that made him stop his Pontiac station wagon and scramble to set up his bulky 8x10 view camera as the sun was setting on the adobe church and cemetery crosses while the moon appeared through the clouds.

I had long believed the image was in the public domain but to confirm this beyond doubt, I hired one of the most respected copyright lawyers in the country to insure this was the case. It was indeed confirmed to be in the public domain and I was free to create a transformative color rendition of the image and to exhibit and sell the resulting prints.

From my perspective, this was done with great respect to the image and the artist. When it was exhibited it was very clearly attributed as to exactly what it was. (See the actual wall label above). [EDIT: the label reads: "A.I. GENERATED. From the prompt: Make a realistic color version of Ansel Adams’ iconic “Moonrise Over Hernandez”."] As for the print itself, while A.I. served as the starting point, the final image involved extensive human intervention, editing, proofing, and refinement over many months. My goal was to create an image that felt visually convincing and compelling on its own terms while remaining grounded in admiration for the original photograph. As far as I was concerned, I would only show or sell the image if I felt it was perfect.

This was obviously a subjective judgment. You can see the result above. But what it meant to me was that the color version I was creating had to be two things. It had to look completely convincing (not “colorized”) and it had to be a beautiful image on its own, both to people who knew the black and white original as well as to people who did not know the image. The response at the AIPAD fair was largely positive. Most negative comments were directed at A.I..

Interestingly, it should be noted that in Adams earliest prints of the image the sky was a light grey. As he began to make more prints Adams printed the sky darker and darker and eventually he took the risky step of chemically intensifying the negative to make the sky even darker. As The Trust pointed out in their statement “Ansel Adams was an innovator who continually expanded the expressive and technical possibilities of the medium. He was remarkably prescient about – and excited by – the potential of computers to transform photography.”

As anyone who is familiar with my 50 year career in photography would know, I have always stood up for photographers’ rights. I have publicly defended photographers whose work was found to be illegally appropriated and spoken at legal forums on the subject of appropriation, taking the side of photographers whose work was unfairly copied, but also understanding the nuances involved in the subject. Given both the public domain status of “Moonrise” and the transformative nature of my exercise, it was clear I had the right to create a new work. Public domain works have long served as foundations for reinterpretation, experimentation, and new creative dialogue across generations of artists.

Finally, I have turned down requests to talk to writers at several publications about the issue, as my intent was not to create controversy but to create something beautiful and interesting. As the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust’s statement was publicly disseminated across social media I am now responding, however, I would like to apologize for not informing them in advance of this project.

I would like to give the last word to Ansel Adams as posted on the official Adams Instagram:

"I am frustrated by both exposure-scale limitations and rigid film-color response. As 'reality' is out of the question, I can indulge myself with explorations of the 'unreal' color which may or may not have intriguing aesthetic effects: I would not want 'post-card' realism, but I would enjoy 'enhancements' of the colors which I fear is not possible with conventional material today….. The scope of control with the electronic image has not been explored, but I feel confident astonishing developments await us in this area." - A.A. (1983).

James Danziger.

That reads a bit like "sorry not sorry" and "I'm pretty sure it's legal so leave me alone" and "Adams would have been OK with this even though I checked with everyone execpt Adams' own people."

I supposed that sentence gives up my stance on the situation. It might be legal (I'm not clear on the public domain rules on his prints, but I know many are still under copyright protection), but I don't know who would want to own a computer colorized version of a print that is so famous because a master black and white printer has taken the time to make it perfect. I can't see how anyone who respects Adams for the work he's done would want a AI colorized version one of his iconic B&W pieces.

I'll be watching this story if there are more developments (photography pun intended)...

Student Juried Exhibition at Concordia University

The student juried exhibition was earlier this month at Concordia, and here are some photos of the show. I've had about 1/3 to half of these students in my Photo I, Photo II, or Advanced Photo classes over the years, and some of the photographs are from projects in my classes. I love to see their work exhibited!!

[click each image for a larger version]

That bigger image of Aidan's was from a great project in my class.




An intriguing photo on the left, and a panoramic image
from another former photo students on the lower right.










Two current photo students with prints near off to the left.










The closing reception was packed! I was just there for a few moments, but I snapped these last 2 pics.

Congrats students! Good luck with finals coming up!

OSHA Darkroom Visits

OSHA has been on campus most of this spring semester. I was first alerted to their presence a few months ago when I heard someone trying to get into my office / the darkroom between classes when I had my door closed and was eating lunch. I had 2 women talk to me about the different chemisty we use down there along with training I had (or didn't have). Lots of questions. I sprinted down the hall to my afternoon class showing up about 30 seconds late, and I don't know if they fully bought my line of "OSHA showed up unexpectedly and I was talking to them about what goes on in the darkroom!"

In the following few days, I had a few calls from them as well: they wanted me to clarify a few things, but it was nothing egregious. Mostly about the respirator I had for disposing of some chemisty that I "inherited" when I started teaching at Concordia a few years back - like if I was "fit" for it, medically cleared to wear it, and if I was required to wear it or if it was just "at will." (Not fit, not medically cleared, but just used "at will" which made those issues less problematic.)

Then a 3rd person from OSHA wanted to meet with me in the darkroom a few weeks after that. I thought it was a quick "clarifing" meeting like the last 2 phone calls, but it was an all-out meeting that took my entire lunch time between classes. He was excited to be in a darkroom for the first time as he said "now I can tell my kids I've been in one of those 'orange rooms' like you see in movies and on TV!"

And then he called back 2 times as well, with more questions. His big concerns were with one thing that we used in the darkroom: the PhotoFlo or Wetting Agent. He had no concerns with the students using / touching / breathing in this chemisty, but his concerns were with the few seconds it takes me to mix a batch. It contains less than 5% formaldehyde, and that was concerning to him - again, only while at FULL STRENGTH as I'm mixing it as the students use it at a 1:99 dilution, and only as the last step of processing film (something that only happens a few times all semester). His concerns were like "How long does it take to you mix this? And it's just 2 times/semester? So just 4 times/year? And do you mix it by your face? Is there ever concerns about getting splash-back on your face?" (The answers were 40-60 seconds, yes, yes, no, and no.)

So then Concordia was cited with not having done proper training for me in the darkroom, and that we only had digital copies of the MSDS and not printed copies. (And there were other departments that didn't have MSDS handy, so that was an issue in other spots around campus as well.)

Long story short, I have MSDS printed and outside of the darkroom, and I had to take 4 online "courses" to make sure I know how to be safe with the chemicals in the darkroom.

I now have these 4 super fancy certficates to my name: "Intro to OSHA" (that needed to be a course?), "Material Handling Safety," "Personal Protective Equipment Awareness," and "Respiratory Protection:"

And now the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) - now commonly known as Safety Data Sheets (SDS) - are just outside the darkroom:

Bound and tabbed.

The solution to the formaldehyde in the Sprint brand PhotoFlo was to simply get rid of it. So the last batch of mixed PhotoFlo is currently being used, and then we'll have no more. I easily found a Kodak version ("Kodak Photo-Flo 200 Solution") that does the same thing (helps keep water spots from forming when the negatives are drying) that does NOT contain formaldehyde. I'll be purchasing that for the fall semester.

Likewise, the solution for me having a respirator that I wasn't fit for or medically cleared to wear was also to just make it go away. It's not something I need for any of my day-to-day work in the darkroom - it was purchased for me only because I requested it when I was disposing of a lot of "spent," unlabeled chemisty that had been saved in the back corner of the darkroom when I started teaching at Concordia. We went through Safety-Kleen to get a hazardous waste drum and I dumped it all in there a few years ago.

OSHA's happy, and I'm happy. :)

Medium Format vs 35mm vs Digital

6?!?... it's more like 2 in each situation for me...

Two Former Students Exhibiting

Two of my students just had a exhibition come down in the smaller "teaching" gallery at Concordia University. They were in my Photo I and Photo II classes, and one of them was in Advanced Photography with me as well.

[click each image for a larger version]

The poster for the exhibition.


All of the work.


Lee's work.








Haylee's work.

Nice job Haylee and Lee!

Gregory Crewdson Film

How did I not know this film existed? Here's a 2 min trailer from the bio film about Gregory Crewdson called "Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters."

Direct Link