Kodachome Dies Today in Kansas

A small Kansas photo lab is the last to be processing Kodachrome, and their last roll will be processed today. Here's a paragraph from a NY Times article yesterday:

At the peak, there were about 25 labs worldwide that processed Kodachrome, but the last Kodak-run facility in the United States closed several years ago, then the one in Japan and then the one in Switzerland. Since then, all that was left has been Dwayne’s Photo. Last year, Kodak stopped producing the chemicals needed to develop the film, providing the business with enough to continue processing through the end of 2010. And last week, right on schedule, the lab opened up the last canister of blue dye.

This was my favorite photo in the NY Times Article:

Photo: Steve Hebert for The New York Times

Photoshop Tutorial Rap

WARNING: There is some fowl language in this video. It's not bad, but it is PG-13 or so.

College Humor also showed a "new" tool in Photoshop: the "Photobomb tool." This led to a chuckle. (WARNING: There's a middle finger and a photo of someone mooning in this video.)

...it remembers little things...

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.

- Aaron Siskind

Photography Gifts from the NY Times

(Image from the NY Times)

Last week, the NY Times published a nice, concise story on how to purchase photo-related gear for your "photo geek" loved one. It gave good tips on different topics:

- Picking a lens that fits his/her personality.
- Looking for lenses based on f-stops.
- Checking on the construction of a lens.
- When to buy a generic lens.
- Many things to consider when looking for a new flash.
- Good "photo education" resources and books.

So click here to go to the NY Times article on how to purchase photo gear for the camera buff in your family.

Funny Camera Commercial

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-hxBkca5l4

"...it was really quick.... like 'click'..."

Spot on. Ha!

Some Photos from During the CVA Holiday Sale

Last night was a SNOWY night! It was also the Holiday Art Sale PREVIEW PARTY at the College of Visual Arts. When Sarah and I parked the car, there was about an inch or 2 of snow that had already fallen:

Selby Ave at 7 pm

The snow didn't seem to keep many people away. (We Minnesotan's know how to deal with a little of the white stuff!) Here are 3 photos from the the CVA Gallery (and room 404) from later in the evening just as the Preview Party was wrapping up:

I got to talk with someone who was about to purchase one of my photos - that's always fun!

I stopped back this morning (Saturday) to see how everything was going. A colleague smiled when she saw me and showed me that she was carrying around a piece of mine that she was going to buy. I snapped a few photos while I was there:

People checking out work in the bins and on the walls


Some work on the walls in Room 404


Some slightly bigger work in the main gallery


More work in the gallery

The snowfall MIGHT have kept some people away, so there's still a TON of great work for sale! Stop by later today or tomorrow (Sunday) to pick up some one-of-a-kind artwork for yourself, or buy some Christmas presents for friends and loved ones!

CVA Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. FREE!
Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m. FREE!

The gallery is in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. (Click here to see where the gallery is located using Google Maps.)

Setting up for the CVA Holiday Sale

A week ago, the CVA gallery started filling up with work for the upcoming Holiday Sale:

Students dropping off work


Labeling work


Making labels




Work filling up in the bins

Yesterday, I stopped back to see how it was all shaping up. The gallery had work stashed everywhere, and the walls were starting to get covered:

Larger work starting to go up


Most of the gallery


LOTS of full bins


Small sculptural pieces, homemade journals, and small paintings


That's a turkey made out of tablespoons on the lower right


I think I need to purchase this shirt...

So set some time aside this weekend to head to the CVA gallery and purchase some great artwork. It makes a great gift! The gallery is in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. (Click here to see where the gallery is located using Google Maps.)

Holiday Art Sale Preview:
Friday, December 3, 5 – 8 p.m.
$25 at the door
$20 advance purchase
[Go to CVA's website to purchase.]

Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. FREE!
Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m. FREE!

A view looking into the gallery from the street

CVA Holiday Sale

From CVA's website:

Be a part of an annual tradition at CVA. The Holiday Art Sale is a much anticipated and celebrated event. Over two thousand artworks are offered, and most are priced under $100.

Your best bet at snatching up the hottest artwork is to attend the Preview Party on Friday, December 3rd. Preview tickets are $20 purchased in advance online, or $25 at the door.

The sale features artwork by students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Proceeds benefit CVA scholarship funds.

Holiday Art Sale Preview:
Friday, December 3, 5 – 8 p.m.
$25 at the door
$20 advance purchase
[Go to CVA's website to purchase.]

Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m.

I have a few loose prints, a few self-published books, and a few framed pieces in the sale, so stop by and check it out! It's great for gift-giving! I'll be there Friday night for sure, and probably off-and-on throughout the weekend. Remember, it's FREE on Saturday and Sunday!

Click here to see where the gallery is located (using Google Maps). The CVA Gallery is a half mile down Selby from the Cathedral of St. Paul, smack dab between the Cathedral and Dale Street (at the corner of Western and Selby).

Maybe see you there! If not, stop back here after the sale, because I'll snap some photos and show you what you missed.

More Fun With Color

I need a break from large "series-based" work now-and-then. So lately, I've been catching myself taking these Andy Goldsworthy-esque photos just for the sake of beauty. (Take my post a few days ago as an example.)

Well I did it again with the remnants of our first snowfall of the season. This time, I spent an hour yesterday morning rearranging berries in my front yard that were picked off our tree. I love how calming and meditative the process is.

(click image to enlarge)

Cute. A little "fun." A little boring.

When I checked back 4 hours later, I was able to make a better photo. The sun had gently melted the berries into the snow:

(click image to enlarge)

I found a nice quote from Andy Goldsworthy that speaks to the images he makes of his "installations." It may say something about the pair of images I made above.

Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit.

- Goldsworthy's quote from "Andy Goldsworthy: Art of nature." Feb 19, 2006.

Your Photography Is....

Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees.

- Paul Strand

Playing with Color

I was raking leaves yesterday, and I took a break to get a photo of some leaves plucked from the bushes around our house:

Just for fun.

Kernel Days Parade (part 2)

Here's the rest of my recent scans of the photos I made late this past summer:

"Re-elect Mike Gormley"


"Bagpipes in front of the theatre"


"Grabbing candy"


"USC FFA"


"Festag Royalty"


"Shriners in front of the bakery"


"Shriners"


"Miss Bonnie Lass"


"Pink gorilla"


"Throwing candy from a firetruck"

Scroll down (or CLICK HERE) to see the first half of the photos from the 2010 Kernel Days Parade.

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Kernel Days Parade (part 1)

I scanned some Holga negatives of some images that I made at "Kernel Days" late this past summer. This is the first round of rough scans. I'll have more in the next few days.

Here are a few that are posted chronologically from pre-parade through about the half-way point:

"Boyscout walking along the parade line-up"


"Chevy, firetrucks, and tractor"


"Color Guard"


"The girls from 'Little Miss Kernels' waiting to start the route"


"Shriner's cars lined up"


"Color Guard and the grain elevator"


"Firetruck and True Value"


"The band in front of the drug store"


"The world's largest firing rifle"

I like having this blog to throw up ideas and images that are VERY new to me. It's risky, but I like putting images out there that I haven't fully come to terms with yet. So if you have any thoughts, please comment and leave some feedback. Thanks!

Back with more soon.

iPad Photoshoot

This is a little off-topic for me, but I find this very annoying, over-the-top, pretentious interesting:

Jesse Rosten just posted that video where he used iPads as a light source for a photoshoot. Here's his explanation that came along with it:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A restless mind… or maybe too much late night pizza has you laying awake in bed. You decide that if you can’t sleep you might as well do something productive, so you fumble in the darkness for your iPad for one more round of Angry Birds. You power up and are instantly struck blind by a beam of light so bright that it burns “slide to unlock” into your retinas. You squint, roaches scatter, wife stirs, “Damn, that’s bright.”

Sound familiar? This happens to me too often. Eventually, it dawned on me that, given the right context, the iPad screen is actually pretty bright. I know that for a fact because I measured it with my light meter (1/60, f1.4 at ISO800 from about 1.5 feet). You know once the light meter has come out of the bag, there’s no going back. Naturally, we needed to do a photoshoot using iPads as the light source.

Luckily, I have friends who are very generous with their time and electronics and was able to scrounge up nine iPads. I mounted them onto plywood using some cheap hardware store brackets. This gave me three lights consisting of three iPads each. The light from an iPad is quite soft and diffuse. This makes the light fall-off steep. Adding more iPads didn’t translate to more brightness, but did mean we could light a larger area. Since the ‘Pads would need to be used somewhat close to the subject to get enough exposure, a simple, portrait style shoot seemed like the best option.

Now before the haters start commenting let me first agree with you, yes, this is totally impractical (sidenote: most of my best ideas are often also my worst ideas). Nine iPads will set you back around $4,500. That amount of money can buy you a LOT of lumens in the form of a generic monobloc. This is not intended to be an exercise in excess, but rather a self-imposed limitation to help flex the creative muscles, and to make a point.

Think about it. One 60 watt bulb can put out more light that a truckload of iPads. And you don’t have to spend truckloads of cash to find a 60 watt. This whole making art thing is all about what you do with what you have. We just happened to have a bunch of iPads laying around so we went with that. Today’s dSLR sensors are sensitive enough that you could easily do this with some flashlights, headlights, headlamps, real lamps, or even – heaven forbid – real strobes! Now go forth and do!

(Here's a link to his post with more photos from the shoot.)

Overkill?
Entertainment?
Idea spawn from boredom?
What do you think?....

Earliest Photo of a Human?

Have you been hearing about this photo that just turned up? Last month, a surprisingly sharp daguerreotype from 1842 surfaced showing 2 human forms along the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Some people have started asking "Is this the first photo EVER of a human being?"

Here's the full photo, along with the close-up of the 2 figures:

More questions arise: They are ghosted images, so is the photo of 2 people that moved? Or is it one person that stood still in 2 different poses during the exposure?

Sure, a photo showing a human from 1842 is PRETTY amazing.

But it's not the oldest.

The oldest image of a human being (or what is currently considered the oldest) is a photo thought to be made by Louis Daguerre's, the creator of the daguerreotype. His image shows a street scene where there was probably a LOT going on, but because of the long exposure needed to make the image, everything simply blurred into obscurity. That is, except for a man near the lower left who stood in one spot long enough because he was getting his shoes shined.

And, oh yeah, this image is from 1838.

So, take THAT you Ohio daguerreotype from 1842. Not feeling so special anymore, are you?

[I kid. In all seriousness, they are both amazing images from the early years of my profession. This more recent image was a great find. It's amazing the things that are stored away that we haven't "discovered" yet, even though our ancestors put them there for us.]