August Photography Show

There will be a show of my wet darkroom prints at Crooks Corner in the month of August starting Monday and running the entire month. This is the culmination of so many skills and a convergence of people and places. Starting with Flickr 2 years ago and only shooting a point ans shoot digital. But having local friends like AmosFly who were also camera-centric and Flickr filmist friends like Flowerville, Jeff Dameron and Anne Marie Simmard who were constantly encouraging me to shoot. Meeting a nice group of Flickrites called the Raleigh Social Group and entering their summer project show last year which opened my local connections up wider. Beginning my adventure with film with a Nikon I bought at the thrift store! Meeting local photographer Bill Bamberger who told me my prints were good and gave me inspiration to shoot more. Meeting Elizabeth Mattheson who told me I had an eye but needed to adjust the format I was using (a crucially wonderful change). Meeting John Rosenthal, who patiently critiqued my portfolio(s) and later gave me lessons on how to frame an image. And even meeting John Menapace with whom I had a delightful conversation about shooting and printing and what makes a photographer tick. I appreciate all these people, its been a magic carpet ride of sorts as all kinds of doors have opened for me and I am grateful. So in order to to do this show in the last 6 months I have...

Bought 2 new Medium Format cameras

Shot 50 rolls of 120 film

Scanned 600 images

Learned how to print in the wet darkroom

Darkroom printed at least 200 images

Made a final portfolio of 40 of which 14 were
generously selectd by Elizabeth Mattheson for this show

Walked 25 miles of the Eno River

Walked 15 miles of New Hope Creek

And about 10 miles of the Haw River

Cut mattes for and framed these images below.

I must say I would not have missed a single minute of it.

World Wide Photowalk

As part of the World Wide Photowalk on Saturday July 18, 2009. 40 some Photographers participated in the Raleigh Photo Walk on and around Moore Square. My first real outing with my new 1967 35mm Nikkormat. Most of the Raleigh walk crowd consisted of people from the Raleigh Flickr group.

There were:

8.324 photographers register for local walks
47 Countries had participating cities
44 States in the US had Photo Walks
A total of 236 cities worldwide
More than 1,017,125 photos were taken on walks that day

This is a selection of photos of some of the Raleigh Flickr Group on the walk. My actual photos fromt the walk of Raleigh are going to be up at my Flickr stream.

Christian Marcalay's Video Quartet

Now showing at the Nasher Museum of art is Christian Marcalay's "Video Quartet" four simultaneously running adjacent screens of images that are sampled from more than 700 Hollywood films featuring images of hands on keyboards, horns and violins, as well as men and women singing, dancing and making other noises. Making a unique visual and sonic collage. From Jimi Hendrix to Marilyn Monroe and glimpses icons like Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, Video Quartet is a cultural flash card. Watching the settings and social norms of American culture is almost as interesting as the visual play that has elements like a falling drum cymbal turning into a vinyl LP. In the spirit of Marcel Duchamp's "ready mades" this art may have been found but it was painstakingly put together in revellatory new fashion. This is indeed art.

Also at the Nasher at the moment is "Photographs From The Duke University Special Collections Library." A wonderful show featuring printing styles and photographic subjects through the entire history of photography. Alot of iconic photographers are found in the show including; Atget, Bresson, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Minor White and Sally Mann. Having only seen these photographers in books it is wonderful to see their work in person printed. I particularly was drawn to the Minor White photo that is in the exhibit of an Appalachian coal miner. The detail and sadness of the Atget image of a very short man selling flowers. Also exhibited are negatives and projections of images on the walls digitally.