Happy Holiday's Everyone! Merry Xmas!!

Well tonight is Xmas Eve and for the first time in 5 or 6 years I can go to my parents house to have a Christmas Eve dinner with mom and dad. Last year I was still in a bit of shell shock after photographing in the Poipet Cambodia slums, this year should be a bit easier.

Another nice milestone was past today, the blog hit the 200 000 page view mark, thanks everyone, please keep visiting my photo ramblings and ravings in the new year. If you can PLEASE click on an advert now and again and visit those sites, all money I raise (getting my first check in the new year!!) will go towards the purchase of 8x10 film

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho

Korea Shots

A few Korea photographs from late 2011.

Artistic Influences

We are all influenced by artists we admire. I am influenced by people like Sebastiao Salgado, W. Eugene Smith, Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Sally Mann, Jock Sturges, Richard Avedon and Diann Arbus (along with many others).  When you study the work of the photographers you admire your bound to take some of them with you into your work. The trick is to be influenced by what you love, to learn from it but then go your own way. Adding their influences to who you are as a artist but also saying what you want to say with your own individual voice.

This video link about the creation of the Doors song "Break on Through" is a great example of how being influenced by other artists can be a wonderfully helpful and creative thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQAaK1pFM4

Finally Got My Rejection Letter

Finally got my grant reject letter today from the Foundation For The Arts people. The letter is almost exactly the same wording as last time but this time they just put in "The Family Of The Mae Sot Garbage Dump" where last time it said "Issan Portraits". I also received the same generic unhelpful jurors comment list as last time, the list where you cannot really figure out why your submission was unsuccessful.

This was very disappointing like last time but not as unexpected. I guess they did not think the project was important enough. Telling the story of the Burmese refugees families living in a dump was not important to the jurors of at the Alberta Foundation For The Arts. It would be interesting to find out which projects they thought were more important and why.

I will apply again  for the "Families Of The Mae Sot Garbage Dump" project with slight modifications for the Feb 1/2013 grant deadline. If they decide again that the project is not worthy of a grant, then f-ck them I will do it on my own somehow, on a smaller scale. I will try to create whats right with my photographs even if the grant jurors would rather close their eyes to the project.

I have to follow my heart when it comes to what I photograph, even if others are blind to my vision, I need to keep it.

One glimmer of hope in this rejection letter is that they included this paragraph that is different than last time.

"I regret to inform you that your application was unsuccessful. However, the jury identified your project as highly recommend for support should more funds become available at the end of the AFA,'s fiscal year.. If funds do become available for this program, they may be used to award grants to some or all of the highly recommended project applications identified and ranked by the jury. You will be contacted no later than April 30, 2013 should funding become available for your application."

This bold lettered part was different than the first rejection letter for the Issan project. Guess I made it a bit closer this time round but a no is a no is a no, no matter how much sugar you put on it!! If they thought my work was strong and the project was worthwhile they would have funded it.

 I wonder where my project fits into the highly recommended rankings by the jury. It seems a very long shot at best to get any funds for this. I will try again in February with another grant request, who knows maybe I will wear them down with my persistence or if I beg long and hard enough they will throw me some scraps.

It can't hurt to try the February submission process, at worst I will be rejected yet again and it will make me more angry, and inspire me to prove the jurors wrong. If (when) the second grant submission request goes bad. I will scrounge and scrape to save the money needed, I will work a second job or take on extra security shifts to get this project funded (probably on a smaller scale, 3 weeks instead of 7?).

I will create compassionate, strong photographs that tell the stories of these important people, nothings going to stop me. The creation of the work, the telling of the families stories is all that matters, it is all I need to concern myself with, everything else is secondary.

More Thought Less Action

Scanning all these 35mm negs has brought me an important conclusion, I waste way to much film. I need to concentrate and think before I shoot more. I need to figure out exactly what I am trying to say and then shoot with that thought in mind, allowing for accidents that benefit the photograph. I cannot just shoot like a wild man and waste valuable expensive film. I need to raise my percentage of good shots lik4emy friend Larry  Louie does  with his work. Photographers like S. Salgado and D. McCullin do not just blast away like crazy men, every thing is thought out and a train of thought flows along with the shooting.

More thought, and patience (wait for the shot to develop) and less action required!

New Piece Of Equipment

I got a new very nicely made piece of equipment in the mail today. A few weeks back I purchased a adaptor board for my 8x10 Kodak Masterview (very hard to find) that will allow me to use standard Linhof 4x5 boards (got a load of those) with the 8x10. The board is made by SK Grimes and is of top notch quality, I can now just leave this board permanently mounted in my camera and load the 2 or 3 lens I will use with this camera on to Linhof boards. The whole thing is very sturdy if a bit expensive to buy $215 with free shipping. I will now sell my older adaptor board and a undrilled board that I originally got with the camera to pay for this board (I might even make a profit!).

With this item, the slim lightweight Mido 8x10 holders and the 600 sheets of 8x10 Tri-x I am paying for in instalments, the Asia 8x10 portrait work is  coming closer and closer to reality.

Becoming A Better Printerf

Like anything in life the more you do it the better you get at it. I have been doing lot of printing lately preparing for my first solo show and as a result my printing has gotten better. I just looked at the results of my difficult "man reading on the railroad tracks" photo and am quite happy, I got it! now I can move on to other photographs. I hope I can work through the problems I face with the next group of negs and get as nice a result as I got today.

This picture will be in the first group as people enter the gallery, this will allow them to get a better feel for the place before they proceed to the tighter composed portraits.

Clyde Butcher In The Darkroom

Here is a little video clip of the Florida photographer Clyde Butcher talking about why he prefers analog to digital.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCN_WQeEKnc

Quotes: Paul Caponigro

"In order to be a good photographer you need to work more on your emotions than you do on your technique." 

"I don't wanna repeat the formula over and over again, I want to be free enough to see everyday with fresh eyes."

Do It While You Can

Read a story last night that got me thinking (sort of freaked me out). Seems there was this guy who had a beautiful 8x10 enlarger professionally installed in his home darkroom. The enlarger cost him $7000 and was a real beauty. The problem is all his plans went for naught, he died before he ever used the machine, so it sat and sat and now is on sale for $2975.

He must have loved photography a lot, he must have devoted much of his life to family and working his regular job planning for his retirement, planning to later devote himself to printing his life's work. Now all that is gone, its over and done with, the work will most likely never be printed, new work will never be created. It's done with, over, thats it!

You got to do it while you can, tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. I got to get off my ass and get making pics in Asia soon! Enough of this security guard shit, I am running out of time.

Girlfriend For Sale Documentary

Found this documentary on youtube the other day, it does a very nice job of humanizing 2 women's lives, it tells the story of their search for Western husbands. You also get a behind the scenes look at their homes and some bar life scenes. Overall the doc tells  a honest and generally accurate story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STCpKDAmKSs&list=PL99D1FEA09D9FC13C

Pumping Up The Volume

Well things are going pretty well, it was really nice in the darkroom today especially when I "Pumped Up The Volume".

W. Eugene Smith always talked about the importance his records played for him in the the darkroom. He would play, classical, jazz all kinds of music to inspire him during the printing process. Over the years I have been a firm advocate of importance of music in the darkroom. Today I listened to some wonderful beats from my new/old cassette collection (recently purchased cheap). I had the music remixes of classic dance tunes shaking the place up, I was even worried the music might move the enlarger during the longer exposures, but all looks OK!

Nothing better than ROCKING the day/night and day away in the dark!

"Ain't Photography Grand!'

More Scans And Conquering A Negative

I have been sturggling with a 35mm negative for the last several hours (4 or 5 actually), I find the 35mm images harder to print than my larger negs (120mm, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10). When the prints from a 35mm negative are done right they can be things of beauty but getting them to that point can be a very difficult process.  I am working on what I feel is a important photograph for the show. The shot is of a wide horizontal of a man reading on the train tracks with the slum housing and other local people in the background. Once the viewers see this photograph in the show (I will put it up front) they will have a better understanding of the world the people in the portraits live in. The photograph will help to establish what Klong Toey Slum is and where the people are coming from. I need to get this print right I will use masks, dodging, burning, bleaching, the print will have multiple contrasts (from the multi contrast enlarging head/paper).

Anyway better get back to work, I want to do one more picture before I move on to the bleaching and toning steps. I will then wash and let this print dry before deciding if I need to make more refinements or go with what I got. Am using lots of photo paper up, expensive 16x20 fibre paper but its a necessary expenditure. I got to do this right!

Am working tonight, also need to get some sleep, I hope to do a bit of printing done this week after my 12 hour security nightshifts, I am running out of time, the show is in March!!!

Here are a few more new scans:

New 35mm Scans

I have been looking through some 35mm negs I have never scanned before, I am trying to find additional photo options for my coming solo show on Klong Toey Slum. Some of these scans are from the slum in Poipet Cambodia so I would not use them in the coming show.

Ordered More Paper

Made a $1000 payment on my large 8x10 Tri-x order a few minutes ago, I also ordered 2 16x20 50 sheet boxes of Ilford Warmtone fiber paper.  I am going to do another 2 boxes and the last of the film hopefully in late January which will allow me to use the second 2 boxes for the Kaasa show prints. I also owe my friend Rob around $750 for various show related framing supplies.

Boy am I glad I got a full stat day of pay (2.5 pay) on December 26, these solo show costs are killing me. Probably putting out more than $12 000 to put this all together, and getting $200 back from the gallery, not exactly a longterm financially viable situation.

Printing Steps For This Image

Been working on this print for the last 4 or 5 hours, it is finally starting to look good. This man was a sweet guy, he would drink all day, and sort of be pushed around by those with him, he seemed to be a bit of a lost soul. The alcohol aged him, I need to check my documentary information on him but he was not that old.

I am doing the following to make the print:

1) Basic exposure at 45seconds and Filter 1 1/4 F8 (135mm lens with 4x5 neg).
2) Dodging left eye and eye socket 15 seconds.
3) Dodge the left eye white/pupil area 10 seconds.
4) Dodge the right eye white/pupil area 15 seconds.
5) Burn all 4 corners 10 seconds.
6) Burn bottom 2 inches 20 seconds.
7) Use mask number 1 to burn background 1 minute at Filter 0
8) Use maske number 2 to burn in nose/cheek/forehead and right shoulder 20 seconds at Filter 0.

I am working on my third print now, will raise the initial exposure to 1 1/2 and add the extra dodge on the right eye. I will then bleach and tone all prints before washing them.


Fun stuff!!


Other tech info in case your interested.

- 4x5 Saunder LPL enlarger with multigrade head.
- Ilford Warmtone Fiber paper, 16x20.
- Agfa WA developer (discontinued) 1/7 for 3 minutes.
- Made from a 4x5 Tri-x negative, film rated at 200ASA.
- Shot with a 4x5 Linhof 2000 and 150mm lens in available light with a reflector.
- Metered with a Pentax spotmeter, I placed  the skin tone on Zone VI.
- 1/8 the of a second with a F stop of around F8-11
- Photograph made in the Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok Thailand in March 2012.


Progress is slow but steady on printing the show, I want to have a selection of about 40 different top notch prints which I can then know down to 35 for the show. I will need to push hard over the next weeks to get this done. Running short on photo paper, have another 100 sheets coming in December and January but that might not be enough, might have to order 1 or 2 more 50 sheet boxes. Never enough money, will see how it all goes but need to struggle through this and do it right.

After this show is done I can focus on saving funds for the "Families of the Mae Sot Dump" project. One thing at a time Gerry!!!

Closing In On 200 000 Page Views, And Thank You For The Help

Well, I am into my 6th year of blogging and am now closing in on 200 000 page views (10 more days?). I am glad I added the advertising 7 or 8 months ago, I will be receiving my first check in the new year. I think the check will be for about $113 which will allow me to purchase 25 sheets of 8x10 HP5 for free!!!

My Ebay sales, Indiegogo campaign drive (Familes Of The Mae Sot Garbage Dump) and my Alberta Foundation For the Arts grant request (have not heard from them yet, not sure why!) have all fallen flat. I have no money raised from any of those processes but I should be getting this tiny bit of dough for the blog advertising. I plan on using the 25 sheets to do portraits of my father for the "My Father At 80 Series".  Doing portraits with the 8x10 should also benefit me down the road when I use the camera in Asia with the Tri-x I am currently buying ( paying for section 2 of the 600 sheets tomorrow).

Thank you everyone for clicking on the advertising links and visiting the sites, its been helpful to me. Hopefully I can do some strong work with the free film.

Klong Toey Heads

I will be including several Klong Toey portrait heads in my Kaasa Gallery March show, these are tighter composed images of just the head of my subject. Some of my friends do not believe headshot portraits are effective but I think its important to folllow your own instincts (I need to show what I think is most effective). Portraits can be made in a many different ways, they do not have to all be wide shot environmental types. There are as many ways to make portraits as other types of photographic subjects (landscapes, still life's, nudes etc.), heck there might even more ways to make portraits as a human subject is constantly in flux, constantly changing.

The portraits below are what I am printing this week and will probably be in the show, I might also include 2 or 3 more (including a closed eye boxer portrait shot I do not have a scan of).

Finally Found A Great Timer

I have been searching for years to find a really good darkroom enlarger timer. I always have trouble fumbling around in the dark trying to turn on the enlarger for focusing or trying to set the beeping tone (or turn it off), trying to find the itty bitty foot pedal used on some of my old timers has also been a pain in the butt.

I finally found a great timer with nice big buttons (especially the focus/expose button) that are easy to find and adjust in the dark, it also has a large foot pedal. I bought a second of these units last week to use with my 8x10 enlarger, I only have to change out the foot pedal and the 8x10 enlarger will be as easy to use as my Saunders LPL 4x5 . Printing is now that much easier, you get the right tools and everything flows smoother!

The timer is the :

SAUNDERS/LPL DIGITAL ENLARGING TIMER ET-500 & LPL ENLARGING TIMER FOOT SWITCH.

Pulling An All Nighter

The last 2 nights in the darkroom my first days off work after a week of 12 hour security shifts, went poorly. I seem to struggle on my first days off to get anything of substance accomplished. I usually can develop film effectively (mindless work) but when I have to think and make prints I struggle. Tonight thou things seem to be going better, maybe I am more rested and focused now.

I was unsure if I would include my 4x5 head and upper body shots in the show but I think I will do that now. I am working on a print of a young boxer with his eyes closed, a tight head shot with a very shallow depth of field. I find I like the solemnity of the expression. I remember Jock Sturges advising me to sometimes shoot people with their eyes closed, how it gives a insight to the soul (paraphrasing). I think that's very true, the closed eye boxer portrait is effective, I also have a open eye version but I think I will use the closed eye photo in the show.

I also plan on printing several more heads or 1/2 bodies. I will do other boxers, slum children and also a lady who worked at the slum market. A show with a combination of these 4x5 portraits along with the 35mm more documentary style photographs should work well together.

When I go to work on the garbage dump family portraits next year, I plan on using these same 2 formats, they are very different but both have wonderful strengths to them if your doing things right.

Well going to have a quick meal of pork chops then back in to the dark to continue with the heads. Its been a good night so far.

Over Printing

I looked over some of my dried prints from last week and feel I overprinted them a bit. I need to lighten the photographs and maybe tone down the contrast some. I might also be over bleaching the highlights a bit. Its a fine line between a great looking print and a overdone process that looks harsh and artificial.

I will try reprinting last weeks images a bit softer and see what I like best later on. I also have several new prints I need to get to. Hopefully this week I can print 5 new works along with the 2 reprints. If I can do all of that it will have been a good week.

Printing is a real artform, something that is integral to the whole creative process in my opinion.

Quotes: Sebastiao Salgado

"I believe that photography is a universal language. It has an incredible power to transmit an idea."

This next quote by Salgado is right on the money, its why I make photographs."

"I don't want to create a bad conscience for those people who look at my photographs. What I want to show is a reality that we can look at and try to understand, participate, and try to see if we can change the way of life everywhere and live a little bit better. Of course, it's a very idealistic point of view but I think it is possible."

Looking Forward To Monday

It has been a tough week at work of snow, ice and cold. Everything here in Edmonton seems so much colder after the 9 days I recently spent in California, the temperature here in Edmonton has hovered around -19C all week. I am quite excited thou because I only have tonight and tomorrow and then I have a whole week of printing ahead of me. I want to continue to print my solo show which opens in March but I also want to make a few fun prints of images I have looked at recently, especially 2 shots made with the Banarama 2 and direct flash. One shot is of a young boy pulling a cart at night over the border into Thailand and the other is of Nit shot on the street in Bangkok at night. 

Nit is a freelance sex worker who has worked the Thai Western sex scene dating back to the to when she was 16 and danced in a patpong gogo bar, she is now in her early 50s. I have asked to photograph her in her home but she is not keen on the idea, next trip to Thai I will ask her again. She separates her life in the Western sex scene and her home life and does not allow those paths to cross, maybe in the future she might trust me enough to  allow me to photograph her with her family at her home. I would love to see that other side of her and to try to understand more about who she is as a person, as a mother etc.

Book Of Photographer Essays

Am reading a very good book of photographer stories written by Vicki Goldberg, I picked it up for $15 recently in San Francisco. So far I have read her essay on Avedon and am now polishing off Brassai and Daido Moriyama.

Here is a link to the book, it's highly recommended:

Vicki Goldberg 
Light Matters: Writings on Photography

http://www.amazon.ca/Light-Matters-Photography-Vicki-Goldberg/dp/1931788634

Quotes: Brassai

Speaking of photographing amongst the dangerous small time hoods and pimps of night time Paris.

"My passion for capturing these pictures made me almost oblivious to danger."

Speaking of making a portrait.
 
"You must look into their eyes and see whats inside of them, but then you must look away because they don't like that."

"When I do a persons portrait, I like to photograph the immobility of the face, so as to refer each of us back to his own solitude. The mobility of the face is always an accident. I search for what is permanent."

Quote: Richard Avedon

"In the end everything fades, children go off and have their own lives. Marriages, love, sex, everything diminishes. Work does not."

Lovely Diann Arbus Print

I did not remember this photograph but loved it at the Pier 24 show, the beauty, independence, softness and vulnerability of the girl is captivating.

White

Well I am safely back home from my time in San Francisco and it is back to security guard world tonight.

One of the things I noticed when looking at so many gelatin silver prints this last trip was that even the great photographers have problem printing white tones (or their assistants have trouble printing their bosses negs). Richard Avedon, Diann Arbus and Michael Kenna all had blocked or partially blocked up whites in their prints. Kenna's whites  were very nicely handled and might have been by choice but with the other 2 I got the feeling they just let the whites go bright white because that was the only option they had when printing because of blown up blocked whites in the negs.  Printing in the pre multigrade paper printing days (where you can burn at lower contrasts) the whites would have been especially hard to handle.

It is good to know that we all can have similar problems with whites, it makes these photo gods I admire so much seem more human.

81 And Going Strong

David Goldblat is 81 and going strong! Wouldn't that be wonderful, to be 81 and still planning and making new photographs. Mr. Goldblat is currently working on a series of portraits of people who commit crimes, the portraits are made at the scene of their crime (crime is currently a big problem in South Africa and effects everyone).

I hope I can be in as good a shape and creating important photographs at that age, wouldn't that be an amazing gift, here's hoping.

Great Photography Day

I had a great photography day today here in San Francisco. It started out with my third 2 hour trip to Pier 24, after that I visited the 49 Geary photography galleries and the night ended at theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) to hear a free talk given by the outstanding South African photographer David Goldblat (81 years old).

Some of the highlights of my day was looking at the Avedon's American West photos up close and personal only inches from my eyes, a vintage Edward Weston 1927 shell print  (at 49 Geary) valued at $1 500 000. Finally I heard Mr. Goldblat speak with amazing compassion and humanity about the  people he photographed.

A truly powerful and meaningful Thursday November 29th.

Books

I picked up a bunch good photo books this trip, including:

Sebastian Salgado's "Exodus"
Harry Callahan's "Elenor"
Lewis Hines "And The American Social "Conscience"
Bruce Haley's "Sunder"
Vicki Goldberg's "Light Matters: Writing on Photography
and 5 Aperture magazines

Pier 24 Show

I am in San Francisco, yesterday I saw the show of my life! The Pier 24 how was frickin awesome! I was very inspired after viewing the photographs, it was all so exciting to see this world class work.

I loved the Richard Avedon "American West" photographs, they had such depth to them, plus a wonderful warm human tone to the prints. Viewing the Diann Arbus work was  stunning, what a great photographer. Arbus has been criticized for seeking out the freak factor in her subjects but the more time I look at her imagery the more humanity I find.

I saw some other great work including Strand's "Blind Woman", Evan's "Alabama Tenant Farmers Wife", Brassai's "A Prostitute Playing Russian Billiards" and August Sander's "Boxer's". The show also led to the discovery of several new photographers who I will now study more.

I enjoyed this show so much I am going to take two more trips to the gallery, one tomorrow and one on Thursday.

Great times!!!

August Sander

Brassai

Paul Strand

Walker Evans

Going Simple In San Francisco

Well I am off to San Francisco in a few hours, I want to keep everything simple photographically this trip. I will travel with 1 Leica M6 and 1 lens (tri-elmar 28-35-50 F4) along with a bag of Tri-x.  Going simple like this I can concentrate on my photographs and forget about all the gadgetry. I just want to see, feel and make pics.

I was printing some 35mm work this last week and I found I really loved the look and grain of the small negs enlarged to 16x20. The grain, contrast and look of these prints is really exciting to me again. Years ago all I shot was 35mm b/w and I am back shooting in that way again, I guess we always go back to our roots. Going back to the way we shot when we first fell in love with photography seems a natural to me.

This San Fran trip should be a blast, I want to see lots of photography shows, want to make pictures with my Leica and hopefully catch the David Goldblat lecture. I am not sure how much blog stuff I will do so there might be a lull.

Anyway, going to get a bit of rest before my flight.

Ladyboy Submission Proposal "Ying-Chai"

"What is male, what is female?"

I have been thinking a lot over the last few weeks of the reasons behind my making of the ladyboy photographs. Sometimes when you create its a process of the unwilling, its like you are not sure why your doing it but you know its what you need to do, what you have to do. I believe my photography of ladyboys through the years is an attempt to understand their (and our) duality of person. It was a search for,  a need to try to understand the dual female and male roles we all play.

Everyone to a degree has male and female characteristics and influences, the ladyboy just has a more pronounced  way of showing it. They have a mixing, a sameness and blending of sexual and personal roles, a connection that combines both their female and the male parts. This is what I was trying to understand and express in my photographs. By working with them I was in search of a greater understanding of what roles males and females play and how those roles affect who we are, who I am.

I will make a submission to the AGA and elsewhere that deals with these feelings, with these themes. I will call it Ying-Chai  (Pooying = Female in Thai, and Poochai means Male in Thai).

Fascinating Documentary

Got this documentary from the library today on the artist Gehard Richter, fascinating stuff.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1982113/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y685hA65x1E

Last For A While Ladyboy 2012 Scans

Going to take a bit of a break before developing the final bit of 8x10 film from this series. Here are a few more scans from what I have developed so far.

Some More 8x10 Ladyboy Sex Worker Scans From 2012

Here are a few more scans, some are of the same subjects as earlier. I still have undeveloped film (30% left?) of in the darkroom but am taking a break in developing that up after I lost my Jobo. I only have my backup Jobo left that I got cheap, I am not sure how good the machine is so I want to develop the rest of the 8x10 SLOWLY!

I will spend the rest of the day printing my Kaasa Gallery Klong Toey Portrait show. Am working on a print of a boxer named Bell that I shot with the Banarama 2 camera and direct flash onto 4x5 Tri-x. I want to work more with this camera as the Weegee/Diane Arbus look of the negs is something I have always loved. The camera allows you a huge negative and creates a unique spotlight feel with the direct harsh flash. I can print the 4x5 negs large-large for added effect.

Anyway here are the 8x10 ladyboy sex worker scans shot in February of this year: