Quote: Leonardo da Vinci

"A work of art dies not."

Quote: Cornell Capa

The photographer and founding director of the International Center of Photography (ICP) is remembered for his notion of the "Concerned Photographer", one who has a commitment to bettering humanity through photography.

"It took me some time to realize that the camera is a mere tool, capable of many uses...and at last I understood that, for me, its role, its power, and its duty are to comment, describe, provoke discussion, awaken conscience, evoke sympathy."

From B&W magazine, page 14, Issue 61.

Starting To Like Poetry

I have never read much poetry before but a week back I got some books from the library and have been studying various poets. I am sort of going through a self taught history of poets. I quite like the ambiguity, familiarity and beauty of poetry, I seem to be able to relate to so much of it, no matter when it was written or by whom. It is beguiling, and addictive.

Photographer Daido Moriyama said this about photography, but it can be applied to poems as well.

"I think the most important thing that photography can do is to relate both the photographer and the viewers memories."

"At first sight a photograph looks straightforward as it slices off a scene or a moment in time. But the images that photography captures are actually ambiguous. And it's because of this ambiguity that I like photography."

Magazine Dedicated To My Father?

Next year I plan to start working on the book I want to dedicate to my father. Tonight thou I thought why not do magazine #3 as a dedication to dad. I could do all 20 mag pages to be about dad. I think I will need to do both contacts and individual shots for this mag idea. Not sure if I should have random shots or maybe I can have a contact sheet beside a chosen selected favourite image. This idea will require more time and more scanning on my part but I have most of the recent dad negs available so there would not be much searching for negs time. Every morning after work I could do a bit of scanning then edit on the laptop at night.

Tonight

Well after a nice rest I went to visit my father and we had a nice talk with mom. I guess today in the daytime dad peeled a 10lb bag of potatoes. He wants to get make some pyogies for Christmas and needed the potatoes peeled. I asked dad if he wanted to do another series of large format studio portraits the next time I am off work. If he wants to do another series then we will, if not thats OK also. Dad shaved off his moustache so looks a bit different, he is also thinner than last time round so the photos will be quite different looking. I do not want to burden him to much, the stairs would be difficult for him (my flash studio with white background is downstairs in his home). I will leave it up to him. This would probably be the last time I photograph him in studio if it happens.

Now I am back home and plan to spend the night fine printing and scanning the contacts I made last night. I want to scan all the contacts and then transfer the files to my laptop so I can work on the magazines at work this week. My goal is to make the 3rd mag and redo parts of the first 2 in the coming work week. When I work security at nights I have some time to do that sort of thing. If I can get all 3 mags finished by the end of next week I can order them all together. I am unsure if you can order 3 different mags at the same time to save on shipping or if you have to do each order separately and pay more.

I hope I can also finish up one fine print tonight, a neg I was working on earlier in the week. I also want to start working on a second neg of a young girl sitting in her dump home. I have so much work to do and not enough time for it all.

Dad from our last large format shoot, around March 2014

Quote: Elizabeth Barret Browning (Poet)

"What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?"

Link: Couldn't Resist

I bought another photo book for $49.50 CAD plus tax (free shipping). I am a huge fan of Paul Strand, I love stories about his all encompassing devotion towards photography, how he tried to print in the darkroom when almost blind, when minutes after returning home from eye surgery he picked up his camera and starting to shoot again. No one was more motivated than this man, I could learn so much there.

Strand is a huge inspiration for me, his large format portrait work has taught me so much. When I think about what's possible with a large format camera and people,  when I think of love and complete commitment to photography, I think of Mr. Strand. I feel in my heart of hearts if he can make those kinds of photos so can I, his work drives me forward, chasing the dream.

Here is the write up blurb from the  book advert:

Through his amazing variety of innovative images, photographer Paul Strand (1890–1976) played a crucial role in establishing the medium's significance as a modern art form. Celebrating the Philadelphia Museum of Art's recent acquisition of the core collection of Strand's prints from the Paul Strand Archive, this stunning book comprehensively reassesses the artist's career in light of current scholarship and critical debates about his work. Featuring more than 250 plates, the catalogue includes many of Strand's iconic early photos such as Wall Street and Blind Woman alongside lesser-known master prints from all phases of his career.
 
Discussing the artist’s prolific career, from his emergence in Alfred Stieglitz's circle in New York in the early part of the century to his years spent working abroad in places such as Mexico, France, Italy, and Africa, Peter Barberie positions Strand as a remarkably independent modernist whose priorities shifted at several points and often ran counter to prevailing trends. Amanda N. Bock focuses on the years 1930–50, when Strand thoroughly explored the role of politics in modern art and relentlessly sought to identify the greater purposes of photography and filmmaking. The edited transcript from a roundtable discussion among key scholars touches upon many aspects of Strand's various projects from the 1930s to the 1960s. A detailed chronology brings to light new information about the life and work of an extraordinarily important and influential 20th-century photographer. 

Here is a link to Paul Strand's newest book (250 plates):

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0300207921/ref=pe_358330_127305010_em_ti

Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photography

Struggling Along

I feel like I am struggling along tonight int he darkroom. I am working on a bunch of 11x14 contacts for magazine #3. I am also selecting some prime negative strips to do up my 16x20 contact I plan on exhibiting in the show. I will then make up a 16x20 contact on RC paper. Am struggling a bit to stay motivated, this sort of thing is not as much fun as actually making a real fine art print. I should probably be doing fine exhibition printing instead of this contact stuff. I guess it is all necessary thou, step by step builds the show cathedral. I need the mags as part of the exhibition and I need the 16x20 show contact as well. When it comes to anything related to this exhibition it's me, myself and I doing it all. If I do not do it then nothing happens, no show, no stories told, nothing.

1) I shoot the photographs
2) I develop the film
3) I make the contacts
4) I print the fine art prints
5) I mat and frame the work
6) I shoot and edit my video sequence
7) I make up the 3 magazines
8) I finance everything from my security money

I need to work harder and put more hours in, I am running out of time, 2 months and 3 weeks to show time!! I am lucky to have a friend like Larry and his wife Joanna who are encouraging me down this path, sometimes thou its a lot to deal with it all, especially now with everyone so worried about dad. Well back into the dark!

Update* I should also give some credit to my online friend James A, thanks James. Your encouragement "Families of the Dump"over the last year has been helpful and inspiring.

2nd of 6 attempts to make a good looking 16x20 enlarged contact sheet for exhibition

Quote: Walt Whitman

"And your very flesh shall be a great poem"

A Good Night

On nights like this I feel a great deal of relief, I can work calmly and effectively on my photo projects. When I went to visit my father tonight, I showed him the magazines and we had a nice talk about many things along with mom. Dad was in relatively good shape, his mind was sharp, his memories clear and his over colouring and look was quite good. On Monday he made some pyrogies and others foods for the coming Christmas dinner and today he was talking about trying to make a couple loafs of fresh bread. Dad says the one thing he really misses making is his bread, he was always proud and rightfully so of making many beautiful types of bread. He used to display dozens and dozens of loafs to me proudly before he would take them off to the farmers market to sell.

It was a good day, days like today help me feed my denial, today I feel dad will be with us for a long time yet. Before I hoped for another Christmas together but now I am starting to hope for our joint birthday in April (we share the same birthday). That 83rd birthday is still almost 5 months away which is a very long long time for someone with advanced pancreatic cancer.  Our next birthday is to much to ask for so will I hope we can have one last family Christmas together next month.

Anyway today was a good day for dad and so it's a good night for me.

Working On Enlarged Contacts

I am doing up some enlarged contacts tonight of various neg sheets from the past. I want to make up a second contacts style magazine, this will be my 3rd different layout, my third different mag. I want to show a variety of work from the past through these 2-20 page contact mags. I am hoping we can get some important folks showing up on the exhibitions opening night and this is my chance to show them a variety of my work, not just the dump and dad photos. Hopefully we can get some press coverage as well as some important art folk form the province attending.

I also want to do up a 16x20 contact sheet that I plan on exhibiting as one of my 15 show prints from the dump. It will be a contact made up of some of my favourite neg strips and will show before and after exposures of some of the photographs in the exhibition. I will mark up the  enlarged exhibited 16x20 (RC paper?) contact with different coloured grease pencils to give it the feel of the real thing. This is a bit of arty farty nonsense but I think it will allow viewers more of an insight into the process of documentary film based photography. Contact sheets from b/w film based photography is something many of the viewers might have little or no experience with. It will also be a counterpoint to Larry's more modern digital working methods.

Link: Drank Himself To Death

I do not not usually post news stories, but found this story sad and a bit pathetic. I guess a Western male (farang in Thai) 38 year old former Oxford graduate lost $344 000 CAD to fraud committed by a girl from a Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) bar then drank himself to death. He was found 2 days later by cleaning staff in his room. A man dying that way forgotten and unloved,  it is such a sad wasted life. The girl from the bar seems to have taken his money and ran, leaving this guy to rot in his room after suicide by whiskey bottle. Sometimes it is not only the worker who is the victim, the bars can be a complex not so easily classified-explained world.

If I do the series on gay sex tourists, gay sex workers in Thailand, I need to tell a more complete story. I have to factor in the tourists story as well, in many ways they are just as damaged souls. I would not want to paint them only in simplistic bad guy terms but instead in a more complex truly human form.

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1415965690

Video: Magazine #2 Quite Happy!

Today I received magazine #2 a 20 page series of scans of marked contact sheets I quite like. On a scale of 1 to 10 this would get around a 8. The cover is a tad dark but the rest of the contact pages work nicely.  This thing feels so good I am thinking of expanding this version for the exhibition or making an entirely new third magazine of other contacts (probably the best way to go). With contacts if they are to contrasty or to dark or light thats OK, it adds to the arty farty feel of the whole thing. It helps create the illusion I am an artiste!!

The big difference this time around is the quality of the paper. When I originally read about it the paper was described as having a matt finish, a surface I am not that fond of in the darkroom printing photo paper world. In blurb magazine world this matt paper kicks ass over the cheaper ($1 per mag) glossy stuff.

This is going to work for the show. I will have to make some minor changes and then will probably print out 3 versions of magazines on the matt paper for the big event. These things will not be in the class as the catalogs Larry will have printed but they are affordable for me and still half decent looking, I do not need to be embarrassed by their quality.

My plan is to:

1) redo of the original photo edition, lightning several photos, adjusting contrast down,  have 2 mags printed.
2) second printing of this contact sheet version with slight changes to lighten the cover,  have 2 mags printed.
3) make an entirely brand new 3rd magazine of contact sheets. 2 mags printed for the show. This would take quite a bit of additional time to create. I will have to find more 11x14 contacts worth scanning or print more on RC paper.

I am not sure I need 2 copies of each but if by some semi miracle a mag sells ($15) it would be good thing to have a second copy available for viewing. Printing everything should cost around $65 or $80 USD, a good cheap price.

Another rather strange thing is the blacks are good (a true black) on the cover and on the interior pages on this latest version. Last time round the cover had a bluish tinge to it. I wonder if this difference is because the first time I went with the Canadian version of  Blurb (blurb.ca) and the second time opted for the American (blurb.com)?

Here is a short video of me flipping through the new mag:

Here is a higher quality Vimeo.com version link:

https://vimeo.com/111920551

Photo Story: Klong Toey Self Portrait

This self portrait was made in the Muay Thai boxing gym in Klong Toey slum Bangkok. The photo was made with a Leica M6 and probably a 28mm F2 lens on Tri-x. The gym is a great place to make photographs and I intend to go back many times in the coming years. When I made this photo I was creating only using the Leica's which is a very freeing experience, just my small body cameras, my Tri-x and me! Love it!!

Muay Thai boxing gym Klong Toey slum, Bangkok Thailand 2012

Photo Story: Nit On Toilet

I have photographed Nit maybe a dozen times through the years. I will try to photograph her again with the blad and ring flash next trip. This photograph I believe was made around 2003, it was shot with a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex and on Agfa Optima 120 film with direct flash. The pic was made in a short time room washroom, it was actually made after our shoot was over, and is probably one of the better more honest photographs I have made of Nit. I like the blunt straight forward feel to the photograph, there is a rawness to it that speaks of her life.  This image was cleaned up a bit in photoshop, the actual colour neg has some damage to it (missing emulsion).

Nit sex worker in short time room washroom, Bangkok Thailand 2003

Note* Short time sex rooms are rooms rented by the hour, they are are often used by sex tourists in Bangkok or by local Thai men to take workers to.

Here is a link to an earlier photo story on Nit:

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.ca/2014/05/photo-story-nit-48-sex-worker-thailand.html

Newest Collective Member And Club Thoughts

We added another strong documentary photographer to the Edmonton photographers collective I belong to, his name is Pieter  De Vos. This is a great group to belong to because everyone is so photo creation oriented, the main reason we meet is to help each other become better photographers. Many photo clubs and groups are made up of non devoted newbies or old bucks set in their ways, they seem to produce no photography of any importance or uniqueness. Producing original work is very hard, so it's easier to follow everyone else and do what they do. The most important thing thou as a group or as an individual is that you need to at least try, you need to make your best effort at creating. My Achilles heal when it comes to groups is that when I am around people that do not even try, I lose patience and interest. You got to at least make an effort, try to make photographs, try to have your own unique voice. Photo clubs should be more than social drinking and get together groups, they should actually make photographs!

I should not be to harsh on the old buck photo crowd, old buck is a group I am now entering. When you get older your limited physically in what you can do. The problem is when the limits are not only placed on your body but also on your mind and imagination. I hope as I become an older and older buck I am still open to creating in new and exciting ways, trying to think outside the box and not following the pack, not following the rules. Most older people tend to become more and regimented by rules and regulations as they age, sometimes it's important to throw all rules out the window and just have some fun creating. Pretend your a child again, look at the world with fresh new eyes. Remember, no rules, HAVE FUN!

After I type this I am going to go into the darkroom and print using an enlarger I got free from group member Jack for an important exhibition with Larry at his gallery also from the collective.

Check out our newest member Pieter's website here:

http://www.pieterdevos.ca

Quote: Jim Marshall

"When I am photographing people, I don't like to give any direction. I react to my subjects in their environment, and if it's going well, I get so immersed in that I become one with the camera."

Jim Marshall at Woodstock where he worked with 6 Leica's

You can see Mr. Marshall walking in the background of this very famous Santana moment at Woodstock. Marshall is visible at during Carlos Santana's guitar solo at 4 minutes into the video.  You can see him working with his 6 Leica's (must have been heavy!). Incidentally if you ever want to under the 60s watch the entire Woodstock documentary, it is the 60s incarnate. I wish I could have photographed in the 60s, the civil rights movement, the music festivals and most importantly in Vietnam.

Soul Sacrifice, Santana At Woodstock

Quote: Dorothea Lange

"I believe in living with the camera, and not using the camera. Suddenly, if you are working a lot, it takes over and then you see meaning in everything. You don't have to push for it. That's what I mean by the visual life. Very rare."

Magazine Produces Mixed Feelings

I got back the magazine I ordered from Blurb.ca today, I feel mixed on its quality.. Some of the shots are to dark others are dark but a nice looking high contrast dark. The inner pages have acceptable blacks but the cover and back pages have a bluish tinge to the inks (just like in the Blurb books). Not sure why  b/w photos look different on the cover and inside. The thing I like least about the mag is the wrinkly cheap quality of the glossy and very thin economy pages. On a scale of 10 I think I would give the magazine a 6 or 6 1/2.

I have decided its worth a second try and will send in my first contact sheet design mag today.This time I will try out their higher premium page paper. These premium paper mags run $6.99 USD versus $4.99 for the economy page version.

Overall I am a a bit disappointed with it all, I guess you always hope for more. After attempt 2 I will decide whether to chuck the whole thing or print up more copies for the exhibition. I doubt anyone would want to buy these things but it might still be a nice accessory, something for people to leaf through at the show. I could show the visitors a larger varied sample of the photos I have made. I think Larry is going to print up some nice but expensive catalogs of his work. I cannot afford to do a big printing from a real offset printing company so have to make due with what I can get on the cheap.

Lets give this a second try and see how it works out.

Update* Just ordered the mag, cost including rather expensive shipping is $15.73 USD. The cost on these things is cheap enough to give it a second go, thou I anticipate I will probably be a bit disappointed again.

Still Haunted

As I drove around through the night snow at my security work site my mind flashed back to 2003. I am still haunted by the pictures I made that year in a Cambodian brothel. The faces of the Vietnamese workers still churn inside my mind making me think back to those lives. It has been 11 years now but I cannot forget those faces.

I need to do the "Lost Innocence" project, it will be difficult and dangerous but I cannot live with myself if I do not try to tell those stories. I want to work a little towards that, make a start at it next trip. My current thinking on how to document that world is to make square format Hasselblad ring flash head shots. Then take those negs, convert them to positives before making large ambrotypes in the darkroom (something I have never done before). I am thinking to use large 15x15 black or ruby red glass for this project. Each ambrotype would be a head shot with space around it of a girl who works a brothel in Asia. If I cannot make the ambrotypes I will just print the photos large on warmtone fiber.

The photos would document the workers "Lost Innocence", the theme would be the destruction of their lives because on the perversion they are forced to live through. I want to humanize these forgotten women. I want to hit the viewer with a sledgehammer, make them feel guilty and force the these lost lives down their throats. Indifference by those that view the work is not an option, I want to force feed them the imagery until they vomit compassion and empathy.

Showing the pictures in conjuction with written personal stories or video interviews with the workers would give added impact to an exhibition or book. More thought needed.

To Many Camera's. To Many Projects. What To Do? How To Do It?

I have a dilemma to many camera's. I do not mean I own to many, which I might. I mean I want to take to many cameras with me to Asia to work on to many different photo project.Here is a rundown on the current possible camera and project combinations for the next trip.

- Leica's, possibly 4 cameras, 3 M6 range finders (3 or 2?) and 1 R6 body with 21mm F2.8, 28mm F2 (?), 35mm F1.4 and 60mm F 2.8 lens. I would use these cameras to continue many different photo projects,"Families of the Dump", "Muay Thai Boxer", "Klong Toey Slum", "Migrant Worker",  "Lost Innocence" plus projects in Cambodia and Nepal.

- Linhof 5x7, 120mm lens F8, 210mm F.6 (?). I want to use up my supply of outdated 5x7 Tri-x. I would use the view camera to do portraits in "Families of the Dump", "Muay Thai Boxer", "Klong Toey Dump", "Khon Thai", "Migrant Worker" plus projects in Cambodia and Nepal.

- Hasselblad with 80mm lens, 55mm (?) , ring flash. I would use the blad to work on "Lost Innocence", "Muay Thai Boxer", "Families of the Dump".

- Canon 5D Mark II with 24mm F1.4, 24mm-70mm F.2.8 (?). No film needed which is a big bonus, no carrying heavy bags in Thailand, no worries about X-rays etc. I want to become better with this tool in the future, so I think it is almost a must take next trip. I can use it for most every project I am interested in, plus the unnamed gay sex tourist relationship project. Hmm what about a title like "Bought Love" or "" something like that might work. When I figure out a name the project is closer to being in the go for it category.

-Banarama (adapted Polaroid conversion camera) 4x5 with flash? I love several of the ladyboy portraits I made with this camera in 2010 and would like to do more in that series. The harshness of the direct flash look with large negative appeals to me. It is a look I have loved for years, so much like Arbus and Weegee.

- The new and cheap Olympus Pee EE? If I find I love this camera it might be another to add. It would take up almost no room and be very light so it could turn into a no brainer also. To shoot a more free less traditional compositional abstract style.

If you add up all the camera bodies, it would be like 9 machines!!! Plus a possible 10 lens. That is completely nuts! You got to add in a tripod (tripods?), heavy bags of film (35mm, 120, 4x5 and 5x7), spot meter (meters?), reflector etc.

If I go for 6 months taking a bunch of cameras is not a big deal, the problem is if I go for 7 weeks only, what do I take? What do I leave behind? I guess it comes down to which photo projects will take priority. At least 2 Leica range finders are a must in every scenario, the rest of these cameras are on the  bubble. The problem I am facing is I love so many looks in photography and love making pictures so much. Each camera system seems to add something unique that I love. I want to do everything all the time.

I need to focus more on certain tools, if I jump around from camera system to camera system I am doing no better than the folks I criticize who jump from film to film. I need to make simple choices and move on from there. I think I am being overly influenced by the toys of photography, all the shiny bells and whistles. I need to control and limit what I am trying to do. Only then will I be able to make great truly expressive photography.

Bought An Olympus Pen EE

I bid on a auction of untested cameras (they look in great shape), not much of an investement. Will be fun to play with them even if they do not work. The Olympus Pen EE is most intriguing of the 3 I won, the grand cost total including import taxes and shipping $55 CAD.  Will try shooting the Pen EE the week it arrives from the States and post some scans on the blog. Thanks James in San Diego for turning me onto this camera.

Update* You got to love the internet, I was able to find PDF file manuals for all 3 cameras in seconds and print them out for later use. The web is a great resource, tonight I got an email from a new friend and learned about the camera, bought the recommended camera on EBay cheap then picked up the manual for free.

Update* Just checked my billing for these cameras, it was only $36.13 CAD not $55, gosh that's pretty cheap.

Olympus Pen-ee, Kodak Signet 40 and Petri 7

Swedish Photographer Martin Bogren

I just checked out the link James sent me. Martin Bogren is a wonderful photographer, please check out his website.

Martin Bogren

From the "Isola Series" by Martin Bogren

From the " Isola Series" by Martin Bogren

From the "Tractor Boys Series" by Martin Bogren

James The Second, A Nice Email

I got a nice email tonight from another man named James, this James is from San Diego. I am glad the videos are having a positive impact, I need to do a better job producing them in the future. Making vids are another positive way to promote photography, to teach and to show the joys of the darkroom.

James made a camera suggestion in his email that I need to check out. I am looking for something new that might work for me. I spent $86.41 CAD to ship my GR-21 back to Japan today. Unfortunately the LCD on the camera was malfunctioning, I am told I will get a full refund ($950 USD). Hopefully I can get my money back (minus my return shipping charges) and reinvest it some way. After doing some research I found out the GR-21 cannot be repaired so its probably not a good idea to buy another one unless it is near mint condition.

Maybe I can use the camera James suggested, here is his kind email.

--------------------
Gerry- I've just spent the last 30 min watching all your videos, and I'm about 10 pages into your blog and I wanted (or rather just HAD to) send you a quick note of thanks. I realize that there aren’t many of us darkroom printers left out there, and your video series on the process is one of the rare ADVANCED series out there and I would like to encourage you to do more. Just watching the process of building masks etc got me in the darkroom tonight. ..so again thank you.
Also, in regards to your Ricoh purchase and your reasoning for it, have you ever shot with a Olympus Pen 1/2 frame? I have several (the Penn EE which can be had for a song these days and 2 copies of the Pen FT) and the fact that you get 72 shots per roll really has freed me up to burn film… its also great for accenting grain because of the enlargement. With the Pen EE and Tri X, Ive found the images have a certain 1950s look that I find interesting. Its worth looking into if for nothing else than they’re so cheap. I learned about them from dissevering a Swedish photographer named Martin Bongren( http://www.martinbogren.net) who has this dark, grainy, blurry style that I find interesting (and inspiring). Anyways, just a thought.
  Thanks again for your blog and your videos…Ive booked marked them all and will keep reading.

Cheers,
James -----
San Diego, CA USA

------------------------

UPDATE* I placed a EBay bid on a Olympus Pen EE camera, a max bid of $11 USD, let's see if I get it.

Links: The Mexican Suitcase

I got turned on to this tonight by Ted Forbes on his YouTube site "The Art of Photography". The suitcase is a long lost forgotten series of photographs made by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and Chim (David Seymour). This is a great story with some interesting if not great photography.

Here is a link to the work from International Center of Photography in New York.

http://museum.icp.org/mexican_suitcase/

Here is the link to the "The Art of Photography" video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KympSgVknO4

Quote: T.S. Eliot

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Pic Used

Not sure if this was posted before. One of my photos used in a story discussing the differences between sex workers and sex slavery.

http://str8talkchronicles.com/sex-work-is-different-from-sex-slavery-aver-carnal-toilers-videos

More And More Workshops

As I wrote about earlier I had another darkroom workshop last weekend. Kelly came up from Calgary to learn some darkroom techniques that she plans to teach to teach to students in Calgary. This is a win,win, win thing, promoting photography, getting more people doing analog photos and I get a bit of doe $100 to invest back into my personal photography. Kelly is going to take the view camera course in the next few months so that will help as well.

I wish could get students for workshops each and every week I am off security shifts, it would help so much with providing additional funds for future picture making. These workshops have become popular and all the students seem to take multiple workshops. I am not sure if I am charging to little or just doing a good job , they learn a lot have fun and want to come back for more. Maybe in 2015 I need to raise the prices again by another $20 or so.

I still have not made my submission to do bigger classes in Edmonton's continuing education system. I just do not seem to have enough time to do everything I want at present, but it remains a distinct possibility for the future. Teaching has become a quite enjoyable thing for me, it has become a fun part time job.

Links: Plus A Good Idea

I got an idea sent to me today from my online friend  James. I think I might try to do this, below is his email with a great suggestion and several outstanding Sebastiao Salgado links. James idea is for me to speak about the prints that will be showing in the coming "Exposure" show, to tell the stories behind the photographs to give them greater impact and meaning. It seems like a wonderful idea to me, thou stepping out in front of the camera like Salgado does is a bit uncomfortable for me. I might try it but stay out of sight, talking from behind the camera, thou I am not sure that type of video would be as effective. In the past people have told me they love to here the stories behind the photographs, so making up vids of those stories along with the photographs and then placing everything on YouTube and Vimeo could give everything a much larger impact.

Here is James email and the wonderful Salgado links he sent me:

Gerry.

When you hang the prints on the wall for your upcoming exhibition, would it bee too much to take a couple of minutes to record and explain the prints kind of like this?

I believe it will be an effective way to help with your message.

James ....., ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw78bQXE1vI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1AG6s2tdb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1tDk24zHm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbSy42Cywd8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlL6k4lCuuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0iSbAFw0Vk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nwCsgVLJqE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ona8Qn5SARk

Mag Cover 2

Here is new design for the cover, a slight change, the head shots I think work a bit better.

Second Magazine Design Look

Here are some screen captures of the second magazine cover and interior pages. There will eventually be 22 image pages (including the 2 cover pages). I am not sure if I will keep what I have done so far or replace it. I am trying to put together an intriguing magazine that will be fun for the viewer to thumb through and explore. This will be a bonus for those that take time out of their lives to attend the "Life in the Margins" exhibition. Will try selling them at $15 making maybe a $5 profit per mag, that money (if any mags are sold) goes back directly into the photography.

Second Magazine Idea

I received Daido Moriyama's book "Labyrinth" today and it gave me an idea for my second magazine design. In the book Moriyama displays around 100 high contrast contact sheets. I thought why not do something similar? This afternoon when I got up I scanned 15-11x14 enlarged contacts and tonight I am designing them into a 20 page magazine. I am including contacts from the 2003 bargirl series, and the "Nepal", "People Under the Freeway", and "Families of the Dump" series. Still a fair amount to do on this as I have to do more scans and editing. If the first mag turns out OK, I will send this one off.

Here a link to the Daido Moriyama book that inspired this all, mine is was a cheaper used copy.

Daido Moriyama's Labyrinth

Quote: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lives of great men all remind us
        We can make our lives sublime,
    And, departing, leave behind us
        Footprints on the sands of time ;

A Psalm of Life by Longfellow 

Dad Ring Flash Portrait

Spent the morning and early afternoon working on a square format ring flash head shot of dad. I want to show 4 dad photos in the "Exposure Photo Festival" show, to be able to do that I need to print two vertical shots. One of the pics I was working on earlier in the week, it is a vertical blur 35mm. I will frame today's square format portrait in a vertical format and place it next to the 35 print. My other 2 dad shots will be horizontal available light 35mm pics of dad in bed. I need to track down one of those negs yet.

The ring flash creates an amazing light filled with detail from the sharp blad lens and large 120 Tri-x neg. This type of shooting seems to be the best way to do the "Lost Innocence" portraits. The light is very confrontational especially if you create a high contrast b/w print. It might be the ideal tool to tell the story of people who had lost all hope for a better future.

Anyway nuff darkroom work for today, I need take a nap before starting back on my nightshifts tonight.

Quote: Brittany Maynard (Death With Dignity Advocate)

"It is people who pause to appreciate life and give thanks who are happiest. If we change our thoughts, we change our world! Love and peace to you all,"

Brittany's Story

Advertising Posters For "Life in the Margins" Exhibition

Larry is going to be placing large advertisement posters in the windows of his shop on 124 street. These things are going to be very large, were hoping these large posters will pull people off the street into the gallery. Here is a rough layout of the posters. The beautiful design was done by Joanna, Larry's wife who has a real visual gift. The "Exposure Photo Festival" logo need to be changed up. The "Manilla Project" photos were made by Larry Louie, wonderful strong work.

Flash GR-21

Here is a GR-21 shot of dad with flash and very high contrast, a different photo for me, not sure it works but it's good to try and see in new ways.

New 35mm 200ASA Tri-x Shots Of Dad

I shot these photos of dad 2 days ago when I was preparing a film for the student to develop in the workshop. Leica M6 with 35mm F1.4 Tri-x exposed at 200AS. I adjusted the development a bit to bring down contrast as I will be printing in the Durst condenser enlarger.  D76 2/1 11 minutes 30 seconds 20C.

Mom told me dad got up early yesterday and was cooking an egg for himself when she woke up, so he is still able to do many things on his own. Real life for dad is not quite as bleak as these photos are interpreting.

Dad Shot With Blad

I tried something a bit different with dad over the last few weeks. I shot a film of 120 in a blad body with a wide angle 55mm lens. I used the blad with a monopod because I was shooting in lower light at slower shutter speeds 1/30 to 1/60 at F4 (widest aperture) with Tri-x rated at 200. Yesterday when I had Kelly in for her workshop she developed this film for me as part of the darkroom class.

The shots I made at 1/15 were blurred so 1/30th seems the lower end shutter speed I can use with this setup and still maintain sharp exposures, the monopod does not seem to be helping much, probably not worth using.

Use this photo in the "Life on the Margins" exhibition?

Quote: Philip Jones Griffiths

"The great thing about photography is you have to be there. I've got the negatives - I've got the originals - that prove I was there. I didn't make up the pictures. I didn't fake them in any way. Are they opinionated? Well, of course. When you look through a viewfinder, what you decide to look at is a subjective action."

Another Workshop

Had another workshop today, this one was a darkroom class for a lady student who came up from Calgary. I will put the $100 from today's effort into my photography savings account. $100 is not a lot of money but it will pay for 5 nights rent at my Mae Sot hotel where I can photographs the "Families of the Dump".

The whole workshop thing has turned into a good part time job for me. I have no other prospective students in the next while but hopefully the workshop ads will bring in some more students in the coming months. Today's student Kelly was my 4th female student along with probably 7-8 male students,  Most of the students have taken multiple workshops, I have done quite a few of these things now. They get easier to do with each passing student, hopefully I am becoming a better teacher a long the way.

Will take a nap now and then it is back into the dark to print the show.

Printing Dad And Larry's Sacrifice

Started working on my first of 4 or 5 dad pictures for the coming show. The first photo is a tight blurry head shot with plenty of grain. This picture is a bit of a departure for me but a photo type I want to continue to work with in the future. I think the photograph communicates the sadness and desperation a person feels when they are diagnosed with a terminal disease. There is a fear and solemnity to the picture that I think tells a tiny bit of what my father is going through. I thought I had better start working on the dad prints now when dad is still in relatively good shape, later on it might be to hard to print these images, to emotional for me to spend all those hours alone with dad in the dark.

My friend Larry made a rather extraordinary sacrifice for me. Originally we had planned to show the dad photos in a separate back room of the gallery but after that room proved to be unsatisfactory to hang photographs Larry told me that I could have a space in the main gallery, space that was previously for Larry's work. He is giving me a great gift, sacrificing showing his work to allow my father to be seen. It is hard to find good friends many times petty jealousies, unknown grievances and silly grudges destroy friendships. Thank you Larry for allowing my fathers story to be told.

Link: Printing Young Boy Inside Mae Sot Garbage Dump Video

Here is a high quality YouTube version of the "Young inside Mae Sot garbage dump" video that I posted yesterday. I now have 33 subscribers to my YouTube channel, did not realize that, not great but OK. In the future if I travel to Thai for extended periods I will be posting more videos from in the field. I want to make vids of the actual areas I shoot in and then post them while I am overseas on the blog, in Vimeo and YouTube. Maybe some kind of weekly video diary of some kind. All you need now is a digital camera a laptop plus internet access and you do so many wonderful things, tell so many important stories.

I rarely show my face in the vids I make, most people seem a bit obsessed with showing their moniker, like they are showing off or something. I prefer to remain anonymous just like with the whole fake Gerry Yaum name thing, the work is what's important not Gerry. If I start doing more and more vids thou, hiding in the shadows might become a bit silly, I will see how it goes, maybe in tribute to the coming Halloween I can where a ski mask or something : )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnqwe0MSums&feature=youtu.be

Stumbling and Bumbling Along

One interesting new feature with blurb books is the ability to sell your book on Amazon.com, that might be something to look towards in the future. It would be great if I could sell the work in book or magazine form a bit and then be able to put that money back into making new photos. My friend Larry told me tonight he sold several photographs recently, he sells his work often. Gosh if I could sell just one print a year I would be happy. It has been several years since I sold any work.

Larry is helping me with this group show next February but it seems all other outlets I have tried over the last couple of years has met with rejections. I got another rejection letter yesterday, this one from a gallery in Medicine Hat Alberta (the capital of high art). Heck I can't make it in Medicine Hat, how the hell am I ever eventually going to be shown in New York, London or Paris?  Back to baby steps with my work. I need to continue to do what I feel is right, continue to work hard and let the cards fall where they may.

I know I will make photographs the rest of my life, that I will continue to create and tell my own  personal stories. The most important thing is to work hard and disregard the all the negative stuff. I have a show coming and will work towards that, after the show I will make more pictures and hope for another exhibition. "Doo-Aye" in the dump needs her story told, my father needs his, "Long" and the workers in the bars of Thai need theirs as do "Bong" and the Muay Thai  boxers and "Jang" and the other residents of slums in Bangkok and elsewhere. Photographing these forgotten people and groups is the most important thing I do, so I will continue to do it. Screw everything else!

Ordered One Blurb Magazine

I ordered my exhibition magazine tonight from blurb.ca . The total cost was $15.73 CAD, most of that money was shipping related. Printing the mag cost $4.99, shipping was $9.99 and GST was .75. When you order 2, 3 or 5 mags the shipping cost is not that much more so your paying a premium on shipping for a single magazine. I only bought one today because I wanted to check the quality, see what it looks like. If everything is good I will order 4 or 5 for the exhibition.

There is a 12% discount if you order 20 or more magazines, thou I doubt I will do that. I might have 5 of them at the show marked at $15 a piece meaning I might make $6 or $7 dollar profit per magazine if any sold (doubtful). Larry will have nice printed catolog of images, so I wanted to have something to show people as well. One advantage of the mag is I can show non dump photos in it, to give people a flavour of the other photo series I am working on.

The magazine should arrive on or before November 14, when I see it I can decide what to do next. If the quality is crappy it might end there. What is more likely is that I will make changes and order a second single or possibly several next time around. I am not sure if the pics will be to dark (possibly), to contrasty or have some other issue, we will have to wait and see.

Quote: Gino Bartali (Cyclist)

"Good is something you do, not something you talk about, some medals are pinned to your soul, not to your jacket."

Dad The Cook

Dad has been doing better this week after having a minor procedure at the hospital the week before. Today he was chowing down on some A&W chubby chicken I bought him, he also ate part of a hamburger. The amazing thing I learned today was that dad made some cabbage rolls yesterday. For years dad was a cook at a farmers market here in Edmonton, making pyrogies, cabbage rolls 5 or 6 types of breads, pies, various deserts etc. Since he got cancer he was unable to do any cooking work but yesterday somehow he felt good enough to make some cabbage rolls (with moms help). When I went down to his house today he made sure mom gave me some cabbage rolls to take home. I joked with him about making pyrogies next, I was only joking but I think dad might give it a try. His appetite is much improved so that's a good sign, mom said he is eating lots of different types of food. Having him at home and eating all his favourites is helping dad, being around the family is also a positive for him. I think that if he was left in the hospital he would lost his will and his appetite and might already be gone. Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease but dad is 8 months in, 82 years old and still fighting on. I am starting to have some hope that dad might be able to make it to our next birthday, we share the same April birthday. Its a lot to ask, and still a long way off, probably to much hope for but if dad can make it he would be 83 and I would be 51. Christmas is less than two months away, that is a more achievable goal, I hope we can spend this christmas together at the house.

Video: Printing Young Boy In Mae Sot Garbage Dump

Here is todays darkroom effort, the photo is for my coming group show with Larry Louie entitled "Life in the Margins".

Steps to make this 5th attempt print:

Durst 1200 condensor enlarger with 50mm El-Nikkor lens, Bergger glossy photo paper, Dectol developer 1/1 for 4 minutes.

- 70 second basic exposure at f4, filter 1/2.
- Dodge boys face -10 seconds. Round dodge tool.
- Dodge back family figures -30 seconds. Round dodge tool.
- Burn all for edges +50 seconds. Card.
- Burning mask #1 + 100 seconds
- Burning mask #1 top edge holes +60 seconds. Use card and mask to burn area.
- Burning mask #1 smart dirt area on top +40 seconds. Use hand plus mask to burn area,
- Burning mask #2, f 2.8 and filter -1 + 200 seconds, lower area of bag in burn gets 100 seconds only,
  burn bright highlight on top of bags the total 200 seconds.

Current Magazine Layout

Here are some captures of the magazine layout, there might be changes. There will be no type in the magazine except the "Gerry Yaum" on the cover. I was thinking of not including my fake name but then I thought visitors might not understand that the magazine was connected with the show, so I decided to put Mr. Yaum in. There will be a total of 22 images in this 20 page (plus cover) magazine, the final cost of printing should be $4.99 plus shipping.

A Few Of Dad

Here are a few scans of dad I might put in the exhibition magazine. I don't think I posted these before, they were shot around July/August 2014.