Holga tintype.

So my Southern California weather is not cooperating with my project!  The last several months the weather here has been great:  sunny skies with little cloud interference.  Now that I'm starting to work on this series, our "June gloom" is setting in.  In June we end up with a marine layer setting in most of the day, which leaves our days mostly overcast.  This does not work well with my tintype project.

I find with the emulsion I'm using to coat my tins, the emulsion has been estimated at approximately ISO 50, which means it has a very low sensitivity to light and needs more light in order to expose an image correctly.  I have to set my Holga to "B," which stands for "bulb," meaning that the shutter will stay open as long as I have the shutter release button depressed.  Any faster shutter speed doesn't allow enough light into the camera to expose the tin.  So my images also have to be taken while the camera is secured on a tripod to minimize movement.

So when I go to shoot any image -- landscape/portrait/whatever -- I have to estimate the amount of time I hold the shutter release button down.  Too little time and the image turns out way underexposed; too much time and the image ends up way too light.  This actually is the reverse from regular photography because of the nature of the emulsion.

But this is all new territory for me, and I'm enjoying the trial-and-error process that is necessary in order to make this work.

Holga tintype series.

One of the interesting things I find about this tintype business is that all your images are reversed so that if you have some writing in the photo, it will appear backwards.  This is true of all the images; so when I look at a street scene I shot, everything is in reverse.

I'm trying this project out on people as well.  Because of the low ISO of the emulsion (how sensitive it is to light), I have to keep the shutter open longer than is normally possible for a crisp, focused image.  It's hard not to shake a bit, or the subject will move just a little.  But with this first portrait attempt, I'm realizing what I need to do to make it a stronger image:  first is to put the camera back on the tripod, and second I need to expose the image just a little longer.  When this tintype process, the longer the plate is exposed to light, the lighter the image becomes, which is completely reversed from normal darkroom work.

But I'm liking the ethereal quality of the image as a first try.  I will be working with more people, I can tell.

I've been able to slowly start working on my Holga tintype series.  Right now it's an arduous process.  The unexposed tins have to be loaded into the camera in a light-sealed condition.  Since I don't have a changing bag in order to change tins inside my camera on location,  I have to load the camera at home in my darkroom, go to the location, shoot, come back home and develop the exposed tin.  Then I can load up the camera again and repeat the process.

In addition, I recently took a nasty bump to my head and received a mild concussion -- just enough for my doctor to order me not to drive until the next appointment when I will be hopefully cleared.  So this makes me subject to the kindness of strangers for transportation to sites.

Now that I am seeing how this process works, and the results I am able to achieve, I will be working more on the artistic, poetic quality of the images.

More to come.

I've been searching for a photographic project to do just for the sheer enjoyment of doing it.  I've always been interested in experimental photography, and one process I've really gotten a lot of pleasure pursuing is tintype, which is the method of photography done back in the 1800's where photographs were exposed and printed on sheets of metal.  I do use an alternative emulsion as the original chemicals are extremely toxic and almost impossible to transport from place to place.  Using my method, I can coat any number of tins that I want, let them dry, put them in a box away from the light and go on my travels.  I change my plates in a changing bag, which allows me to change these plates without any damage from light.  When I get home, then I can develop all the tins that I have shot.

The part of this that is intriguing to me is that the camera I am using to shoot my images is a Holga plastic camera.  Holgas are extremely cheap and have become very popular in an alternative, pop-culture kind of way.  This means that the images I take are processed on a piece of tin that is 2 inches by 2 inches.  These images attached to this post are originally 2x2, so they appear much larger on screen than the size of the original tin.  At first I thought the images were ok; however, closer examination with a magnifying glass revealed a clarity of these images that I did not think was possible for an image so small.  The scanned images so far don't do justice to the original plates; maybe as I go along I'll be able to produce better scans in order to post how much detail is actually in these photos.

I've come up with the term "micro-photography" or "miniature photography."  There's a whole microcosm hiding on each plate.

I was inspired to start this project after viewing YouTube videos about this young photographer who has been doing some extremely interesting (at least to me) tintype photography.  His work has included sizes from 2"x2" up to 4'x5', and his camera is the back of a large truck.  His name is Ian Ruhter, a name I urge anyone who is interested in photography to look up.

Now that I know this process actually does work, I'm ready to take it out into the world and explore different ways that I can make this work.  More will be coming.

Today I buried my best friend and old boy, Buddy.  He was 11 and a half, and battled a very aggressive cancer for the last couple months of his life.  This journey that he and I went on together this year made me think about all the things that I've learned from him, and all the animals that have passed through my life.  I put together a blog that I call "10 Lessons from Buddy," a tribute to him and all my teachers.  Yesterday he let me know it was time, and I loved him too much to make him suffer any more even though I wasn't ready to let him go.  I can only hope I can be half the man he thought I was.

Today he's at peace and I'm on my journey of healing.

                 www.lessonsfrombuddy.blogspot.com

Please take a minute and check out his site.  Thank you.

Carlos.

Carlos is another young guy I was able to shoot for the outreach project I'm working with.  This project is aimed at young Latino and black gay/bi men who might be engaging in risky behavior and offers them an alternative social setting.

This last image I know goes against a number of different photographic rules, one of which is not to blow out the image.  However, in view of one of the aims of this outreach program being to draw young men away from a possible life of drugs, I really like this image as it gives me the feeling of being strung out after a drug run and how raw and stark everything appears.

Sergio.

On the project that I am working on in conjunction with a local outreach project seeking to help young Latino and black gay/bi men find healthier ways of living than the hard party life, I just shot Sergio.

Conrad, 25.

I'm starting a new project for a local organization reaching out to young men of the LGBT community.  Conrad is the first of my subjects that I've worked with.

On a lighter note.

I recently added a puppy to my family, and my house has taken on the cluttered look of a nursery with new toys strewn about every room.  I was playing with Max the other day, and I took a look at some of these toys and suddenly saw them in a new light.  All of a sudden I saw foreign objects and landscapes in an alien world.  Always seeing the world in images, I wanted to try to capture these toys in this new light.

Gary Ochoa.

One of my last posts was about an artist I'd been introduced to, Gary Ochoa.  He lives in a great place called the Santa Fe Art Colony, a place where artists live and work together in this old brick warehouse-turned-artists'-lofts.  We spent quite a while talking, and I was able to shoot away as we went.  I love the active feeling of these images versus the standard stationary portraits.  I'm looking forward to shooting more this way and seeing what develops.

 

 

 

James

James is a guy I just shot for my senior LGBT series.  What I like about this process is the chance to spend time with new people and get a chance to get to know them a little.  I've heard over and over -- and I'm learning now -- is the important part of the shoots are the relationships you build with your subject.

So I was in my photography studio (garage) the other night.  I had a number of different lighting concepts I'd thought of that I wanted to try.  Of course, during these impromptu shoots, I tend to be the easiest model to work with; I know what I want the model to do, and I don't have to talk to myself to keep me entertained (though I always enjoying spending time with me).  Anyway, as I went through the different ideas I wanted to work with, I'd needed a mirror in order to see how the light was hitting my face.  During one of my change-ups on the lighting, I'd set this little vanity mirror down on the ladder to keep it out of the way.  Looking from where my camera was, I loved the starkness of the simple image of the mirror sitting on that ledge; that's when I decided to play around with the concept of putting myself in the image through the reflection of the mirror. 

I must say that sometimes shots that look simple and easy to carry off end up being the ones that are a real pain in the neck.  Between struggling with the placement of several different light sources along with making sure to get just the right amount of face in there that I was looking for, along with not wanting to blow out any portion of the lit areas with too much light -- well, I tweaked it enough to where I got this shot that I was finally pleased with. 

Someone who saw the image said it was a very telling self-portrait.  I knew he got it as it does tend to represent the way that I have difficulties dealing with the world directly, and how sometimes I have to look at the world through indirect means.

You know, there's moments that something catches my eye and I have to stop and see what it is that's capturing my attention.  Late this afternoon I was coming home passing the local Blue Line metrorail near where I live.  It was a drizzly afternoon and the light was almost gone, and this lone metro train was passing by this deserted area.  I saw it in a number of different ways, but first I had to rush back home to grab my camera (yes, I know that it should have been in the car already!).  Of course, that one magical moment that I'd seen had passed, the lighting was different by the time I got back.  But since I was out there in the cold and wet already, I decided just to play with the scene a little. 

Now, on a winter, late afternoon Sunday, the train doesn't run that often, so I did have time to thoroughly enjoy the chill in the air and the mist dampening everything that wasn't under my umbrella.  Before I left, I was able to get a couple shots. 

When I got home, I was looking at the image, and I got into a playful mood and decided to do this black&white-on-color image.  The holidays are putting me into a playful mood letting me enjoy my fascination with all things fantasy and magical.

Gary Ochoa.

So the other day I went to shoot an artist, Gary Ochoa, painter/collagist, for the series I'm working on relating to LGBT seniors (50+).  Gary lives in this incredible environment called the Santa Fe Art Colony.  It's in an old warehouse district outside of downtown L.A.  This huge, old brick building along with some surrounding cottage-type spaces has been renovated so that there are quite a number of artists' lofts on multiple floors.  The loft I was in along with the various corridors to this place were incredible spaces with skylights throughout and interesting angles and textures throughout.   I loved the architecture and the varying use of different color temperatures 

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After photographing my subject in his studio, we meandered around the building finding several different locations to shoot.  Having taken up more of his time than I originally told him, we stopped, though I kept gathering ideas for a future shoot.  

As my subject and I were talking about art and looking at his work, I was moved by the idea that when we finish an art piece, it will live on long after we're gone -- assuming it's not damaged or destroyed.  In looking at the artist's huge collage pieces, I wanted to capture the piece's permanance along with just his essence showing how ephemeral our existence is.

As we were walking back to my car after a totally satisfying creative experience, we were passing a row of large individual studios.  I looked in the open door of one of the studios and saw this young female artist working in the middle of her space.  The studio was dark except for a small circly of light illuminating her at her table.  As I started to pass, I just had to go back and introduce myself to this young lady and ask if I could take her photograph.  Because of how dark it was outside and how I had originally framed the image, I had to use a very high ISO which gave the image quite a bit of noise.  Using one of the tools in Photoshop, I eliminated most of the noise, but this created a little softening of the image, almost giving it a "painterly" feel.  However, when I first passed her door, that is exactly how I saw the scene.

The last image was a fun shot of the artist and his studio space as seen through a concave mirror.



Tbis last summer I was at this outdoor concert where the artist was a wonderful woman singer by the name of Barbara Morrison.  It was the perfect time of day and I had a wonderful spot to take some photos.  Out of the series of images I did, I put these three together as a triptych, and I posted it shortly afterwards on my blog here.

I was recently contacted by a gentleman I don't know who owns a jazz club.  He came across my photo in searching for images of Barbara on the net, and he wrote to me asking for permission to use the photo for promo work relating to a gig she was doing at his club -- with credits, of course. 

Just when I think that no one ever looks at what I've been up to, something like this pops up that lets me know that there are connections with other people out there.  I'll just keep shooting what I love and let the universe take it from there.