my life, as far as i know.

first printing in a while. i did 11×14s of the vacuum tube (that’s a 4×5 polaroid to the left for comparison). they came out awesome - i’m so proud of them. i wish i had submitted one of these to the show at work. 11×14 prints from 4×5 negs are really great.

makes me wonder if i could find a suitable trough to develop a crazy size print. i’d have to do it in the 2nd bedroom, the bathroom is completely FULL with the omega d and 11×14 trays.

like, i’m sitting on the edge of the tub and have to slide the trays under the enlarger to get out.

enlarger notes: height=50 y=28 m=56, f/16 @ 19 secs

(472×650, 581×800)

polaroid 54. carl meyer 12″ lens, f/16 at 1/100.

this is a world war 2 era radiotron electron tube from rca.

this is my first foray into this kind of pictorial style. i like the style, and i thought that glass tubes would be both a challenging and interesting subject. after several attempts, i got an image i’m proud of. i also shot this ilford hp5+, i hope to print this at 11×14 and try to even out the background on the enlarger.

more and more, i am into shooting 4×5 with my 8×10 camera. the bellows draw is just fantastic.. a touch more than 24″ at my disposal.

this is one of my best images and one of my best prints. i’m submitting it today to my employer’s employee art show. i’m sure a lot of the photography at the show will be digital, so i will be there with my hand printed analog image with pride.

i had to submit a short bio and artist’s statement. here’s what i wrote:

Biography:

I grew up in a small suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. I attended Purdue University to study Computer Science, then moved to California to work as a computer systems geek. I enjoy exploring new restaurants and wine venues, going on road trips with a camera in the passenger seat, and spending time with friends and family.

Artist’s Statement:

My little brother’s short lived interest in Photography sparked my interest back in highschool. Since then, I have collected and used cameras ranging from $20 plastic cameras to 8×10 field cameras with turn-of-the-century lenses. The variety of equipment and processes of analog photography, along with the pride and magic that comes from producing an image by hand is what drives me to learn and create more. Having a high-tech career and a low-tech hobby make me feel there is a good balance in my life.

today..

• had the city enter my house number into their zoning system so i could file for a parking permit
• got my parking permit after i explained my story again, then found the house number was entered at pennsylvania street and not avenue
• got closure on a fix-it ticket (registration tags, plates)
• changed my registration address, paid the registration

it is a much longer story than that, but i will spare you the details. i will say, the redwood city dmv took care of my business without an appointment in about 20 minutes. it turns out i already paid a ticket and they showed me in their system. but i have to prove to them that i paid the ticket to get a refund (i just took the form to fill out and stopped asking questions at that point).

bureaucracy day.

sounds like most people had busy weekends. mine was particularly interesting and busy.

• attended view point gallery’s saturday reception for “handcrafted“, an exhibit of alternative process photography. my friend scott davis had a piece in the show. he introduced me to kerik kouklis, a guy who does incredible wet plate work.
• met and entertained (and took to some of my favourite restaurants in the city) linda, someone i know from efnet. on sunday we went around chinatown, where ryan found a buddha bank, something that seems just totally wrong. so of course we got one. what better way to save up for a material posession than a buddha bank?
• thanks to ted and emery, we were able to transport a lot of junk to the san francisco dump. a scary warehouse where you literally open the back door of your vehicle and push everything out onto the floor. your vehicle is weighed before and after dumping and the delta is used in charging for the amount of material you’re leaving.
• attended the san jose camera swap meet where i picked up a copy of way beyond monochrome, this book that covers advanced techniques for exposing and printing, something i need plenty of work on.

in other news, i have finished consolidating my previous retirement plans into my new one and now i have a single 401(k) plan which seems pretty healthy. my car has just passed the 30,000 mile mark and has gone through its final pre-paid maintenance event.

january has been a very productive month for me so far.

turned out better than i expected. and these are awesome with tea.

nothing says guten nacht like setting out a batch of springerle to dry before bed.

(520×650, 640×800)

this is my brother tom. he was here just briefly for the holidays, heading back to ohio on christmas day.

i shot this with my burke&james 8×10. the lens was a carl meyer 12″ set to about f/11, 1/150. i applied a slight forward tilt. the film is kodak’s 320txp, exposed as ei400. i developed it in rodinal, 1:50, for 18 minutes.

otherwise.. i’ve been scanning more slides. i just passed the 500 slide mark tonight. i think the total may be closer to 1,000 now. so far the raw scans total 32 gigabytes. yowz!