This one looks better big. This is a scan from a lab print, but I developed the negatives at home. I'm considering making an 8x10 print next time I break out the enlarger. Chemicals are fun!

The Storyland Mermaid, in City Park at night during Celebration in the Oaks.

Something is brewing, but I am going to continue to tease you all with pictures until later.

Not a soul in sight. Somewhere near Egypt, Mississippi. Not as dark as it looks.

Every time I see this pigeonnier in City Park I think of Walker Percy's Lancelot. File under books where everything goes to hell in a handbasket really quickly. It's a good one.

Maybe this will fix our defense. Sigh.

Sculpture in Besthoff Sculpture Garden in City Park. Film Kentmere 400, camera Nikkormat FT, lens 50mm f/2. Probably f/16 shutter speed 500. I don't make notes on the 35mm stuff so much.

New Orleans is a great city to live in if you like taking pictures of statues. This one's name is "Birth of a Muse" and it sits on Terpsichore Street. It's the first new public work of art the city has commissioned since well, you know.

The muse is an 8x8 darkroom print made in our very own freezing cold antique bathtub. Best effort so far from trying to print 120. The scanner doesn't do it justice. I think I'm gonna put it on the wall.

I've had several people ask why I'm using film, and there's not much of a reason other than the opportunity showed up, and the darkroom stuff is something I've always wanted to know how to do.

It's also something to do while I attempt to distract myself from the search for my own muse. Because they never show up when you're looking.

Happy new year, y'all.

Alferez Oak, City Park Botanical Garden, 12/15/11.

City Park Carousel.

The wishing well in Storyland!

So. December has been rough, but we are almost done with it. Susie was gravely ill earlier this month but she's coming through it. Dog is gonna be on meds for a long time but she's improving.

This is my first set of night film photography. It's plain 400 speed film and me holding as still as possible. I developed the film myself and made a contact sheet but took the negatives to be printed as I was too busy printing christmas presents to print many of these.

Hope you all have a good holiday!

This year I finally got out to the cemeteries on all saints day.
It's been years.

I always have class or too much work or whatever to skip out, but
this year I was going to pass nearby at lunchtime, so I went and
bought a yellow rose to bring to my aunt who died after Katrina.

It was a beautiful day, lots of people out in the cemeteries with
flowers and brooms, some had young children with them to go meet
grandma and stuff like that. Happy cemeteries.

Pictures are from ongoing medium format experiment; I need to stop
down further on a day as sunny as this one was, taking pictures
of white stuff. The first three pictures were overexposed
but nothing simple editing can't fix.

Aren't they cute? Light leaks are me not being good at loading 120.

Clay found this Yashica-Mat when on a search mission for a spare AE-1,
as the one I was using decided to quit winding. I sent him out for one
camera, and he came back with five. My table, it is full of cameras and
film and related nonsense.

One of those was the spare AE-1, so I put new light-blocking foam in it
to have at least one working 35mm. I took it to City Park on a bright
afternoon to check for leaks. Of course the lion disapproves, but he
frowns at everything. My dad is working on the broken AE-1 and it is
getting close to fixed.

1969 Cadillac Convertible.

1972 Karmann Ghia.

It's October already? So. I took these two pictures on the same
afternoon in late august, on different types of film. The grain
looks all vintage but I like clarity too. I'm leaning toward the
top film, but I'm happier with the framing of the pictures I got
on the second one; I guess it's just getting used to the camera.

And it's going to remain so for the moment. So much going on.

I have over a dozen new car pictures from the last couple
of weeks over on rust chronicles (now with even more orange!)
to entertain you all in the meantime.

Last weekend I turned the bathroom into a printing lab. I am
well enough set up with darkroom supplies that used to belong
to my father-in-law that all I had to buy was chemicals, fresh
paper, and a graduated cylinder to measure in. These sunflowers
were printed on 30+ year old kodak paper, hence the weird edges
and imperfections.

Enlarging is fun, in the mixing chemicals mad scientist sort
of way. Here's our friend the Moto Guzzi again, which was the
most successful print of the batch. Fancy Ilford black and white
paper, once I got it dialed in looks so pretty. We definitely had a
"Great Muppet Caper" moment of needing the bathroom while having
the darkroom set up. All I could think of was that scene with
all the muppets hopping up and down on one leg outside the door....

This is the first print I made, where the paper is completely
messed up (antique, again) but it looks pretty cool. I found
a strip of negatives Clay's grandfather took of Tulane Stadium
was being torn down. When I print the rest of these I'll put
them up as well. Here's a better but not perfect print of
the same scene.

I could hum the Indiana Jones theme if you could hear me. Junior!

"And how much did you pay for your bad Moto Guzzi."

Of course it's green. Did they make these in other colors?

Black and whites are a from a test roll on real film, Kodak bw400cn,
in a Canon AE-1. Decent for a first outing, (and cheap developing)
but the roll I got back today looks much better than this stuff.

This one is so weird I need two pictures of it in this post.

1971 Nova, (Chevy) which is either a recent pristine barn find
or a sleeper. You decide.

We have seen this 1974 FJ before; here it is sitting pretty in a
puddle.

This has been a very strange week. A life with no bug database is
strange, I ponder setting up my own to be more organized, but do
want to fall into the organizational system trap. Having to convince
part of myself that it's work even if it doesn't relate to billing hours
or fixing something.

The other thing here, is that I dug up a film camera and have been
running around with black and white. There are a bunch of rolls of
somewhat expired film that were with it that I'm trying to use.

Why film? I have begun to want manual controls, and well, DSLR is
expensive, large, and heavy. We had a mid-70s Canon AE1 in the
closet on the mantel in working condition, and it's not very big
at all. I'm liking the feel and sound, and I have enough lenses
already to not have to go shopping for them.

So it goes.

Do you like my hat?

My favorite Dr. Seuss book was Go, Dog. Go!

It is time for me to go. Oddly enough this form of motion involves
staying home and programming. I will keep you all up to date when
this crazy plan actually produces something.

PS: Susie's birthday is June 1st! She will be eleven, which is
officially old enough to slouch on the sidewalk.