Eastern State Penitentiary - Holga Part 3

The last installment of Holga images from my Eastern State Penitentiary photo shoot!

Eastern State Penitentiary - Holga Part 2, Bridal Session

As promised, now that I have triumphed over my scanner, I have more of my Holga images to share from my recent photo trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly. These photos reflect what one can expect from my Holga Bridal sessions / Trash the Dress sessions... because this particular model was wearing a wedding dress! Regardless of what my photo subjects are wearing, I approach the shoot the same way - with the goal to make really cool, funky, otherworldly, and in general kick-butt images!
;-)

Lots of people ask me how I make these images. Lots and lots of practice pretty much sums it up! I do not use Photoshop - these are shot on film and printed and toned in the darkroom (with chemicals!), and are not manipulated in any way other than the occasional burn and dodge.

This is not all... believe it or not, I have even MORE images from this photo shoot to share. Be on the lookout for Eastern State Penitentiary - Holga Part 3!

Eastern State Penitentiary - Holga Part 1

My scanner has decided to revolt against me - but not before I got a roll of my Eastern State Penitentiary Holga images scanned in. I have about 5 times this much waiting to be scanned, but figured I'd share what I have because who the heck knows when I will figure out what's wrong with my scanner and if it will be fixable or if I will have to get a new one...

Anyway, this is a very small taste of what I was doing while running around the prison last weekend! I shot a tiny bit of digital (see last post), but the Holga was my main focus for this shoot.

And hopefully man will win out against machine and I will have the rest of my images scanned in the near future to share. Either that, or someone may see a scanner flying from my office window.
;-)

Eastern State Penitentiary

Over the weekend I headed up to Philly with some photographer friends to participate in a model photo shoot at Eastern State Penitentiary. The outing was originally going to be a "Trash the Dress" photo shoot, but since only one model showed up in a wedding dress, it just became a general photo shoot. That's fine with me, I wasn't planning on taking the typical TTD shots anyway - as if anything I do these days is all that typical! My main focus was my Holga photography, but I did manage to snap a few digital shots so that I could post something from my adventure sooner, rather than waiting for all of my film to be processed. I do love film, but I hate waiting! Oh well, nothing is perfect I suppose...

Anyway, these photos are a small taste of what we had to work with, and I'll keep everyone posted on the results from the Holga. The facility itself was really neat. I had never been there before, and other than being a little (okay, a lot!) cold, it was really quite fascinating. They give tours, for anyone wanting to check it out in more of a tourist capacity.

Reminder - Tonight's Art Opening

Photo 08

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 (tonight!)
Opening reception: 6 - 9 PM


To find the gallery:
Ellipse Arts Center
4350 N. Fairfax Dr.
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 228-7710

It is one block away from the Ballston Metro Stop on the Orange Line, for those of you who want to come in by rail.

Two of my images are in this show, so come see them (and me) in person!

First Holga Photos of 2008

I finally had a chance to develop the rolls of film I have been shooting since the new year began, and scanned in some to post here. There's not a lot to say other than that, really. I've just been working in the darkroom a lot lately before things get more chaotic with exhibits and work and all that fun stuff. So here are my first Holga images of 2008:





It's Andy! He's shooting digital here because he gathers the photo pieces to make the most awesome digital collages I have ever seen:





I'm in this one (where's Waldo, anyone?):

Zack Arias - Atlanta Music Photographer

A while back, Zack Arias, who happens to be a mega talented photographer and friend of mine, asked me if he could use a Holga photo that I had taken of him during one of his One Light Workshops back in November of 2006. He needed an image of himself for the contact page of his new web site, and I am honored that he chose mine. Of course I let him use it, and it looks awesome if I do say so myself! A screen grab of the page is above, but you can visit his site by using the following link:

www.zackarias.com

Photo 08 - Ellipse Arts Center, Arlington

I have more great news! The first show I will be participating in this year is "Photo 08," which was juried by David Griffin, Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine. Two of my Holga images were selected for this show, which was incredible considering there were over 700 entries and only about 70 selected images. I am truly honored to have been chosen to be a part of this exhibit.

I can't wait to see what other photos were chosen. The staff at the gallery said that the show was incredible, so I will be looking forward to the opening even more now. And I'm always curious to see what someone who happens to be the Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine thinks is good art.
;-)

Some information about the opening reception, juror's talk, and other events regarding this show which will take place at the Ellipse Arts Center are as follows:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Opening reception: 6 - 9 PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 6
Juror's Talk: 6 - 9 PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 13
Discussion on digital photography: 7 PM

SATURDAY, APRIL 12
Exhibition closes: 2 PM

To find the gallery:
Ellipse Arts Center
4350 N. Fairfax Dr.
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 228-7710

It is one block away from the Ballston Metro Stop on the Orange Line, for those of you who want to come in by rail.

I hope to see you at the opening!

Oh, and these are my two images that were chosen for inclusion in the show:

black and white and... all over

This is the next (scheduled) exhibit I am slated to participate in:

“black and white and… all over” Curated by J.T. Kirkland

Participating artists are:
Erin Antognoli, James W. Bailey, Danny Conant, Stephen Crowley, Mike Iacovone, Jane Jeffers, J.T. Kirkland, Angela Kleis, Tom Paradis, Aleksei Pechnikov, Susana Raab, Alexandra Silverthorne, Jim Tetro, Bryan Whitson, Lloyd Wolf, Tom Wolff

February 27, 2008 - March 29, 2008

Artist’s Reception: Saturday, March 1st, 2008 5-8 PM

H&F Fine Arts
3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, MD 20712

Hope to see you at the reception!

(In keeping with the tradition of the last post, I stole this post from Angela Kleis. I wonder how many posts I can steal before I am forced to write an original one?)
:-)

Phil Nesmith, My Baghdad. This Saturday

Okay, so I stole this post directly from Sean Hennessey's blog. But I had to share. I'll be at this opening, and I highly recommend you all see it too!


Phil Nesmith, Soldier, 2007, dryplate ambrotype (sandarac varnished silver emulsion on black glass)

Phil Nesmith, My Baghdad
January 12 to February 16

Opening Reception, Saturday, January 12: 6-8PM
Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th Street NW

Irvine Contemporary is pleased to announce the opening of Phil Nesmith’s first solo exhibition, My Baghdad, a series of photographs shot in Baghdad and produced on glass plates using a dry plate collodion process. A set of editioned C-print enlargements from the glass plates will accompany the unique images in the exhibition. Opening reception with the artist, Saturday, January 12, 6-8PM.

Contemporary photographers have frequently recovered earlier photographic processes to reinterpret image making and familiar genres of photography. Chuck Close’s daguerreotype portraits, Sally Mann’s wet plate collodion images, and Adam Fuss’s combined daguerreotype and photogram images have become part of the visual language of photography today.

The wet plate collodion process in the history of photographic images is inextricably connected to American Civil War photographs and to the look and feel of these images in our cultural memory. Phil Nesmith has recovered this early process for representing and reinterpreting photographs taken in Baghdad during the current war in Iraq. His new series of images are at once haunting, personal, and reflect back on our cultural memory of images in wartime.

See Phil's blog HERE.

Last Holga Photos of 2007

It's hard to believe this year is almost over. With the end of the year comes my last Holga images of the year. These are them. Enjoy, and if I don't make another post before the end of the year, well, have a wonderful rest of 2007, and a Happy New Year, and I'll be seeing you in 2008!

Christmas Tree

From a distance, our Christmas tree probably looks like most others that one might find this time of year, aside from the big fuzzy gorilla sasquatch lying at the foot of it. But if you look up close, you will see that this tree is filled with photos. It's only fitting for a photographer to put photos everywhere, I suppose. Every year, I get a photo ornament or two from family and friends, and I in turn fill those ornaments with photos of the people (and pets) that are dear to us. Since we live pretty far away from most of our family, it's nice to have a reminder of them. Unpacking the ornaments is definitely my favorite part of the season, and I figured I'd show everyone a few of those that I've collected over the years.

Not all of my ornaments are frames though. The colorful moons and stars came from our trip to India during Christmas of 2005, and there's a photo ornament of Andy and me wearing our Indian garb from that same trip. And I have to give a huge shout out to my great friend Devlan for the zombie ornament I got in the mail yesterday. Oh, how my friends know what I like! But *most* of my ornaments are indeed photos.

















Even the family pets get ornaments on my tree! You can see below one ornament that my mother got for me this year while we were shopping after Thanksgiving. I need to find a photo to put in that one and several others that are relatively new.



Whatever you're celebrating this season, make it wonderful, and keep your loved ones close in body and spirit!

Mummy

It's Halloween in December! At least that's what happens when you wait over a month to develop your film. I have three more rolls from Thanksgiving and beyond that I plan to develop and print over the holidays. Better late than never, I guess.
;-)

Holiday Juried Exhibition
“Art on the Small Side”
Mixed Media Art & Fine Crafts

Guess who won first place in this show? I did! Uh-Huh!
:-)

The show runs from December 12, 2007 – January 5, 2008. If you want to meet me, come to the opening reception. I'm fighting a chest cold, but if I don't get any worse, I plan to be there! Two of my Holga images will be included in this great exhibit of work (I cruised around the gallery today and saw a lot of it... I'm in very good company).

Opening Reception:
Friday, December 14, 2007
6 - 8:30 pm

In keeping with its tradition of showing affordable art during the month of December, Touchstone Gallery offers a juried show of mixed media art and fine crafts sized at 18 inches and under by artists from the metropolitan area.

Gallery Info:

Touchstone Gallery
406 7th Street, NW, 2nd floor
Washington, DC 20004
202-347-2787

Gallery hours:
Wednesday - Friday 11-5
Saturday - Sunday 12-5 and by appointment
http://TouchstoneGallery.com

Share: The New Hair

Just after Thanksgiving, I decided that I had enough of my long hair and chopped it all off. I look kinda like this now:

Ullman sacked by City Paper

Anyone who has been reading my blog for the last year has probably seen my posts about how excited I was to find out that fellow Kent State U fellow Rob Ullman was an illustrator for the Washington City Paper. Well, it turns out that a change in management determined that Rob's illustrations are no longer needed in the paper. After 7 years of illustrating for the paper, he was recently let go and is no longer employed there.

That really sucks because Rob is incredibly talented, and I plan to write a letter to protest this decision. They're throwing away a huge talent here. The new management obviously doesn't think readers need great illustrations to go with their articles and columns. Either that, or all decisions coming from their corporate headquarters are being made by trained monkeys. Although last time I checked, even monkeys seem to like illustrations.

Read more about the situation at Rob's blog. And send your letters of protest HERE. Be polite in your letter so that they will take you seriously.

Rob, many of us wish you well and hope things turn out for the best.