Came Katrina

Friends have been traveling to The Big Easy for Mardi Gras or to escape to warmer temperatures. This brought back memories of my trip to New Orleans in June, 2006, eight months after Hurricane Katrina.

At that time, I accompanied my sister who was to be installed as President-Elect of the American Library Association. The ALA had honored their convention contract and this was to be the first gathering in the newly restored New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

You could tell reconstruction was still taking place. The convention hall’s main concourse had no furniture so, between meetings and events, the attendees would sit or snack picnic style on the newly installed carpet. Some of the restaurants within the city were still closed while others had a limited menu hand-written on display boards outside their entrances. The streetcars ran on a limited schedule. A long line of NOPD squad cars parked on Canal Street as a demonstration of safety for those walking to and from their hotels.

We experienced gratitude at every turn. Convention staff would thank us for their first employment since the disaster. Shop keepers would come out to shake our hands. When stepping off the airport transfer bus for my return flight the luggage handlers broke into applause. That paricular expression broke me and when I arrived home I was still a blubbery mess.

French Quarter mailbox/doorbell buzzer, 2011

Returning to New Orleans for another ALA Convention in 2011, I revisted the same French Quarter mailbox/door buzzer.

From My Film Archive

With time on my hands during the pandemic, I started the project of scanning my black & white and color film negatives. For me it’s been a walk through time reliving moments and unearthing forgotten ones. The work is ongoing.

Here is an image I’d like to share:

Stage hands moving props for the production of Born Yesterday.

Syracuse, NY - October, 2000

Taken with a Canon EOS1 camera with Kodak T-Max Pro (TMZ5054) ISO 3200 B&W film.

Plunging Into The New Year

My resolution for 2023 is to become better acquainted with the recent gift of a 1959 Leica M3 rangefinder film camera. It’s unknown how long the Leica had been sitting in storage before Phil found it at a local estate sale in October. After shooting a roll of test film the camera was sent in for a thorough cleaning and overhaul to correct issues of a sticky focal plane curtain, loose speed dial, and cracked body finish. Fortunately, Wisconsin has a great Leica repair technician. Many thanks to Don at DAG Camera Repair.

The Polar Bear Plunge images were taken with the Leica M3 metered by a Voigtlander VC Meter II riding on the hotshoe.

The film is Ilford HP 5+ processed normally in Ilford Simplicity chemistry then scanned into digital files.

As I’m still building up muscle memory in regards to metering and rangefinder focus, I concentrated more on participants instead of the actual splash. It has been awhile since I used a lens distance scale and I knew my reaction time would be slower than normal.

The camera came with a partially exposed roll of color film. After processing it in CineStill C-41 chemistry, two faint images emerged.

Cat in Repose Scanned frame of the expired film found in the Leica camera.

This second frame fogged with a green hue. Scanning then converting it into black & white revealed more detail of the Christmas tree.

Rescued Image To Exhibit

Salvaged Work Will Show in Canada

Thomas Grazier and Ducky at the T&L Mini Mart, Lac du Flambeau

When the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association (Ontario, Canada) closed its doors in 2006, their photographic archives were divided then placed in storage. Co-founder Yvonne Maracle received and safeguarded a portion of the archives that included NIIPA’s largest collection, See Through Our Eyes: A Native Perspective, an ambitious photo project meant to rival the Day In The Life series as a book project.

When I learned of NIIPA’s demise, I often wondered about the fate of my images selected for the book project. It is my pleasure to announce my photos will be among those on display at the McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario, this summer in a retrospective titled NIIPA 20/20. The opening is May 26 with a run through August 13. Afterwards, I have agreed to donate the prints to a permanent home as part of the Indigenous Art Collection at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

Thanks to Julie Bronson at McMaster University whose research lead to contacting me; Rheanne Chartrand, Curator of Indigenous Art at McMaster Museum of Art; and, of course, to Yvonne Maracle for preserving the work.

Experimenting with Pinhole Photography

An Oatmeal Container as a Pinhole Camera

Drawing prop. 45 second exposure with ambient side lighting from a window.

The camera is an oatmeal container spray painted flat black with tape seals at the top and bottom. A flattened empty film cassette was a prime choice to create the “lens” because the metal plate was already black on one side and, on the other side, the zero on the 400 label provided a target for poking a small hole with a bead needle.

Empty, flattened film cassette for the pinhole.

Expired photographic paper was used for the paper negative. I worked with two options for making a positive image - one was to sandwich a second piece of paper with the negative and make a contact print in the darkroom; the second was scanning the negative then inverting the digital file into a positive image. The age of the paper gave the image an interesting distressed look for either option without resorting to enlarger filters or digital presets.

Paper negative on 2004 Kodak Polycontrast glossy paper.

For more pinhole images, please go to the Portraits page on this website.

Lost and Found

Tucked away in a film canister and unseen in over 40 years.

Frame #3

You are seeing the third frame from my very first black & white roll taken with my first 35mm film camera, a used Minolta SRT-101. If memory serves, the Kodak Tri-X film was free with the purchase.

This is an example of how not to take a good picture. My inexperience is evident in this frame’s haphazard composition with the subject centered in a straightforward perspective. It even recorded a flimsy way to hold a camera. And what’s with that blindfolded piggy bank in the foreground?

Frame #3 is a pretty cringe-worthy photo but I hope posting it offers encouragement to new film photographers to learn from mistakes, take time to savor looking through the viewfinder for composition before pressing the shutter, be aware of depth of field, try other angles, watch for distracting clutter, move closer to avoid negative space, brace the camera to avoid unintentional blur, and keep shooting while honing a personal style.

Eagle Feather

A Media page has been added to my website. Among my contributions is an image of an eagle feather which graces the cover of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’s Indigenous Notions of Ownership and Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Volume 166. This feather also apprears in my anthotype series.

Anthotype made from tuilips

The feather was photographed as a digital capture on black velvet in ambient light from a window with a small white foamboard used as a reflector to fill in shadow detail.

It was originally part of a ceremonial eagle feather staff under the care of Fond du Lac Nation elder and service veteran, Roger Smith. While photographing Roger during a Memorial Day military color guard ceremony where he wore traditional regalia, the feather with its leather tether fell from the staff. According to custom, when a feather falls during a ceremony it is not returned to the staff but instead is passed on to an indigenous person as the new caretaker. It was a tremendous honor to be gifted with this feather by Roger.

Memory of a New Year

This B&W film image, shot in existing light, was taken during a choir rehearsal break before a live performance on the streets of Harlem as part of ABC’s Millennium coverage with Peter Jennings.

Choir members await the arrival of a new century, New York, New Year’s Eve, 1999

Test Roll of my Lomography Sprocket Rocket, a panoramic 35mm film camera

The only advantage of once again contracting what seems to be a traditional holiday head cold is time between naps to work with scanned negatives.

Beach between King Park and Blue Harbor. Sheboygan, WI

Phil’s walk to Blue Harbor. Sheboygan, WI

Blue Harbor Resort. Sheboyan, WI

The Ilford HP5 Plus film was shot without the film mask to let the image bleed into the sprocket holes then developed in IlFord Ilfosol-3. The resulting negatives were then scanned into digital files using my Epson V500 workhorse.

Shooting directly into the sun produced an interesting flare in both image and sprocket holes:

Facing south on the beach between King Park and Blue Harbor. Sheboygan, WI

A small kindness

A stray cat has been entering through the cat door to escape winter’s cold. Our kitties don’t seem to mind this stranger sleeping in the basement where we started placing a bowl of food. This morning I found a tip.

Autodidact

The foundation of my photographic archive was laid during the first years of married life to a musician in a touring band where venues and living quarters changed weekly. The early film results using a second hand 35mm camera were as varied as the fleeting residences.

The Launch

For those who have visited my website in the past, you will notice a new look. It seemed fitting to want things fresh and revitalized after emerging from sheltered times.

Over the past year and a half my main project has been to convert my photo archive into digital files. To say this is a daunting task is an understatement as I am currently scanning the year 1995. The urge to share my time travelling in captured still moments is the biggest motivator for adding a blog page.

Patience with me is a tool you wll need as I navigate through the newer settings with an older brain.

A side note: The comments button has been intentionally turned off. Feel free to send questions or converse through the contact page. A one-on-one correspondence is something I would enjoy.