It's December

Well, the last month of 2012 is here. And for the life of me I can't seem to remember most of it. I guess a good word for 2012 would be Hectic! But there are plenty of good things that happened. Some of the highlights .... CLIFFTOP!, lots of good shows with the Poor Taters, great jams with Libby Eddy, met Lisa Elmaleh and rekindled my love for photography, got a sweet Polaroid 420 and shot several very cool "Polaroid's", did lots of playing with my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye and produced some pretty sweet photos, got 2 new banjos, got a new Les Paul and a new Fender amp, started playing rock n rock with Thousand Yard Stereo, got a new metal roof on most of the house, installed a new sewer line for the house, got to hang out more with family. Low points ... had to install a new sewer line for the house, GERD!, gave up coffee in July due to health reasons, didn't get to spend as much time with family as I would have liked too, stopped smoking and then started again, hand auguring, unnecessary dramas, and getting older. I know I have missed some of the ups and downs ... hopefully I will remember them when I'm not thinking about it and the memory will bring a smile to my face and warmth to my heart.

All in all I can't complain. I'm still playing music, taking photographs, still breathing. I have a very loving wife and the best dog ever. My family and my friends are in good health and I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge.

I can only hope that 2013 will bring as much good will, hope, and happiness as I experienced in 2012.

Merry Christmas to everyone, good tidings and cheer to you and yours.

Been a bit

It has been a busy few weeks. Not a lot of time to blog. Since my last post i have acquired a Polaroid 420, sold a Mamyia 645 1000s ( waiting for a Crown Graphic ), and have fallen in love with sound of a Gibson Les Paul Junior Special with P90 pick ups. The month of October will be packed with gigs every weekend and a ton of field work as my work at CELCO in Virginia gets underway once more. All i really want to do is play music and take Polaroids. I also need to shoot more Brownie shots and develop film. Until next time here are a few Polaroid 420 pics ... And a couple of 660 polaroids, too.

Post production on iPhone

Sitting at the job site this morning waiting for more trucks to roll through I decided to kill time by work on an image which was extremely heavy on midtones. I wanted to brighten the image up and clear up some areas which i felt needed a bit more highlights a pop. So, i downloaded the image from my Facebook photo library, saved it to my iPhone and then began running through several photo editor apps. The apps i used were Snapseed to create a blown- out version increasing the highlights then imported to HDR Fusion to blend the two images. Then through Snapseeds selective correction tools i increased/decreased to mimic a dodge and burn process. Lastly i adjusted the over all contrast and added a tilt-shift effect in Snapseed. The images attached are before and after ( hopefully you can tell which is which ). It amazes me what kind if work flow is possible on a PHONE! Though the images are lofi and have a bit too much digital noise to be considered hi-quality the result is pleasing for what it is ( at least to me ). I wonder how tight a 3x3 or 4x4 print would be? Especially using the new grainless printing processes available today?

Negative development and positive results.

I finally developed four rolls of 120 film shot with my 1951 Kodak Brownie Hawkeye flash model. I used Ben Thornton's two bath development process based off of an older Stocker formula. I was very surprised and
pleased with the results. The film was expired 100 and 125 iso, two T-mac, one Pan-X, and one Fujifilm FP4. The shutter and aperture of the Brownie is roughly F16 @ 1/30 of a second. Exposures made with out flash have a very good range of highlights, midtones, and shadows though the dark areas seem to be a bit thin. I scanned the negs with an Epson scanner which makes very pleasing reproductions ( well, on the monitor as least ). However, its not truly a photograph until one has a tangible print, now is it? So, with LoMo, Holga and other toy cameras becoming so prevelent and popular today, not to mention Hipstamatic, it has been very pleasing to create photos using a forefather of these "newer" photographic contraptions. The images attached to this blog were shot at the 2012 Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV.

Undeveloped fim and small gigs in the country

A very eventful/uneventful weekend has past. I finally got a few chores done around the house and just a few more to go before I tackle removing and rebuiling the roof in my shop. My intentions to mix chemicals and develop three rolls of 120mm film shot from my 1951 Kodak Brownie Hawkeye never came throuogh which makes me feel pretty down. Maybe this weekend I can give it another shot. On the upside I did play my first gig at the Palisades resturant in old Eggelston, Va. Nice venue and I had a nice run-in with Greg Galbreth of Buckeye Banjos which was very cool. He even envited me to his end-of-September weekend jam, I think he calls it "Turkey Scratch"? The gig was nice, playing with Jean Hanna DAvis and Bill Fraley as the Corn Grinders. The downside was the pay. We were garenteed $100 for the gig. At the end of the evening when Jean went to get paid the owner subtracted out TIPS from the garentee ($40)??? So the place made out by paying us $60 for a two hour gig 45 minutes from home plus a free meal. For such a nice place to play (which was jam-packed full of patrons) my opinion of the place has deminished. Musicians beware and make sure if you ever have the opportunity to play the Palisades make sure you barter yourselves a better deal.

Oh well, off to another week of work. At least this time I remembered to bring my banjo.

Fine group of friends

Pete, Paul, Steve, Josh, me, and Luke. These are some of the finest friends and musicians a fella could know. CLIFFTOP!

Another day, another dollar.

Work pops up when you least expect it. Today Wellston, OH. Two weeks from now Norfolk, VA. It makes planning gigs pretty difficult. It also does a good job cutting into plans to work around my house and try to get back into photography. How well, maybe the extra overtime cash can help me purchase some more film, chemicals, and maybe help me pay for some new banjo work my buddy Pete is doing for me. Another day, another dollar.

Reenactor Portrait

A young reenactor in Tazewell, Va. circa 2001. Shot with a Yashica Mat-124 TLR. This is the first image of many. Approximately 10 portraits all of female reenactors in the same setting. Will post more as they are edited.

Expired Polaroid 600 shots

Expired Polaroid 600 Film shot with a Polaroid Sun 660. Random portraits or friends and family.

Day one in the blogging world

I've never had a blog. I wasn't really even sure what one was until about a year or so ago. So here is the first of maybe many blogs.
Day 1: Getting squared away and packing up to go and do a 9-month-old baby shoot for some friends. Hopefully all goes well fighting the noon day sun (worst time for photo shoots). After that I plan on spending a peaceful day listening to music and editing photos ... I might even get around to mixing chemicals and developing some film from my Brownie shoot at Clifftop? However, there is one thing I have learned over the past several years ... NEVER make plans. So, I guess I'll just float on th ebreeze and see where I end up ( I think the hedge needs trimmed, too? ).