Catalba Blooms gone.

 Missed opportunity.  Took too long to get the idea and learn how to do it.  Takes THREE people to shoot poured blooms and they need to know what they are doing.  Hard to co-ordinate.  I know a little more now, but the blooms are gone for the year.  By the time I figured out how to technically do it, my window had closed.  These all on 8X10 like all of the kinetic still lifes.  Might print a couple.

  I probably screwed around too long with containers.  Gorgeous blooms, just couldn't get the idea, though it will come.....with more guessing.

Racing the seasons.

  Sorry to see freezing temps pass without icicles.  Got an idea in mind.  Then the white trees fired up, got burnt by frost and wavered.  Nice rose bloom and Dogwoods.  June Bugs thinning out without an idea.  I'm working Magnolias pretty hard with ideas left over from the last two years.  I actually added a Blackfork Bestiary shot of a can of worms.  Had to fabricate the can, though I had the raw material standing by.  You get an idea, usually a stupid one, but then the next idea walks up on that one and maybe even the next and the next.

  One morning last week big earthworms were leaving soaked lawns and trying to find dry spots.  They were all surfing the wet brick streets while the Robins jumped them.  I picked up a styrofoam cup full, shot a couple of ideas and then sent them along.  First Bestiary shot in a bit.

  The baby bird hatch is passing quickly.  Usually we have immature Robins in every bush and hopping along the sidewalks closely followed by a cat.  Not a one this year except a very early and small chick.  Things pass and you have to shoot as you can.

  I'm deconstructing Magnolia blossoms off the local trees.  They have such a brief cycle, and are so delicate and sensitive to any touch, bruising and discoloring, it was hard to start tearing them apart, cutting them up, et.

Fighting Knives with flowers.

Neighborhood.  

Can of worms.

All the Magnolia ideas are a generation behind already.  Shot the best yet last night at about 10:00 and processed it this morning.  Still hanging.  

  Had a stack of chunks of books I cut up on a table saw in front of the camera but couldn't get the last part yet.  I did set a gyro on it with candles going.  Not sure.

  That's what the iphone preview looked like.  Gyroscope spinning on top instead of a block. Had to move it to get back to Magnolias.  I actually have worn out two gyros and had to buy two new ones. (they come in pairs.)  I'd been fighting with the old ones, and I don't like to fight with subject matter.

  Magnolias certainly make my little studio smell good.  Got to turn my attention to Gardenias before they are gone...and if I could only think of an idea involving June Bugs...

Current shows.

Toads on a glass.

The banner shot for a show in a San Diego gallery called The Studio Door.  The juror didn't pick it, but the gallery owner loved it.  Theme of the show is: "Once Upon a Time."

Fall Running Scissors.

This one also in show.  Fall Running Scissors.  Again, the juror didn't pick it, but the gallery owner over-ruled them and added it.  From Magic & Logic.

Double Nautilus and desert cup.

Roy Flukinger selected this for a show called "Black and White" in Colorado at the Center for Fine Art Photography.

  I don't apply to many shows for single image placement.  It's very expensive, (over 100.00 by the time you add up entry fee, shipping and return packing), and usually capriciously jurored. (I've NEVER gotten in a show at Stephen F. Austin University, with images that are in museum collections.)  I expect the fees make the rent at most galleries.  No problem with them making money......but.

  There are several still life shows open, but as far as I can tell, nobody knows anything about still life. 

Roseshroom.

A framed copy of this sold at a local auction benefitting stray dogs.  Glad to do my part.

Still life through the Spring

  Staying close to home and shooting with 8X10.  February shows for The Blackfork Bestiary at the Old Jail Art Center in Albany and (probably), Magic & Logic at the Grace in Abilene.  Keeping the camera warm.

  Kinetic still life.  Not shooting arrangments, shooting events.  Big difference.

  Ice in several incarnations:

Worked these frozen, folded forks for about a month.  More below.

Just a little viewpoint change.  I preach this to students, but usually falls on deaf ears.  I just keep melting the ice.  Takes at least three tries to get anything.  I start shooting too early, but there is something about the process that requires me to photograph my way to the finish.

Double Gyros and Hummingbird.

Folded, Frozen Forks.

Tied Ice & Dice.

Byron, the neighbor over to lend a hand:

Floated the pencil lead over the paper.....which is a pistol bullseye target.  Byron has great hands and outstandingly photographic nails, but his hands hardly can be moved.  Hope to get him for several more shots.

Baby birds raining from the trees.  Cats bringing them in.  First Bestiary shot in a bit, though I have several ideas as the animals show up. June Bugs.  What AM I going to do with June Bugs.  They are currently swarming.  Something.

 Byron was smoking, so I left it.  First horizontal shot in my little studio, ever.  Magic & Logic is all vertical.

Easter still life.  Fish.  Crucifixion.  Death.  Blooming.  Dogwoods.  Three Dogwoods.

 And I did get a couple of little shots at White Trees for that portfolio.  Landscape my first passion.

  Still life and Landscape polar opposites.  With landscape, God does the props and the lighting, the rocks and the trees and the water and the arranging.  With still life....you're God.  So you better show up.  

East Face of Shiprock.

  Sale of this print out of the TCC Gallery show in Longview.  Nice image, but takes a real aficianado to pick out this image from the show.  A raven sits just at the top of the white guano streak, though he is hard to make out against the black shadow.  He was watching me and I was watching him.  Beautiful afternoon in the shadow of the East side.  Could stare into this wall for hours.  The difficulty is knowing where to start and stop a photograph.  The whole wall is a miracle.

White Trees.

  Spring is here and the weather and light changing fast.  I'm sure the last freeze is gone.  Would have liked a little more Winter but the last freeze came just in time to put a frost burn on the white tree bloom. I got a couple of pieces and some urban shots, but nothing like a really classic bloom.  Same as last year, but with more rain days.  Now the light green leaves are covering the whites.

Shot this day and night.

Classic scene with iphone...but raining too hard for 5X7.

The negative from a couple days later...but the tree was much reduced.  Shot it to learn something.  With 450mm Nikon on 5X7.

Bloom-fall from right around the neighborhood corner.

Lake Road.

The main pear tree at the rosefield site.

Keeping the pipeline full of work moving through the process.  Used the polarizer on all of the above photos. 

Wall stripes at CDC.

Mostly shot during Hubbell Trading Post Artist in Residence during April, 2015.  All except two with a Nikkor F8 450mm.  Some polarized.  I ought to try a contrastier film and stay away from any lens except the modern coated lenses.  

Haven't printed hardly any of these past the proof stage.