Kinetic Still Life...

......got a little too kinetic yesterday.  Three panes of ice with puzzle pieces inside.  I used a frying pan to melt some edges straight so I could make a three-part construction of it,  Got it in front of the camera, lit, holder in, ran the flash meter and closed the lens and set the f-stop, stepped to the back of the camera to pull the slide and the whole thing collapsed and shattered.  Interesting to feel the varying emotions that wash through you at that point.  It had taken several days to freeze the panels, cut them out with hot water, re-freeze parts.  On the other hand, I'm learning things and figured out how to get them to stand a little steadier for another couple of minutes at least...pushpins to help stabilize the bottom on the back side out of sight.  And worked out how to freeze two panels together at an angle.

  Re-freezing.

Might not be any better than this, but you never know until you do it.

Welcome to new viewers!

  Thanks for dropping by!  View counter has gone a little nutty lately.  Be sure and look at older posts down the scroll.  Many more photos and a few helpful hints.  I don't really have any secrets, I just work.

  On the Blackfork 6 Channel on Youtube there are some videos of shooting photographs that might be helpful.

  All images for sale, of course, in various sizes at various prices.  Don't hesitate to email me if you are interested in something at Blackfork6@aol.com.

  I'm currently working of several projects, one of which is reviewing old negative files and purging poor negatives and proofing the rest.  Some of my boxes of 5X7 negs haven't been looked at since I logged them in.  Got more frozen puzzle pieces ready in the freezer right now for another Kinetic Still Life.

2004 neg for a project I did for the Tyler Museum of Art.

Dr. Madison Wolfe at Sam Houston in about 1973.

Cotton Gin near Shiro, Texas in 1975.

  Having a visual cue plus the log book brings up the memory of making almost every one of these negatives in detail.  The camera, the film, who was along, where I was, what the light felt like.  (Only had one lens for my 5X7- a 210 Symar, so I was limited.)  Very interesting trip, (to me, at least). 40 years back into the past.

  It's a trip to watch yourself working things out.

Over the fixer tray...

Since my negatives are now at the house, I'm spending time purging poor selections, making proofs, filing, et.  Making things simpler.

Two shots of the same scene.  Top with a 12 inch Commercial Ektar early and bottom with 450mm Nikkor a little later.  Spent the night on a tilty bolder to shoot a view of the South Dike.  Couldn't do that in present weather, though the shadows would be MUCH different.

Tinking around with the Salt Cave photo.

Pre-flashing paper to get the whites in, and trying split filtering.