Catawba Worms.

  On facebook I listed a little list of animals I would like to have to photograph for the Bestiary.  One of my old friends picked it up and got busy, finding minnows, a catfish and Catawba worms in a day or so.  Before I knew it, I had a sack of Catawba worms munching their way through leaves in a sack.

  Very interesting worms to observe.  They don't seem to like each other much, in fact when they run into each other they thrash the front 1/3 of their bodies around like they have a mite behind their eye.  In fact, I'm not sure they don't have some mites.  I handled them a lot picking them up and putting them back on the leaves and worried about hurting them.  I don't think I did but I did notice that they rub their faces on the leaf surface now and then as if they are scratching or clearing their vision.   They aren't smart but they do seem to know what they need to know.  There are a couple of variations on back striping.  Fascinating physiology with small front grasping feet and big sucker walking feet, then a pair of real anchors on the back end.

  They eat fast and put out a LOT of compost.  Shot out my filmholders on 5X7 and 8X10.  Probably get one more look at a newer, bigger bunch.  I loaded these guys on a big Catawba tree across the street and they headed up.  Might have lost one of the little ones in the grass.

Iphone note.

  Want to put them on Byron's hand.  Next time.

  Processing.

  Update:  Here's the main pick.  

  Glove form with some leaves stretched over it.  Nine worms in the photo, but still doesn't seem like enough.  Maybe they will bulk up a bit and I can try it again.  Using a new film developer- Pyrocat.

Yosemite Negatives. Weston Junipers.

  Went to Yosemite last October.  Crowds were down and there wasn't much water.  It wasn't a working trip but I did pack along my 5X7.  We flew into Fresno with friends on American.  Really close to the valley with no complications of coming out of the Bay area.  We stayed in Camp Curry and then in Yosemite Lodge.

  We did get to Lake Tenaya twice, coming and going from Bodie.  I had Mark Klett's book and wanted to see Weston's Junipers, some I had seen and some which I hadn't.  An Adams subject of quartz veins in granite with glacial polish is also in the area.  There is at least one Muybridge from 1872 in the area as well.

  AA shot in the middle of this.  We dumped a couple of waterbottles to see what the contrast looked like wet, as Ansel shot it.

  I liked it from the other side.  Thinking about printing this one.  There are plenty of possibilities, though it would help to have a little step ladder to get up.  It's like the 60s.  You just can't get high enough.

  Here are directions to Weston's Juniper.  He shot at least two variations, maybe three:

  Drive 120 out of Yosemite Valley toward Tioga Pass from West to East.  Pass Omstead view, (where you should stop and...view), be alert.  A SOON as you see Tenaya Lake close to the road on the right, park on the LEFT in the first pull-in slot.  Walk through the conifers in front of the car until you come into open space.  About 50 yards.  Your direct front is crossed by rolls of granite.  Walk up.  Stop on top.  It's not climbing, just a walk.  To the North, directly ahead, you will see the top on a closer granite dome skyline descending from right to left.  Behind it, you will be another, farther, skyline descending from left to right.  They intersect right over the Weston Juniper.  Use that as your navigation point.  The country is open, though you will climb some, descend a little and go around boulders and through treelines.  300 yards max.  As you get close you will see a VERY large boulder to your left.  The Adams granite photo is past it about 150 yards downhill.  Look for the quartz veins.  To the right as you approach the Weston Juniper you are looking through the back of the 1872 Muybridge.  The Weston Tree is obvious and behind it is a rising granite dome with more trees.  Most good athletic shoes will get a good enough grip to walk up the dome to more trees.

  In "California and the West", Charis talks about camping next to Lake Tenaya for several days and climbing around looking for Junipers.  This is where they were.

  The Klett book is helpful, and cheap on Amazon Used Books, though his panoramas sometimes link things together in a way that isn't helpful.  Don't be disappointed.

I'll never get 100 votes and comments, but would be nice to have a few...

https://robertlangham.see.me/exposure2015

More Magnolias.

Map and Magnolia

Gardenia and metal clothespin

Fighting Knives with Flowers.

  All 8X10 but at the suggestion from a friend I am trying a new developer on my 8X10 HP5.  Pyrocat. I think it is giving me better white values, though Xtol is pretty good.

Painting AC Gentry's house.

Our neighbor and longtime friend across the street.  This is an iphone note but I went and got my 5X7 and shot a holder.  I have a little neighborhood series I keep adding to.

Moving forward

"Do not work haphazardly" vs "Most of the time, I'm just guessing."

Mont St. Michele.

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.