The Reluctant Blogger

Film

2009-07-01T21:14:00.005-06:00

For the past nine months I haven't shot any serious work with a digital camera.

I have shot paper negatives of all sizes and film up to 8x20 and 11x14. I recently returned from four days going around the Great Salt Lake with a group of off-road enthusiasts. All of our gear was pre-1979. Trucks, camping gear, cameras, clothes...the whole package. I shot a Hasselblad 500c, a Canham 4x10 and my old Nikon F. I shot a bunch of black and white and a bunch of transparency film too.

I have been scanning and playing with the black and white files for the past two days and I am constantly reminded why I have fallen back in love with film. It's just plain and simple...it's awesome! Yes, it's slow and clunky and messy and all that other stuff that everyone complains about, but guess what...I don't care!

Anyway, I just had to publicly affirm my love for film.

Passey Children Dancing In Camp, 2009

Pilings

2009-06-30T16:22:00.004-06:00

Here are some eroded pilings. I thought I needed to post something new, so here it is.

Weathered Pilings, Original Saltair Location, 2009

Eggs

2009-06-02T08:27:00.004-06:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've blogged, so here's a quick update on basically the only interesting thing that's been going on at our place. We got laying hens. We have 7 chickens right now and average 3 eggs a day. 2 of the hens aren't laying yet, and one of the hens is done laying for good. She is probably going to end up in a pot.

The eggs are a pale green shade and are yummy! I ate the first two this morning on some toast. Bestest eggs ever!

Zel

2009-05-16T22:49:00.001-06:00

Your photography should be fun. If it's not you're doing something wrong.

Zel With Rosey Boa, 11x14 Paper Negative, 2009

Zel With Rosey Boa, 11x14 Paper Negative - Inverted, 2009

11

2009-05-12T13:14:00.004-06:00

Abigail turned 11 yesterday. 11 on the 11th...her magic birthday.

We got together on Sunday at Jon's to celebrate Mother's Day and Abigail's Birthday. I took a photograph of her with a 4x10 camera. A special negative from a special camera on a special day for a special girl.

Pretty special eh?

Abigail's 11th Birthday Party, 2009

Deprived

2009-04-23T13:36:00.003-06:00

WASHINGTON - APRIL 23: (AFP OUT) White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers (L) nods off while U.S. President Barack Obama talks to the press.

The images are from Getty, and were originally two separate frames. Since we're doing panoramas in class right now, I thought that this would make a good one.

Here is a pretty good description of Larry Summers. This is from an article in the Washington Times written by John Ward from last year:

"He won't be shy. The thing about him is he doesn't sit behind the scenes," said Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University. "He's a forceful presence."

"My guess is he's going to take that position and make the most of it, and [Timothy] Geithner will have a competitor, even though he's the secretary of the Treasury," Mr. Zelizer said.

Looks like he's off to a pretty good start.

Easter

2009-04-12T09:12:00.005-06:00

We have a pretty low-key Easter. Here are some pictures.

Living Room Prior To Egg Hunt, 2009

Connor Hunting Eggs With Droopy Pants, 2009

Abigail Reaching For Blue Egg, 2009

Last Egg Found, 2009

CakeBeard

2009-04-08T16:22:00.003-06:00

Here is one of my students. The shot on the left was a test for an upcoming portrait project. After we shot it he asked if he could put chocolate cake all over his face. How could I say no? Shot on Polaroid Type 59.

Jake and Jake Wearing Cakebeard, 2009

Beauty

2009-04-08T15:11:00.003-06:00

Here's the poster for the upcoming production of The Sleeping Beauty at Waterford. I shot the image for it with the 4x5 and made a VanDyke Brown print, a 19th century printing technique.

Sleeping Beauty Poster, 2009

Grades

2009-04-07T23:07:00.013-06:00

I did this term's first on-line update. I had to reassess several of the student's grades and honestly evaluate their performance for me. I was surprised to see that I had a few that were getting F's.

I saw this chart tonight and chuckled.

Apparently there are a lot of American's who think that President Obama also deserves an F. The advice I give to my students that are getting F's right now is that it's early in the term, they've dug themselves a hole, but it's not too deep that they can't get themselves out of it. They only have to stop digging and get to work.

It's the same advice I'd give to Mr. O.

EDIT:

May 3, 2009

Since an anonymous commenter bravely came forward to dispute the polling numbers, calling them inaccurate, I thought I'd provide a little more information for the 'discussion'. But, I do issue a challenge to the cowardly commenter to come forward and identify themself, lest we all think that they are hiding behind the internet and it's warm cozy anonymity. Calling out the chicken? Sure...yes, I am! Hey 'Anonymous', let's take a real hard look at that poll you are referring to shall we? Ok, let's. Since you won't open your mind and look at the actual data, rather than just taking the number at face value, it tells me that YOU are the one looking at only the things YOU want to see. Find a warm'n'fuzzy about Mr. O and you're happy. Dig into the facts and find out what's really going on? Never mind...it's too hard and I'm busy stuffing envelopes for SUWA or Al Gore.

Before he thinks that I'm resorting to a personal attack, let's look at the data from the poll that he is claiming to use.

Personally I don't think he used a CBS approval poll. I think he is referring to the ABC/Washington Post poll which fleshes out a little like this.

This is from the ABC/Washington Post poll dated April 26, 2009.

Let's look at the numbers. First of all, the MSNBC poll that the original commentator...let's just call them 'Anonymous' (oh wait, that's what they chose to call themselves anyway) disagreed with...that poll was answered by 1.8 million people. MSNBC viewers, which we all know is the Olberman/Matthews propoganda arm of the Democratic party. Dispute that? How can you when Olberman and Matthews themselves relish the thought of it.

The ABC/Washington Post poll talks about it's own polling methods. Quoted from the source:

METHODOLOGY – This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone
April 21-24, 2009, among a random national sample of 1,072 adults, including landline
and cell-phone-only respondents and an oversample of African-Americans (weighted to
their correct share of the national population). Results for the full sample have a 3-point error margin; click here for a detailed description of sampling error. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, PA.

One thousand adults are determining the nations approval rating of the President? Are you kidding me? People who rely on these numbers as an indicator of how to direct and determine policy are relying on one thousand people? And what is this 'oversample' business? How can it be called an oversample for African-Americans if it just weights to their correct share of the national population? What does that mean anyway?

Anyway, if we take the polling methodology as scientific (which I'm not sure I do at this point...), and the sample group as broad enough and large enough to reflect the voice of the average American (which I'm not sure I do either...), and we assume that the pollsters didn't just call people in New York, LA and Portland, (which we don't...), we can move on to analyze the data.

Still with me Anonymous? I hope so.

For the policies that Obama campaigned AGAINST Bush on, namely Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terror (which has conveniently been renamed to 'international troublemaking'), Obama gets high marks. It is interesting to note that his policies haven't changed at all, in fact, Obama is putting more troops into Afghanistan than Bush had. Essentially Obama is continuing the Bush policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now how can Obama campaign to to the exact opposite of the 'failed policies of the past eight years', but continue to do the same things? Interesting...

On to his major points of problem for the poll takers and poll readers (or non-readers...).

Economy = poor
Taxes = poor
Health Care = poor
Deficit = poor
Immigration = poor
Automakers = poor

This tells me that when the American public sees Obama enacting the socialist policies of taxing the rich to pay for the poor, health care, being lax on immigration and controlling the US auto industry, he scores very poorly. Americans stand for Capitalism, not Socialism. To argue that what Obama is doing is not akin to Socialism is to bury your head in the sand. He claims he does not want to grow the size of government, but what has he done in his glorious 100 days? Yep, he's grown the size of government. A lot.

The very issues that Obama rallied the American people against are the ones he's scoring high on. The issues that Obama is most strongly identifying with and enacting with reckless abandon, are the ones he scores lowest on. He *is* going contrary to the will of the American people on the things that will have the longest lasting domestic impression.

I didn't know this, but in this poll is something called a 'personal favorability' rating.

These numbers tell me that the American people are saying, "Obama, we really like you, and we're not taking anything else into consideration when making that decision".

Perhaps the most interesting thing of all is how they break down this 'approval rating'. A dissection is in order:

Let's put this into perspective. Again, my original post was speaking to students and grades, both from a teachers and a parent's viewpoint. Let's say you were asking your student's teacher if they were doing a good job in their class. The teacher says, "I somewhat approve of Johnny's performance in my class". Would that make you happy? Would it make you as happy as the teacher saying, "I strongly approve of Johnny's performance in my class".

Well, honestly, does the 'somewhat approve' label really sound like a resounding endorsement? Does it? If you go to a restaurant and you 'somewhat approve' of the food, do you think you'll go back? If you bought a pair of jeans and your friends 'somewhat approved' of how they made your butt look, do you think you'd wear them again?

Obama is getting a 'somewhat approve' from 27 percent of those polled. How can the media trot those folks out as being in the same camp as the 'strongly approve' folks? Well, I guess they have to draw a line somewhere, and that's where they did. It's their poll, so I'll let them have at it.

Also, what about those people that answered 'no opinion'. I cannot believe that it is as high as seven percent. Clearly those people don't approve of what the president is doing or they'd be saying so. 'I liked the food at the restaurant but I have no opinion on it'. That doesn't cut it for those people to be in the 'approve' camp, but does it quite cut it for them to be int he 'disapprove' camp? Maybe not. I just have a hard time believing that you can find anyone who doesn't have an opinion one way or the other on any of these issues. I wonder if they voted this past November, just who they voted for?

The problem for me is that we hear approval numbers and we automatically think that 72 out of 100 people approve of EVERYTHING that Obama is doing. Clearly from the data provided in the ABC/Washington Post poll we see that it is not the case. Quite the contrary.

Anonymous is claiming that the CBS poll he is referring to gives Obama a 68% approval rating. In my classroom a 68% is a D+. Would you be happy if your little Johnny was getting a D+ ?

I still say Obama is getting an F, the MSNBC poll from 2 weeks ago and the ABC poll from this week are right about the same. Here is a link for the non-believing anonymouse liberals. (yes, I misspelled 'anonymous' like that on purpose...)

CLICK HERE FOR AN EDUCATION THAT MIGHT HURT YOU.

Hell

2009-04-05T19:30:00.004-06:00

So I figure after watching all five sessions of conference, I can afford to do a little ox-pulling this afternoon. I might spend some time in hell for this, but I don't mind.

I got the hen-house moved into the backyard this afternoon. Had the help of four of my other hell-bound neighbors. Polla's saving grace is that she was in bed sick this afternoon. Otherwise she'd be going to hell too.

I need to reassemble the hen-house next week, get it painted and get it populated.

Hen-house In Three Movements, 2009

Manualist

2009-03-31T21:52:00.001-06:00

What is a manualist? I didn't know either until I saw this.

Everything always comes back to Star Wars.

Girlfriends

2009-03-22T21:25:00.004-06:00

Abigail and her two girlfriends, Megan and Alissa. Abigail is the one on the right. They made a 'fort' in the front room, ate food, watched TV, had a blast. I fell asleep.

Disappointment

2009-03-14T07:16:00.006-06:00

Once upon a time, back when I was first asked to write an 'artists statement' about my project, I included these words:

"You however, are not my intended audience. I am creating this work to stand as a record for those who may never get to experience Great Salt Lake. You can come and visit it if you would like, others in future generations will not be able to experience the lake as it is today. It is those viewers that I am hoping to enlighten."

Several people that I respect read those words and suggested that I remove them, so I did. It is a little harsh. Basically true, but harsh. Harsh in a way that I thought might alienate my audience. So...I removed the text.

I bring this up only to remind myself that I am not really creating this work and these images for any one single person besides myself. I am not trying to please any particular group of people. I am not doing this to win a Pulitzer Prize (although that would be fun wouldn't it?).

Last month I entered a photographic competition which is created for projects that are broad and in-depth. After reading the judges statements from prior years and looking at previous award winners, I decided that my project could probably use exposure to a broader audience, and might actually stand a chance of winning something. I want this work to be seen and the story of Great Salt Lake to be known by more than just a small core of individuals.

For 2 months I sat patiently, writing my acceptance speech on a napkin to have 'just in case'. Last week I started to get a little nervous as the deadline approached. This week I was a total basket case checking the competition's website for any news announcing the winners. Finally yesterday a statement was made on their website to 'stay tuned to your e-mail'. So...I did.

I checked it. Frequently. Religiously. Anxiously. Obsessively. Thankfully I was rescued by some diversions yesterday and was forced to take my mind off of it, but those didn't last long, and I was again tempted by the siren call to check 'just one more time'.

I figured I'd at least get something in the e-mail. The project's organizers had said that they would contact those who were in the top 5, 10 and 20 percent of the judging as to encourage and reward their good efforts. Previous year's competitions had seen up to 800 entries and I figured, what's 20 percent of 800? 160 or so? Is my math really that bad? I figure I have a pretty good project, I should at least get in the top 20 percent shouldn't I? Of course I should!

So...anxiously I awaited to see how well I would place. I even announced my obsession on Facebook.

Last night, late, the announcements were made.

The only announcement that I received was that I would not be getting any awards.

What..the...F*&^????? No awards? No accolades? No parades down main street? Not even a pat on the back? There must be some mistake! I hurriedly re-scanned the list of award winners thinking I must have been in too much of a frenzied state to have recognized my own name the first time I scanned the list. I went over it again, upways and sideways and crossways and backways...it's starting to sound like a Willy Wonka monologue, but no, my name is still nowhere to be seen.

I lean back in bed and realize that I am actually very disappointed. I am bummed. I am even somewhat sick and light-headed about it. Then, I am mad. I am angry. I take it out on the nearest available person...my wife sitting patiently in bed next to me. She knows I'm just venting and let's me rant. She knows I'll get over it but still offers some words of compassion. Not many, but enough.

I lay down and fall asleep angry. I feel betrayed and sad. More angry than sad, and less betrayed than sad, yet more angry than not, and still with an underlying current of sadness and betrayal topped with a thick frosting of anger and bitterness mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg. No wait, that sounds yummy...there was no cinnamon and nutmeg...just bile and sourness and putrid anger and disappointment. I don't know when my consciousness blended into my unconsciousness, but clearly it wasn't long after closing my eyes.

I woke up this morning at 5:15, eyes wide open. I realize I went to bed angry, but now all I can think about is something that I heard once from my favorite musician, guitarist Pat Metheny.

He said, and I paraphrase...it is only 6:30 in the morning right now...”I don't care if people like my music, I only care if I like my music. If, after I present my music, people like it, that is great. If they don't like it, that's fine too, but I don't make my music to be liked or not, I make it for me.”

When he said that, I was angry. Who was he to discount me as his 'biggest fan'? I have over 30 of his CD's and can 'air-guitar' nearly every solo perfectly! I've seen him in concert...twice! I had him autograph a photo I took of him playing in Portland! I am a HUGE fan! Who does he think he is after all? Without me, the adoring fan, he would be NOTHING! Of all the nerve!

As I have thought and re-thought about this statement, the clearer it became and the more sense it made. Of course he doesn't make his music for others, he is not a commercial songwriter, he is an artist. For me to accept that about his work, I would have to accept that about my own work.

For a long time I made my living shooting photographs for other people. Clients who would pay me to do it exactly how they wanted. They hired me based on my ability to deliver what they needed. Occasionally I would get the great client who liked my interpretation and let me have a pretty loose leash, but ultimately it was them paying me, and if they didn't like it, I would re-shoot it.

This Great Salt Lake Photographic Survey is not for a client. It is not for any particular group of people. It is for me.

It sucks when that attitude conflicts with me being mad about not placing in a competition. Inner turmoil. The angst of the tortured artist.

I know it's not supposed to make me mad when other's don't like the work. After all, it is only for me right? If you like it, great! If not, that's fine too. Right?

So, now I'm drafting a letter in my head. It goes something like this:

Dear Judges,

Can I have my 150 bucks back?

Horse - reassembled, Rozel Flat, Great Salt Lake, Utah, 2008

Faith

2009-03-08T08:56:00.007-06:00

Here's our exercise in faith.

Spring Planting, 2009 from Michael Slade on Vimeo.

HERE is a little better quality version.

Coleman

2009-03-07T08:37:00.003-07:00

No...not Gary.

I refurbished two Coleman lanterns and a two-burner stove yesterday. The red lantern is my dad's. I remember falling asleep camping as a kid in our huge canvas tent listening to that quiet hissing sound, surrounded by the soft white glow.

With a little bit of maintenance, some new fuel and a bit of determination I got both lanterns and the stove running all at the same time.

We had the power go out the other night for a while, and even though we have a lot of flashlights and candles, I was not satisfied. I'm getting a little closer.

Lego

2009-03-05T12:48:00.004-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything of my own...but rest assured, I am still shooting.

I was forwarded a link to an amazing set of photographs taken by Mike Stimpson. He is a big fan of Lego's, classic photography, Star Wars and has a wonderful sense of humor. What do you get when you throw those qualities in a blender and let it sit on high for a while? Well, you get an amazingly creative set of images. He has recreated many of the 'classics' in photo history using Lego figures.

Here is a link to his Flickr site of classic images.

Annie

2009-02-25T17:44:00.003-07:00

Even Ms. Leibovitz is having a hard time paying her mortgages. At least she has assets and isn't afraid to use them. Much better than a bailout I think.

This is from the story in the Daily Mail of London:

"Photographer Annie Leibovitz has borrowed £10million against some of her most famous pictures to pay the mortgages on all her homes.

The artist, 59, has become so concerned with her mounting debt, accumulated on properties she inherited in 2004 after the death of her lover Susan Sontag, she has turned to a company that lends money with fine art as collateral.

Documents seen by the New York Times reveal she secured the funds by giving the company, Art Capital, ownership of all her work - past and future - until the loan is repaid. "

LINK

Times

2009-02-19T18:43:00.003-07:00

Well, if you, my faithful reader remembers my prediction of the end of the newspaper business, you may be interested to see the following chart:

The Sunday New York Times now costs more than one share of New York Times stock. Four bucks for the paper, three bucks and seventy-seven cents for one share.

I'm thinking of buying one share to frame on my wall. You may not be able to buy them very much longer.

The Grey Lady is dying a slow death.

Pyro

2009-02-17T19:31:00.002-07:00

I did some film testing over the weekend.

I shot some 8x10 sheets of FP4, HP5+ and TMAX 400. I shot two different scenes on each type of film, for a total of six sheets. I processed them today in a new developer from Gordon Hutchins called 'MaxPyro'. It's a staining developer which adds UV density for non-silver printing processes. The stain that it adds is green-ish and the negs have a unique quality to them.

I liked the FP4 negs the best so far, but I need to do some prints tomorrow to see for sure. It will be interesting to see how they scan also.

Xanadu

2009-02-15T21:29:00.003-07:00

Abigail and I rented it last night. We're watching it for the second time tonight.

You can make fun of us if you want, admittedly it's a terrible movie, but the soundtrack and miss Newton-John make it worth it.

The music is awesome. Tell me that you don't wanna put on some leg-warmers and roller-skate around in the driveway after hearing this.

Elwood

2009-02-10T18:30:00.002-07:00

We have an Elwood 8x10 enlarger at Waterford that up until this morning was sitting upside-down in a storage closet. I decided I was tired of thinking about setting it up, so today I did.

It's about 8 feet tall and looks like a rocket ship. I believe it's from the late '40's.

Miraculously all of the parts to put it together and make it work were actually there, it even has a 300mm Schneider enlarging lens which is very sharp.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning it up, making a table for the easel, putting on the lens and made 4 20x24 prints.

There is quite a bit of fall-off toward the edges, and I'm not sure I'm happy with any of the prints, but it was a pretty amazing thing to be enlarging an 8x10 negative. It was incredibly sharp. Possibly the sharpest enlargement I've ever made. I can't wait to shoot some new images and do some more printing.

I have an idea to make a digital center-graduated filter to place in the light chamber. I also picked up some glare-free glass to make a new glass negative carrier. I want to print these full-frame with a thick black border, and the regular negative carrier won't let me.

Pics of it tomorrow. I was too busy having fun today to even document it.

Fence

2009-02-01T20:41:00.004-07:00

I have been out to the lake twice in two days. Made one exposure with the 8x20 yesterday, made two more today. I wanted to see what I *hope* it can look like on at least one shot, so I shot it digitally also.

This is a piece of fence I have been looking at for three years. I have never had the right time to shoot it until tonight.

Inaugeration

2009-01-20T21:23:00.004-07:00

I hope BHO doesn't disappoint all those who came out to see the anointing of The Chosen One.

We'll see what tomorrow's sunrise will bring. I expect to find that he's come and filled my gas tank up and paid my mortgage.

Cut

2009-01-08T19:46:00.005-07:00

Abigail has been growing her hair for about a little over a year. It has to be able to be put into a ponytail that is twelve inches long. She has been very patient and looking forward to getting it cut for a while.

She told me, "I like it short because it doesn't get in my food as much". Sounds like as good a reason as any I think.

Here are some pics.

Action shots by Polla...

Studio shots by moi...

(don't you love the heavy-handed vignette?)