Vulture Mine, Arizona. A Photographic Extravaganza

Polaroid 600SE


Polaroid 600SE


Polaroid 600SE

All the photo's below are Canon 5 D Mark II DSLR.

Canon 5D Mark II 35mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens
Heidi Huber, Andy DeLisle and Me Me


Canon 5D Mark II, Electrical system. 50mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II 50mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens / Power Station


Canon 5D Mark II 50mm Prime Lens / Me Me the Cat


Canon 5D Mark II 50mm Prime Lens / Me Me the Cat


Canon 5D Mark II 50mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens


Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm Prime Lens / Me Me the Cat


Canon 5D Mark II, 24mm Prime Lens / The School House


Canon 5D Mark II, 24mm Prime Lens / School House Swings

A photographic extravaganza with photographers Heidi Huber and Andy DeLisle. Click on there names to see there work.

The Vulture Mine is about 10 miles southwest of Wickenburg, Arizona. It's now a ghost town but at one time close to 3ooo people lived and worked in the area. This is what's left of the gold and silver mine community. We went Aug. 22 which means it was really hot. I even stirred up a rattle Mojave Rattle Snake that was resting comfortably under a creosote bush.

Arlington, Arizona

Arca Swiss 8 X 10 Large Format Camera. Ilford HP 5

This is the Arlington, Arizona area. I shot this last fall but didn't scan it until today. Actually, I like it quite a bit.

The over all composition is fairly dynamic for a slightly above average landscape. The dark cliffs give the image depth as the mountains highlighted by the sun glow in the distance. The canal gives you a nice diagonal dimension that leads the eye up into the distant fields.

I hope you like as well. The original is an 8 X 10 inch negative hand processed and flat bed scanned. Sweet!

Wild Flower

I got up this morning to fairly cool temperatures, clouds and a light rain. At last, a nice change from the relentless heat. My wife Lorie noticed one of our cactus blooming so I got the camera for a few snaps. I'm not a big flower guy but this was pretty cool. One of life's small wonders.

Lo-Lo-Mai Springs Cornville, AZ.

The original negative is medium format (6 X 6 square). There were some compositional problems to the right side of the frame. To get around that, I shot it knowing I would crop it out later. Since, it's a fairly large negative I still have plenty of resolution to give me a nice final image.

Ordonez girls

These are my little nieces form Santa Monica. They're so sweet and cute.

I have a small box full of expired film I use from time to time. I wanted to see if I would get some cool effects from the expired film. What I got was a just bad film and the resulting creative experiment forced me to spend a lot of time in Photoshop. Next time I'll have fresh film.

I have always loved medium format photography. It's square rather than rectangle for those that don't know. I like the openness of the frame. The subject can breath and I can include a little move environment. For me this format makes sense in my eye and mind.

These images are made with a Hasselblad 503 cx film camera with a 50mm lens. The digital version of my camera is the Hasselblad HD4 and is priced at $30,000.00. Just a bit out of my price range.

Santa Monica Pier, California

Polaroid 600SE


Polaroid 600SE


Polaroid 600SE


Hasselblad 503 CX


Polaroid 600SE


Polaroid 600SE

I went to Santa Monica, Ca. last week to visit extended family. Since my sister in law lives so close to the beach, I was able to take an early morning walk to the pier. I wish I could spend more time working on these things but by the time I get comfortable with a place it always seems I have to be somewhere else.

I brought a Polaroid 600 SE and a Hasselblad 503CX film camera. No digital this time.

Morman Lake Northern Arizona

Digital Canon Camera


Expired Kodak Portra 160 VC color film converted to B & W / Hasselblad

This is the Morman Lake area 25 miles southeast of Flagstaff. The summer monsoon clouds build up every afternoon in northern Arizona for a dramatic sky, lightning and rain.

The top photo is with a digital Canon Camera and the bottom one was with a Hasselblad and machine processed at a commercial lab.

Hand Processed

Holga Camera / Ilford HP 5 / hand processed / PMK Pyro

Just for comparison this image was hand processed by me. The identical image in the below post was processed by a commercial lab. Look at the sky in both images. The uneven development is evident in the sky. The inconsistent density in the middle of the sky make the image look old and possible contaminated by bad chemistry. I'm not talking about the vignetting in the corners that's due to the camera and lens. My hand processed image (above) has a nice gradient that is consistent throughout the sky area. This image was taken with a $25 dollar plastic Holga camera and the one below was take with a $2,000.00 Hasselblad. Ouch!

Globe, Arizona

An afternoon photo extravaganza to Globe, AZ. Fall 2009. This is Ilford HP 5 B & W film and all the above pictures were made with a Hasselblad camera.

A point to make and an observation. The photographs of the copper restaurant sign, the swimming pool, and the old hotel staircase were all processed by a commercial lab. The photo of Toru at the tee pee, and the church below were also developed by a commercial lab but those pictures were made with a plastic Holga camera. You can see the uneven tonality in the cloudless sky. That's due to poor development procedures. Every time I get lazy and I don't do my own processing the negatives come out liking like garbage. It's a reminder why I should always do my own B & W processing. I'll give them a little latitude because a cloudless sky is the ultimate test for uneven development. But, I have to say this is pretty bad. This time let's call it creative liberty. Ya that's it, I did on purpose.

Toru 50th

It was Toru's 50th birthday and it was my duty to get Toru out of his house for half a day while his wife Donna and daughter Kiomi got the house ready for a surprise party. I told him we were on a photo mission and driving up to Canyon Lake to look around and eventually have lunch at Tortilla Flats Restaurant. On our way up I spotted at a little roadside gallery. Interestingly what caught my eye were the Tee pee's. I made this picture of Toru with a Holga Camera and expired B & W film.

We also stopped and took a look at the Superstition Mountains Church. When we got back Toru acted surprised but knew something was up when his family was feverishly cleaning the house just before we left.