Tumacacori National Park

Nothing really, to comment on here. I'll just leave it to the pictures to do the talking. This is Tumacacori National Park. The images were shot with a medium format camera on black and white film. The film was hand processed by me and then scanned.

The Positive / Negative of Polaroid Type 55

This is a series of landscape photographs I made using Polaroid Type 55. As you may know Polaroid is no longer in production. What this means to use, is that this film has gone the way of the dinosaur. It's now extinct except for those wise men and women who have the financial resources to stock pile the film when it's discontinuance was announced. The challenge with stock piling this film is when it gets old the developer / stabilizer built into the individual film packs dry out. This renders the film useless. I have a box and a half that I would like to shoot but I'm a little pessimistic if it's still good.

Polaroid Type 55, was extremely popular with photographer's in just about ever application from architecture, portraiture, fine art, landscape, editorial and commercial work. It was an alternative creative medium for photographers. Polaroid Type 55, added one more tool to the photographers tool box that helped make their images stand out.

Locally, in Arizona, ASU Regent Professor and fine art photographer Mark Klett used Polaroid Type 55 as his signature look. Google his name and check out his work when you have time. His list of articles, exhibits and achievements are extensive. His early works using Polaroid Type 55 helped make him an icon in the fine art world.

If you're not familiar with the 4 X 5 inch film it has two properties. A positive and a negative. It produced a positive image on a piece of 4 X 5 inch Polaroid paper. We're all familiar with a Polaroid positive but this film also produced a negative. So, when you took the picture you had both, a positive and a negative. With diligence you soaked the negative in Sodium Sulfite and rinsed the developer off of the film. What you ended up with was a fine grain 4 X 5 inch negative. You could then put the negative into an enlarger and make beautiful prints of any size. Today, most people scan but there are still people who love the analog way of wet printing in a darkroom.

This post shows one scene, the Polaroid Positive (left) next to the (scanned) negative on the right. The positive was a great way to proof your composition and exposure much like a LCD screen on the back of your DSLR camera of today.

The bottom image is traditional 4 X 5 inch black and white film processed then scanned on my scanner. In this case it's Kodak T-Max 100 4 X 5 negative film. This film is still in production and available at most professional camera stores.

Wupatki

These are two images of Wupatki National Monument. I made these images in 1986 with a friend of mine from Flagstaff,Dave Nations. Dave and I, used to team up and photograph Northern Arizona when ever I was in his neck of the woods. At the time we were both avid participants in photographing everything we could.

On a sad note, I found out last week that Dave died at 51 years old. He suffered a serious brain injury from a fall. I'm shocked by this unfortunate turn of events and can't begin to put it into words. He was a complex and interesting man that will be missed.

Watson Lake / Peoples Valley, Arizona

Watson Lake


Peoples Valley

Prior to my friends art opening in Prescott, Arizona I went to Watson Lake which is literally a few miles form downtown Prescott. It's an incredible place with giant outcroppings of granite rocks. I wanted to get a nice picture of the place but did have a couple of challenges. I've never photographed in this area so I was unfamiliar with the location. Navigating a good location is tough because the rocks are huge and you have climb all over the place to get a good vantage point.

To my surprise Watson Lake is a park were you have to pay to get in. I didn't see the two signs that said, "closed at sunset". After I found a descent spot and the light faded to dark, I headed out to find a ranger waiting for me at my truck. He was very nice and didn't right me a ticket. I couldn't believe the park closed at sunset. How about 30 minutes or an hour after sunset. Photographers want the after light. I have to remind myself from time to time, I'm not special just because I carry a camera. I had to promise, I would fallow the rules next time and he let me go with a smile.

The second image isn't magic light and I'm positive it would be great at a different time of the day. It's a roadside shot of an open pasture with horses, Peoples Valley.

The Back Way Home

Peoples Valley


Off the road, State Rout 10, South of Skull Valley


Bar-B-Que, Peoples Valley


On my way back to Phoenix from Prescott, I drove the long way home through Skull Valley, Peoples Valley and Wickenburg. These are a few of the shots I made with my film camera along the way. Hyper clear images in the middle of the day. You have to embrace the harsh light and the contrast.

Dewey-Humbolt, Arizona

I took a road trip to Prescott to visit artist friend Phill Timper who was have an art opening last week. These are a few frames I made on the way up. This is the little town just East of Prescott named Dewey-Humbolt, Az.

Looking Back

On December 3, for First Friday art walk (Phoenix) I visited the Doris and John Norton Gallery inside The Phoenix Art Museum. The Gallery is dedicated to Photography and is in close collaboration with The Center For Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Center is an archive and an academic research facility that houses thousands of photographs form over two hundred photographers ranging from the masters to contemporary works.

I went to the gallery to see the current show; Inspired Vision: by Brett Weston and Sonya Noskowiak. I have to tell you this is a great gallery and a diamond in the desert for the local photographic community.

While I was looking at the exhibit, I couldn’t help but to think about how fast digital has become the norm and that I was now looking at an archaic process. It was only 10 to 15 years ago that B & W printed on silver paper was still mainstream. It’s weird for me to be witness to a vanishing medium. The process is getting farther and farther away in my minds eye. The silver print has solidly become an alternative process much like the tin type, Collodium or Platinum Paladium.