A new beginning

Recently, I voiced some frustration about the content of my blog with my friend and fellow blogger Heidi Huber http://heidihuberphotography.com/. Heidi is a very successful wedding photographer who has carved a niche with her documentary wedding style. After listening to me, Heidi gave me some constructive advices. She said, your blog needs to be more about what makes you unique. Show what you’re passionate about. Yes, you do editorial photojournalism but that’s your work. Show the other side of you.

I thought about it for a while and I have to agree. There is another side of me that has always gotten lost in my professional photography. Since my introduction into photography by my father, it’s foundations were cemented by Phoenix College Professor Allen Dutton (retired) http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa226.htm. Dutton, is a large format fine art / documentary photographer. He taught the fine art of exquisite photography. He introduced his students to portfolios of photographers who he new at the time. He taught us how to appreciate the content and subtle qualities of print making and the negative.

As a result of his influence, I have always had this quiet interest in large format landscape and portrait photography. In 1989, I bought my first large format view camera a used 8 X 10 Deardorff. It took me a few more years to get a couple of lenses but I was off and running quietly all by myself. When my newspaper photography job got to me, I would load up the gear and take a drive into the desert.

My drives were to clear my head of the fast paced burn out world of newspaper work. I call these trips photo missions. It’s a rediscovery of photography on it’s purest level. It didn’t matter if I photographed a shot-up discarded stove or a Saguaro cactus. The purpose was more about the process and not as much about the result.

If it’s always about making the next Moonrise over Hernandez by Ansel Adams http://www.anseladams.com/content/ansel_info/ansel_ancedotes.html I would never leave the house. We can always hope for the best but the elements have to come together at that precise time and when it does I’m usually not there.

So about Transformations the blog. From this day forward, I will be posting images that have relevance to me. Large format, medium format, Polaroids, 35 mm chrome and a few digital images. Most of my large format work is black and white. I will talk about the process and how I made the photographs. The reading might become a little technical and boring but again that's what I do.

I recently got an interesting Polaroid camera called a Polaroid 600SE http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_600/600_SE. This is a very cool old camera. I hope to be making some interesting pictures with it soon. I tested the camera this week and had some success. All the functions seems to work. I had a few issues but that is what makes Polaroid unpredictable and fun. The images are posted above.

So there you go. I hope you stick around.