Vote!

halloween
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

My daughter carved the 2 jack-o-lanterns, and she has really gotten interested in the politics this year.
She could have carved a Dick Cheney or John Ascroft design, but that would have just scared the kids away tonight...

Michigan Photographic Historical Society

Last Sunday, Oct. 24, my daughter and I spent the day in Novi, MI at the MiPHS photographica swap. We put in most of our time at a table selling off donated books and magazines that the Society was selling off, and sold them all--generating $300. Everyone got some bargains, for sure. The old 1930s and 40s- era magazines were really fun to leaf through. I picked up a wonderful hard-bound copy of Wright Morris' "Photographs and Words" published by The Friends of Photography.

For more information on Wright Morris:

http://www.photogenesisgallery.com/morris.html

http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/ncw/morribib.htm


As collectors and photographers, we delight in going up and own the ailes checking out the various cameras, odd pieces of equipment, and chatting with the sellers and other photographers. Marjorie once again outdid me, though this time I was not really actively buying anything. She picked up another Argus C, An Argus C3, and Argus AF, and a C2. My only Argus purchases were a pretty decent C2 in a case for $5, and an Argus slide viewer and a handful of Argus 126 cameras for $5. What I spent most of my money on was the latest edition of McKeown's Camera Guide, a whopping 1200+ pages and 48,000 cameras...
Definitely worth having, whether you want to gauge the prices for buying/selling, evualuating for insurance purposes, or merely to have your eyes glaze over at the sheer numbers cameras (10,000 illustrations)!

Some shoppers among the treasures.

The variety of cameras at these shows is amazing, since as a photographica show, it caters mostly to small sellers and collectors, not big-time vendors selling new equipment. Digital cameras were not for sale there, and I felt somewhat guilty snapping pics with a digicam...but these are web-destined anyway, not on my wall. The MiPHS swap differs from other camera shows in another way, too -- there are many image vendors there, so if you are looking for tintypes, ambrotypes, Deguerreotypes or old photos, it is a great swap to attend. I never know what I'll see at this swap, and even if I don't buy the odd camera, many sellers understand that it's all about showing off, too. The rare 16mm micro-camera from Universal Camera with gigantic flash reflector (by comparison) was a neat camera that i had read about but never seen. It was pretty cheap, too, but I left it for a Universal collector. Kodak made so many cameras that I can't imagine specializing in those...

A bevy of cheap Kodaks from Alan Bulgrin

One thing missing at these shows are young people. My daughter Marjorie stands out in the crowd becuase she is 16, a female, and is actively interested in silver-based photography as well as collecting certain types of cameras. By large, the crowd at camera shows is over 40 and male. I did note that many of the image collectors there were women. Whereas the hardware collectors are largely male.

Old Barns

We are losing a significant part of our heritage every day and few people seem to realize it. Barns. For you urbanites and suburbanites, this may not mean much. However, to those of us that grew up in the rural areas, a barn is much more than some old building sitting on a farm. Or, as more likely today, an old decrepit building at the edge of a housing development... it pains me to see them falling over. Too expensive to maintain, the owners just let them rot away.

Barns, in all their incarnations, were places where many of us played as kids. Going up into the hayloft where we could search for cats, play hide and seek and get thoroughly messy with hay. There was an old long-unused barn where I grew up (in the Adirondacks) and a rope was still attached to the hay pulley. My friends and I would swing from that thing like we were Tarzan. It's a wonder nobody got hurt. It was also a neat place just to search for old stuff, and the old manure pile behind it was a rich source of compost for our gardens. The barn is still standing, so far as I know, but even then it had probably been abandoned for 20 years.

Now I live in southern Michigan, and a 10 minute drive from my house gets me close to barns. Some are still being used -- either as integral parts of a farming operation, or as nothing more than hay/vehicle storage; others are standing and unused, and each year, many more are leaning and falling over in disuse and disrespect. Still, there is are amazing variety of barns here -- a flagstone barn near Chelsea, one made of glazed tiles near Saline, and of course a lot of wood barns that look like the same group of builders built them 100 years ago or thereeabouts. Most of them are painted red with white accents.

There is a really nice book on Michigan barns, by Mary Keithan - Michigan Heritage Barns. All her shots were done with an 8x10 view camera, and her images have caused me to go out and find some of the barns she has photographed. If you are interested in barn preservation, a number of states have preservation programs.

I saw this barn outside of Hastings, MI a couple of years ago and did not photograph it. This past July, I drove back home from Kalamazoo and took the back roads, and retraced my route to take me past this barn so I could get some shots of it. I think it is a 10-sided barn.

Whether they are regularly maintained or left to the ravages of the elements, barns are great photographic subjects. Interesting shapes, interplay of man/nature and the sometimes beautifully weathered wood can inspire you. Spend some time at one and see what magic it works on you.

Brownie Special 616

Months ago, I bought this Kodak 616 Brownie Special at a resale shop for $5. Interesting camera... even has a little stud to push out so that it can stand on its side for vertical photos. I experimented and ran a roll of 120 inside it by putting little extenders on the 120 spool so that it fit inside the camera. I should have somwewhat panoramic negatives. I used the 616 takeup spool, which meant that the film did not wind precisely lined up. So, I stuck it in an opaque container until I develop it -- maybe later this week.

Meanwhile, I purchased a bunch of old film a few weeks ago, and in it were about a half dozen rolls of 616 Verichrome Pan. The expiration date is late 1960s. What the hell, I might as well load a roll in this camera and see what happens.

urbanscapes

fencesm
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

One day my daughter and I were walking around Ann Arbor at lunchtime, as we often have, and of course, we are always photographing things. A wrought-iron fence along the edge of a business property had this Rudbeckia growing through it. It caught my eye and I photographed it with my Ricoh Six floding camera. This camera has a removeable mask to allow either 6x6 cm or 6.4.5 cm negs on 120 roll film. I paid $40 for it earlier this summer at a camera swap.
I like wrought-iron fences. Decorative, yet tough. Sturdy yet you can see through them. Short, and they are just a reminder where the edge of the property is. Tall, and they seem to fence you out or in, depending where you are.

Peppers

peppers
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

It's so hard to photograph peppers without thinking of Edward Weston. Not only that, every pepper in the market today is "perfect". No outlandish forms like Weston purchased. Maybe someone needs to market a variety that is prone to unusual shapes and call them Westons. Plus, in his day, they didn't sell them with little PLU stickers on the side...

Digital Has No Soul

Every day one is inundated with the latest news about new digital cameras. In fact, take a look at any of the larger camera mags such as Shutterbug and Popular Photography. They make their living showcasing the latest stuff. Now it's about 75% digital. Now there is nothing wrong with digital photography, but there is a lot wrong with the industry. Ilford and Agfa, both primarily film-based companies, seems to be having problems. Kodak is dropping some films, such as Technical Pan - a very unique film emulsion. Kodak's bread and butter has been film and the processing thereof. What happens as consumers go more digital -- what kind of consumables can Kodak provide to a digital user besides ink-jet paper? Are they going to have stock in Epson, too? Sell Kodak-branded media cards? How many latest models of digicams can a person buy?

Back to my original topic - digital has no soul. I pick up one of my many classic cameras, and some not so classic -- they have a feel and ease of operation that digital cannot approach. No batteries except for a light meter (and even then, that only accounts for my SLRS and a Pentax 6X7). See the subject in the viewfinder..press the shutter. Instant capture of the moment forever. Not to be erased by mistake, not left on a CD never to be seen again, not processed a thousand ways in photoshop. A unique image preserved in silver salts on a strip of acetate. You can look at it without any technological aid now, 100 years from now. That's why I say digital has no soul.

What do I use? Film. My digicam is a 2.1 MP for web and ebay. I shoot over a hundred rolls of b&w in a year - some medium format, most 35mm. Maybe I'll start using the 4x5 camera I have, too. I guess its time to buy a bunch of bulk rolls of b&w to keep Kodak going, huh?

If you like b&w, try JandC Photo on the web....some neat emulsions , mostly all from Europe.

cemetery1

cemetery1
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

Here is the image.. I finally figured out the whole Flickr thing...pretty cool actually.

It's mid-October and...

next Saturday, October 23 is World Toy Camera Day. Take a toy camera anywhere and shoot some photos. Toy cameras?
go to http://www.toycamera.com/wtcd/wtcd_info.html
for more info on WTCD.

My favoriye toy camera? My Holga, of course. It frees me from thinking about controls and more about spur of the moment, "what if" kind experience.
Such as this.



A cemetery on Mackinac island, MI. I was there in mid-August, on a beautiful day. This old cemetery has interesting cobblestone arches and iron gates.

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