It's starting to feel like home.

One of the hardest things about moving to someplace that is entirely new is the disruption in my typical routines and activities.  Of course, I would rather be off with my camera somewhere, but there have been many things around the house that need to be done, as well as trips to visit stores for needed items, and I have seen way to much of a Lowe's lately.  In fact, if I don't have to go inside one for another month, I would be a happy man.  However, we are getting our home to fit our needs, and eventually, all that stuff will be behind us.  We are getting to know our neighbors, and in fact, our neighbor Rachel was pleased to see that I had a manual typewriter. So much so, that she dropped off the book Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks.  I have to say that people here are friendlier and more approachable than in Michigan.  The local food scene is wonderful, and there are lots of great local beers.  The weather has been wonderful, and the mountain skies are always interesting.  Do I miss Ann Arbor? No.  It's easy for us to get around and into town, and every day we find new things.  It's really good that we decided to move here, as it has given us a kick in the pants to not be in a rut, and I feel fortunate that we have been able to do this.

Reed Creek will be great for some future pinhole work

In the past week, I have been doing some photography in downtown Asheville and Weaverville, and found a lovely place to visit at the Univ. of North Carolina Botanical Gardens, about 10 minutes from our house.  Reed Creek runs through the gardens, and the terrain is quite interesting.  Getting out for some "me" time is important, as I need to explore the area, and think about the type of photography that I want to do. I'm away from all of my old photo friends in Ann Arbor, and it will take a while to have that same film user community here that I had back in Michigan.   Lance King, from Tennessee, contacted me a couple of weeks ago and told me about a cool place in Marshall, NC and gave me some contact information.  I contacted the owner of the Makers Circle, Susan Patrice, and yesterday I drove over to meet her and see what the place was all about.  It's only about a 25 minute drive from my house, and it's in the lush mountains NE of Marshall.

Susan Patrice with one of her modded cameras for doing
circular negatives.

Susan Patrice runs the Makers Circle, and it's an amazing place with an alt-process darkroom, regular darkroom, a big digital work space, and room to house people that want to do a residency there. She's extremely knowledgeable and is a fantastic working photographer.  Her work is immediately notable in that most of her images are circular. We spent almost 3 hours talking photography, and it was such a great visit for me.  I may end up using the darkroom there until mine gets set up. It is amazing  that there is such a great resource just a short drive from my house!  I learned a bit about local resources too, and my next visit will be to Ball Photo in Asheville, where they apparently have LOTS of film cameras and accessories. 

Today, we finally went to the North Asheville Tailgate Market, which is a farmer's market that sets up on Saturdays on the UNC Asheville campus. One word- fantastic - describes the market.   It really was a feast for all the senses.  It reminded me of the Farmer's Market that I went to in Portland, OR, though not as extensive.  We bought some produce, some bread and cheese, some things to plant, and I spent $3.50 to buy a huge bell pepper that Weston would have envied.  Now I need to set up some lighting and space to photograph it on 6x7.  Then, we'll eat it.

So, yes, this is starting to feel like home, and I am looking forward to many new adventures.

T-minus 7...

A week from today, we will be at our new home in Weaverville, NC.  The movers arrive on Thursday.  We'll drive down on Saturday.   Getting all of my stuff boxed up has been a process for sure, but photographically, it's all done.  I am looking forward to NOT boxing things up and unboxing them.  It will be a while until I have an opportunity to set up my space and darkroom at the new place, but that's okay.  There will be plenty to do in the first few months settling in, but I'll still be doing a lot of photography.

In the process of boxing up my photography library, I did cull more books out, but still ended up with 29 boxes (10x15x12 inches) to have the movers load.  Since I plan on never moving again, I am happy with that.  Packing up the many photographs has been fairly easy.  Most of my unframed work is in clam-shell boxes, and the framed work is well-boxed. I sure have a lot of binders filled with negatives, and after we arrive, I plan on going through the last 10 years worth and doing some printing as well as posting online.  I boxed up much of the RC and fiber-based printing paper that was in my darkroom -- it will get used down the road, and I am sure some of it will be given away when I am in NC.  My film fridge will get emptied the day before we move, and the film put into a cooler that I'll transport.  Most of my cameras are already in locked  plastic totes that will be handled by the movers.  I'll be driving down with a couple of camera bags, as well. 

Overall, things have gone smoothly. We have a buyer for our Ann Arbor home, and we close on the NC home on July 17.  The next post you see will probably be from our new abode.

Shoot film!
Mark

Looking Back and Moving On

In two days, it will a year since my best friend, Marc Akemann, left this earth.  I still think of him, and he's still a part of my life.  I have been helping Coleen with Marc's photographic estate, and since I am moving soon, I won't be able to be as helpful as I would have liked to be, but I think my buddy Bill will be able to pick up where I left off.  Lately, I have had some time to scan in a bunch of film that Marc shot but never developed.  The Darkroom developed the C-41 and E-6 film, and I am slowly working on the B&W.  Now that all of my darkroom stuff is packed away, further work will have to wait until after we move. 

One roll of film was shot in 2013, and the roll appears to have shots from two of our trips on it.  I think the following photos were taken at a motel in Mackinaw City or Munising. I think it's the latter, because we both are dressed for cooler weather, and one trip was in June (not cold), and the other, late October.  Any how, Marc had set up his Nikon FA to do self-timer shots of the two of us.  The actual sequence is a bit bizarre, considering that Marc is no longer with us. 

I know that it looks like I am talking to a ghostly Marc, but it's because he was not situated when the shutter fired.  Nonetheless, I think Marc would have agreed that he looks non-corporeal. 

We will be moving to Weaverville, NC on July 20, assuming all goes as planned with the closing on the new house.  We also had great news this evening, as it looks like our house has an offer that will be acceptable to us.  So, I have been busy boxing things up during the past week.  The darkroom is empty, all cleaned up, and is clean enough to wash a baby in.  I still have many books to box up, and oh yeah, the rest of the house needs to be packed.  Our movers arrive on  7/18, and should be done on the 19th.  It's nice to not have to pack in a rush, and get things done in an orderly manner. 

Many Nikon lenses packed up. 

These are just the negatives/slides from 2016-2019

The darkroom, back in early March.

The now empty darkroom

Taken a few weeks ago. Most of the shelves on the sides are now empty.

I am looking forward to moving.  Our new house is only 10 minutes from Asheville, and a mile from Weaverville.  After all this packing/moving/unpacking is over, it will be time for a well-deserved vacation!    We'll miss our friends, of course, as well as some things about Ann Arbor.  It will take a while getting used to our new state, and while I'll miss the beauty of the Michigan lake shores, I'll find new vistas and lots of nature in North Carolina to fill up my viewfinder.  

My Darkroom

I thought I would share some thoughts about my darkroom, and what I hope for in its next reincarnation, as in a few short months it will have to be packed up for wherever its next home will be.

We purchased our current home in December 2002, from  Bill and Margaret Brudon.  It was a private sale, and it all came about because Bill had been a great mentor in photography to me, and we always enjoyed their home.  We moved a mile and sold the home we had purchased in 1984 and in the span of a few days, closed on two home transactions, cleaned the old house, and moved into our current home, which, because it did not go on the open market, was much like moving into your parent's old house.  My wife and I did a lot of cleaning and decluttering, and we never missed our old home once.  This house is a mid-century home with real plaster walls, cove ceiling in the living and dining rooms, red oak flooring (which is just now being refinished this week).  It also came with a 5x7 darkroom in the basement, fully furnished, since Bill was leaving that behind.  This darkroom allowed me to explore b&w photography as much as I wished, and I have spent many hours there developing film, listening to music, or more recently, The Film Photography Podcast, and WCBN FM, a public radio station at UM that plays an amazing variety of music.

I have not printed a single b&w photo in the past 3 years, and I miss doing that.  I used to print a lot, and got fairly good results, but now I only print if I am doing a show.  That  seems a bit stupid in hindsight, but I really didn't want to be inundated with prints without a purpose.  I hope to change that in the coming years, and wherever our new home will be, it will have to have space for my new expanded darkroom.   I am torn as to take the darkroom sink with me, or leave it.  It's perfect for the space that it is now.  I'll have to wait and see how I feel as a real move approaches. 

The walls on one side are paneling, and as you can see, cassette wrappers are stuck to it.  The other sides are masonite peg board, which had been painted black by Bill.  My new space will have no black walls.  This is a comfortable one-person darkroom. Put two people in there, and it's awfully close.  I want to be able to do film photography workshops in the future, so more space would be desirable.

This darkroom has performed well for two different photographers, and I very much doubt the next owner of the house will want it used.  Maybe it will make a good space for something other than photography, but I suppose it will get torn out someday.    A lot of "me time" has been spent there, developing, thinking, and isolated from whatever is going on outside in the world.   Those of you that have a darkroom will know what I mean.   It's not so much that one is isolated, but free from distraction to print and to ponder, to develop that next roll of film and still feel the magic that is inherent in the process, and to think about new projects and continuing old ones.

So, sometime in the next few months, I will be boxing all of the stuff up to take to a new adventure.  I have already divested myself of materials and equipment that I don't need or use, and while there will still be some junk to be tossed, everything else goes to NC with us.