Revisiting Themes

 Right now, I am in the midst of doing more scanning and editing of images that I made over a decade ago.  As I have said before, it's an ongoing project.  However, I have been working specifically to find appropriate images for my next issue of Monochrome Mania No. 4, which will deal with winter photography.  In 2011, I had a pretty good show at Matthaei Botanical gardens with my "Phase Change" exhibit.  

I had a pretty good selection of prints in 16x20 frames.  I didn't sell a single one.  That's not unusual for such shows that are in an atypical gallery space.  I still have a couple of them adorning my walls here in NC, as they are evidence of a winter that we don't typically see here.  Finding the old negatives was easy once I realized that I had put them in a binder devoted just to winter ice and snow images.  Scanning them in now and making adjustments brings back some memories, and also some observations:

• Kodak's Technical Pan film is perfect for this subject
• Photography on overcast days was the best, as the highlights didn't get blown out.
• I used manual cameras, such as the Nikon FM2A, F2S, and Canon FTb QL, and A1.  In doing so, I compensated the exposure by watching where the needle or LED was in overexposing.  

Water and ice are fascinating subjects, and I think this next issue of Monochrome Mania will be worthy of the effort that I put in a decade ago.  I hope to have it ready by March.

The 2021 Calendar is Available

Every year for the past 10 years, I have produced a calendar. For years, they were of the gardens and flowers, but the past few years I have had a different focus. Last year it was trees, and Water is this year’s theme for my annual calendar. Most of the images were shot on film, and all are in monochrome, my favorite medium.  The calendars are on heavy glossy card stock, and wire-bound, with enough room to write events on the pages.

 I can’t think of a sound more relaxing and calming as the one I hear from a babbling brook. A rushing stream with small cascades is a common feature of my new home. Moving from Michigan to the mountains of North Carolina has opened up a whole new world of easily accessed photo opportunities, and while there are many amazing waterfalls, the details in a small creek can be just as interesting. Half of the images in this calendar were shot within 30 minutes of my home in Weaverville, NC. The other half are from previous years and many different places. 

Photographing moving water can be challenging, and my aim has always been to stretch time, and let the water flow be represented as how I hear it. We don't hear waterfalls at 1/200 sec - we hear them as a continuous, varying sound, and that's how I approach my photography of them. In those long exposures, I see the variables, the different angles and arcs the water makes as it flows downstream. A small trickle has the same patterns as a much larger stream, and it's somewhat like a fractal. The effect is the same, and just as mesmerizing if you take the time to look. 

 Here's a list of the images, and you can purchase the calendar for $19, which includes US postage. Sorry, but I am not selling these outside the USA. The link to place an order is to the right, under LINKS! 

• Cover – Rocky Fork State Park, TN. 
• January – Great Falls, CT 
• February – Foggy morning along the Huron River, Ann Arbor, MI 
• March – Laughing Whitefish Falls, Alger Co., MI 
• April – Ash Cave Falls, Hocking Hills, OH 
• May – Beads of dew on webs, Mackinac Co., MI 
• June – Creek in South Georgian Bay, Ontario 
• July – Ivy Creek, Barnardsville, NC 
• August – Bass Pond, Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC 
• September – Rocky Fork State Park, TN 
• October – Stormy afternoon, Blue Ridge Mountains, NC 
• November – Rocky Fork State Park, TN 
• December – French Broad River, Asheville, NC

The last date for orders is December 15th.