Krappy Kamera Night

e50e
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

Tuesday evening I hosted the monthly meeting of the Ann Arbor Krappy Kamera Club. It was our best urnout so far, with over a dozen participants, including some new faces, and people from much farther away than Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti. Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Dexter were also represented. We started the evening presenting the results from our assignment, which was to do a photograph, or series of photographs, representing something about the future. A couple of people really got into presenting some future scenarios, such as Mike's "Skin Farming" series. His narrative was hilarious, and the images very imaginative.

I followed with a demo on mounting and matting using both archival methods, and the dry-mount press. We had planned on watching the movie "Pecker", but it was getting late. It certainly was a fun evening, meeting some new people, as well as meeting some people for the first time that I have "known" on Flickr for quite a while.

Erin (e50e on Flickr) was having a great time shooting some of my old cameras with her Holgaroid -- which was also a very interesting camera on its own! Presented below is one of her very cool images from Flickr of my Crest 120 camera:



It will be interesting to see how this group goes- having been involved with it from the start -- I'm optimistc that we will have a going concern of people that enjoy using and producing some real fine photographs with these crappy cameras.

Old Methods

baling crew
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

On Sunday afternoon, I was asked to photograph some equipment at a threshing/baling gathering in Bridgewater, MI. My friend Dick wanted me to photograph the old Ann Arbor Baler that was there -- a model he had used as a kid. The baler used Sunday was made in Ypsilanti, MI - sometime in thw 1920s. The entire operation is very labor-intensive, and it took at least 4 guys to slowly turn the pile of wheat straw into bales. Other than the intrinsic antique mystique of such a process, one has to ask why? Of course, these guys were not using old equipment to do their every-day farming, but found a satisfaction in using cantankerous old machinery that was 80+ years old. Just to show that they can. That sounds a lot like why some of us use old cameras. Not that we can't get a good image quickly from a modern camera -- but the old gear forces us to slow down, savor the moment, and try and get the best image we can out of sometimes cantankerous old cameras. So, even though the guys there didn't realize it ... that guy with the fancy cameras has a lot in common with them. Of course, my camera collection takes up a hell of a lot less space than their old tractors, balers, and threshers!

By the way, I was there for a little over an hour, and shot about 200 digital color images, and 45 black and white film images with my Mamyia 645E. I love those larger negatives, as the photo here illustrates very well.

Stone House Memories

Stone House
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

I've been in sort of a reflective mood all week, and in looking for a negative for a photo that is to appear in Lightleaks magazine, I came across of series of negatives that i shot with a Holga in 2002. Funny how things turn up. I scanned several of the negatives, as I don't recall ever making prints from them -- I'm really pleased with the images. I have taken a lot of color slides of Ives Lake and Stone House in the Huron Mountain Club while I was doing research there a week or so almost every summer, from 1984 - 2003. I don't think any of them have the emotional appeal that the shots from the Holga do.

Of all of the places I have been in Michigan, the time I spent as a researcher at Ives Lake remain some of my best memories. The quiet lake with it silence punctuated by the loon calls, is a place that I have been priviledged to stay at. I may never have a chance to go back, and there are some shots that I know would be an improvement over the ones I took back in the 1980s and early 90s. The Stone House is an amazing structure, built by Longyear around 1910 or so.

Passages

wetland
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

Well, a week ago, we travelled to Marquette to take our daughter Marjorie to NMU tos tart her freshman year at NMU. My wife and I returned home Sunday, after spending a couple of days at a cottage on Burt Lake. Marjorie is doing fine - we get a call once a day and of course, email. She'll be busy with classes and following new paths at college. Meanwhile, at home, it's taking some time to adjust to not having the focus of our activities here for the last 18 years. There is this new-found freedom of sorts... I just hope that I put it to good use.

Serendipty

Alpena's Geodesic DQ
Originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

One of the things I have enjoyed this summer has been the numerous short trips my daughter and I have taken, and the myriad of photographic opportunities that have arisen during them. Sure, we all have a destination to get to. But instead of taking the interstate and main roads all the time, consider a lesser highway, another route, or even dirt roads (which are still plentiful in Michigan).
The beauty of going somewhere without a plan -- other than to be flexible-- is that you see things. See a cool barn? Stop along the road and take some photos. See a neat little store? Stop and go inside. It's likely that you will find something that appeals to your interests on such a trip. I hate to use a cliche title from a book, but "The Journey Is the Reward" is appropriate in this case.

I used to be rather introverted, not talking to people, and believe it or not -- shy. Becoming a photographer changed a lot of that. Of course, I hate the typical... "are ya taking piktures?" but the camera has often become an introduction into what I do, and sometimes, talking to someone for 5 minutes will give me more information on a place than I could have ever found out on my own. For instance, earlier this summer, we stopped at a small place called Montague. There was a sign for an old drugstore still hanging at the entrance to what looked like an old-fashioned place that had a real old-time soda fountain. I told my daughter we should go in and get something. As the woman that served us made our chocolate malts, she told me that her father had owned that drugstore for many years, and had to sell off most of it to have money to pay for the care of his ailing wife. The duaghter owns a part of the building, and she's operating the section that was the original soda fountain -- everything there was vintage 1940s-50s green and chrome. She buys parts on eBay. I never would have known all of that if we hadn't talked. Of course, the malteds were good, and only after we got in the car did I realize that I had spilled some all over the front of my shirt...