Egads!

I can't believe that it's almost the end of the year already. When did that happen? It always sneaks up on me. Now I know that I haven't done jack on this website all year. But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy taking pictures. In fact I have so many I don't know what to do with them. At the very least I'm trying to organize them and make a top 25 of 2010. Below are a few contenders.

Cala Foods at Twilight
HTC HD2 Camera Phone

 

Alcatraz Island
Holga, Fujicrome Crossprocessed

Trolley Tryptic
Holga

 

Can you say, Procrastination!

With all the motivation the new year (now nearly over) has brought, you'd think that my website would be a little more up to date than this.While I have been very busy taking lots of great pictures this year, I haven't managed to get any of them posted to my website. The main reason being, I'm not happy with the lay out and organization of my photos. I keep meaning to do a new layout, but I am forever procrastinating on it. My bad.

New things are in the works and in the mean time if you check out my flickr page, you can see some new work.

New Year, New Motivation

I love how sometimes the turning of a calendar page (or this case a whole new calendar) can reinvigorate my motivation. I finally made it to a Photography Meet Up. I went last Wednesday and glad I finally made it out to one. I met a about dozen photographers, all levels, all different styles and mediums. But I'm looking for a more structured group, almost like a book club. I would like assignments or goals for meeting. If you know any groups like that in the area, let me know!

I'm also trying to brush up on my web design skills. I have been severely lacking in up to date skills. I recently complete a Flash Web Design Tutorial, that taught me so much. And it made me realize that Flash sites aren't that hard to make. And that I still have so much to learn.

I made a quick collection of my favorite photos from 2009. Looking at all the pictures, I realized I've busy bee. I still have a lot of work to do on the photos and I'm still trying to focus on one style. Most likely I'll be doing more multiple exposures and more Polaroid transfers this year.

Polaroid Transfers and Lifts

I just purchased a bunch of Fujifilm FP-100, which is the equivalent of Polaroid 669. I pulled out my trusty DayLab and went to work. I'm still in the experimental phase, as FP100 performs much differently from Polaroid 669. My first view attempts were dismal. I tried both dry (left) and wet (right) transfers onto Arches 140 Hot Press Paper. Standard for transfers, but the FP100 did not like it at all. There was hardly any color transferred and much of the image is missing. That paper just does not work with the FP100.

Then I read about someone using glossy photo paper. So I gave that a try. The results were much better.The image and the color came out great. My next attempt was to do a lift. I was nervous about this, because I didn't have much luck with lifts using 669 in the past. The emulsion would always tear and I could never get it on the surface without totally ruining the image. FP100 worked amazingly! That lift is practically indestructible, I couldn't believe how durable it was and how easy it was to rearrange on the paper. (I placed it on the same Arches 140 Hot Press Paper I used before.) It has the texture of Saran Wrap. It doesn't seem to be adhering to the paper, I could easily peel it off still. I tried a little Super 77 to help it stick, but I'm not sure how well that is working. I think I may have to use some sort of coating or sealer to really ensure its longevity.

I am VERY excited to continue working with the FP100. What's great is that I got the two above images from one sheet.

Choices

I am currently in the process of organizing my photos and trying to create a portfolio. It is such an overwhelming process. I cannot make up mind how to sort, categorize and edit my photos. Right now I am focusing on medium format (shot with my Holga) and Polaroid prints. In the last few months I've been almost exclusively shooting with my Holga. I love the look and feel of the images. I love that I don't have complete control over the output. I've also been continuing to experiment with multiple exposure panoramas.

F Line

I have also been playing around with the idea of screen printing on photos. The problem with that is I don't have access to screen printing materials. So I've improvised and done it in Photoshop.  I've stuck to the tradition layering of screen printing. There is a solid color shape below the black out line layer. And if I ever got access to equipment, I could easily use the digital images a base for screen printing.

 

Birds of a Feather...

This idea really excites me and I think there is a lot of potential in the project. I'm thinking of using images of graffiti from around the city to layer over.

SF0.org

The image above is strictly for practice. I'm working out how to get the graffiti image to work over the background image.

There is more I am working on and I will get to that later. Right now I've got some errands to run.

Chair

farm078
Originally uploaded by christy247

120 B/W Film shot with a Holga