Coming to a Close

Clearly I have been a poor blogger lately. Work and various freelance stuff has simply been taking all my time, even though I have shot some film here and there (and I've got half a dozen rolls to develop in my backlog right now).

Furthermore, I'm afraid my time here in Valdosta is coming to a close and thus this blog will be a bit superfluous. I don't plan to stop blogging, I might just have to move on to a more generically-named place or perhaps finally finish my actual non-business website and find a home for my blog there.

Regardless, as the school year officially closes I think I will do another overview post for the month of April, roughly.

First out of the gate are some images from the new location I mentioned in the last post. I went a couple of times more, once when the river was cresting and the area was dangerously flooded, and the other when it was back to proper height. I also found out the area was sold to a new owner so I may not be able to return unfortunately. Anyway, I shot 4x5 with either way 15cm or 21cm APO Lanthars when it was flooded:

   

I went back with my Linhof 70 and 38mm XL, 58mm XL, and 80mm Xenotar later and made it to the actual banks of the Withlacoochee River finally:

 

I still have a couple rolls of color to develop from here so that's all I have from that outing.

Last month I also took a trip to Jacksonville to buy something and went to Big Talbot State Park while there with my 2x3 Crown Graphics, with my 38mm XL, a 65mm Super Angulon I was trying, and 10.5cm APO Lanthar:

 

Now one more set from April - I went out and chased a big thunderstorm front one afternoon and shot some cool photos with my Nikon F2 and variety of lenses, including a new 15mm f/3.5 lens I was trying. Here are a few shots, on Rollei Digibase CN200:

 

 

 

Oh and I burned through some other film on my Leica III just for kicks and shot this with an old Elmar:

Okay that's enough photos for now. I'll be here for a while yet but later this summer I will likely have to close up shop for a month or more. Stay tuned for a new location.

Civil War Reenactment - Georgia Blueberry Festival in Alma GA

This past weekend was the Georgia Blueberry Festival in Alma (Bacon County). I just happened to hear about it from a friend a couple of days before and that there was a Civil War Reenactment happening to boot.

Despite having been to Gettysburg (on July 4th weekend no less), I have never seen an actual full battle reenactment. So I was very excited to go and shoot some images.

I took my Linhof Master Technika along with my Schneider 90mm f/5.6 XL, Voigtlander 15cm f/5.6 APO Lanthar, and Zeiss 250mm f/5.6 Sonnar. All of these lenses are cammed to my camera so I can shoot handheld.

The whole event lasted a bit more than an hour but I was able to shoot quite a number of sheets. I'm happy with these images considering I didn't know what to expect! A lot of the participants were quite interested in the camera - though it is by no means "period," it's a lot closer than anyone else was shooting.

Here are some of images - all on T-Max 100 or Fuji 160S:

I really want to shoot more of these events - it was a blast! I will be trying to find more reenactments in the area now.

Some scenes from the reenactment and me shooting can be found here:

Meagan's Graduation - Summer 2015

My girlfriend Meagan is finishing up her Master's in Higher Education Administration. She was walking in VSU's graduation ceremony, so I took a few images of her, her friends and family, and us with my Linhof Master Technika and 15cm f/4.5 Voigtlander APO Lanthar or 250mm f/5.6 Zeiss Sonnar, on Fuji 160S. I used one reflector camera right:

Reflecting on 2014

I still can't believe that 2014 is finishing up.

I'm going to take a second to reflect on this year and my accomplishments, as well as goals for the future.

My biggest accomplishment this year was the show at Turner Art Center - Strickland Mill: A Retrospective. Sally and I made it and had a great opening. I am very happy with the work, the turnout, and everything about this photographic endeavor.

Next, this year was a great year at work. I got a nice raise, taught my first college course, and really feel I made a difference at VSU through my efforts.

Speaking of work, this year has also been a great year for my business ventures. A lot of new clients have come to me for audio, video, or photographic projects, especially at the end of this year. I continue to grow my freelance business and expand into new territories.

Finally, this was a year of learning. I made great strides learning and improving my craft in all areas. Photographically, I have learned a lot about developing with new and exciting developers as well as color films (negative and positive). I also have really improved my knowledge and workflow with regard to video projects. My latest DVD project looks much better than previous work.

Moving forward, I have some goals in mind, not all of which I will be sharing. However, my biggest goal is simply to keep learning and building on my accomplishments and knowledge base. For every new technique or method I learn in any area, another opportunity to learn arises.

Since this is a photo blog, I wanted to finish this year with a special picture I took last week on Christmas. This is a family photo of most of my relatives on my mom's side. Taken with my Linhof Technika, 15cm f/4.5 Voigtlander APO Lanthar, on Fuji 160S film:

I hope anyone reading this has also had a wonderful 2014, and good luck in the coming year...