JB will be giving a talk titled “THE ART OF B&W PHOTOGRAPHY” at the Lake Granbury Art Association Monday, October 12th, at 7:00pm. JB, assisted by Susan, will present a slide show outlining their travels and how they use Large and Ultra Large Format Cameras to create Fine Art Photographs.
We would like to invite everyone to join us. More information can be found on the Lake Granbury Art Association web site. Hope to see you there!
JB & Susan
A friend e-mailed me the other day saying there was an interesting discussion about the quote “f8 & Be There” supposedly credited to Weegee, a.k.a. Arthur Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968) going around on the Internet. I have my interpretation of this quote, and it requires little thought on my part to understand what it means to me. But I guess in this modern day computerized world of digital everything, so called “photographers” have lost a connection to the basic craft of dedication, exposure and artistic vision?The world we live in today is far too complicated. Made so by all of the choices and distractions we face every waking hour. One of the first real realizations of maturity is to realize you can never Have It All! You will never live long enough! You have to make choices as to what is important. You have to pick and choose what you really want and then stick to it. You cannot be an astronaut, a brain surgeon, a rock star, a movie star, and on, and on. . . Trying to Have It All, will only lead you to ruin. Having it all is an advertiser’s myth, created to sell you soap, cars, windows, insulation, ocean cruises, and imagined happiness.
So, what does “f8 & Be There” mean to me? Pretty simple. . . for me it is a term pertaining to photography and simply means if you want to be a photographer you have to make the decision a conscious choice.
If you own a wooden camera, be it a modern model or an old one, you will eventually need a lens board. The first thing most people do is try to find a suitable lens board from a dealer, off the internet or have one custom manufactured. But, did you know it is not that difficult to make your own. And, if you make it yourself you know it will fit!
Most modern wooden lens boards are made of solid hardwood and require three to four pieces of material to construct. Believe me nothing is more frustrating than to go through the process of fitting machining hardwood pieces to have them warp or crack. Also, nothing looks worse than a piece of birch plywood painted black.
So, what to do? I say make your own using plywood. Correct. . . Plywood. It will not warp or crack and is easily obtainable. All you have to do to make it look decent is to veneer the outside with the same wood as your camera and finish it. You will not be able to tell the difference from the 
solid wood boards.
Take a trip to your local woodworking store, or search on line, for some high-laminate birch plywood in the nearest thickness to the lens board that your camera uses. Hobby shops also sell suitable high-grade plywood. You will also need a few pieces of veneer of the correct type. I cross laminate the veneer and it looks just like the multi-piece hardwood boards. Look on the Internet for tips on wood laminating, it is not that hard to do. Carefully measure an original lens board and using a saw and router duplicate the profile and sand to fit your camera.
The hardest part is drilling the hole for the shutter. Here you will need a Forstner bit that is the closest to the size of the shutter you intend to mount. Remember that most shutters are metric, so choose a drill that is just under the desired size. You can then us a round file and sand paper to adjust the fit.
Once you are satisfied that everything fits, it is time to finish the board. I black the back of my boards along with the light trap offset and edges. I use black India ink which penetrates the wood and dries to a flat, non-reflective finish. Only the veneer front requires a fine finish. I use varnish, you can use spray acrylic if you like. You may have to apply stain to match your camera, experiment on a scrap of veneer first.
It is really easy to make your own high-quality lens boards. The last time I did this I made about six blanks and I still have extra undrilled boards on hand.
Susan’s photo ‘Orange Spring Mound’ took one of seven awards in the 2009 TAC Juried Membership Show last evening. She received recognition as a selected example of excellent and admirable art and a $100.00 gift certificate.
We had a really great time talking with new and old friends and a good time seemed to be had by all. The exhibition will be up through August 30, 2009. . . thanks everyone!!!
Orange Spring Mound
Canyonlands
Susan has been faithfully printing new negatives for the last three months. She has several new photos from our last trip to Southern Utah now added to her web gallery.There are also new images from older negatives, both 4×10 and 8×20 that did not work out well on some of the paper we had on hand at the time. Using some vintage Kodak Azo paper and a modified developer formula, she was able to make some brilliant prints from these older photographs from earlier trips. To view Susan’s photo gallery click HERE.
Thanks for looking,
To dry mount or not. . . that is a question? This debate seems to roll on forever. Sort of like Ford or Chevy? Is there really a correct answer? I have made my choice.
For me there is nothing that comes close to a properly dry mounted photograph. Once I made my choice, all I had to do was learn the process. I worked out a method that gives me what I like, and if you are interested in dry mounting your photos and have never learned the process, I have a little booklet that details my procedure.
This is not the only way, it is just my way. . . and. . . if you are interested, it is FREE!!! Take a look HERE for “DRY MOUNTING PHOTOGRAPHS” pdf download.
In a previous post I talked about issues that seem to crop up when shooting sheet film. When I refer to issues, I am talking about things you can do unintentionally that may or may not ruin a particular negative. See my previous post “WHAT CAN GO WRONG?” for a better idea of the issues.We spent the entire month of December 2008 in Utah. This was one of our typical photo trips and we were there to make photographs. This trip we brought back 276 sheets of film in four formats ranging from 4×10 to 11×14.
Mistakes? Who makes mistakes? Issues? What Issues? Of the film that I exposed, I had 136 sheets in two sizes. Of those sheets, there were three sheets that I ruined, due to just plain dumb mistakes.
At lot of my mistakes come near the end of the day, when I am tired. Lugging 40-50 pounds all day in the snow will wear you down. I do make mistakes. No matter how hard I try, I seem to always screw up a few sheets of film. The biggest one this trip you ask? I double exposed an absolutely great photo of glowing cottonwood trees. I now have this strange 8×10 negative with two large trees. . . at right angles! Yes, the first exposure was a horizontal, the second was vertical. Oh well. I did make several other negatives of the same tree, so not all is lost. And as I said in my previous post, I had a few choice words!
Once you become a serious darkroom worker you will eventually want a real darkroom sink with running water. The question is, to buy, or to build? Certainly, if you have deep pockets, you can buy a commercial stainless steel sink. You can even have a stainless sink custom fabricated. Just be forewarned, you are looking at a serious amount of money.What most do is build their own sink, typically from wood. This is my favorite construction technique and allows me to build a very functional sink to any size required. In the previous post titled “NOT THE KITCHEN SINK” we showed what it took to build a large darkroom sink from wood. Robust construction is essential to make sure the sink does not flex. Flexing can cause the finish to crack and begin to leak.
My philosophy of sink building is to build the thing like a boat. Using construction robust enough to sail the ocean. That way it is strong enough to stand up to most anything. Once complete, I like to climb into the sink and jump up and down. If nothing moves, creaks, or breaks, I am satisfied that I have a good strong sink.
After much research I found a suitable coating for my darkroom sink. Tile-Clad® HS Epoxy is a two-part, commercial-grade, epoxy-polyamide coating from Sherwin-Williams. This epoxy paint is used in power plants, offshore structures, schools, storage tanks, laboratories, hospitals and marine applications. This stuff dries rock hard and is near impervious to most chemicals.
I have found that two generous coats of Tile-Clad® makes a great smooth waterproof finish for a darkroom sink. You can also have the paint tinted to most any color you desire. Most any Sherwin-Williams store should have Tile-Clad® and be able to tint it for you. Be prepared, this material is not cheap. Seven years ago when we built our last sink it was about $110.00 for a gallon of part ‘A’ and part ‘B’ which, when mixed, makes two gallons of paint.
For the second consecutive year, one of the Harlin photographs has been chosen, along with a quote from the artist, to be included in the annual Ilford ULF film order press release. This year JB’s image titled “Tenaya Lake, 2007” will appear in the annual announcement and call for orders of special size film. Details can be found on the Ilford web site;