A Diverse and Inclusive Camera

One sunny day, we had to go to Appleton, where they had the faucet we wanted in stock. Since I was going to be involved in a few public events soon, I again chose HandiCam to go along with its diverse and inclusive design, filled with more of that blandly named Kodak Color Print Film 400.

We had lunch at Fratello's for the views of the raging river and giant sunbeams.

They do put in some effort to make it nice.

My sandwich was way too big, even with my large hands. I learned how to deal with it using a knife and fork on YouTube.

One of the secrets to a successful camera-making workshop is for me to make a bunch of the parts ahead of time. Shop Yoga ya' know. I'm always impressed at how famed makers like Adam Savage, NerdForge, and Christine McConnell will spend days on repetitive, detailed work to create parts for their projects.

Putting them to use in Madtown. It looks like this was while we were making the fronts. I see several of the unfolded backs on the table.

Ralph Russo's proximity to that car is testimony to the wide angle of the cameras we made. I'm sure the whole front is in the frame. (Wish I got to see some of their pictures.)

The following Saturday, the brand-new Appleton Public Library hosted an after-hours PhotoWalk with Photo Opp. I was primarily occupied with medium format but always take a Populist along. 

 Indoors, again.

Waiting for the all-clear with plenty of hardware on display.

Graham and the librarian were particularly dynamic in the preamble.

Responding to a solicitation of questions, I asked where the 770's were. It took him a second but he recognized the call number and directed me to the photography books.

Essential tools on the Children's Library Desk.

Collaborative work.

Every use I can think of for the collections in these under-counter bins sounds chaotic.

A librarian remained on duty at the Reference Desk for our inquiries. We conversed about trends in the design of children's libraries that may have influenced them and not just to keep her pointed in one direction.

I went to Polk Library to finish the medium format roll from the PhotoWalk. The girl staffing this giveaway table was a representative of the distributor and not a student organization. Is it a coincidence that the tablecloth matches the school colors?

The Pencil of Nature on the New Nonfiction shelf.

This was exposed while I futzed with The Unseen Library and took a photograph of Ben and Hughie for social media with a lens. The red/cyan glasses really make Franklin look like a sly joker.

I went early for my TV interview to make sure everything was straight and level in the exhibit and read Balzac on my phone while I waited.

About the first half of the interview. It's easy to get me to go on and on about pinhole photography, and I am still surprised she got that edited for a broadcast in six hours.

I went down to Opera Square for what was an all-too-familiar gathering for someone who attended college in the late sixties. I'm not sure if a cardboard camera is much of a protest sign. I wish we could peacefully march around Senator Johnson's and the Republican Party offices. They might fear a sudden patriotic love fest.

I always thought the Yippie movement had a great sense of humor, but the current group can really come up with some great lines.

The gala event. With a few visitors, we had stopped looking at the anaglyphs on the monitor, then, after conversing for minutes, realized we still had on the red/cyan glasses. I had promoted the gallery walk as an opportunity to get pictures of that sort of thing, but nobody did.

The evening sunbeam caught me by surprise.

The rest of this post will deal with our Amaryllis. It is a veteran of at least several years and has been my model several times. Amaryllises have a special place in the history of pinhole photography. In 2004, minutes after receiving Tom Persinger's email that he had resurrected the Pinhole Visions forum as f295, I posted this triptych as the first entry on that historic, now completely departed forum.

 Playing the Telecaster with the first bloom behind me.

After the TV show interview, I waited for some egg rolls for lunch and forgot to wind the film. Later, I captured the amaryllis with two blossoms opened. I would have thought this double exposure was a street shot through a window if I didn’t know otherwise. 

A close-up of one of the soon-to-be blossoms.  A strange graphic composition.

All four blooms from above.

Really sticking it in there.

Tricky to get two flowers in the picture that are facing ninety degrees away from each other.

I have to be honest and tell you my counting-eight-clicks skills seem to have gotten inaccurate and several of these are severe crops of overlapping negatives.

The first to open now showing its darker magenta age.

Originally intended to be another foursome, cropped not because of overlapping but because of the end of the film.

HandiCam has a hand-drilled .17mm pinhole 24mm from a 24x36mm frame. The film was developed in a Cinestill Quart Powder C41 kit.