De Camera from De Pere

 

Not deterred by a high temperature of six degrees below zero Fahrenheit, five artists and I made pinhole cameras at ArtScene in De Pere a few weeks ago and used them to take pictures. 

It was -14°F. when I left home. Everything had to be stuffed inside the Mustang. Rodinal and fixer would be the only things that would freeze in the trunk, but going back inside with stuff at these temperatures will condense buckets of water out of warm air. Wet cardboard is hard to work with.

Some of the group went out into that frigid air to take photographs, but the venue was pretty bright inside for the rest of us. I missed emphasizing some things while building and loading, which led to more film advance issues than I've had before, so I spent a bit of the afternoon with my hands in a changing bag (in addition to the time to load the film on the developing reels later on). These issues could be easily solved for a second roll of film, but tempus fuget.

So I didn't take any photographs (well, with this camera). Mine is the Natural Coffee Filters at the upper left, specifically using a black box for the camera body, and a red box for the shutters and WinderMinder to show what's going to be visible on the finished camera. I didn't record the size of the demonstration pinhole.

The next week, eager to implement some of the things I learned, setting up for the next session, this camera sat idle for a week. This was exacerbated by the gloomy winter weather, which I always complain about. Suddenly, a sunbeam appeared.

Chasing the sunbeam into the next room.

Just to the right, a close-up of the earring carousel.

In the sun room as well.

Père Noël highlighted by a late sunbeam hiking in the stairway window.

The sunbeam reflected off the satin finish oak door, creating an unusually bright, diffuse light on the dining room table.

This double exposure may be the universe's way of telling me to quit taking so many pictures from my normal spot on the couch. Exposed on top of that is the headstock of my black Ventura guitar with new black tuners, which, except for the logo and a few strings, is nearly invisible here since it doesn't reflect much light.

It's a very accurate clone of a Gibson L6-S, done sometime during the "lawsuit era." Gibson only made the L6-S between 1972 and 1979. The Ventura brand was then owned by the Japanese company Kaman Industries, which made Ibanez and Ovation, and was likely made in the same factory. It's distinguished by the six-position rotary switch that selects the pickups in different combinations.

It was OK, but I never really played it much. The idea of giving it an upgrade occurred to me sometime last fall. After abandoning a fantasy of doing it myself, I brought it to Heid Music to get the just OK chrome-covered pickups changed to Seymour Duncan Black Winter Blackened Matte Black high output Humbuckers designed for "any genre demanding pure sonic armageddon". The glossy blackletter logo is visible on the neck pickup. With black tuners and all the shiny little screws prominent, it really looks Metal. I'm naming it Kuro.

When luthier Matt Hayes got a look at it, he told me he couldn't really level the frets because they were so worn. It never occurred to me that someone might have played it a lot before I got it, when it was already three decades old. With a new nut and complete refretting, though, it would be like a new guitar. Go for it. Now with the restored neck and the high-output humbuckers, I really love this guitar. My goal was to make a unique instrument, and I think I've done it. Now it looks and sounds like my guitar. Anybody know how to tarnish the chrome bridge and tailpiece?

Natural Coffee Filters has a somewhere around .23mm pinhole, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film is Kentmere 400 semistand developed in Rodinal 1:100.

The January of Our Discontent

The weekend after the invasion of another country to kidnap an unpopular dictator (similar to one that's just been pardoned) and profit from oil again, and the enthusiastic on-camera approval of the murder of Renée Good by the federal government, I again joined the ongoing peaceful assembly to seek redress of our grievances. This really brought me back to the invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State murders. I only took one photograph.

 

A few weeks later, after claims of imperialist command over the entire hemisphere, insulting the partners in our last major invasion of an unpopular dictator a few years ago (and destroying most of his subjects' civic infrastructure), and praise of another public murder so obvious it even upset the NRA, I again went down to Opera Square.

My former colleague Al Lareau, emeritus professor of German Language and Culture, specializing in the era of the Weimar Republic, so he knows a Nazi when he sees one.

This quilter brought her art to the cause with one of the more complex puns around.

The organizing group is called Peaceful Patriots and Old Glory is always prominently featured, but's also obvious that it's following the Constitution we're talking about, not blind adherence to a madman or 18th century aristocrats.

Revere's owner gave him this low-key sign because he's such a sweet dog and she imagined he would be upset if he knew what we were here for.

Blowin' in the Wind was playing on a bluetooth speaker nearby this aluminum foil-wrapped cubic sign atop a long pole. How many times must a man look up before he can see this sign?

This lady was skeptical when asked for permission to photograph her, but assented when told that it was the sunglasses and the pink megaphone that attracted me. My primary motivation here is documentary, but I do want visually interesting photographs,

I warned this couple I would probably characterize them as the younger generation. That prompted the raised gloved fist. I wonder if he knows who Tommie Smith and John Carlos are? Conversing about my vintage methods, we got into a discussion about the mutability of language, such as when someone proudly uses the term conservative today, they usually mean racist fascism.

I was around when Godwin's Law was first proposed, that every argument on the internet will quickly narrow to a comparison to Adolf Hitler, but if you tried to match a playbook and the rhetoric, one could see the association today was Pretti Good. Whether it was Mein Kampf or just a collection of speeches is in dispute. It's a little surprising to hear he's read anything at all.

And now a word from our sponsor. Isn't pinhole photography and film amazing?

The Diversity 30 has hand-drilled .23mm pinholes, on the axis and 11mm above it, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film is Lomography 400 developed in a Cinestill Powder C-41 kit.

January Smorgasbord

I'm preparing for three upcoming workshops, which also includes learning what a new parts-cutting machine can do. (Most of what I wanted, so far). Combined with January gloom, taking photographs gets snuck in only occasionally.

One of my basement band-mates saw this at a holiday sale and thought I'd like a pick holder to match my amplifier. I hastily moved it to the sofa when a sunbeam popped up. These Fender rubber grips are the best accessibility device for the geriatric condition of my right thumb and allow me to use heavy picks (Rhythm Guitar, ya know). 

Last fall, I bought a set of strings for the Telecaster and accidentally got a heavy set of strings for tuning down two steps. I thought that might be cool on the Warlock. It was interesting but not all that different, and it made it confusing to play with other people, even if I am only transposing three chords. It did allow me to perform a couple of songs that were a little high for my limited vocal range without changing how they're played. Pretty showy for an elderly codger to show up for an open mic with this guitar. (It was just before Halloween.) I recently had those strings tuned back up to E. (It's a Floyd Rose bridge.)  The more percussive sound with the taut strings works for my enthusiastic strumming. Watch out in Oshkosh and Hortonville!

Responding to another sudden appearance of a sunbeam which fell on the jam jars, apparently bumping the camera or double exposing something in the process.

Same surprise sunbeam, another day, with a new cookie recipe without so much pinholiness.

Sarah is allergic to lily pollen, but the blossoms are OK if the dark anthers, which contain the pollen, are removed right away. That gave this one a different look.

Hiding in the Hydroxyl Nebula, the Millennium Falcon and an X-Wing orbit the metallic moon Jinglebell, avoiding the shiny stars in the Chocolate Cluster.

Photo Opp had an event for the closing of their annual juried show, and added a cook-off to the celebration. The line of participating crockpots is spread along the wall beneath the artworks. After conversing with Mike Berman for 20 minutes, who was sitting on the upholstered bench with his new reflective grey beard, I set up the camera next to me while he watched. As soon as I opened the shutter, he got up to talk to Graham Watashka over on the right side of the image.

Half the board of Photo Opp trying out the cuisine. My recollection is that they, too, had left in the middle of the exposure, but it appears they stayed for most of it. I don't remember doing anything to create those squiggly highlights above the table.

One offering at the end of the table was a dip with assorted media to scoop it with in bowls, which might stay put for the whole exposure. The relish in the corner got dished with a spoon, but not moved.

They've now completed the darkroom. I have plans to do an analog-only workshop with 4x5 paper as soon as I drill the 40 pinholes for enough Pinhole Lab Cameras. Repetitive, thick parts like pinhole mounts, film holders, and shutters, which are a pain with a craft knife, are going to be easy and very accurate with the new cutting machine.

Somewhat ironically for this blog, tables full of lenses, which I have volunteered to help catalog. There are several exotic telephotos with M42 screw mounts that fit my Mamiya 1000DTL, including a 400mm telephoto. The biggest temptation to use a lens since I bought a Beauty of a rangefinder here last summer.  n.b. M42 adapters for mirrorless digital cameras are really cheap if you can handle focusing and setting exposure manually.

The EyePA has .23mm hand-drilled pinholes 30mm from a 6x6cm frame, on the axis and 11mm above it. The film is Kentmere 400 semistand developed in Rodinal 1:100.

Yule Fortnight

With the midday sun as low as it gets in the sky, one of our local antifascist groups, Peaceful Patriots, organized an appearance in downtown Oshkosh.

A holiday theme at this time of year.

A fuzzy headed liberal.

A volunteer warned me about the dangers of being doxxed, so I was careful to ask everyone's permission. Most were happy to pose.

This protester was conversing with a guy with a silver snare drum, his head enclosed in a heavy knit hat, and his face obscured by a scarf and sunglasses. He didn't want to be photographed and stepped away. She cheerfully posed alone. We had a conversation about how odd it was to have to protest extrajudicial killing and piracy on the high seas. Not to mention invading a sovereign country to profit from oil again.

Our annual lefse production run. Wouldn't be Yule without it, although there are Norse culinary traditions we happily have let lapse.

The weather has been very overcast and gloomy, so you take your sunbeams where you get them.

For the spooky section of the tree.

Santa puts on more traditional ornaments.

New Year's Eve dinner.

The living room by available light on New Year's Day.

While that was exposing, I noticed the window light reflecting off the dish of Gelt and truffle stocking stuffers. I had a curious, conflicted reaction to the scene. Corona Beer's brand seems to have survived its brush with horror. Maybe my Populist camera can withstand the current evil manifestation of its namesake idea. Someday, gold may also regain its symbolism of celebration.

Merry Perihelion!

The Diversity 30 has hand-drilled .23mm pinholes, on the axis and 11mm above it, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film is Kodak Gold 200 developed in a Cinestill Powder C-41 kit.

Small format, wide camera, short roll, long time.

In mid-July, in anticipation of upcoming events, I loaded the venerable PrePopulist with a "24 exposure" roll of film. I chose the camera with its 24x50mm format and the short roll of film so I wouldn't have to take so many pictures before I got to see them.

The first event in question was Photo Opp's Rummage Sale of donated gear. They kept what was needed for their educational mission, but the sale included a lot of usable stuff, roughly categorized on tables and in bins.

A group showing me their discoveries.

The display of lighting equipment. I got an umbrella and stand.

A badly composed image of a table of folders. Non-working cameras were $5 and working ones $15. I also got a pretty neat rangefinder and a professional tripod.

As a higher education audio-visual professional, 16mm film projectors have played a central role in my life. The most common fear of public speaking is obviously not a problem with college faculty, but operating one of these probably took its place for them in the 20th century. I learned to thread one in science class in 7th grade on a Bell & Howell 535 and got punished in art class in 8th grade for running the film in reverse. This one is an auto-loading 556. The lamps are still available for only $11. (Always buy a spare lamp.) Photo Opp has surely kept a projector for 16mm, but I bet it's a manual-loading Kodak Pageant.

Then I set the camera down on the shelf in the basement and knocked it over the back with at least two layers of bags and boxes on the floor in the way. In October, Andy came and helped recover a working space in the basement so I could get at the bottom of the shelves. Preparing for a workshop in Wausau, I organized my collection of raw materials, much of which had also fallen behind the shelf, and recovered the camera to record making Populists on the 1st of November.

After making cameras, we all went to lunch at The Mint, Wausau's oldest restaurant, here since the 19th century.

Sarah and I went to lunch at Fratello's one sunny day.  Looking into the bar while we waited to be seated.

The Appleton Dam just out the window. I found myself thinking how nice it was that we got seated in this warm dining room instead of the one the ducks were feasting in just below us.

The Truffle Pig restaurant that I predicted on this blog has opened, and we have visited several times. It's very nice. Finally, more emphasis on the experience and not just a giant plate of food.

In the midst of all the character-building events of the year, the reviled Jenn-Air refrigerator decided to add refrigeration to the list of things it's no longer capable of. Many thanks to the FedEx delivery driver who carried the dorm refrigerator over the rubble to get us through for a month until someone could manage with the full-size model when the street was done, with no through-the-door anything and no handles to come loose.

I checked out the massive Irving Penn Centennial from the library. His signature style was working against a studio background wherever he went, but just using available north light. When he was among the top commercial photographers in the world, he used to go into the darkroom and hand-coat big sheets of platinum paper for his personal prints. My list of influences is long and constantly changing, but Penn is always on it. This is an uncomfortable segue. Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, who sent me down this pinholic rabbit hole and about the only photographer who influenced me that I have actually met, has just died.

Because of a few shutter opening and clicker errors, and maybe because I was eager to get it done when it seemed a little hard to wind, there was a particularly low yield from this already short roll of film. About time, though.

The PrePopulist has a .15mm Gilder electron microscope aperture 24mm from a 24x50mm frame. The film is Kodak 400 UltraMax developed in Cinestill's C41 Powder Kit.