From Photo Opp to the Olde Oneida Bridge

Just two weeks after a similar event, Photo Opp hosted another photo walk. This time, at their home base in Appleton, because they were being featured on an episode of the podcast Negative Influence with Justin Allen. That attracted a larger-than-normal group, particularly of folks new to Photo Opp. He must have a good listenership. While the introduction and tour took place for newcomers, I set off with several regulars. They were headed for the Flats, the industrial area along the Fox, which I briefly passed on a previous Appleton photowalk. I was equipped with 60mm Paterson the Pinhole Camera, 67 degree angle of view, for what I expected to be architectural views from across the street, and the Diversity 30, 90 degree angle of view, for everything else, because I'd just done some maintenance on it and I'm very fond of the design.

It was relatively late on a sunny summer evening. My first stop was for the low light streaming through the trees in City Park.

I caught up with the group three blocks later at College Ave. I knew that the western sun would be raking the shiny new Trout Museum. Friday night traffic was busy on Appleton's main drag. Conveniently, the cars waiting at the top of the Drew Street hill would be just out of frame, and those given the green light on College weren't even close to getting recorded in a several-second exposure.

I caught up to the group, and we walked down the hill together. Despite being on a driveway leading to a parking lot on a weekend when school wasn't in session, I had to get out of the way of several cars, apparently failing to close the shutter before moving.

The group was about to turn onto the bridge a block away, but I stopped again for the shadows on one of the buildings of the historic Ravine and Rag Mill, now the Lawrence University Power Plant.




The tower of the Ravine and Rag Mill. The rest of the three paper mills have been renovated into fancy apartments. I wonder if somebody lives up there?

The Lincoln Mill across Olde Oneida Street.

The Fox River Mill juts out into the river.

There's still a channel between them, but I don't think the river flows through it anymore.

There's a private terrace for the residents, which seems to be a popular spot on a warm Friday evening.

Not sure what these doors were for, two stories above the Fox.

I hadn't seen my group since they turned onto the bridge, and discretion indicated it was time for the return trip. I decided to go up a stairway that I wasn't sure where it led. Halfway up, stopping to take a long-exposure pinhole photograph seemed a good idea. The turnbuckles keeping the cable balusters taut stood in as a subject.

The view from the top. Google Maps describes this walking route as "mostly flat."

The back of the YMCA is across a parking lot from the top of the bluff.

I thought this was one of those ghost murals until I saw the date.

A large blank wall decorated with a mural and some lights and wires.

It's in a back alley that goes through the Y.

The back door of Brokaw Hall, which is quite Academic Georgian from the other side.

I don't think I meant to feature the sign so prominently. This was another situation where despite the back alley and slow speed limit, I kept having to move when vehicles approached. Dehydration might have become an issue by this time as well.

I encountered the group I had left with on College Avenue, but they were gone again when I stopped for the ironwork and plantings on the sidewalk.

The Trout Museum and the Lux residence hall of Lawrence University atop it from the other direction. The sun hasn't set, but it's gotten less contrasty. Think they named it that because there's light up there longer?

The door light in the gloaming shadows caught my eye. (Gloaming shadows!? Where did that come into my head from?)* I had a similar experience on the other side of this church, the last time we photowalked from Photo Opp.

Everyone regrouped on the steps of Photo Opp while it got dark. There was one frame left. After noticing the two young women to my right had been in conversation for some time, I casually opened the shutter, despite the now quite long exposure. As if the shutter were a remote control, one of them said, "I guess I have to go now." There was some shifting as goodbyes were expressed, and she leaned into her purse for her keys for a few seconds.

Paterson the Pinhole Camera has two .30mm hand-drilled pinholes, on the axis and 13mm above it, 60mm from a 6x6cm frame. The Diversity 30 has two .23mm hand-drilled pinholes, on the axis and 11mm above it, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film is Kentmere 400 semistand developed at 1:100 with some really old Rodinal that has some solid crystals rattling around at the bottom of the bottle.

*editorial tip-of-the-red-pen to typist-gadgeteer-philosopher Joe Van Cleave and his unedited train of thought approach, after editing this post for two days.

The Prodigal Populist

In the past year or so, my use of 35mm cameras has gotten very minimal and erratic. I've had plenty of places to go that normally would be documented with the little negatives, but I kept losing the camera for weeks at a time.

For University Open Mic night in March, I loaded Handicam with its noticeable diverse design. I got into a conversation with the son of one of the other performers. He patiently sat as still as he could for over two minutes. My performance of "Trouble Every Day" turned him on to Frank Zappa. He added the album, "Freak Out," to his playlist on Spotify.

Then, it got stuck in a bag during a camera building workshop at Photo Opp and disappeared. I found it at the end of April, getting ready for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. 

While everyone was milling about in academic regalia before the new chancellor's installation, I put the camera on a coat rack and tried for a selfie.

It was with me at the School District's community planning session at the new Menomonee School.

Had to take the opportunity to get the north inlet to Millers Bay from inside the school.

Coffee provided by the new corporate identity of the clinic that did my knee replacements.

Taking notes is a kind of persistent skill, like riding a bicycle.

Each group gave a presentation to summarize their discussion.

As a result of talking to the principal of West High School at the planning event, their Photography teacher invited me to close out the semester for her Photo III students by giving each of them a roll of film to use in one of my cameras. Visitors need to check in, get a nametag, and wait until the teacher they're working with can come and get them. They let me go myself on subsequent days.

The courtyard where the students were allowed outside to take photographs.

A cluster in the corner taking close-ups.

Lost the camera in a bag again, but found it getting ready for the first Farmers Market. It was the first time I've seen this bike rack completely full, but I couldn't find a stable place to put a tripod.

I found the camera again a week later as I was packing up for a camera-making workshop in Madison. I got there a few minutes early.

One of the participants capturing a sunbeam in the gallery with her new camera. An experienced analog photographer, she came with her husband, who had no background in photography. They were expecting a stereotypical event with an Oatmeal box camera, a rough pinhole and paper negatives, and were pretty surprised when it turned out they made a reloadable film camera and a diffraction-limited pinhole.

Two weeks later, I found which bag I had stuck Handicam in while cleaning up in Madison and went on at least one bike ride with it. Fishers out on the T-dock in front of the north inlet to Millers Bay.

Construction fencing beginning to go up next to the park for the new above-ground clearwell tanks at the water plant. They've closed the entire area off now, but you can still access a narrow strip right along the shore.

What is this? It's on some kind of bench with a manicured border behind it.

Cummins (formerly the original North American Rockwell plant) runs the last heavy industry plant in the center of the city, stretched along a half a kilometer of the Fox River. They and a local city promotion group commissioned noted muralist Mauricio Ramirez to paint the entire side visible from the river into the longest mural in Wisconsin. It's hard to point a camera accurately when trying to place it to see through a chain link fence.

There were a few broken winders during the last few months, not only from stuck film, but also from a few falls where it landed directly on the winder. After making 70 of them last winter using a two-part resin in a mold, it came to me that they would be much stronger with some rebar inside, i.e., a paper clip. I finally tried it and replaced all the damaged ones. No guarantee that it will ensure reliable film winding, but it will take more work to break it. Also decided to do some maintenance on the first two, and the most used, Compact 30's.

I'd better get this roll finished before I lose the camera again. Lunch on the lanai is a classic subject.

There's been a lot of action in the atmosphere over the last few weeks. After one brief blustery blast, it was curiously calm enough to catch a completely still mandevilla blossom.

Still a few drops on the daylilies.

Elwood's pond, much like pinhole cameras, requires periodic maintenance. This year, we've finally adjusted his tune particularly well both visually and audibly, and without blowing the water out of the pond.

Handicam has a hand-drilled .15mm pinhole 24mm from a 24x36mm frame.  The film is Kodak Ultramax 400 developed in a Cinestill powder C-41 kit.

Shredded Wheat at Photo Midwest

At the beginning of June, I conducted a camera-making workshop at Photo Midwest in Madison. As usual, I built a camera along with the participants, out of an economy-sized box of shredded wheat cereal. The oversized circular bowl would make the camera look really wide-angle. Someone was coming to show me the scanning system, so I couldn't go out to take photographs. For the camera photograph above, instead of using AI, I just photographed it in front of my TV displaying Apple Maps Look Around view of their building. Not even any regular digital trickery. Did ya notice?

The camera sat around for a week while I pursued another project. It even went on an inspirationless bike ride. The only thing around the house that got my attention was the short-side lighting on the Pumpkin Queen's regal expression.

A Photo Opp photo walk in Neenah came to my rescue. 

This bright yellow Deuce Coupe had gotten my attention as I parked its distant descendant.

The featured performer of the evening was the atmosphere, with a continual parade of dramatic clouds over The Fox, with the occasional sunbeam highlighting the Neenah Paper Mill. Since 1874, a paper mill has been on this island between the lock channel and the river, with a few power channels running through it.

Despite their dramatic dark appearance, the clouds were much brighter than the landscape, which really pushed the latitude of the film. Having all the dynamic range in the world makes a different picture.

A stairway up to an observation platform.

These three monumental office buildings dominate downtown Neenah. With only a very wide-angle camera without a rising front to control converging verticals, the buildings and I just leaned into it.

The to-be-expected double exposure. The first was of the historic backs of the storefronts on Wisconsin Ave. while Fox Valley Photo comrade Tim Matey was shouting from the top of the eight-story parking structure behind me: "It's out of focus!" Trying to come up with a clever retort, I forgot to wind the film. After climbing the stairs for the view of the weather over The Fox as it spreads into Little Lake Butte de Mort, I discovered (duh) that it was surrounded by an eight-foot chain link fence! There was a gap, but it was in front of a large semicircular drain structure. Another photo walker helped me hold the tripod to the wall as I extended it outside the fence as far as I could reach to operate the shutter. Looks like the Mother Ship about to land in Wisconsin. And without any AI - or I of any kind, either in the sense of the pronoun or the abbreviation.

Another view was available as the fence went down along the ramp to the next level. It never rained, but it looks like the east side of Menasha got a little.

Oh look, an odd little rectangular structure with a funny hat at the top of the stairwell!

Seduced by those window-striped buildings again. Would you have noticed it was also a double exposure if I didn't bring it up?




Back in the park, looking east from the observation deck, the rain well over Lake Winnebago by now. 

I'm a sucker for a neoclassical portico with a semicircular roof, especially raked by the setting sun under the storm clouds. One of the staff was next to me while I took the photograph. He asked what the deal was with all the photographers. He never mentioned the cardboard box.

The Bowl of Shredded Wheats has an approximately .23mm pinhole (I always forget to record it in a workshop demonstration), .30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film is Kentmere 400 semistand developed in Rodinal 1:100.