Tourism

New York, New York

Six-thirty last evening, at Grand Central.

On Park Avenue

New York, New York

Seven-thirty yesterday morning I was crossing Park Avenue from east to west as these two were crossing 30th Street from south to north. As we converged on the corner, the younger, taller one called out in a British accent, "getting any good pictures this morning?" Less than a full block out the door of the workshop center, I answered, "not yet." Then the older one said, "then take our picture," so I said, "sure." He continued, "this is my new friend, he's from England and we're best buddies now, but he's going home tomorrow." So we made a few shots. Following an idea I got from photographer Mike Peters, I gave them a card that has one of my email addresses and told them to send me an email and I'll reply with their picture attached. They looked delighted, and continued on their way up Park.

Sidewalk Memorial

Waterbury, Connecticut

This memorial is on the sidewalk on South Main Street a few blocks from the center of town, against the cyclone fence of a tire dealer. It's common to see shrines like this at the site of car crashes on highways and country roads but I don't recall seeing one in the middle of a city before. All I could think of was that a car must have hopped the sidewalk and killed a child. A couple of online searches turned up the story, which sadly is just what I'd guessed, except worse.

Tooth and Nail Tattoo

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Yesterday morning, walking along Church Street, the main commercial street in Naugatuck, I noticed a new business in an old storefront (used to be part of an old-fashioned print shop with actual presses on premises) with neat window displays and what looked like a lot more interesting stuff inside—Tooth and Nail Tattoo. The young woman who owns the place happened to arrive as I was taking a shot of the windows. I complemented her on the displays and she invited me inside to look. I think there will be more pictures to make here, but today I'm off to teach my weekend Digital Platinum printing workshop at the Penumbra Foundation in New York.

Spring Rain

Torrington, Connecticut

At least the moss is beginning turn bright green and ferns are beginning to appear at Burr Pond State Park.

Spring?

Woodbury, Connecticut

Finally, it was 50° this morning instead of below freezing. The daffodils are happy, and what's left of the crabapples after the destructive storms finally shows signs of life.

B&W in the Woods

Litchfield, Connecticut

High Water—Shepaug at Hidden Valley

Washington, Connecticut

The rain had almost stopped but the gray sky made for luminous light and soft but bright reflections on the water surface.

Color in the Woods, Part III

Litchfield, Connecticut

Last of this mini-series.

UPDATE: New Web Galleries

I've just finished making some changes to the galleries page at my website, including two new galleries with the platinum/palladium prints I've made during the past week. I've shown snaps of the wet prints in the clearing baths in several posts here, but these are carefully made copy shots of the finished Pt/Pd prints. There are also some new front-page examples for some of the older galleries.

Color in the Woods, Part II

Litchfield, Connecticut

It should be Spring by now, but there's just no sign of it. These were made Thursday at White Memorial Conservation Center. There was a touch of rain in the air, which often makes for wonderful luminous light.

Color in the Woods

Litchfield, Connecticut

Mostly I find that pictures in the New England woods work better in monochrome than they do in color. Even aside from my current experiments with making digital captures in these environments that are intended to end up, if successful, as platinum/palladium prints. But one of my favorite shooting conditions is "the edge of the rain" and this is the first picture I made walking into one of my frequently visited local park sites yesterday. I'd been intending to make pictures for mono, but immediately saw this as a color picture. I think it's the green moss. A whole picture of faded autumn leaves (it's supposed to be Spring here, with no evidence) never works in color but that green moss just snaps it all together. You can see we've had a lot of rain here recently.

News: Upcoming Workshop

Along the Shepaug at Steep Rock, Washington, Connecticut

That's a copy shot of a 7x11" platinum/palladium print made earlier this week from an original digital capture, by way of a digital internegative.

I've just learned that there are still a couple places available for my "Digital Platinum" workshop at Penumbra Foundation in New York, ten days from now, April 28-29. Follow the link for details. Take the workshop and you'll learn how to make prints like this yourself from digital captures or film scans.

Bench

Southbury, Connecticut

Art project, or just a moldy bench at a suburban shopping center?

Neon Guitars

Seymour, Connecticut

It's fun to find neon still in use. This is in a really old movie theater building. It still operates as a theater but some of the original space has been broken up for other retail businesses.

Last Lab Session for Now

The second half of the potential Burr Pond State Park folio. 9-inch Pt/Pd prints on 10x11 Hahnemühle Platinum Rag. Very late Autumn conditions with thin layers of ice on the pond, snow flurries in the air. Snaps show the prints in the clearing baths.

At It Again

More printing this morning.

These are from a different Connecticut Park, Burr Pond, made late last fall. I wanted a smaller, more delicate presentation for these than the Steep Rock folio series, so they are sized 9-inches wide on 10x11 Hahnemühle Platinum Rag, Pt/Pd using a 10% traditional platinum mix.

Printing this Morning

The other main candidates for a "Steep Rock, Winter" folio.

More Printing

This morning's prints, in the clearing baths. A series from Steep Rock Preserve in Winter. 11-inch wide Pt/Pd prints on 11x15 Hahnemühle Platinum Rag.

There was something flakey about the white balance on the quick snaps I posted earlier from the printing session. These are more like it.