Searching for the music in my head
I’m back in the darkroom again and this time I am working from digital negatives. I have dialed in Fomabrom Variant IV paper, which has become my favorite paper (that is currently available) for working with the Bromoil process.
This image is the remains of a large room in the Administration Building at Henryton (glsmyth.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/henryton).
It is difficult to go far in the French Quarter in New Orleans without hearing music coming from somewhere. At night there is a place on Bourbon Street where musicians gather and play together. I spent quite a bit of time listening to these players do their thing, and actually remembered to capture a few images.
Anything you have heard about Bourbon Street in New Orleans is probably true. People in balconies oftentimes have plastic beads that are thrown down to the crowd below. In this particular case some of the people on the street are coaxing this to happen. The most effective way for this to happen is for women to expose their breasts, though I only saw that once while I was there. Note the poll dancer in the window in the background.
New Orleans is all about art. We all know about the music that can be heard on many streets within the French Quarter, but the city also holds numerous visual artists. Any photographer will drool with a visit to A Gallery, where amongst other delicious items they hold some of Maggie Taylor’s artistry.
There is a fence around St. Louis Cathedral where artists hang up their wares for sale (conveniently near Cafe du Monde, which is a required visit while there), and this is an image of one such person currently working on an image to hang.
I spent last weekend and a couple of days in New Orleans. I have a feeling that anything anyone has said about Bourbon Street is probably true.
I found the city to be interesting, fun, and full of conflicts. I primarily stayed in the French Quarter, but found plenty of time to do quite a bit of walking.
No idea what this building was, but I just found it interesting that amongst the rubbish was a chair, as if someone had sat down to watch the proceedings. I am hopeful that I’ll have another opportunity to visit this proud city once again.
So ends another season where the Baltimore Orioles not only are not in the playoffs, but lose more than they won. It would be too depressing to see how many consecutive seasons that has been the case. The only good thing was that despite a 13 game losing streak at the end of the season, they managed not to lose 100 games. The Baltimore Orioles – first in your heart, last in the American League.
Perhaps next year will be a worst to first situation, I do like some of the new talent (yes, I do say that every year). Despite the ups and (mostly) downs, they’re still our hometown team, and it doesn’t get much better than getting a high five from The Bird.
This is the last of five pinhole images offered this week of the result of waves on Tobay Beach, Long Island during the time of Hurricane Bill. The story of these images can be found in those four previous entries. I’ve not shot too many pinhole images of waves coming onto a beach, and this provided me with an opportunity to capture something interesting.
In case anyone is interested, these images were made through my Zero Image 6×9cm. pinhole camera (serial #2) with Acros 100 film, and printed on Oriental Seagul Portrait Warmtone paper toned with selenium.
This is the fourth of five pinhole images offered this week of the result of waves on Tobay Beach, Long Island during the time of Hurricane Bill. Please reference those entries for the earlier section of the story.
I returned to the Atlantic side of the beach, but a ways up from where we had initially looked. This side of the beach was closed for obvious reasons, but since there was a pavilion at that location, I decided to use it to steady my camera. The police were there but I walked past them as if I was supposed to be there. When I arrived at the pavilion there were a number of people congregating in the area, which I came to realize were all the the lifeguards that normally would have been working that area. I set my camera on one of the ledges and started taking pictures. One of the lifeguards came up to me and told me that I really shouldn’t be there. I smiled and nodded, as if to agree with him. Apparently satisfied that he had done his part, he walked away, and I was met by several other lifeguards who asked me about my camera. I did my best to explain the camera and the results I thought I would get. If anyone knows a lifeguard who works at Tobay Beach, perhaps they can be pointed to this entry.
Tomorrow I will show the last image of the series.
This is the third of five pinhole images offered this week of the result of waves on Tobay Beach, Long Island during the time of Hurricane Bill. Please reference those entries for the beginning of the story.
As mentioned yesterday, the others had their own concerns. Although they were close to an entrance to the beach, the incoming wave took them by surprise. One woman (not from our party) was knocked down by the incoming water, while the others fled up the entrance way. As the wave receded she was helped up and had lost a shoe. A shoe laid on the sand and one from our party got the shoe and gave it to her – it wasn’t her shoe.
I finally made it back to the others and we went to the bay side of the Beach. I decided that I wanted to take more pictures, and will continue the story tomorrow.
Yesterday I offered the first of the five pinhole images that are being offered this week and began my explanation, so you may wish to reference that.
Arriving at Tobay Beach, we pulled the car off to the side of the road and walked toward an entrance point to the Atlantic side of the the beach – across the road was the bay side. The others wandered onto the edge of the beach while I continued on to the lifeguard stand, which was also at the edge of the beach but was further from the entrance point. I had only taken a few images when I saw one of the larger waves on its way in. As it crashed onto the beach I realized that although most of the waves had stopped about 50 feet away from me, this one was going to be much different. I jumped onto the lifeguard stand several seconds before about two feet of water crashed below me. The others had their own concerns, which I will mention tomorrow. I completed shooting until I finished the roll of 120 film I had in my pinhole camera.
