Category: Photography

Photography

There falls no shadow where there shines no sun

Shelly

Image from page 141 of "Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences" (1902-1971.)
Solar Eclipse with Corona
Credit: Internet Archive Book Images
Image from page 141 of “Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences” (1902-1971)

If I ever become rich and famous, the very first thing I’ll do is invest in a telescope. Living in the middle of nowhere provides some wonderful opportunities for sky watching (which is a damned good thing, because it sure as hell doesn’t provide for other forms of entertainment, like cable teevee and broadband internet access). I would live to take even more advantage of it, and eventually would love to get a halfway decent telescope.

Altered Photos, Art, Photography

Altering Polaroids

Shelly

I actually managed to get some artwork done over the weekend, but I haven’t gotten around to scanning/photographing/uploading it yet. I’ll try to do so tonight. I’ve been doing 6 x 6 inch collages, many of which incorporate altered Polaroid photos.

Speaking of Polaroids, I played around a bit with bleaching them. This is a nice way to recycle photos that didn’t turn out well.

Start by taking them apart. This can be a bit tedious, but once you know how they’re constructed, it’s not difficult. Begin by pulling off the edging tape (you might have to use an Xacto or razor blade to pry up an edge), then remove the front plastic sheet from the backing. The plastic sheet is what you’ll be working with. The photo emulsion is on the back of it. You can sand the front, which is kind of neat, but you can also scratch and/or sand through the emulsion from the back. Or, you can bleach it. I used a dinner plate with a shallow pool of undiluted bleach. Just lay the photo, emulsion side down, into the bleach. Lift it out and watch the front side of it. When it is lightened the desired amount, immediately place it in water. (I did this at the kitchen sink, and just left the water running.) Gently blot and leave to dry, emulsion side up.

Caveats: Dark photos work best for bleaching. Any white areas will disintegrate easily when bleached, so be careful not to overdo the bleach. Also be careful handling the emulsion side, at least until it has dried thoroughly. It’s especially delicate when it’s wet.

Or, instead of bleaching, you can wet the emulsion with plain water. Let it sit a moment to soften. Then, you can gently manipulate it with your fingertips, a brush, or a pencil eraser. It’s possible to get some interesting blending results this way. Just be careful not to overdo it, because it’s a fine line between manipulation of the emulsion and its complete removal.

You can also remove the emulsion from part of the photo, if you want to use it in collage so that the image beneath that section shows through.

Once the photos are dry, you can use them in collages, paintings, or in art journals. I’ve used a very thin layer of acrylic medium to adhere them. Make sure you burnish thoroughly, both to ensure good contact and to force out any extra adhesive. Mechanical fasteners, like eyelets, brads, or thread work great, too. And then, of course, there are good, old fashioned photo corners.

Photography

Lightning

Shelly

I was kind of bummed because I hadn’t gotten pictures of the lightning show last night. I tried taking a few, but I assumed they weren’t turning out, so I gave up. Now I’m really kicking myself. This one isn’t great, but I expect I could’ve gotten some decent shots if I’d stuck with it. Hrmph.

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You can’t really tell it from this photo, but it does hint at the mammatus clouds that formed on the back side of the storm. Every time a sustained bolt of lightning lit up the interior of the cell, the mammatus formations would glow. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

There are some gorgeous (and creepy!) examples of mammatus formations here and here and here. The last page is especially impressive. I’d probably pee my pants if I saw something like that in the sky.

Crankypantsing, Photography

My Swiss Cheese Brain

Shelly

Happy, um, Friday. Or something. It’s clamid here–not exactly cold, but coldish, and grey and drizzley with what I’m pretty sure was a an occasional spittle of sleet. O ick.

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Despite–or rather, because of–the cloud cover, we had a nice little sunset last night.

I’d meant to spend the whole day at home, working on scanning, but I woke up at 3am and realized that I’d forgotten to take care of a very important errand. I ended up getting up relatively early, for a day-off, and going into Bloomington. Lemme tell ya’, that was about the last thing I wanted to spend the morning doing. I got my grocery shopping finished, though, so I should stop complaining. Except I’m not gonna, because I still forgot to pick up dish detergent, damnit! I’ve been out for over a month, and I keep forgetting to buy it. I remembered laundry detergent and camera batteries and lighters[1] and hand soap, sure, but not dish detergent. Hrmph. I’ve been substituting laundry detergent, which gets the job done, but it’s not as satisfyingly sudsy. Heck, I even remembered Kleenex and paper towels! And, no, a list wouldn’t be likely to help, because I’d have to actually take the list to the store with me. That’s the problem with lists, dontcha see?

Anyway, I’m back from errand running. Whew. I’m pet sitting for Ms. Lea’s menagerie this weekend, and I’m happy to report that the driveway ‘twixt here and there has been fixed! Yea, verily, ’tis true! She bought a metric buttload of gravel last week. Of course, the first time we have a big spring rain, the Chasm to Bism will inevitably re-open, but for now, it’s all nice and smooth and just darn peachy.

And, also, too, as well, a young adult bobtail cat turned up next door. I suspect some asshat dumped him, because he’s not at all shy. In fact, he’s heart-breakingly friendly. He’s obviously been someone’s pet. AND HE LOOKS JUST LIKE BASIL!!! But without the eeevilness. He even has a bitty Basil-sized nub. Ms. Lea has him locked in the bedroom, and will decide what to do with him when she returns. In the meantime, I get to go play with Basil’s Good Twin.

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[1] Disclaimer: I don’t smoke, but the electricity here has a bad habit of flaking out whenever it’s windy or really rainy. As in, when we’re having typical Spring-in-Indiana weather. When the electricity went out a few weeks ago, I had a hell of a time finding a working lighter so that I could light candles. I won’t mention how many times I’ve been to the store or gas station since then and I’ve forgotten to pick one up, but it was something on a par with how many times I’ve been to the store and forgotten dish detergent. My brain, it’s like a steel sieve, bay-BEE!

Pets, Photography

Friday Cat Story

Shelly

Speaking of cats…

Pandora, my old cat, is a little strange. She’s lying under my feet, with a wadded up wash cloth between her front paws.

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Pandora has two odd habits. First she compulsively washes anyone who pets her. I’m allergic to cat saliva, so whenever she sneaks in a stealth lick, I break out in red bumps. She also washes Rory. He doesn’t mind. In fact, he sometimes hunts her down and makes her wash his face and ears.

Second, she carries bits of paper and cloth around the house. I have no idea why she does it. During the night, she gets into the trash and the laundry hamper and digs out wash cloths, socks, and bits paper. Every morning, I wake up with a pile of her thievings outside my bedroom door. She doesn’t always bring them to me, though. Sometimes she sleeps on top of them. Sometimes she plays with them. And sometimes she just carries them around the house, trying to meow.[1] Because her mouth is stuffed full, what little sound there is comes out muffled and garbled. At that point, about all I can do is point and laugh. Luckily, she’s weird in many ways, and is one of those rare cats who enjoys being a clown. She’s totally okay with being pointed and laughed at.

I would worry that the fabric/paper fetish was a sign of an age related cognitive disorder, except she’s been doing it for more than ten years. The same with the compulsive people licking. They’re odd behaviors, but they’re normal for Pandora.

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1. Pandora has never been able to meow properly. Instead, she makes a little chirping noise or a whispered “mah.” When she was a kitten, my roommate had one of her littermates. The only way we were able to tell the kittens apart was that Pandora would open her mouth and no noise would come out. Luckily, Pan has an excellent sense of humor and doesn’t mind in the least being laughed at. I’ve known cats who were mortified when they were laughed at, but not Pan. She’s a ham.

Letters to Esther, Photography

Spring?

Shelly

The solstice was yesterday. Forsythia is in bloom, my baby walnut trees have swellings on their branches, the peepers have been peeping, and birds have been returning. So, of course, it snowed last night. Welcome to spring in Indiana.

So, I thought I’d share some photos of crepuscular rays I took last week.

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I’ve been working on Letters to Esther. I’ve got nearly everything from the old blog format moved to the new website. Now, I’m in the process of scanning the original letters and adding them to the transcriptions. It’s slow going, because many of the image files need a lot of tweaking to make them legible.

I’m not even bothering to scan the rough drafts of Esther’s replies to Richard, because they’re written on pages from her exercise book, which have seriously degraded. I don’t want to handle them too much, because the paper is brittle and brown. And, because she wrote in pencil, the text is faded. In order to make scans legible, I’d have to do some serious Photoshopping acrobatics. Maybe, at a later date, I’ll scan them, but for now, I’m leaving them be.

Once I get all the currently transcribed letters scanned and images added, I’ll start transcribing new letters. Right now, I’m about half-way finished with scanning the transcribed letters. Just to give an idea of scope, that’s taken me about 50 hours of solid work, not counting time it took to do the original transcriptions.

Tangent Alert!

I’m watching bad daytime court teevee (Judge Alex) while working on the computer. I haven’t been paying close attention, but the defendant–whose off-lead Dalmatian attacked and killed the plaintiff’s on-lead Dachshund puppy–seems to be arguing that she shouldn’t be responsible for the full amount of damages because the plaintiff’s dog isn’t a purebred “Datsun.” I nearly choked on my toast. Lady, if you’re gonna try to mount that sort of defense, you really ought to get the breed name correct. Claiming that the dead puppy didn’t “look” like a purebred “Datsun” does not make you look like any kind of authority on the breed. I’m just sayin’.

Now, I’m debating the merits of digging out my car so that I can drive down to the mailbox to pick up the mail. There ought to be Netflix waiting for me. It would be nice to have something to watch besides daytime teevee, and it would be a good idea to get the car cleaned off, so I’m trying to talk myself into it.

Crankypantsing, Photography

Aftermath

Shelly

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I went for a walk this afternoon, to survey the state of the driveway, and also because it was a gorgeous day for a walk.

The main areas of damage are definitely the result of SBC laying cable down the center of the drive. They moved it a year or two ago, but the old cable is now completely exposed in several places, because the earth has washed away where the trench was cut. What a spectacularly stupid thing to do. There is no way to repair the damage, short of digging out the entire driveway and starting over from scratch, because the earth in that trench will always be softer than the earth around it. It’s the path of least resistance for flowing water, which means it gets washed out during heavy rain.

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A rut that is a lake

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Yes, those are goddamn CINDER BLOCKS IN ALL CAPS.

I also took some prettier photos.

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A dead tree along the fence behind my house. I decreased the saturation, then increased the reds and yellows. I also fiddled with the contrast and darkness.

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Beheaded trees along gas easement

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Tree along fence behind my house

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Machined piece of stone found in driveway.

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My neighbor’s house, at the top of the hill. I took these photos from ground level at the bottom of her driveway. The photos turned out kind of creepy, I think.

Art, Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Potato-Tomato

Shelly

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Happy Monday! I woke up this ayem with a stiff shoulder and sore back. I hate it when I get a sleep injury. It’s really not a good way to start the week, I think. It could be worse, though. One of my coworkers got a speeding ticket this morning. I know the area where she got it, and it’s only a fluke that I haven’t gotten one in that spot, myself. The speed limit goes from 45mph to 35mph to 45mph, so it’s easy for your speed creep up without realizing it.

So, here’s a question. I do a lot of journaling, of both the arty and just text variety. Journaling, by definition, is a personal activity. Intensely personal, at times. Twice, though, I’ve come across folks selling pages from their journals. The thought gives me brain ache. It’s one thing to share select pages from a journal by posting them on-line, but to tear pages out of a journal and sell them? It seems to me that what is being sold, then, is not in fact a page from a journal. And, why would someone want to buy a page from someone else’s journal? Maybe if you’re some sort of Leonardo, it would be understandable, but that’s not the case with the journalers in question.

I realize this may just be an issue of semantics, but there are days when I feel like semantics is the only thing that really matters. If we cannot communicate effectively, there’s not much point in communicating at all. Hrmph.