This is a test from my shoot this past Sunday- my first shoot with my new Mamiya RB67. Here I am trying again to work out a setting that is familiar, but with suggestions of landscape and scale. I was happy that I was able to concentrate and get something done even with Ollie in the house playing noisily downstairs. Feels good to be shooting again with predictable results- a camera that I know and a format I love. All that struggling with the 4x5 was disheartening. When you see the big, luminous image on the expanse of ground glass it looks amazing, but on the proof sheets the same images were flat and dull.

Just got an email from a website called the supermelon where they reviewed my work:

http://www.thesupermelon.com/art/the-corner-of-your-eye

Finally! I got my new RB67 in the mail from KEH. I am delighted with it- it is in great condition and the lens is very sharp. The shutter also has a very decisive sound that I love, not like the clomping kind of sound my old one was making. I have never ordered such an major bit of camera equipment online before, but I am happy to say it went well. This weekend I found some time to shoot, and while Ollie and J were playing downstairs I set up in the bathroom and messed around with velvet and talcum powder. Results to be posted soon.
The image posted here is a double exposure of an enamel pot. I've had a long standing love affair going with this pot, and I have shot it many times over the years in different ways. I think I finally got what I was after here in this photo. It looks better in real life, in its form as a big color print. The white specks inside it were one thing about it I loved, the other is the utilitarian shape and the suggestion of containment or measure. Titled "Little Dipper".

This photo I shot this summer with Rachel helping. It was one of those serendipitous moments where my feelings about Rachel, and her staying at my house played directly into the photos I was making. In another version of this image she modeled for me with her hand reaching for the bread slice under the table- which was analogous to her real behavior, the sneaking around and lying. Her hand taking bread from under the table was hardly a metaphor- she was indeed taking my resources, and probably hoping I wouldn't notice she was unable to give anything in return.
In the end the version showing her hand was too creepy, and I opted for this one instead as a final select.

Women In Photography NYC exhibit

You can see some of my new work in this group show up today on the WIP website:

http://www.wipnyc.org/

Women in Photography Presents:
"If There Were a Little More Silence"
December 02- December 15, 2008
A group showcase featuring:

Michele Abeles
Rebecca Horne
Melissa Kaseman
Catherine Larré
Stacy Renee Morrison
Sonja Thomsen
Anna Venezia
Jessica Watson
Sarah Wilmer

Posted here is one of the images from the show by Melissa Kaseman titled Flock.

PhotoAlliance Portfolio Review

I will be reviewing photographer portfolios this year at the PhotoAlliance portfolio review at the San Francisco Art Institute in March. I'll look foward to leaving the dregs of winter in NYC behind for a few lovely days in San Francisco's North Beach looking at photography and meeting talented photographers. Last year I was excited to meet Sara Steele and Benjamin Drummond- an activist photographer and writer team with some remarkable photography about the human face of climate change, among others. Check out Steele and Drummond's work here:

http://www.bendrum.com/

If you are thinking of buying an original print or some art this Christmas you might consider starting here with this collection offered by PhotoAlliance that includes Imogen Cunningham, Terri Weifenbach, Abelardo Morell, Carrie Mae Weems, Linda Connor and others. Right now my favorite is the Terri Weifenbach print featured here. This is one of the more expensive offerings, available for $750.00 as an 11x14" signed print.

http://www.photoalliance.org/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=0&keyword=&manufacturer_id=0&Itemid=84&orderby=product_price&limit=10&limitstart=10/