Mariposas Nocturnas: moths of Central and South America: a study in beauty and diversity was Charcoal Book Club’s photobook of the month for April, 2019. Once again—and it’s done it many times before and since, and hopefully for many months to come—Charcoal sent me something I wouldn’t have acquired on my own, and am happy enough to have it in my collection. Interestingly, it’s a sort forms the beginnings of a collection and has led me to recategorize one of the old books in my collection.
Continue reading “Emmet Gowin – ‘Mariposas Nocturnas’”First time with Rollei RPX 400
Last winter, I ordered up one of CameraFilmPhoto’s 120 Film Advent Calendars, and picked up a bunch of black & white film that I’d never shot in 120 before. Most of it is still in the fridge, but I took out two rolls a month or so ago, and Rollei RPX 400 was the first up.
Continue reading “First time with Rollei RPX 400”Amani Willet – ‘A Parallel Road’
Amani Willett‘s A Parallel Road is one of the most important books/zines I’ve had the privilege to purchase in a long time. I’m not sure where I heard about it, and big thanks to who/whatever alerted me to it.
Before we go any further, do yourself a favor and go buy a copy now. It’s not often that I review a book or zine almost immediately after receipt, if that gives you any indication…
Continue reading “Amani Willet – ‘A Parallel Road’”Aaron Schuman – ‘Slant’
When I first heard of Aaron Schuman’s Slant, my first thought was “Emily Dickinson… Rebecca Norris Webb” and I preordered it straight away. (Yes, I have a problem.) A couple of months passed and Mack emailed to say that they were nearly sold out so I quickly ordered it, as to not miss out. From the press about the book, I was excited to see Shuman’s use of found text, to add it to my collection of ways photographers use text alongside images.
Continue reading “Aaron Schuman – ‘Slant’”Deep Freeze, TX
If you’re unaware, that is, if you were living on top of a faraway mountain with no access to national or international news, or if you’re reading this far into the future and have forgotten, the polar vortex slid down into Texas, all the way to the Rio Grande, late on Valentine’s Day, or early on President’s Day, 2021. The pleasant, if unseasonably warm weather here in North Texas, turned, became wildly and very unusually cold. In the wee hours of the 16th, the temperature dropped to 1℉ (-17℃), with a high on Tuesday of 7… 7. And between the 15th and 19th, the temperature hovered in the low to mid teens and we got about 10 inches of snow.
I knew it was coming, sorta. I mulched our younger trees the week before and we stocked up on some groceries early, but I had no idea how bad it was going to get, and it got really bad locally and all over the state. The power grid failed, water systems failed, water pipes burst all over. We had it easy, really, and made it through relatively unscathed; many others had it much, much harder.
Continue reading “Deep Freeze, TX”Keith Carter – ‘From Uncertain to Blue’
Many years ago, when I first got interested in photography (again), when Ted Forbes’ podcast was still published through iTunes, Forbes did a piece on Keith Carter. I’ve kept an eye out for one of Carter’s books ever since, but until January 2019, I’d only ever seen Ezekiel’s Horse, and wasn’t particularly interested in that work. And then, one day, I spotted From Uncertain to Blue, and jumped on it.
Continue reading “Keith Carter – ‘From Uncertain to Blue’”#BIFscale 21
It’s been a long 3 years since I last took part in #BIFscale, the worldwide celebration of redscale film (color film exposed through the base), hosted by @filmdevelop and the #believeinfilm community on Twitter.
Honestly, I mostly forgot about it in 2019, but started watching for it late that year, and throughout 2020, but never saw anything about it, so late in January 2021, when I stumbled across a single #BIFscale21 post, and then one of my tweets from 2018 got retweeted, I grabbed my last roll of Lomography Redscale XR, popped it into the still new-to-me Olympus OM10 with the 50mm F.Zuiko and got to shooting.
Continue reading “#BIFscale 21”