Jes Lee

This new year is still new

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I am still getting the hang of this new year.

I have introduced a lot of new practices into my creative life. Some are sticking well, others not as much.

I have kept up with my film 365 project, and in the process fixed one of my broken cameras.

I have kept up with my ‘morning pages’ journaling practice, though not quite every morning, and not always 3 full pages. But I am journaling and writing more, and it is helping me more than I ever thought.

I have started doing yoga. I went to three classes last week, and really enjoyed the challenge and calm they provided. (Also, yoga makes me feel warm, which I desperately need now!)

I have started working with the studio manager at MCBA on a very exciting project there.

I have started a new book making class at MCBA that will guide me towards making a new editioned book. I admit, I was scared to death to go to this class. I still am, though much less than I was. It is intimidating studying under and next to book artists that I look up to and admire, and feeling like my work belongs. But it has been amazing. I have a lot of work to do on this project, and many articles and books to read to help guide me through this design process, and I am looking forward to it!

Through a very kind friend’s amazing generosity (if you happen to be reading this, you know who you are!) I am the owner of an Impossible Project Instant Lab camera. This amazing little invention creates instant photos of any image you can put on a cell phone. I have played with it all weekend, trying different exposures, making images of cell phone photos and artwork compilations, and double exposures. 2014-02-08 11.31.45

There will be a full blog post on this very soon! I am still too amazed at what it can do to really put in words yet.

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I have had to do more healing this winter than I ever expected to. For the first in quite a while, I finally feel like I have a better grip on it. 2014 is still new and still fresh, and still great.

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Today also happens to be the birthday of the guy I adore. I am very happy to be enjoying 2014 with him. Happy Birthday love!

Film 365 – Day 21: January 11, 2014

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It was a fantastic little day wandering around the Grandview Lodge resort area, walking along the many paths through the trees and by the lake. There were company sponsored activities (such as board game tournaments) and many people to talk to. John and I took a few hours out of the day to walk around the lake by ourselves, and recharge mentally. I was still photographing with the Nikon FG-20 and the Ilford HP5+ film. I’m still not thrilled with how grainy the film ended up being, and how some of the photos turned out. After I finished up with that roll, I loaded up a roll of Lomography XPro. I have learned that this is really color slide film, but packaged so that it looks like it could be developed as c41 film. What this does is distort the colors. This is actually a pretty common practice, but many film processing places won’t cross process film for various reasons. So it ends up usually not being the cheapest experiment. My local lab where I take my color film doesn’t usually cross process film, but because I hadn’t tried this film before, and because the woman that works there likes me, she developed it as c41 anyway. I must say, I really don’t like the way the colors come out with this film. I have had other slide film cross processed before, and have gotten pretty cool results, but not this time. I have not yet tried all of the Lomography films yet, but I have tried a few. Sadly, I think this film will be added to the ‘not trying again’ list.

Through this 365 project, I have been taking photos of everything with my cell phone as well as my film camera. I’m doing this for many reasons.

1. Because I am often developing and scanning the film multiple days after taking the photo, it can sometimes get a little tricky to remember when I took each photo. Having a digital record of this helps.

2. I can record the photos in my ‘Day One’ journal app, document the camera settings, and then have a record of what the weather was like where I was taking the photo.

3. The cell phone photo gives me the geolocation data of where I was photographing that day, and I am a bit obsessed with location data right now.

That said, I won’t always do this with my posts, but this time I am posting many of my cell phone photographs as well as the film photos. The cell phone photos come after all of the film photos. Honestly, I like them much better. I know this could be fodder for all of the many arguments over cell phone photography, film vs. digital and all that. But I am really quite tired of all of those arguments. I am experimenting with so many different types of film over the course of this project, many I have not tried before, and many that are quite expired already. I am not going to like every type of film I try, but this project will help me figure out what types of film I love. The fact that I ended up with two rolls of film I didn’t really like on this trip is just unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I’m not giving up using that little Nikon camera, even though I do whine about scanning 35mm film! So here you go, many photos, in many film types and formats.

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Poinsettia flower in the snow

30˚ and hazy

Nikon FG-20 camera

Ilford HP5+ film developed in Ilfosol 3.

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Path to the lake

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One lonely Christmas ornament.

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Smallworld!

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Walking on a frozen lake, looking back at the shore and the snow covered trees.

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Ditto

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Ditto again.

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And again.

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Pine needles covered in frost.

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Tree bark (with the Lomography XPro film)

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Path light

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The cake table in day light.

And now the cell phone photos:

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Processed with VSCOcam

Processed with VSCOcam

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Film 365 – Day 20: January 10, 2014

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A little weekend get-away…

John’s company took us on this amazing weekend trip to Nisswa, MN for the weekend. We stayed at a cabin in the Grandview Lodge resort with a pretty little deck filled with snow. We quickly dubbed this the ‘cake table’.

Of course the photo is a bit blurry….it was dark, and I didn’t bring a tripod with. It was dark by the time we arrived at the cabin, and we spent a very large chunk of time before that on a bus. So it was a bit less photogenic of a day to begin with.

january 10 2 smallI was not sure what this trip would be like, but figured I should pack light. So instead of bringing my Hasselblad with, I brought my Nikon Fg-20 with. Other than really disliking scanning 35mm film, and realizing that expired Ilford HP5+ 400 film gets EXTREMELY grainy when it expires, I really do like this little camera!

Nikon FG-20 camera

Ilford HP5+ 400 film developed in Ilfosol 3

f 2.8 1/15 shutter speed.

8:45 pm 30˚ with mist and fog.

 

Film 365 – Day 19: January 9, 2014

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What a difference daylight makes.january 9 small

 

The same view as yesterday’s photo, except with day light making it seem more ordinary.

Retro Rolei 100 film developed in Ilfosol 3.

7:49am 3˚ and cloudy

january 9 2 smallWinter gets so monotone. I’m grateful for the house plants I am able to grow here to cheer things up a bit. And yes, I do realize the irony in posting a black and white photo of this.

7:54am 3˚ and cloudy

Rolei Retro 100 film developed in Ilfosol 3.

Hasselblad 501c/m camera.

 

New practices and warm thoughts

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I don’t need to go into how cold it has been here lately. We all know it. We are all tired of it.

I can say that cold weather does interesting, not always good things to cameras. I am always careful, and I honestly baby a few of my cameras. If it is a really cold day, I usually won’t take my Hasselblad out. I usually try to bring a camera that would not be so tragic to lose in a cold-weather related accident, or one that would at least be cheaper/easier to have fixed if needed. That said, if you are careful and diligent, everything can work out just fine with taking a camera out in cold weather.

Instant film, does not like super cold weather. It can do very crazy things. Like this:

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Honestly, I kind of like it still. It looks quite mysterious and ghostly, and the texture is great. But, not really the photo of the bridge to Nicolette Island at sunset I had planned!

I have called my recent time at home a residency. To me, it is a time to focus on my art, spend time experimenting, getting my work spaces set up in our new home, creating new work, and getting settled into a very new lifestyle to me. While not all of those things are accomplished in a typical residency, quite a few of them are. So, to me this is a long art residency where I can actually go to sleep in my own bed every night.

Last week, after my volunteer shift at the library, I decided to stick around and search through books for some creative inspiration. I did find a very inspiring little book deep in the stacks in among the Japanese Wood Block Print books that has changed my mind on how I will create and bind my next book. I also found a few books on writing and creativity in general. One such book, The Sound of Paper: Starting from Scratch by Julia Cameron offers many little exercises to kick-start creativity and get in touch with yourself. She suggests a practice called ‘morning pages’. The idea is to sit down every morning and fill three pages with writing. This can include journal type daily entries, rants, confessions, poetry, stories, anything that can be written. I started this practice last week, and it has honestly been amazing. I have generally written basic journal entries, but it has helped writing down my jumbles of thoughts every morning and getting them out of my way. I also write lists of things I would like to carry out during the day, ideas for projects, and ideas for how to solve problems I am having with projects. I admit that it does seem daunting some mornings. I am writing in a very large sketchbook and blank pages seem extra-large. But once I get going, the end of the three pages usually comes quick.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else she advises in her book!

Until next time,

~Peace~

Film 365 – Day 15: January 5, 2014

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I really wish this photo was not so blurry….

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But that is what I get for trying to take a photo in a dark theater, with only 400 speed film (I could have pushed it!!) while people were walking back and forth past me (hello vibrations!) with no tripod…

(I really have learned!)

Oh well.

We took my parents on our annual outing to see the British Arrow Awards at the Walker Art Center. It was so cold out that day, I did not want to bring my Hasselblad out, so this was taken with my 35mm Nikon FG-20. My father-in-law gave me that camera years ago (he used it for many years before) and I really enjoy it (though I do hate scanning 35mm negatives).

Ilford 400 film developed in Ilfosol 3.

f2.8 1/30 shutter speed (might have been 1/15).