Day to day – Page 17

Film photos with twinkle…

February 8, 2013 by Jes

This may be the fastest I have ever gotten film photos finished and posted. I posted on Sunday a little update about the Luminary Loppet and going out to take night photos of the ice candles. I posted my digital photos, with the promise of film photos to come later.

Well, guess what. It is already later! On Tuesday I had a bit of time in my studio and was able to develop the roll of film I had taken, and today I managed to get the photos all scanned in and cleaned up. So here you go! Night film photos of the Luminary Loppet!

The black and white photos were all taken with Kodak TriX 400 film using a Hasselblad 501c/m camera at f11, one minute long exposures. I love how some of them look like they were taken in daylight, and others don’t. This is the un-predictability of film I adore, especially with night photos. There is no exact way to meter, but after a bit of practice, you get pretty good at guessing how long your shutter should be open.

(The light trails in the back are cross-country skiers going post. Many of them had on colored glowing bracelets and necklaces.)

Below is the only photo I managed to get with my Sx-70 out there. After this photo, something stopped working. I’m hoping to get it back up and running soon. No, I am not at all a camera repair person, but The Impossible Project has a few really good tutorials and trouble-shooting guides. I’m hoping that will help me!

This photo was taken with the Px70 Cool film, probably around a 10 second exposure, and stuck in my shirt to develop.

Thanks for looking!

Crazy days and fun evenings

February 7, 2013 by Jes

Many of you know we have our condo on the market to sell. A last minute showing can turn any day into a crazy day of running, cleaning, and convincing a bunny she should go in her carrier and leave with us. That is exactly what happened yesterday with 2 hours notice before the showing was scheduled. Not my idea of fun by a long shot, and not exactly the bunny’s idea of fun either (though she did get to visit my parent’s house for the evening, with plenty of areas to explore).

Somehow everything that needed to was done, and happened, and we still made it to the picnic we had planned with a couple of friends at the Science Museum of MN. I brought my new digital slr with for a little practice. I love taking photos in science museums! I don’t know what it is exactly, but I always have fun!

Plus just a few dinosaur photos taken with my iPhone….mostly so I can play with them later ;)

Main Street

February 5, 2013 by Jes

Down the road are the grain elevators. You can smell them before you can see them. Today their smell of pasta covered up the smell of wet pavement. Between the sounds of the crashing freight train cars, and the neighborhood smells, I knew I was home.

This afternoon I dropped my car off to get an oil change close to my parent’s house and my studio. It felt quite warm outside after the frigid weather we have had lately, so I walked back after leaving my car. I love walking down Main Street and smelling the grain elevators.

I developed two rolls of film today, as well as finishing plenty of other little jobs on my to-do list. Hopefully I’ll find a bit of time later this week to scan and upload them :)

In Minnesota…

February 3, 2013 by Jes

…we do crazy little fun things like organizing a bunch of sports events on a frozen lake, including a cross country ski event on a trail lined with ice candles. Did I mention there is also a fire pit, so those skiing the cross country trail can warm up a bit?

I love Minnesota.

I needed this little photo outing so badly. Luckily, my sweet husband understands stuff like that, and went out with me, on a cold snowy night, to follow me around a frozen lake while I took a lot of long exposure photos. He gets me.

Here are some digitals, film photos to follow (after I develop and scan them!)

Catching up with my inspiration

January 31, 2013 by Jes

I had my eyes checked this morning, and I’m happy to report that my prescription hasn’t changed since about 2008. All I need to do now is look for a pair of prescription sunglasses and I’ll be on my way, thank you very much. And thanks to the assistants at the clinic today, my glasses are actually clean. Something I forget constantly to do. Seriously, some days I think I need a keeper!

I have been continuing to print pages for books for my show, researching geo locations of places I have been (which only makes me want to go more places) and trying to edit everything down to a semi reasonable amount of work.

This week I have also managed to sell a camera, and get an application for a very cool program turned in on time.

In between all of that, I finished reading a biography – Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits. I honestly started the book quite some time ago, but had to put it down for awhile. It is a very intense book, and very descriptive of what was going on in the world while she was a live and photographing. It is of couse, quite intense, like I think any artist biography is. But, it is very inspiring as well. She worked hard and she gave up a lot to do the work that she believed was important. She never stopped learning, and never stopped trying to make her work better, never gave up. Never gave up working really. When she wasn’t physically able to work, she was still planning, still seeing. Because of this, she wasn’t always maybe the easiest person to be around, but she did what she did because she was drawn to that life. I understand that feeling.

Super woman

January 28, 2013 by Jes

Well here we are at Monday.

This weekend I felt a bit like I was playing at being Super Woman or something. I accomplished a lot, and had quite a bit of fun, but I am dragging today!

To start with, Thursday last week I photographed two gallery shows, and brought home more items from MCBA to photograph in my light box. I love my photo job at MCBA! Though I admit, this week the photos I have to process are stacking up on my computer! On the plus side, I am really enjoying my new camera, and am quite close to selling my old camera equipment.

Friday, I worked a double shift at my day job, ran a few errands in between, then headed back to MCBA to photograph an event. John and I met up with a couple of friends after that. I crashed when we got home.

Saturday we were up early to clean for a showing at our condo, then off to learn how to play Mahjong with a couple John knew from a previous job. We had a ton of fun, and I am now obsessed with the game and determined to teach more friends to play!

Saturday night I buckled down and finally got a draft written for a residency application that is due by the end of this week. John was very sweet and read it over for me. I will be working on the final edits tonight, and turning it in tomorrow. I am excited and so very nervous all at the same time!

Sunday was a long working-the-day-job day, but we did close a bit early due to the snow. Did I mention there was snow??!!

(I was playing around with camera apps on my phone while I was at work yesterday. The snow was so pretty!!)

It was nice to be home a bit early. We stayed up way too late watching Downton Abbey and The West Wing. I did get a lot of book page layouts done while we were doing that, and I am now ready to print the rest of the book pages for this series. This will help immensely this week – I have an appointment to see the eye doctor on Thursday morning, and I know I won’t be able to focus on any fine-detail photo work for awhile after that…but I can print!

Of course the thought of going to the eye doctor brings up all sorts of things for me to worry about such as wondering how much my prescription sunglasses will cost this time, and my increasing self-consciousness about wearing glasses and all sorts of things like that, but hey! One day at a time here.

Today is Monday, there is work to be done, and an application to finish, a blanket of fresh snow on the ground, and no time to worry about things I can’t change today!

Making books…

January 23, 2013 by Jes

Living, breathing, reading, making, thinking about, planning, designing, printing, binding books.

Also known as: what I have been thinking about lately….

On cameras and lenses and working

January 17, 2013 by Jes

Last Thursday was amazing. I now actually have a grasp on what I am creating for this show, how everything will be placed, hung up, and displayed. It is an amazing feeling to have those plans and to know where this show is going and a bit about how it will look. I wish I could explain all that to you…I wish you could see what is in my mind right now…I think it will be cool!

Over the weekend I received the new camera and lens I had ordered. This is a switch! My new camera is not a Canon, a brand I have made photos with for 14 years. My new camera is a Sony.

So why the switch? Essentially, I really like the technology Sony is offering and the price they are offering it at. Many friends of mine (ok, two in particular) keep saying that photography is changing. I believe them, and not just because of the fact they have taught college level photography for a long time but because it is true, to a point. Photography will always be about the images and what they tell no matter if the photo is made digitally, or with film or any combination thereof. But there is a huge technology aspect that is changing it. In the digital world, the brands that have made cameras the longest are not necessarily the strongest anymore. It is a different ball game. It will be interesting to see where this all goes, and I hope to talk about it a bit more here in the future. In the mean time, back to this little camera. One other reason that made me switch is that Sony is paired with Carl Zeiss and has a series of Carl Zeiss lenses. Those of you who know me and know my work know that I have made photos with a Hasselblad for a long time now (12 years to be exact) and Carl Zeiss is known for making Hasselblad’s lenses. They are amazing, top notch….they make awesome glass period. I trust these lenses. They aren’t cheap, and I honestly don’t know that I will afford more than one main one for quite awhile, but I do know they will be worth the money I pay for them, without searching through forums and reviews online. And that is what pushed me over the edge to get this.

Now, due to unfortunately cold weather, and my Mr. FN being sick, I haven’t made it out to play with this camera much. But, I did make it out at dusk last night for a short walk to see what I could do. It will take some getting used to! But I am especially happy with this one.

Now I’m off to write and create and do all the things I need to be doing today. Today I am printing out a preliminary set of pages for another set of books to be displayed with this show. This set of pages will help me figure out how to make the letterpress work that will go with them possible. I will also hopefully start working on a set of new, tiny images, and the letterpress layers that may go with them.

Until next time!

Caution: brain working

January 10, 2013 by Jes

It is another studio day here today, and my brain has been working at high speed since early this morning. The ideas are coming together for my upcoming show at MCBA, and I am trying to run with it while they are there!

*head down, back to work*

For now, one more instant photo from last weekend’s drive:

Another studio day and new attitudes

January 8, 2013 by Jes

Yes, I have another studio day today, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. After realizing that my upcoming show carries a bit more pressure with it (good pressure really!), I need to focus this new found nervous energy and get started! I honestly planned a much longer blog post for today, but never mind. That will have to wait! On to my studio!

First though, a bit about the weekend:

Friday during a short photo walk I found that my Sx-70 was on the fritz. Not knowing if it was just a few bad film packs, or the camera itself, I took out my little Sx70 One Step box cam for the weekend to test the film packs again. I headed out with Mr. FN to North Branch to find new jeans at the outlet mall, and a few deserted country roads to drive on. There were many stops for photo opportunities! Happily, all of the film packs worked, and upon arriving home and fiddling with my beloved folding Sx-70 a bit more, it started working. In fact, it now works better than it has since before I dropped it in Hawai’i! Amazing!

One of the many photos from our drive. I love being out in the middle of no where, out side of the city, and seeing these power lines run through the landscape and disappear into the distance. I can’t explain it, but I love this. I have a few more photos like this, but they will be posted later.

Also, ‘List it Tuesday’ is back! Check out Artsyville’s blog and participate! My list will be up later this week – promise :)

And if you have found my little blog from Lynn’s wonderful post, welcome! I am excited that I helped inspire her to try a 365 project! You can find me on Flickr as well – I’m Jes Lee Photos. And my latest 365 project is on Flickr as well right here!

And with that, I am off! Until next time!