Friday, December 23, 2011

Sunshine in a Bottle



Here, I'll tell you a secret,
There is no sunshine in a bottle, 
but 
the dim rooms of winter can often allow you 
to bend the rules a bit. 

Those dawns are hard to forget, too,
the sun streaking in, 
last nights cigarette still clinging to your throat and lungs,
starting the day with a cough that ends in a retch.

I wish I had a better tale for Christmas, 
but here it is. 
Look elsewhere.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Cuyahoga Valley National Park



Cuyahoga Valley National park is one of the only reasons that I stay in Ohio. Aside from the metro parks there is not much nature to see, other than driving through endless farmland, which, on the interstate, is more boring than suicide. So, there's some great parks to get into in Ohio, if you're willing to close in on the cities to get it done. 
The black and white in this set represents kodak plus-x in wd2d for 6 min, and then we have some expired velvia 50 for fun. 








Monday, December 19, 2011

Sand Run Metro Park

Sand Run was a good experience. Located near Akron, Ohio, it is located around a large reservoir, and filled with stately trees and streams. Here is a sample of what I found, shot on some 10 year old velvia 50. I really like this film. It scans well, and the expiration adds some interesting character to the shots, I think.  







Saturday, December 17, 2011

Erosion




The water spills and I cannot erode in its time.
Merely flesh, merely mind
The unsorted conundrum of self, heart, sanity, health
lie in quiet, white sheets on the floor,
barely giving a nod to the reckless nature that created them;
barely noticing.

Today I watch the water wear away the stone,
sensing a time beyond this
listening to the speech of erosion.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Dirty Cleveland







The Dirty Cleveland:
 is synonymous with the upper-decker where the perpetrator defecates in the upper portion of the toilet thus leaving the bathroom owner perplexed for weeks as he searches for the increasingly horrible smell.

The Butcher



The Butcher:
Steph and I were taking a sunday photo-drive, out to see the brownstones of Cleveland. We ran across this crazed butcher, ostensibly the owner and head butcher at Stockyard Meats. He chewed our ears about such topics as the downturn in the economy, the way the neighborhood used to be and back when the Cleveland Browns could whip anyone on the earth. He was extremely vibrant and animated...a real character.  If I still ate meat, I would purchase it from this man.  

Monday, September 26, 2011

A trip through the woods at Rocky River.










Not so terribly grand, I think. However, I haven't posted anything in some time, due to the time necessary to scan, re-scan, re-scan again, curse the newtonian rings, and then give up. However, I've purchased a negative carrier for the scanner, and now, it is much less painful to scan negatives, and faster, too. 
There was no time available for fuji Neopan Acros 100 pushed to 400 by my stupid metering, but I think that the t-max developer did this film some justice, even if my time was perhaps a bit long....Here's some film. 
I shot these in the Rocky River Basin about 5 miles from lake Erie using a Yashica A tlr. Fine Camera. 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ultrafine Extreme 400 Test Roll in Yashica-A

In my Search for a Cheap-ass film alternative to Kodak films that I fall in love with and then never get to use again because they are discontinued, I figured perhaps less might be more, so I went in with my friend Dehk and bought some Ultrafine. We both had pretty horrible experiences with the Ultrafine 100ISO films, but the 400ISO extreme emulsion is worth it. At 2.69$ a roll, it is very hard to complain about this solid film  Here are a few from a roll of 120 that I tested in a used Yashica-A that I've recently aquired. I developed at 20celcius for 4min 15 seconds in Acufine developer




Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Pinhead, I am through with you.

Some things are never meant to be
like
colored pencil portraits falling in love with a demon from hell.

They both end up looking rather upset,
though,
you'd think that the demon would somehow have the upper hand
however,
it's always going to be
the woman
who wins.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Photos are for the Road

I like to take photos while driving. I know that this notion has frightened some of you, but I do. Now, more often than not, I am a passenger, so it doesn't hurt that I am taking photos while moving.  There is a certain sacrifice that one makes when moving at 60 mph down the road, and at the same time attempting to capture a beautiful sunset, cloud formation, wildlife or what have you:  Things that are moving, look blurry.  Well, I like blurry, sometimes. Even when I was a small child, I used to look out of the window of my father's truck and focus and un-focus my eyes on the scenery passing by.  The fescue, barbed wire, or the gravel on the shoulder racing by in a grey blur.
I recently took a trip with Stephanie and Shannon back to the farm country where I was born. Here are some photos from the road.




 

Saturday, January 29, 2011

And NOW....

I've made it back to winter again.  Next year, the 'year in review' will go throughout the month of December and not the month of January. I'll have more sense.  January has been 'The month of the Camera", insofar as we in Ohio are concerned. Due to the generosity of 2 friends and Steph and I's industriousness, our camera collection has grown by 6 new cameras.  We added a Mamiya MSX 1000, an Olympus Om-1 and Om-2, a Mamiya 135 ee, and a Honeywell/Pentax Spotmatic.  All cameras are in functional shape and with a bit of TLC and lens cleaning, (fungus) they'll be back on-line.  Stephanie, too, has caught the 'film-bug' and has finally finished her first roll of film in several years.  Its always good to go back to analog products and do what first sparked your interest in any given craft or art.  Also, due to my friend Derek, I've developed my first roll of 'found film'.  Derek sent me a roll of kodacolor II film from 1974-1981 (approx) and I developed it in acufine developer.  It took a week's research to determine what times and temperatures to use, and I did find several individuals that helped along the way.  The film was 127 type, which is 43mm wide and contains 16 exposures. Kind of an 'in-between' film for 135 and 120, now discontinued utterly.  There were 2 exposures that had been saved on the roll, all the rest were solarized completely due to someone opening the back of the camera after the film had been exposed.

Here is the result of my research. I developed for 8 min @ 22c in acufine developer.
I would encourage anyone who reads this to send along any 'found films' that they might have lying about, and i'll see what can be done with them.  You can always reach me at josephdecker0@gmail.com if you'd like to send along some film, or have an orphan camera that needs a home.  Broken is best!  It gives me an opportunity to learn something. :)  Thanks for all the views and the lessons last year, I hope this year is just as good!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Saturday, January 22, 2011