The medium is the message

... or something like that.

I certainly think signs are super interesting to look at even when I am not absorbing what it is they are trying to convey to me. 

There are so many signs visible at this corner that I almost don't know where to look; no matter, it's the greater whole that draws me in. 

I have a show next month Urban Eats Cafe in south St. Louis on Meramec Street.  Have you been?  They have drinks called boozies.  That's smoothies + booze.  What more could you need to know? 

Back to the show:  It's called "Sign Language".  I will have photos of signs.  All kinds.  Little, big.  Metal, neon.  Maybe even paper.  Man, there will be some materials that I haven't even mentioned yet, I'll bet.  You don't want to miss this!

I don't know if this photo will be in the show yet.  You'll have to come see.  The show is going to be full of all kinds of crazy surprises like that.

A few details are here.  More to follow, I'm sure.

back to life for black and white

I loved my old camera.  I took some of my favorite photos with it.  It did well with closeups, and its black and white setting was just so nice (neither are qualities shared with my current camera, even though it does other things very nicely.) 

It began having troubles a couple of years ago and only worked sporadically.  The viewfinder kept going out and that just wouldn't do.  So I replaced it with the new guy and have rarely had occasion to pick it up since then. 

Yesterday I was looking at the light as it came in the window and the way it was gently highlighting the plants above my bed and I wanted to capture it so I tried to fire up the old camera because it seemed like a shot that was perfect for it -- something that needed a little close-up detail, and that I was envisioning in black and white. 

At first the camera didn't work but I tried different batteries and jostling this and tugging on that and it finally kicked into gear and took the photo above.  I am happy to have it revived; it's like an old friend I've been missing.

Out and about

I've not been so great about taking pictures for some time but I'm making an effort to do it even when I think I don't have time or don't have any ideas, etc.  After I do it, I'm always glad I did.

Last weekend I went out to take some photos for an upcoming show at Urban Eats Cafe*.  The first show will be mostly pictures of signs, so this is more of an outtake than something I'll use, but it just seemed to south St. Louis to me and also felt like pictures I used to take a couple of years ago and I sort of miss those pictures and anyway....





*I'll be participating in the April-June rotation

radishes!

Originally uploaded by Hilary (curioush)

A few weeks ago, in my kitchen.

I've been taking more photos lately, after a several-month period of not taking many. Got quite a backlog to go through now.

Doctors Without Borders benefit at the Sheldon

 

Tomorrow evening, Tuesday, February 9, 2010, St. Louis Musicians for Haiti will put on a benefit concert at the beautiful and acoustically perfect Sheldon Concert Hall.  

The bad news is that the show is sold-out -- no more tickets available.  The good news is that the show is sold-out -- more money going to support Doctors Without Borders.  The other good news is that the show will be televised on HEC-TV at 7:30 p.m.; it will also be shown on the HEC-TV web site.

Aside from the ticket sales' proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders, there will also be a silent auction of donated artwork.  A framed print of my photo Fresh, above, will be awaiting bids -- if you were lucky enough to score a ticket to the event, please show it (and, by extension, Doctors Without Borders) some love!

Strutting around like a peacock

If you see me strutting about town with this purse over my shoulder, stop and admire.

I have mentioned here before that more than photography, I love sewing.  I'm not the world's most gifted seamstress, but I don't let that deter me.  I keep on keeping on, although everything I try takes about six times longer than it should, and never quite works out just right in the end. 

But being able to make something practical, that I can use, is just such a thrill (I thrill easily, apparently). 

The purse above is from a pattern designed by Amy Butler, and the primary fabric is hers as well.  I've been wanting a huge purse that will fit my big old heavy camera when I want to have it on my person, and this one will fit the bill.  Maybe that means I'll take more photos, now that it's easier to carry my camera with me. 

Last weekend I finished this little lap quilt I made my aunt for her birthday.  She always feels cold so here's hoping it will warm her up a bit.  I sort of made the quilt's design up as I went along and might tweak a thing or two, but I think it's possible I'll return to the basic idea at some point in the future.  With the lessons learned and all that.

The value of using the good stuff

You know what's fun?  Making Polaroid transfers.  In a nutshell, it involves taking a photo (or copying another image) using Polaroid peel-apart film.  And then prematurely separating the negative and positive of the Polaroid and using the negative of the Polaroid film to transfer the image onto another surface.  Many people use watercolor paper as the transfer surface.

I'm enchanted with the process, but it takes a number of different steps and there are variables -- wet or dry paper, how warm to keep the paper while it's developing, how much time to allow the film to develop before separating it, etc.  I've experimented with a lot of different ways of doing things and it's always educational, even if I don't get something I like.

A few months ago I was out of watercolor paper, so I bought a different type of paper from what I had used previously.  It was sort of environmentally friendly paper, which was a plus.

So a few weeks ago I got out all my Polaroid-transfer-making equipment to make a batch of transfers and ack!  Everything I got was awful awful awful.  This made me a little sad because no matter what variables I experimented with, they all looked terrible.  Such as this guy:

Then I got a notice that a local art supply store was having a sale on Arches watercolor paper, which is sort of the gold standard of watercolor paper.  It's beautifully made and has been made beautifully for something ridiculous like 600 years and it's what I'd been using prior to my other watercolor paper experiment.

That's more like it.

To learn more about the Polaroid transfer process, check out this entry on AlternativePhotography.  Relatedly, see (terrific) local photographer Jane Linders's post about making Polaroid emulsion lifts here.

(For more Polaroid transfers, see Tiffany Teske's amazing work here.)