BINGO!

I will always remember those words. My Mom used to be a Bingo nut. Playing at five different places each week, including the Elks Club that was across the street from our home in Pompton Lakes, NJ. These old ladies can be a rough crowd, especially when cheap drinks are involved. "Shake up your balls!" they'd yell at the old guy running the machine. Then, he'd stand up and slowly gyrate his pelvis – as best a senior citizen could do without putting himself in the hospital.

Anyway, growing up in the 1970s, once in a while, especially during the summer months when nothing was going on in "Mayberry", as my late mother-in-law called it, I would accompany my mother across the street on a Wednesday night. I can still smell the cigarettes!

After I moved to Arizona and met Randy Efros, I found this Bingo Hall a few blocks from his home in Phoenix. I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to photograph it. A few weeks ago I finally found the time on one of my Sunday morning surgical photo strikes. I started out with the 8x10" camera in black & white, then switched to the 4x5" camera and shot both color and black & white. I still have to develop the BW negatives, but I have the color.

As it is Mother's Day soon, these are for Mom!

Another Superior photograph...

... from my friend Tiffany Pacileo!

Taken on our recent trip to Miami, Tiffany was at the ready when I broke out my 11x14" camera for the first time. Thanks Tiffany!

Visit her websites at Paint My Vacation and City Sites Photo Art.

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning

I was driving around while my daughter was taking her painting class two weeks ago and I remembered that my mentor, Rod Klukas, had told me about a freshly painted building a few blocks away on McDowell Rd. near Rt. 51. I drove by and knew I had to make this image in color.

I went past it and turned around to see it from the other side of the street. I pulled in a parking lot and set the 4x5" camera up with a Fuji 450c lens which can bring me across the street with ease. This was a tough one to meter and I believe I metered for the magenta. Kind of reminds me of a rainbow.

Anyway, watch out sailors!

2 Years in the Making...

As Tom Petty said, "The Waiting is the hardest part."

I have wanted to take this photo for almost 2 years now. It is on the corner of 32nd St. and Oak St. in Phoenix. Usually, the sun is not right or too harsh and it washes the colors out. Or, they would have "Corona" Beer banners plastered all over it.

Two Saturdays ago everything was perfect. I was in the area because I took my daughter to her painting class. It was raining lightly. And there were no ugly banners in place. I drove by but it was raining into where I would have my lens pointing. So I drove around some more, got a cup of coffee, went to see Rod. An hour and a half later the rain stopped and it was still overcast. Perfect for color! I drove back, set up the 4x5" camera and made the exposure in less than 10 minutes.

I love this image... it has so many colors in it and they are all very strong. And the cow makes the image. I can't wait to see it printed large.

Joe Trevino: Without Distinction at ASU

I went to my friend Joe Trevino's MFA Thesis Exhibit at ASU last night. The exhibit is titled "Without Distinction".

This was my first venture into the world of academic art. I was expecting more of the typical deadpan photography so prevalent in the MFA crowd, but I was pleasantly surprised. Joe is not your typical MFA candidate. He has thought his project out and expended great amounts of time, energy, and resources. He also is sort of a hybrid, toeing the line between classical straight photography and what they call photography today. He uses an 8x10" view camera and shoots color transparencies, a rarity today. The transparencies are scanned and output to large format inkjet prints. I would guess the larger prints were at least 36x45", large but not so large that you have to walk to see the other end of the image. A nice size to view, for sure. The prints were flush mounted but not matted or framed.

Joe and I like to photograph some of the same things but he tends to concentrate of an even tighter view and distinguish the indistinguishable, that which is without distinction. There is an almost surreal quality to some of his work.

The exhibit was well conceived, well executed and well attended. I wish Joe much success in his future photographic career.

Portrait of an Artist...

Well, I finally got (I think) a good portrait for my LF class. My daughter is taking a continuing ed portrait painting class at her school on Saturdays, taught by her teacher, Michael Pesselato. I asked him if I could take his portrait for my class and he graciously agreed. Mr. Pesselato is an accomplished artist and art scholar. He is also a wonderful and dedicated teacher and has helped my daughter grow as an artist.

During his class I set up my 8x10" camera in the studio, found a composition and a place in that composition for Mr. Pesselato. The room was lit fairly well but not enough for large format portraiture. I don't like strobes and don't understand them so I prefer hot lights. They had a couple of old Smith Victor reflectors so I used them to add a little light to Mr. Pesselato. Even with that I had to shoot wide open (f/9 on my Fuji 300 Apo) at 1/8 of a second on TMax 400. Thankfully, Mr. Pesselato is not a "swayer" and stood perfectly still for two exposures.

My daughter just does not want me to photograph her... must be a "Dad" thing. So I asked one of the other students, a classmate of hers, if she would mind. At first she was hesitant but when I explained to her that I would be taking multiple portraits of her in the same frame she thought it would be cool. I composed an abstract kind of shot, having her face reflected in a mirror she was using as part of her self-portrait project. A photo of her is also in the image as well as part of her painting which is obscured by the back of her head. I think it's kind of cool. This one is on 4x5" Tri-X.

So, I have broken the ice on portraiture and think I would like to do it again.

Color Without Form...

I was out photographing a few Sundays ago and ended up at the Scottsdale Civic Plaza. There is this tree trunk in front of the brushed steel surface of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art that I wanted to photograph in black & white with the 8x10" camera. I made my exposure and then thought about how beautiful the Civic Plaza, or Mall as they call it, is. They have sculptures, fountains, grass and flower beds. In particular, pansies. I have loved pansies since I was a small child. My grandfather always grew the most beautiful pansies. Their colors are pure and strong.

So I went back to the car and switched cameras to the 4x5" and brought color film with me. I set up to try and do some close ups of the pansies. However, with the limited depth of field I was getting, and the gentle breeze that was making the flowers move, I became frustrated. Better to do these in the studio under controlled lighting. Then I took my glasses off for a minute to rub my eyes. Things were blurry as I was looking at the flower beds... but they looked beautiful. So, I went back to the camera and deliberately threw it way out of focus and started panning for compositions. I was amazed at how pure the colors are when you don't have to worry about form. I made one exposure to see how it would turn out.

It turned out rather nicely, I think, so I want to do a series in this style, printed very large on watercolor paper. I know people will say "All you did was blur it in Photoshop." Then I can show them the chrome and they can see for themselves. I really did look for the composition after I had de-focused on the ground glass. It is kind of gimmicky, which seems to be what curators, judges, and critics want these days (that's for another discussion)... who knows? And, as one day everything will look like this to me, why not get used to it now :^)