AI is Depressing

Lately….well….a few months…..I have been seeing an increasing number of AI images crop up on various spots, including ‘in-house’ local clubs etc. This is depressing. Let’s not confuse things here; AI isn’t photography but it is a form of visual representation. But AI is making it’s way into the mainstream and many will equate to an actual photograph. Or for that matter…..AI is becoming Video and AI is becoming paintings and any form of visual representation.

While technology itself isn’t depressing, for me…..what disturbs me is that the populace thinks of AI as a true photograph. They look at an AI painting and feel it is true human hands that made it. They look at a video or movie and feel that the person on the screen is a real person and that an actual human director is directing. This is depressing.

When will AI be coupled with 3D and begin to produce AI created sculptures? When will AI be able to create ‘any’ artistic arm? Soon…..all too soon. And the vast populace who barely hang on with mental acuity as it is will accept this technology as that created by human endeavors and hands and eyes. This is sad.

This almost makes me stop with my photography and take a break. Will AI make me leave photography all-told? It might….. It might also make the painter quit painting and those who work with clay or bronze or just about any medium. AI hits at something that is intangible as it strikes away at what makes us human. Inside….really inside of me, I know I created this photograph. It should just stop there and as the artist, I should be content with my work as I created it. And I am….. but increasingly as other forces come into existence, what those do and what the populace views them as, will chip away at who I am as an artist. That is sad. That is depressing.

For now…..I continue. I load up my film and off I am. But I do notice I am not as avid in my pursuit. I leave you with two from yesterday, shot on my Olympus OM2sp plus 400 Fomapan.

Wrapping Up

2025…another year….they seem to roam along like a coyote crossing a road. Upon first observation or knowledge, while neat, they soon slink back into some anonymous mode and out of sight.. They seem to skulk into the shadows and life moves on. Somewhat like a new year….sure, 2024 is gone and now 2025…..So upon first thought, you say….wow, what a fast year it was last year. And then you think that we are already well into January and it came and went without much notice. The year moves and much like the coyote, days past are just that, days past.

Where does that make my photography….well….it also moves along like a coyote caught in the headlights of my car. While I don’t try to make new year resolutions as ‘time itself’ is just a configuration that humans place upon our culture to live by, ….to plant crops by…to sleep at dark and wake in the morning etc…. the number itself to me is meaningless or the date. But it is a new year and looking back I found I am doing about the same thing this year as last (filing taxes too) regarding my photography. Last year and this year I used January as a time to sum up my prior year projects and push them into the home front and for me, that is in the fashion of a new zine.

Not just one Zine but three….all around 44, 48 & 52 pages. That is about as close as I will get to a new year’s resolution and it isn’t even that as I wrap up a few photo-projects and get my work out there.

The image below shows my recent initial order to MIXAM; my publishing company. These are certainly not large orders as I usually order a small batch and hand them out to people and if I get positive vibes, I can order more. Also, each one this year has a purpose.

For instance….the first zine is entitled 4 Evenings. These sepia photographs used a combination of film (Olympus Pen F and OM1) and Digital (Olympus OM D) where I captured an artists colony in Tucson AZ. I just wanted some odd shots which represent this warehouse/art colony. My intent is to return and with a second round (perhaps this year) capture stories of a few individual artists.

The second Zine is my Urban Lyfe Series 3. Shot in Philadelphia and all on film, I pulled from 70+ rolls shot in 2024 and all of it shot on film. These images reflect the third year in a row where I have taken my best urban shots and placed them into a zine. No doubt, there will be a Series 4 as I have a condo in center city within the heart of Philly, so I wander a lot while there. I am going to change my shot composition/emphasis just slightly this year.

The third Zine represents my ‘salt printing process’…..all of the photographs are from my work in the studio perfecting my salt printing technique. Dating back to the 1839 upon first introduction (185 years ago) I have gone a bit radical in my approach, but that is par for the course with me. I want to be different, not the same. All images have a slight sepia tonality and all were printing using various water colour papers plus a mixture of chemicals that I managed to dilute differently than others might, as well as placement in the sizing process of the paper. My studio has a UV light box, which makes this salt printing process have less variables.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

That brings my 2024 to a close and now for 2025. What might be on the horizon?

First….my overall emphasis regarding shooting composition is going to change. More to come as there is no reason to give away ‘the store’….

Second, I am going to attempt to capture individual artists at the Steinfeld Artist Warehouse in Tucson, AZ. Again, I will match what I do in my upcoming Philly zine in terms of creating a new shooting composition/ emphasis. This is a tag-on to my first zine of 2024 “Four Evenings’ as I described above. I love the idea of these very creative artists and to represent them in an equally unique and creative way.

Third….I would like to build up my knowledge of the 1930’s and the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and teach a course on this topic. As evident by below (By the way, is that a color photo? I shot color? What….no way man…I shoot black and white) , I am just starting and certainly have books to read and photographers to research individually. I have other books ‘on order’ so my reading this year is pretty photo-based. Sorry Tom Clancy. But I have a natural love for history and photographs. What better way to meet my love, than to combine the two and the decade of the 1930’s in America represents a time during the Great Depression where images shot by a cadre of photographers can’t be put aside and forgotten. These are simply too valuable.

Salt Printing Again

I am preparing for my winter ‘studio’ months….a time where I find I concentrate more on printing, experimentation, zine creation etc…. The summers and shoulder seasons are for ‘filming’….. So my trek back to my Tucson studio allows me to retool and rethink and of course to experiment.

To my Salt Printing process….. My studio has been transformed into a salt printing studio. It is not total ‘blackout’ so I can’t have an enlarger unless I deaden the light, but I did create my own UV light box which I have taken copious notes on, as well as the process…..if you read my page entitled Salt Printing.

This year I am experimenting with different forms of paper and I think overall paper size as well. I participated in a photography festival selling my zines and books in Philadelphia a few months ago and while there I talked to a young lady from Ithaca, New York (Christine Elfman) who was showing off some of her salt prints. I want to shift some of my future zines into that direction as I have pondered over it the past year or two but haven’t made the shift to actually do so. But her influence has me headed now.

So….paper….paper…which paper? I have used various papers from the ‘cheapo” from Walmart to Arches, to Fabriano, to Strathmore etc… Both Hot and Cold as well as homemade watercolor paper from Mexico. To each, well….to their own.

This year I am branching out the experimentation process hoping to really find one that just ‘hits me’ …although I am almost convinced the process of salt printing is so convoluted with multiple variables that it is pretty difficult for me to say that ‘it is the paper’ man….. No, it is all the other things!

But this year….two new papers. First one up is Hahnemuhle Hot Press, 100% cotton and acid free. I have a feeling it is going to come close to Arches but hey, that is okay….I love Arches and would use it daily but it does get expensive, especially when experimenting. But a professional paper and frankly, I am not saving any $’s over Arches!!!!

As stated…it is hot press so I am know I will get some texture. Perfect…. I want that and feel the textured nature of hot press sets it apart from just a regular photograph, let alone the salt printing ‘look and process’.

The second paper I am trying is printing paper and not water color paper. This will be Lenox cotton printing paper. The texture won’t be as fine since it is printing paper so that has me thinking just a bit. But if I look to soften up some of my prints and perhaps shift from a 6x9” size to a more square 5”x5” size, this paper should be just fine. It is worth a try as without experimentation; well….is there any real growth?

As a backup…and as long as I am in the spending/purchasing mode, I will most likely order some Revere 320 gsm platinum paper which again, is a high quality paper but not hot press, so more a smoother texture as in the Lenox. I believe my first try will be with the hot press Hahnemuhle.

Will see….more to purchase though as I need some more Pictorico and I see it is not in stock in all places I have checked. This means purchasing more in ‘bulk’ and working at cutting to fit. It does come out cheaper that way but I worry with this product; will it curl up on me? Not sure. Many rolled bulk tends to curl.

Either way…I just continue to experiment and grow. I envision that next year I will have my first ‘salt printing’ zine to show / sell. That is my goal. While I prefer to work within a thematic approach, I have a feeling that this first salt zine will not evolve around any one theme, rather….a printing approach.

So…what are your goals? What are you looking forward to do? We all need that, right?

The Back End of Things

The past few days in Philadelphia can be described as hot, sultry, humid…sticky with minor drops of perspiration. But I don’t fight it, as I just go with the flow. Out of the depths of this sultriness comes an opportunity to stay inside and work on what I label as just the back-end-of-things. This includes …. film developing and ‘orchestrating’ one of my upcoming zines.

I usually always have a roll or two to develop. Yet today I didn’t have two of the same film type as I prefer to develop several at the same time. So that left creating the beginnings of my new Zine. Using Affinity I ‘started’ by determining the layout and size for my zine based upon half-frame negatives. I needed the right size to properly project how the half-frame negatives of my Pen F will fit onto each page. Now, this zine project won’t be completed until early 2025 I imagine. You see, I have a couple of dates I need to ‘shoot’ to be included in this documentary zine regarding an open art studio event gallery. I still have Oct, Nov and maybe December to document. But today, I began looking at some footage from June.

‘Above”….. An interesting shot…and one I ‘like’…I enjoy the film look….the grain/noise and especially the extra mood added by shooting half-frame + 400 Fomapan. I love the end result. A candid shot of a lady digging thru her purse. Some art in the background….and her just sitting crossed-leg on a bench. Totally un-aware of being captured on a negative. This is one of several I took of her as I formed a small visual narrative of this ‘slice of life’.

Another shot….this one being more associated with a regular diptych. Again, candid shots documenting this same event. Notice the water mark from the film processing I did on the left image. I left it there. Sure, I can clean it up but why? Why not add character unique to my process to my images? This is what I mean by why I love film. Collectively and thru-out the entire process of capturing an image to that of developing or even printing an image just adds a bit of ‘me’ to each shot.

Tomorrow….should be cooler and not sultry and sticky and me being shamefully relegated to the indoors. Tomorrow has hopes of being out there, about….walking….’legwork’ from the beginning stages.

And You Don't See Me? Right?

Being a street photographer I am always amazed by how the vast majority of people have no idea of their surroundings. They are clueless… Are they Zombies? Are they Avatars from the future? ….Either way, they just lack any awareness of their physical presence and those around. These' ‘space cadets’ just walk around or stand or sit or look off in some direction and are pretty much there for a street photographers picking. Totally oblivious to that which surrounds them. For instance…take this couple below….:

There they are….about a foot away. Just staring. I am next to them and I have no idea of their names, where they are from….do they speak English? Are they Vegetarians? ….do they read books? Are they lovers? Do they prefer chocolate ice cream over vanilla? No idea….. But there they are, big as day.

Dah…take my shot…capture me. I am not posing in any way so a candid shot will turn out just fine….just fine. And yes, I did. I took their shot. In fact this is one of 4 shots I grabbed from them but I prefer this one as they are both looking ‘out’…..I like the closeness of it all. Just ‘Us”…hanging out…..far from good buddies.

Then on the other hand……

Key Notes

When I do these blogs….many times I do these for ‘myself’ as opposed for others. I use these blogs as one approach to note taking. What am I doing right or wrong or why isn’t something working etc.

For instance….I was working on a recent book/zone project where I was going thru some of my past images and attempting to make a narrative from them…a visual form of an essay. But it wasn’t working. I was telling Deb just this morning that ‘it isn’t working’….and then I proceeded to create a list of 5-6 things as to why it wasn’t working. Then I mulled around with it once more thinking I could make the project work and no, it didn’t. Then I mulled a bit more and finally it occurred to me why it wasn’t working. And yes, it goes back to the way I shoot, the look I want…what and how I shot yesterday compared to today etc….

This is what I came up with. In order for my images to work and my overall workflow to be successful I need to make sure I hit upon ‘my basics’…or the thing that motivates me. Not what I hear from You Tube or know from other great photographer, but from me. What do I require.

First….when I go out shooting….I go out with a purpose now. No longer just shooting but a purpose in mind. So that really curtails the number of shots I take (film usually but digital is okay). I have a purpose and I seek to find that within my images. That is essential as I enjoy putting together zines and books that represent the central theme.

Second….I want the following in my images. I want movement. But, what is movement? I had to define that. Movement to me can be actual movement as in someone walking or running. But movement can also be action within what that person is seen as doing or represented as doing. So…take a look at these two images below.

Is this movement in the traditional sense? No…but what action is being presented here is movement. It shows this lady who is reflecting upon an image and caught within two separate images, not quite mirror of each other since I stepped back and shot in a refocus. But, the movement or action here is represented in her ‘reflecting’ and wondering to herself about this painting. Movement. Now take a look at the second image below.

This one is shot from behind the person as they walk down a narrow alley. Traditionally this might be thought of as movement but not in my eyes. The act of moving is caught by having his head turn back to me and look at me. That is movement. He is responding…acting….reflecting on ‘what I am doing’ as I take a shot of his movement. That is movement

In goes on and on….as to what qualifies but it has to have my definition of movement. A question that comes up after the fact about the image just taken.

Third…I want visual impact. If I take a nano-second to look at an image…does it create an impact within the viewer that stirs them? Does it make them go Wow?…If not….I don’t have a good picture. This impact can be done in several ways but many times, if not all it is accomplished by the shadows, light….and most of all geometry of the two as they play against each other. Okay, take a look below. What do you see initially? Do you like it?

Look at this one time and do so quickly. Like it or not? I think you will. Then look at it more thoroughly. Look at the shadows below…the harsh light above as it masks whatever he is pointing to (movement) on the table as the other guy looks on wondering (movement). Look at the angle of the table….the pole above the shoulders of the waiter etc… All off center. Angles….angles…. together with shadows and light. A great visual image from the start.

So….that is what I finally came down to today. What works…what doesn’t and why and why isn’t my current project not working? Because it lacks all three components to a degree. Theme, movement and impact.

Redirection to Salt Printing

My last blog spoke of ‘re-direction….’ and someone questioned the image I connected to that blog. But wait….hear me out. My intent of over-exposing an image related to my ‘intent of my inten’t, or….what am I going to do with that image that is over-exposed slightly.

My intent….? to create an image, high in contrast….so I could have an image that is in the acceptable category for the salt printing process. Salt printing needs ‘high contrast’ images to work with. If I had a regular exposed image, the salt printed final product image would appear dark and under-exposed. In fact, it is the skin tones I need to worry most about. If not ‘white or light gray’ the skin becomes lost in the background. It is best in the salt printing process to have slight over-exposure, knowing that the image isn’t being created for detail and sharpness. Hence, I can get away with a bit of over-exposure to bring out a high contrast end product.

High Contrast is critical when I work with Salt Printing. And, as I now find myself in the middle of the salt printing process (but working with a different image), I have to admit, it is a process. Not difficult by any means….but, one does have to pay attention to small detail. Again, not rocket science but little things such as totally dry images or paper coated with silver nitrate. Detail pertains to correctly burning or dodging where needed. Or detail implies selecting the right medium to being with. Do you use a wet inverted transparency film or a dry inverted print on regular paper? Is it emulsion to emulsion? If you do a wet transparency film, you can go for emulsion to emulsion while a dry print is the opposite. How does one spread the silver nitrate without created dots under the UV light? How to feather the edges? How to know when to take out of the UV light? 6 minutes? 8? ….9 or 10? ….

You see….salt printing while simple by nature, is far from simple. Just having the right paper is one thing….the right chemicals, the right image etc…. is not ‘IT”….. for “IT” also is in the detail. Below is a photo I took with my 35mm and 400 Fomapan. It was shot inside a building with just a hint of light shining on this ‘candid’ subject. I like the way this print turned out although the funny thing is the sepia still shows. I have another print of this where it is more ‘brown’…. I haven’t figured out why yet.

The second image below has been inverted so it becomes a negative. I will take this negative and use it in the salt printing process.

journaling

I like project photography….as evident by a few blogs uploaded. To compliment that I want to addressing the concept of ‘journaling’… It is a simple process but one that adds to your overall result.

In life….we meander, don’t we? Today we do ‘this’, yesterday we did ‘that’….two weeks or a month or 6 months ago we did ‘this and that’…. It all adds up, but usually our ‘this’s and that’s ‘ run together and we forget what we did. Like a snake crawling in the grass, we meander, we eventually get someplace but in the process we fail to record in images alone; the big picture.

That is where journaling comes into play. I started to journal about my photography 8-9 years ago when I was leading a group of birders into the jungles of Ecuador to bird. I journaled where we were, what Tom saw, or how Pete tripped on a log etc . Since that adventure, and not so soon after, I began the journaling process for my street photography.

So what is in the box? I journal about the mechanics, the light….what I captured and where. I journal about my thoughts and what worked or what I needed to return to. I journal about my reflections too. For you see, since I enjoy social documentary and I couple it with photo-projects, my journals become one element to the finished product. I carry around a small notebook and make a point to record the day. When my images come to life, not only do they speak to the event recorded on the negative but the journal adds a new dimension to how that shot was taken and why.

I enjoy it….