I have some catching up to do since I didn’t post last week’s images. I keep falling short on shooting, printing and posting. It is a challenge to balance everything and there are times I ask myself why I am doing this. Just when I think I’m nuts to invest the time and energy in the 3 Prints Project I seem to have an epiphany. It’s too long to go into detail but I had another revelation. I see a path leading somewhere important so I will keep shooting.

My friend Gordon and I met at Saint’s Cafe this morning to look at the week’s work. Each time he hands me his contact sheets and prints I know I am in for a visual treat.

Gordon purchased a new (to him) Rolleiflex camera and had a test roll of film to show me. These waist-level cameras are amazing little machines once you get used to them. I left wanting one myself. For some years in the 1970s I used one of them a lot.

After some prodding Gordon has embarked on a series of “happy” pictures of his family. It sounds simple and easy but I know myself that I tend to be attracted to more emotionally intense images of people and for some reason reject the happy ones as cliche. Or something. I probably need to do this myself.

On to the pictures.

I continue to shoot near home. I have put aside any beliefs that I must seek out new or exotic locations. I find the familiar surroundings I travel through every day hold rich stories if I can pay attention. I walk past this willow tree almost every morning and it always seems a little different. I’ll keep making pictures of it until I don’t see something new. And then probably some more.

Our garden provides frequent subject matter — during dog walks or morning explorations. As spring time progresses the place changes almost constantly.

I try and keep the Leica M6 handy for moments where the light changes for an instant like it did on this morning when sunlight streamed through a fog for a few moments.

More illuminated fog. The small rangefinder camera serves to make sketches and allows me to practice. A person wrote on a forum recently that compares what I am doing to a musician practicing scales. I am exercising my eye and my technique in preparation for a performance.

I like the metaphor.

This past week I have been shooting with the Mamiya 7 rangefinder camera. This shoots a larger negative and is a bit slower in operation. I’ve not warmed to the camera but there is an elegance to the prints made from the bigger negative.

I am fascinated by trees. I am another tree photographer. If I am diligent I can work up to rocks in streams.

Another Sunday morning meeting with my friend Gordon at Saints Cafe in State College to review the work from the previous week. It’s nice to get together and talk with another photographer over a hot drink and a bagel.

I’m posting prints from the previous two weeks because I didn’t get around to it last week. Not finding enough time to print beyond quick work prints and that’s frustrating. For anyone who has worked seriously with gelatin silver materials you know how challenging it can be to achieve the nuanced values that make a print sing. Hopefully I will find a few extra hours this week to explore a bit further.

This week also found me returning to chemicals manufactured by Eastman Kodak — Dektol for prints and D-76 for film. I’ve used those for over 35 years. Some things just don’t need any improvement I guess.

So here are the pictures:

I’ve started walking in the morning before work and the camera comes along. It’s quite dark at 6am but long exposures make it possible to create an image.

Another morning, a bit later as the sun crests the horizon.

Essa is a regular model in my photographs. She is not comfortable with the camera. She probably doesn’t know what I am doing but she is wary of the camera.

As I often do with people I make photographs from behind. There is a lot of expression taking place from this angle.

Another stolen moment. Kim taking notes on something she’s found in an architectural book.

Essa on a Saturday morning walk. At nearly 16 she keeps on going.

One of the advantages of hanging out with other photographers is they often make pictures of you. I know a lot of people don’t like to look at themselves or feel it’s vain, but I am fascinated at how I change. I could get lost in a self-portrait process if I let myself. Changes in body shape, receding hair, graying hair, creases and wrinkles. I have watched myself turn into my father in pictures. I see the natural process at work. The photograph below was taken by Gordon Harkins after one of our meetings at Saints.

That’s me, the old guy. And not a Vespa in sight.

On Sunday morning Gordon Harkins and I shared our 3 Prints Project work at Saint’s Café. I arrived with contact sheets from two new rolls of film and three gelatin silver prints. Gordon surprised me with 24 small prints of the work he plans to include in the Blurb book we’re working on that portraits the first year of work. His photographs are quiet, complex reflections of how he sees the world. In my opinion.

My first print this week was made during a walk with my dog. As she approaches her 16th birthday the image has an uneasy feeling for me.

The photograph of the house was made in Lewistown, Pennsylvania as I waited for my youngest daughter at the train station. A woman emerged from the house with baleful looks for the camera and me. In character I sheepishly put the camera down and missed the best shot.

Kim was paging through books at Barnes and Noble. I still enjoy photographing her but I have lost speed in responding to subjects. I have trouble tripping the shutter fast enough.  Often by the time I am ready the moments have passed.

Despite not writing a word about this since April 2008 the project has continued. This evening I was processing film in the darkroom. Back in November photography ground to a halt as my friend Gordon and I began to edit our images and put together a Blurb book. For me that’s a difficult process and one I go to great lengths to avoid. I’m finally wrapping up work on the 24 or so images that will appear in the book reflecting my experience with the project.

It’s good to be back in the darkroom processing film. This evening it was two rolls of 35mm Ilford HP5 processed in ZonalPro film developer. A heady affair with a new Nikon D700 digital SLR camera keep my Leica M6 in the camera bag for a long time but now we’re back together, the Leica my primary creative sketching tool. The D700 is an amazing tool and can do things I did not think possible. But after the glow of newness faded I found it cold, empty, and without the magic I feel shooting, processing film and making prints in a darkroom.

Darkrooms are cozy places and maybe sometime I’ll try and make a picture that depicts that feeling. But even with the lights on a see a lot of comforting things around. And once the lights go down, the sound of water running, and some soft music, well, it is a great place to work.