Postcard Exchange Round 14 Results and Feedback ...

[drpsilver]

22 July 2008

Received three cards so far this week. A photography of a novel bathroom design form Mick Fagan. Must have been and interesting project to build. (Wonder what the inside looks like.) BDial's card is nicely printed. The composition keep the viewer finding new things within the image. The card from kraker is simple and elegant. Reminds me of an Andy Goldworthy sculpture.

Thanks to all.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[PVia]

BDial's Beacon Hill - Railing came yesterday. I wonder what it looked like before the crop?

Crispinuk's "Path" - nice tones in that Delta 100

rst's Paris bicycles is very rich. I like the foreground darkness, but the tones are separated very nicely. I keep coming back to this one.

Buster 6x6's "Tools" - nice clean print with great highlights.

LSly's "SnowDrops" - great still life and wonderful print.

Peter Schrager's "Bahamas" makes me wonder what's inside ;-)

Mark Fisher's "Door and Hinge" has great textures and nice toning. I've been meaning to try thio-toning.

Black Dog's portrait is sweet and also makes me wonder about the position of the subject and the photographer.

Rob Skeoch has a nice print of the waterfalls with beautiful detail and print quality.

Mick Fagan's "Water Tank Privy" is hmmm...interesting...

Anke's salt print is amazing...and even more amazing that an alt-contact print was sent out. Thanks for this beautiful piece and all your hard work!

erikg's "End of the Road" is one of those moments you're happy to see and connect with.

Randy Libersky's "Bleeding Hearts" is beautiful and mysterious...and the fact that's it's on Azo has me jazzed!

That's it for now...thanks for all your comments on my "Contrabassist"!

I've been experimenting with an old box of Kodabromide postcard paper. If I find the right image for it, maybe I'll use it for the next exchange...

 

[kraker]

The card from kraker is simple and elegant. Reminds me of an Andy Goldworthy sculpture.

Woohoo, the first confirmed delivery, 4 nights to travel across the globe; not bad!

 

[Mick Fagan]

I think I had better make something a bit clearer to the people who reside in the North American Continent.

My picture is of a bathroom, not a toilet.

If it was a toilet, it would be quite a large one. One that you could swing a cat around in, as we are wont to say.

Maybe I'll print a dunny (toilet) for the next round!

I've seen and used a few humdingers over the years. The best ones don't have doors, they are usually the ones that can claim, quite rightly, that they are, "A Room With a View".

I have this book, which is illuminating, interesting and a good pictorial read. I have visited a few of the dunnies in this book over the last 21 years I have owned it, to both photograph and use them.

http://www.oztion.com.au/buy/auction.aspx?itemid=1562574

Mick.

 

[mooseontheloose]

This past week has been a bit of dry-spell for me but I finally received two new postcards -- Mick Fagan's bathroom and Peter Schrager's Bahamas. They make an interesting contrast having received them together -- from the smooth look of corrugated metal and concrete blocks to the utter chaos of the building in ruins among all the vegetation. Good work!

 

[Buster6X6]

After a slow down last week I received three post cards today.

Mick Fagan's ad on bathroom with wonderful tonality and sharpness.

Grains & Pebbles from Jacco de Kraker Very interesting still, I like how the white lines on the rocks and up in a circle on the last rock , and grain of the pavement at the bottom disappears into gray on the top. Well done.

BDial's " Beacon Hill-Railing". Great composition and DOF. I like it.

Thanks Jacco on the comments for my entry in this round.
Cheers Greg

 

[kraker]

Grains & Pebbles from Jacco de Kraker Very interesting still, I like how the white lines on the rocks and up in a circle on the last rock , and grain of the pavement at the bottom disappears into gray on the top. Well done.

Thanks Jacco on the comments for my entry in this round.

Thanks Greg, and you're welcome. Small correction, in the hope it doesn't spoil the picture: what may look like pavement is all sand & beach (hence the "grains & pebbles" ).

 

[Tim Gray]

2 more today. mikeg's wonderful flower shot almost looks like a negative. And crispinuk's shot of the trees looks fractal. Amazingly sharp. Is the horseman 980 a 4x5 camera?

 

[Buster6X6]

First I thought it was sand but few black spots at the top of the image made me change my mind that it was pavement. Thank you for clarifying that. Very interesting image never the less.

Greg

 

[ozphoto]

Another card arrived today after a very slow week.
crispinuk's great picture of the Australian wilderness.

So, the cards that have reached me down here in Australia so far reads:
crispinuk
mark fisher
rob skeoch
erikg
mick fagan
blackdog
anke drewitz
lillian sly
warren hiner
darwin
david bram
akki14
rudiger
raechelle
buster6x6
peter schrager

Thanks everyone for another wonderful round!

 

[rst]

Two more cards arrived: crispinuks old trees, full of fine detail, very nice and, very different from that Barrys "Beacon Hill-Railing". I like these kind of minimalistic images, thanks for this. I will be visiting Boston in August and then I try to find this railing

ciao
-- Ruediger

 

[Tim Gray]

I was fooling around in the darkroom while printing my cards. Here's a picture I took with only the safelight - think of it as a preview of the cards...

 

[crispinuk]

Right on cue Tim Gray's card arrived today. Made me laugh (been there, done that )
Tim's card has proved that this exchange has been everything I'd hoped with a range of cards from fine art to fun.
When the stack gets to 30 I'll sit down and summarise each one I've recieved.

Crispin
P.S. thanks for the comments so far on mine. I wasn't too sure whether to go for gloss or satin finish. I think in general the satin looks nicer but the gloss has a slight edge in showing fine detail which seems to have worked for my pic.

 

[gr82bart]

Hi Folks,

Just to be different again, everyone should be getting a Polaroid 600 'postcard' this week or next. Went in the mail today, so cross your fingers all of them will get through to their respective destinations.

Regards, Art.

 

[gr82bart]

OK, another bunch of postcards.

• Randy's 1957 AZO of bleeding hearts is unique - which I like a lot.
• Barry's railing is wonderful image - very nice.
• The pebbles on the sand by Jacco is amazing - I really, love this image.
• A nice -x-ray like image of a clematis from MikeG.
• The tangled trees of Otway National Park in Australia from Crispin.
• Tim's BBQ in flames image is hilarious.
• I was actually disappointed Mick's bathroom image wasn't his darkroom - now that would have been kewl.
• Rob sent a beautiful waterfall postcard.
• I love Anke's salted paper print postcard of lime trees.
• Ritchie's two monkeys made me smile.
• That's a dog, Eric? I thought it was a horse! It's a gorgeous image.
• Terry sent a peek into rural Payette, Idaho.
• I like Paul's almost clandestine orchestra pit image of a contrabassist. What the heck is a contrabassist?
• I had a sneak peek of Peter's Bahama image and loved it instantly. Actually reminded me of many of the images I captured on Maui. Except Peter's is much better printed.
• I love Jake's perspective.
• Adrian's huge postcard arrived slightly dinged, but the strong landscape scene overwhelmed the post offices attempt to ruin this postcard.

Fantastic postcards again, people. Thank you all so much. Keep them coming.

Regards, Art.

 

[Buster6X6]

I got two more cards yesterday.
A beautiful image with a lot of detail and contrast from crispinuk What a nice film and developer choice.Glossy paper make it nice and crisp
mikeg's amazingly airy looking Clemantis.Beautiful.

Greg

 

[MattKing]

Well mine went off today. Hope the post office(s) is/are kind.

I was able to find some of the Karsh stamps, but not enough in the "International" denomination for all the cards. My apologies to those who receive the "flower" stamps instead.

Oh, and for those who like a preview, here is a snap of the postcards, plus a few others, drying.

I bet you didn't know that Whirlpool made an RC print dryer?

Matt

 

[Síle]

Hi everyone,

I've been having trouble with my neg It's not quite behaving the way I want it too, but I'm still working on it and haven't given up all hope just yet! I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm aiming to have the prints arrive in a letterbox near you before the end of the month..

In the meantime.. Mikeg I love the clematis, one of my favourite flowers. Jacco the pebbles are just beautiful and I love how they're arranged.. Crispin wow what a woods.. I would love to wander through there.. Bdial beautiful tones in your railing.. either that shine is through years of wear and tear, or someone lovingly polishes it regularly! Mick I love it! It's sort of like Dalek headquarters.. really great shot. And finally Tims shot of July 4th I just love the expression on Toms face, been there done that.. scorched the t-shirt! Great shot.

Thanks again everyone, and thanks for the patience in advance!

 

[crispinuk]

I've had an uncommonly good day at work and came home to two more great cards from Jon King and Ozphoto, so I've spent the evening going through all the cards recieved so far and listed them in no particular order below:

Jon King's “Appalachian Cove”: I love the tone of the sky in this print, did you use a filter or was the sky very blue ?
Ozphoto's “Dentist Chair”: Fantastic lighting in this one, in camera or skillfully dodged and burned ?
Tim Gray's Barby : already commented on this one. Still makes me laugh though.
Ruediger's Bicycles: Three of the bikes look identically marked, are they the hop on hop off type found in many enlightened European cities ? And yes, I am really enjoying the exchange.
Rob Skeoch's “Sherman Falls”: A beautiful shot of my favourite shape of waterfall. Luckily all the day glow bar codes got printed on the back of this one, unluckily Canada Post printed several lines of their website address across the front instead:rolleyes:.
Black Dog's “Secret Life of Shadows”: interesting abstract. Minimalist yet very detailed.
Mick Fagan's “Bathroom”: Lovely graduated tones in the curved corrugations of the walls.
Mikeg's “Clematis”: Monochrome flowers look beautiful too.
Pvia's “Contabassist” : I can almost hear the music in this one. I think the softness of the long exposure somehow enhances the thoughts of bass tones.
Rwyoung's “Hobo duckies” : One of my favourites
Anke Drewitz's “Lime tree blossom” : A hand crafted salt print postcard, how cool is that !
Mark Fisher's Doorway : Now that's what I call biting sharp texture, and the toning complements it perfectly.
Buster6x6's “tools”: Another fantastically sharp textured image, maybe it's the Hassleblad factor ?
Eric Mac's “Dog in the fog” : A slightly surreal feel to this one.
Johnny Walker's “Dakota” : A great portrait of a happy dog.
Tslid's hay stacker and shack : A great environmental portrait.
David b's “Flea Market” : A well spotted subject.
Wazza's “big top” : A excellent abstract.
Mooseontheloose's “the organ” : full of atmosphere and almost lith like.
Erikg's “end of the road”: I have to admit that being from the other side of the pond I needed a bit of a prod to get the joke, but now I do it's a good one.
Drpsilver's “jug in a cabinet” : Still life or architectural study ? Great either way.
Sly's “snow drops”: A wonderful image.
Kraker's “grain and pebbles” : lovely composition and printed so that the pebbles really glow.
Adrian D's “Llangollen” and Mike Wilde's “Canada day” : To me these two are incredibly similar yet at the same time miles apart in time and space.
Cara's high key statue : Interesting border, did you use a filed out neg carrier or a mask on the paper ?
Akki14's “squid” : So that's where Ridley Scott got the idea from. If you're ever in Portsmouth visit the Natural History Museum (by the canoe lake on the seafront), it has (or last time I was there it did) an excellent re-creation of a Victorian 'cabinet or curiosities' with lots of pickled things in jars.
Peter Schrager's Bahamas shack : I'm impressed you've managed to keep some detail in the interior shadows in what must have been very bright sun light.

I can't believe there's still more on the way !

Thanks all,
Crispin

 

[ozphoto]

Hi Crispin,
No it's all in camera.
I wanted to do a photo essay on our no longer used old Gaol (finished in the late 60s). My aim was to shoot all of it handheld and exactly as I saw it.
I took a couple of variations of this one, but felt the shine on the chair leather in this one was the best.
Glad you like it.

Cheers,
Nanette

 

[kraker]

Thanks all for your kind words about my card. It's a great stimulation to read that people actually like it.

Cards received since my last update:
Tim's 4th of July snapshot, love the expression, a great photo too. Reminds me that one should also bring a camera when spending time with friends / family. It's not all about "fine art something something".
Mike's Clematis, very well executed, if you ask me. Difficult subject, but the greys come out great.
Jonathan King (errr... the one with the RF645): really a stunning, beautiful picture. Sharp lines, great contrast, just... great. Ah, and great camera of course (says he who also owns one... ).

Oh, and I received my own card as well. A bit mangled by the post, to keep next to the original unmailed one. I'm getting an fellow APUGer over for a visit & some beer this evening, I'll just put my card in the stack, curious to see if he'll recognise it as mine. Curious to see also what he thinks of the ones received so far. Always nice to share some thoughts on that...

 

[Akki14]

I have received ozphoto's dentist chair which scares me because I don't like dentists and that one looks a bit run down... but looks like fresh boxes of disposible materials on the shelf suggesting it's still in use! Pretty paper too.
I've also recieved:
Tim Gray's card which makes me giggle.
A mysterious polaroid of what looks to be someone's pantry. I'm going to take a wild guess that this is Art's?
Jon King's big tree and little trees. Have I started a trend for putting the title on the front now?
and jbannow's multimedia card. So cool

 

[Mark Fisher]

Just received ozphoto's dentist chair card. Reminded me of Steve Martin in "Little Shop of Horrors". It was also a nicely done image

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Finished mailing all of my cards last night.

I tried something a bit different this time ... I recorded 3d audio on location while shooting. You can listen to the audio by downloading the file here - http://www.jeffbannow.com/files.html. It's the 2nd file down - right click and choose save as to download it.

You need to wear headphones if you want to hear the 3d effect. Sorry for the rough sound quality. I need a better windscreen for my mics.

 

[Jon King]

Have I started a trend for putting the title on the front now?

Akki, I do hope you consider imitation(or hopefully inspiration) to be the most sincere form of flattery! That is the name of that particular bonsai composition - I thought the best place to put it's title was on front