Hello from the DC suburbs!

[Joan Arkham]

Hello from the DC suburbs! I’ve been shooting film, on and off, since I was a kid…I remember my first Kodak 110 in elementary school, followed up with several point-and-shoot 35mms. I started printing in 1994 when I took my first darkroom class as part of my journalism degree. (I think we were the last class with a darkroom requirement! I also learned how to splice reel-to-reel tape…) I borrowed a Pentax K-1000 for the class, and bought my own a few months later.


After graduation I put it down for a few years, then picked it back up again by taking a Smithsonian Associates course and then some community classes through the county (sadly, none remain). Once the community classes dried up, I decided to try setting up my own darkroom…I managed to buy an almost complete setup via Craigslist from a pro who was going digital. I’ve got a Beseler 23II-XL Dichro, although I’ve never done any color printing. In fact, it was trouble removing the lensboard from the enlarger that led me to APUG. I've already learned a lot about the mechanics, but I know there's a lot more I need to know.


A few years ago, I started getting into toy cameras and I’ve found they’re a good way to have fun without psyching myself out about everything being “perfect.” Last spring, I took a course on alternative printing. We mainly did cyanotypes and Van Dyke browns, but I also got to play with a pinhole camera for the first time and I’m thinking that’s the next thing I’m going to try to work on at home.

I’ve been through a few phases where I’ve just let things sit for a few years, but I’m back into shooting and printing again (I also scan my own negatives to share online, but rarely bother with digital prints) and I’m trying to keep up my momentum. I take a lot of travel and architectural photos, with cemetery monuments being a favorite subject.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and thanks for everything I’ve already learned from the community. I have a feeling I’m mostly going to be asking questions, but maybe at some point I’ll be able to answer some too.

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan_arkham/

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Hello Joan and welcome to APUG. I hope you enjoy being here!

Jeff

 

[BrianShaw]

Hello. Welcom to APUG.

 

[Chazzy]

Welcome to APUG, Joan.

 

[eddie]

Welcome from Alexandria.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Hi Joan -- nice intro! Good to have you here.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Hiya Joan and welcome from a neighbor. You should check out what's going on at Photoworks Glen Echo - I teach out there, and we're doing a whole bunch of alternative process stuff in addition to the regular film and digital classes. I'm sure you'll enjoy APUG!

 

[M.A.Longmore]

.
Welcome Home Joan !

Ron
.

 

[arpinum]

welcome from Fairfax.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Welcome from Tavistock, UK!
I spent a couple of weeks in DC back in 1987 and really enjoyed it - so many things to do and see. My introduction to the place the day after I arrived was to go and see the Kevin Costner film 'No Way Out', which is set there and had just been released. It was quite an education - instead of an over-priced miniscule tub of ice cream that we'd have in a British cinema we did it the American way with a bucket of popcorn and a vat of Coke!
Steve

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Steve- you may have had some awareness of this from having been here in DC and seen the movie, but by and large movies that take place in DC are often not shot in DC and at best have a distorted sense of DC geography, if not are outright fabrications. Sometimes Baltimore is used for a stand-in, but I was recently watching an episode of the 2005 tv series "Prison Break" and they had a scene where the street names were correct (although 11th Street NW does NOT in fact intersect with Constitution Avenue) but there are no commercial office buildings at that location, in fact at the purported address, there's a federal agency and one of the Smithsonian museums. The actual scene was shot in Chicago, where the rest of the series takes place, and the producers forgot to change the phone number on the payphone, which still had a Chicago area code on it (Chicago is 312 - Washington DC is 202). More recently, in State Of Play with Russell Crowe, they used the front of a federal agency which has these bizarre alien-spaceship sculptures-cum-lighting fixtures out front as a substitute for the main city hospital. Otherwise they were relatively faithful to city geography. But it brings to mind the line from Austin Powers, "You know what's remarkable? Is how much England looks in no way like Southern California".

 

[EASmithV]

Hello from Rockville!

 

[SuzanneR]

Welcome from a former resident of the DC burbs, but now in New England. You've found the right place for your film photography!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG

 

[Joan Arkham]

Thanks, everyone! I've had my eye on those Photoworks classes for some time (and I've been reading the Photo Artist blog) but the timing just hasn't worked out for me yet.

Seems like there's a decent DC contingent here...I'll be sure to check the regional forum to see if there are any local classes or meetups.

 

[fotch]

Hello Joan and welcome to APUG.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Steve- you may have had some awareness of this from having been here in DC and seen the movie, but by and large movies that take place in DC are often not shot in DC and at best have a distorted sense of DC geography, if not are outright fabrications. Sometimes Baltimore is used for a stand-in, ".

Hmm. That's interesting. Is there a particular reason why they might choose not to shoot in DC? Perhaps permission to film isn't too forthcoming because of the large number of federal and governmental activities that take place there. I really liked it (though the heat and humidity took a bit of getting used to). When I went up the monument it was pointed out that the colour of the stone changes part way up because of the US civil war interrupting the construction. Apparently when construction resumed after the war the stone was sourced from a different quarry. That slight change in stone colour was even faithfully portrayed in an episode of The Simpsons!
Steve

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'm sure some of it is national security BS. But that would generally only apply to the governmental core of the city, not the rest of the residential and commercial parts. I think that unlike some other major cities (New York, San Francisco, even Baltimore!), DC either lacks a Motion Picture Commission or they don't have their act together. I don't remember the name of the film, but oh perhaps 15-20 years ago there was a movie that took place in DC and had a chase scene on the DC Metro. Metro wouldn't let them film in the subway so they had to use the Baltimore subway as a stand-in. I think the excuse at the time was that Metro didn't want to depict crime happening on the system (at that point in time it was in fact one of the cleanest, safest systems anywhere). Since then, they've changed their mind, and in State of Play (mentioned above) they actually do have several scenes that take place on Metro and actually show the DC Metro system (although they filmed in stations that were not the ones alleged to be in use - that's a practical thing, as the one they used is a much bigger station with a bigger platform that made it easier to film).