blansky
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My take on the conference was perhaps different than most people here, in that, I had to spend a lot of time going around apologizing to all the people Ive offended over the last few years. As one can imagine this took me most of the first two days. According to some of the organizers they invisioned me as a 5 foot 6 inch jerk with a Napoleon complex and were somewhat surprised that I was 64(although they noted I was still a jerk).
The venue was great, the Elevator Gallery and lab is a perfect facility for this kind of thing but personally I would not make it an annual event there. In the first place, its too much work and too disruptive for Bob Carnie, Kevin and their staff. I would suggest every other year at the most. I would also suggest we have it somewhere else on the off years, like western US, or even Europe. But keep in mind that anywhere else is going to be a tough act to follow because there needs to be meeting rooms, gallery space and a large lab available, and that combination is probably not easy to find or set up.
I didnt get to meet and spend as much time with people as I would have liked partly because I brought my wife with me, since it was her birthday and I didnt want to leave her at home alone with our son/daughter Nancy, and partly because I had sittings on Sunday, and had to leave at 4 on Saturday.
The people I did meet were all great and a lot of fun. Robert (roteague) and I had a brief fling, but because of the prohibitive travel, he in Hawaii and me fucked up in Wine Country, well just have to leave it as, two ships passing in the night.
BW girl and I had a few laughs, generally at other peoples expense and I got to meet Cheryl Jacobs, the other portrait type that hangs around on APUG. It was also gr82meet Art.
Les McLean was a blast, and we had a few laughs but unfortunately we didnt get to drink together so our relationship didnt blossom as fully as it could have.
Bob Carnie is a hard working class act as is Kevin. John Callow and Bob, along with Eric Rose and his hot wife Erna (I honestly don't know what she sees in him), seemed to be working all the time and looking after all the endless needs of the instructors and answering hundreds of questions per hour. Sainthood cannot be far behind.
I also got the meet the Godfather, Sean. Hes also a class act although something of a chatterbox. Once you got him started, he talked and talked and talked for probably 8 or 9 words. You could hardly shut him up. Of course there was the language barrier thing, but all in all though I thought his English was very good.
Tim Rudman was great to talk to and Id have loved to attend his program as well as Les McLeans. Unfortunately, I was not permitted into any darkroom areas, and the only reason I was given was that it was for my own safety. Go figure.
My program was pretty well attended and I hope that people got something out of it. Its fairly difficult to cram what took me 10 years to learn into 4 hours of a workshop. Since Im not the fastest film in the camera, I probably could have taught everything I know in say, 5 hours. Anyway, I hope they left knowing what Rembrandt, loop, butterfly, catchlight, closer equals softer, 5 angles of the face, broad vs short, and tilt means. I also hope they email their work so I can see their progress.
In closing I just like to say that it was great meeting everyone, and I that in the future, it wont be necessary for you to assign Dinesh to me for my protection. And if I insult anyone in the near future, just remember that blansky and Michael McBlane are not necessarily the same person.
Michael
The venue was great, the Elevator Gallery and lab is a perfect facility for this kind of thing but personally I would not make it an annual event there. In the first place, its too much work and too disruptive for Bob Carnie, Kevin and their staff. I would suggest every other year at the most. I would also suggest we have it somewhere else on the off years, like western US, or even Europe. But keep in mind that anywhere else is going to be a tough act to follow because there needs to be meeting rooms, gallery space and a large lab available, and that combination is probably not easy to find or set up.
I didnt get to meet and spend as much time with people as I would have liked partly because I brought my wife with me, since it was her birthday and I didnt want to leave her at home alone with our son/daughter Nancy, and partly because I had sittings on Sunday, and had to leave at 4 on Saturday.
The people I did meet were all great and a lot of fun. Robert (roteague) and I had a brief fling, but because of the prohibitive travel, he in Hawaii and me fucked up in Wine Country, well just have to leave it as, two ships passing in the night.
BW girl and I had a few laughs, generally at other peoples expense and I got to meet Cheryl Jacobs, the other portrait type that hangs around on APUG. It was also gr82meet Art.
Les McLean was a blast, and we had a few laughs but unfortunately we didnt get to drink together so our relationship didnt blossom as fully as it could have.
Bob Carnie is a hard working class act as is Kevin. John Callow and Bob, along with Eric Rose and his hot wife Erna (I honestly don't know what she sees in him), seemed to be working all the time and looking after all the endless needs of the instructors and answering hundreds of questions per hour. Sainthood cannot be far behind.
I also got the meet the Godfather, Sean. Hes also a class act although something of a chatterbox. Once you got him started, he talked and talked and talked for probably 8 or 9 words. You could hardly shut him up. Of course there was the language barrier thing, but all in all though I thought his English was very good.
Tim Rudman was great to talk to and Id have loved to attend his program as well as Les McLeans. Unfortunately, I was not permitted into any darkroom areas, and the only reason I was given was that it was for my own safety. Go figure.
My program was pretty well attended and I hope that people got something out of it. Its fairly difficult to cram what took me 10 years to learn into 4 hours of a workshop. Since Im not the fastest film in the camera, I probably could have taught everything I know in say, 5 hours. Anyway, I hope they left knowing what Rembrandt, loop, butterfly, catchlight, closer equals softer, 5 angles of the face, broad vs short, and tilt means. I also hope they email their work so I can see their progress.
In closing I just like to say that it was great meeting everyone, and I that in the future, it wont be necessary for you to assign Dinesh to me for my protection. And if I insult anyone in the near future, just remember that blansky and Michael McBlane are not necessarily the same person.
Michael
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