NE OH Gathering: May 11-13, 2012

[jp80874]

will see you in time to go to the farm stuff museum.

Lee

Meet our house 9 AM

John

 

[Charlie Wheelihan]

0300 Charlie your my hero. Where will you go shoot first thing Sat, tell me where and when, I,d like to join you.

John, made it to the hotel (marriott, Montrose) will see you in time to go to the farm stuff museum.

Lee

Lee,

You are welcome to join me for sure, however I am NOT getting up at 0300 tomorrow! I will be meeting at John's at 0900 and probably do all my shooting at the farm museum starting around 0930.

 

[eclarke]

Made it to the hotel, going to Tremont for first light and will see you folks at 9A.M...Frank and Evan

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Now there is a twist. You talking sense to her???? So Sorry. Miss you both. All the more ice cream for us though.

John

I'm as surprised as you are.

Hope to see you all soon.

 

[Charlie Wheelihan]

Jeff, We are all heading to to Country Made in your honor.

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Jeff, We are all heading to to Country Made in your honor.

No fair!

 

[Charlie Wheelihan]

Well don't worry... We got there too late, they were closed.

 

[jp80874]

We can all go to the Country Maid Sunday after brunch. They open at 11 AM.
We will toss one down for the Gipper.

John

 

[jp80874]

One of the happiest moments of my 63 years of photography was to take twenty some Apug photographers from five states to a place where I have made 100 images in the last 1 ½ years. Then as they ranging from amateur to pro, 35mm to 11x14 format, spread out, finding the subjects I had found, I got to watch their faces light up, their excitement build and their mouths flap as they discovered what a wonderful source this was. I wandered from guest to guest reveling in their delight as they set up equipment and compositions, watched their friends do the same, and wonder if they could make this picture and get to the next before the beautiful light changed. Then I watched our host, the builder of this 1800s farm museum, fall in love with Charlie’s wet plate gear, completing the give and take circle of happiness.

If that were not enough for a wonderful day, two of my three Labradors took advantage of their freedom and the commotion of the party. They took a hike. Only the kindness of an unknown couple, two miles away, saved the day as they lured the girls in with biscuits, called the phone numbers on their collars and waited for the jailer’s wagon to bring the runaways home.

Thank you for this day.

John Powers

 

[Peter Spangenberg]

Thanks to John and Dolly for hosting another great event. I really enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting the new guests. Like John, I had a blast at the farm. Matt- sorry I had to cut out before the "mating", but I thought the demo was great as is your enthusiasm. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Lee L]

I'll add my thanks as well. It was great to catch up with the 'regulars' and to get to know the new folks who came. I really enjoyed seeing all the new work shown, Mat's demos, Charlie's wet plate setup, etc. John and Dolly deserve more thanks than we can offer for repeatedly giving us a venue to do all this.

Lee

 

[ic-racer]

John and Dolly, thanks for having the event. You attract a fantastic group of photographers.

 

[daleeman]

Best times ever. Thank you Dolly and John, you all are wonderful hosts
Lee

 

[Charlie Wheelihan]

I can't say enough what a great weekend I had. I have come to look so forward to these gatherings. It was great seeing everyone again and meeting new friends. Thanks John and Dolly for always welcoming us all into your home. I love seeing you and the girls, even though they got some unplanned exercise. Pleas say thanks again to Jim for welcoming us to his wonderful piece of photographic heaven. And thanks again Mat for your demonstrations they were great!!

 

[djkloss]

I had such a wonderful time. Meeting all the new people and seeing old friends. I didn't even screw up my film. Matt, I just developed the APX 25 you gave me and there is no fog! They look beautiful wet, I hope they print as well. I used Rodinal 1:50 for 10 minutes - interesting that it is the same for APX100. It's nice when things go the way they're supposed to. It's always good to see what others are doing as well.

What a fantastic weekend! Thank you so much John & Dolly and everyone else.

 

[eclarke]

Finally made it home! It was great to see everybody again and I'd like to thank Dolly and John for their hospitality. Frank and I found a lot of wonderful things in Cleveland, the farm was excellent and we even found a couple things on 303 to photograph as we were leaving Richfield this morning. Hope to see you again soon....

 

[rbender]

John and Dolly thanks for hosting a great weekend. Thanks to all for a warm welcome to the group. I look forward to the next get together and seeing all that was produced at the farm.

 

[mjs]

I *knew* I would regret not abandoning my son to his birthday, my daughter to her college commencement and my wife and mother to Mother's Day. *Sigh*
When Frank and Evan called as they passed Elkhart, wondering whether they should stop and pick me up, you don't know how close I came...

Sounds like everyone had a good time: congrats again John, Dolly & the blondes!

Mike

 

[htimsdj]

I too had a great time on Saturday. Thanks again, John and Dolly.

Each time I take fewer photographs because I enjoy the friendship more. I think I only took 7 or 8 pictures between the 4x5 and 35mm.

Looking forward to the next meetup and to seeing folks in between.

Jeff

 

[jp80874]

Thank you for all the positive comments. Dolly and I are so happy you enjoyed the event. We certainly did enjoy it and you. We would like to have another event end of July or early August. What can we do to make the next event better? Is there anything we are doing that needs improvement or elimination? Does anyone have some thing or process they would be willing to demonstrate? Does someone want a demonstration of something? Perhaps someone else could help put it on.

Please bring prints of our trip to the Fry’s farm. When you are printing, please make an extra copy for Jim Fry. I know it is a little extra trouble, but he has really made an interesting place and this is a small fee to pay if you are already making a print. I just gave him 43 prints of mine from the last six months. He is hoping to have an exhibition at some point and is very grateful for prints. He sees them more as documentation than fine art, but if it makes him happy we have free access.

Thanks for coming.

John & Dolly

 

[mat4226]

BIG thanks to John & Dolly for hosting yet another successful NE OH Meetup. Though a very long weekend, many good times were had. ^__^

Special thanks to Peter for bringing more beautiful vintage examples of alternative process prints. In combination with the demonstrations, they certainly highlight the finer aspects of each alt. process.

Thanks to Lee for bringing that Bessa R3-A with trigger winder. I'm now actively searching for a trigger wind camera. >__<)

[Edit]Oops, almost forgot to thank Nick for bringing his Darkroom Automation gear along and giving me the 5-minute course on calibrating my film and paper combination.

It was great seeing everyone this weekend, both friendly faces and new acquaintances. For those bringing along prints, thank you for your hard work and time, they were all a joy to look at. Looking forward to seeing some of you again very soon at Photostock 2012! Now off to develop the weekend's B&W work.

 

[jp80874]

What can we do to make the next event better? Is there anything we are doing that needs improvement or elimination? Does anyone have some thing or process they would be willing to demonstrate? Does someone want a demonstration of something? Perhaps someone else could help put it on.

“Perhaps someone else could help put it on.”

I received a question that told me I should clarify the above. I am not bowing out of running these gatherings. I love it. I am hoping that if someone wants a demo, that someone else will know how to do it and volunteer. I do B&W film, Pyro developer, silver or Vandyke printing. I do not feel capable of demoing Vandyke yet. To demo anything else we need a volunteer such as Peter’s platinum and Mat’s carbon demo.

John

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Many thanks again, John, for putting on a wonderful weekend.

And many thanks to all the people who came. I come to these events for the company more than for the opportunity of taking pictures. The best part of Fry's Farm was wandering around looking at the photographers, much more interesting to me than a century's worth of hay-rakes.

 

[daleeman]

“Perhaps someone else could help put it on.”

I received a question that told me I should clarify the above. I am not bowing out of running these gatherings. I love it. I am hoping that if someone wants a demo, that someone else will know how to do it and volunteer. I do B&W film, Pyro developer, silver or Vandyke printing. I do not feel capable of demoing Vandyke yet. To demo anything else we need a volunteer such as Peter’s platinum and Mat’s carbon demo.

John

John,

Depending on the time of year, I wonder if we could energize a younger new crop of photographers with demonstration on how to use our cameras. I do not know if a Boy or Girl Scout Troup, year round school, artist group or such might benefit from mentors in clasic camera use, but might be worth a thought or two. Photography is bigger than an iPhone, but that is all some may ever know with out a mentor who is willing to share their knoweledge.

Thank you and Dolly again for giving us all a common bond and blessing us with your hospitality.

 

[jp80874]

That is an interesting and generous thought Lee. However I know from personal experience that there are people within the 20 who attended that are struggling with how to use their equipment and processes. I was thinking that within our group we have people who have tried alternate processes and different styles of cameras. Dorothy and Dale have worked with Lith, but I fear for what the lith waste may do to the well water Dolly and I drink. So I ask again what demos can we incorporate that would be of interest?

Several of us are attending Photostock at the end of June. Perhaps there will be some ideas there. Then of course we have to find someone willing to come to one of our events who can do that.

John