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NE OH Gathering: September: 30, October 1-2, 2011


Good for you Lee. I'm certainly an advocate of further education. Does this mean you need space to shoot inside? If so can you describe the requirements so I can shovel some stuff to the side and make room. In the past I have done macro work in the part of the basement outside the darkroom, near the washer and drier, set up lights and stands. Will this be enough space for you? Any other requirements beside electricity. I hope you will think about doing a demo, explaining your thoughts on lighting, bring some samples of your work if you have made some prints, etc.

Thanks,

John
 
Hay John.
I am excited about this class. You probably do not need to clear anything out of the way, I have AC powered studio strobes, and we might try some at night, but we might also try some battery powered strobes with slaves... I'll see what I can drum up. Wish we had some 4x5 Polaroid, but I have heard that is what they invented digital cameras for is to replace Polaroids test sheets for prepping large format work. Well that is what my prof said.
 
daleeman said:
Hay John.
I am excited about this class. You probably do not need to clear anything out of the way, I have AC powered studio strobes, and we might try some at night, but we might also try some battery powered strobes with slaves... .
Click to expand...

Lee,

Enjoy the class.

Okay on not needing to set up in the basement. To help you plan your options here are the outlets available outside. The garage has been rewired recently with three circuits and many outlets. Just don’t blow the freezer and forget to tell us to reset. The patio on the pond side will accept one plug. It looks like a double, but the second one is a gfi. That may not be a good spot. The deck running along the SW side of the house has four outlets on two circuits. The street side has no outlets and lots of poison ivy. Not a good place to wander in the dark.

Remember that some local attendees go home before or just after dinner and will not be here when it is dark.

John
 

Hi John, never knew there was a deck on the side of the house, or maybe I saw it from my evil eye and it did not register.

In doing some portraits that qualify for this class all/major light should be from artificial sources. So if things get close to dusk without being in dinner's way We could do some strobes. Certainy do not want to get in the way of supper time, I'll be thrown into the pond.

Lee
 
Lee,

I don’t know about your evil eye. The deck is roughly 41 feet long and varies from 6 to 10 feet wide. Stairs to ground level and a bay window cause the variations. The outlets are 15 feet apart. We have several 50 and 100 foot medium use extension cords. What is the electrical load on the lights?

You don't want to be thrown in the pond. Savannah and Cindy will spend all night dragging you out and encouraging your wife to throw you back.

Sunset today is 7:28 PM, long after we usually go to dinner. The basement can be dark all day. Dolly usually does her laundry on the weekend and might need to walk by to the washer and dryer once or twice.

Probably this is as good a time as any to remind guests that the 11x13 foot darkroom is available during hours that I am awake to load film holders or for camera emergencies.

John
 
In post 37 I mention a Civil War exhibit we might visit at the Canton Art Museum if we have rain. Today I learned about a photography exhibit at Akron Univ. That exhibit would be on a direct route to the Canton one.

My favorite professor curates this show. Here is the promo piece.

September 12 - October 22, 2011
Photo Fictions:
Staged, Constructed, and Altered Images
Exhibition Curator: Penny Rakoff_

Photographers have always understood that photographs
possess intrinsic authenticity in the mind of the viewer.
Contemporary artists, seizing upon this phenomenon, take
delight in creating their own realities. Manipulation of the
image can occur at many stages, from constructing or directing
the scene, whether taken in the landscape or in the studio, to
technical manipulation on the computer or in the darkroom.
This work is diverse in style, ranges from monumental to small
scale and incorporates various processes.

The photographs in this exhibit come primarily from the
Northeast Ohio collections of Fred and Laura Bidwell and John
C. Williams. Additional works are from the collections of Mark
Soppeland and Barbara Tannenbaum, The Akron Art Museum,
William S. Lipscomb, and from artists Carl Toth, Mary Jo Toles,
and Barry Underwood.

(Note: the Bidwells have a huge modern collection and have built a photographic wing on the new Akron Art Museum. Barbara Tannenbaum has just left the Akron Art Museum after 27 year to become the Photography curator for the Cleveland Museum of Art.)

Photographers
Thomas Allen
Julie Blackmon
Christopher Bucklow
Kelli Connell
Denis Darzacq
Adam Fuss
Lynn Geesaman
Simen Johan
Doug Keyes
Laura Letinsky
Loretta Lux
Lori Nix
Luis Gonzalez Palma
Deb Pinter
Angelika Rinnhofer
Allison Rossiter
Cindy Sherman
Lauren Simonutti
Sandy Skoglund
Amy Stein
Ruth Thorne-Thomsen
Mary Jo Toles
Carl Toth
Barry Underwood
William Wegman
Kehinde Wiley

Emily Davis Gallery
Myers School of Art
(330) 972-6030
www.uakron.edu/art
150 E. Exchange Street
Akron, OH 44325
 
It looks like I will be able to make it to this gathering. My sister will be visiting aged relative that week & end ...

I do have a 12 week-old puppy that won't like being left alone for several days, though, so I will have to bring him with me. He's socialized and sociable, and house trained.
 
Nick,

Glad to read you are coming.
Lets formally introduce the Girls to the puppy this time outside the house and hope it goes better than last time. I think the Girls felt threatened seeing your dog inside while they were outside. But then one is never sure what is going on in their heads.

John
 
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We have a new opportunity this event. You have heard me talk about and seen some of my prints of the amazing, living history museum in the neighborhood. Several of you have asked if we could all shoot there. The owner has agreed. He would appreciate copies of some of your images later on. He enjoys documenting the place and learning how others see his collection.

Here is how he describes his project. “Richfield Ohio’s Jim Fry has created The Museum of Western Reserve Farms and Equipment, dedicated to preserving the tools, equipment, skills and way of life lived by Ohioans in the 1800s. Mr. Fry, a farmer, historian, and artist, has collected 44 buildings including what may be the largest surviving early blacksmith shop in Ohio, the oldest barn in the state, the Stouffer farm smokehouse, and one of the largest surviving post and beam barns in Summit County. The farm is constantly evolving as animals, tools, buildings, machines, in various states of preservation are added or combined into exhibits.”

Jim’s 48 acre museum is about two miles from our house. We can have the place pretty much to ourselves Saturday or we can join Richfield’s History Society’s tour Sunday. Some times observing other’s reactions to a place is as interesting as the place.

John
 
John,

I haven't forgotten about you!! I am still trying to swing the trip if I am able. I have been busy trying to finish everything I need to shoot wet plate. Been trying to get there before the weather turns and forces me to figure out lighting for inside winter. Oh yeah and not spend any more money!!

Just finished the last thing this week, my dark box. Just have to get a few water jugs to handle the rinse and waste issues... Not sure if I will have a way to be relatively portable with it yet though.

So,....if I can make it, Any room for wet plate shooters? Coffee wielding, wet plate shooters?
 
Charlie,

You are most welcome. If you can finish the gear fine, but if not, fine. That is a self imposed goal. We are happy to have you come with or with out wet plate or coffee. The person is important, not the pieces-parts.

John
 
This would be a very exciting Saturday for us. Tell us more.

 
daleeman said:
This would be a very exciting Saturday for us. Tell us more.
Click to expand...

Lee,

Here is the rest of my Artist statement for the twenty pictures I made in my spring 2011 course.

“Mr. Fry has graciously allowed me to photograph the museum, documenting with a large format camera, a tool of that time, what is there, while looking for the unusual, the out of place, the abstract, beautiful juxtapositions, formalism and transition. The large 8x10 negatives produce unexpected detail. Controlled perspective and small apertures allow for deep depth of field. This work continues my series on the aging and entropy of man-made structures in north east Ohio. In my former career I was forever trying to be on the cutting edge, selling the latest software technology. Now in my retirement I enjoy time travel to the mechanical engineering of one hundred and fifty years ago.”

Jim Fry has laid out the museum as a village. Each building in the village is a business taken from its time and furnished with objects serving that purpose in that era. From memory these are: Pewter and Tinsmith, Slaughter House, Smoke House, Wagon and Wheel Repair Shop, Sawmill, Post Office, Library, Weaver, Printer, Machine Repair Shop. There are several more buildings that I have not yet explored.

The barns and fields are crammed with rusting farm equipment showing 100 years of evolution and entropy. He breeds rare birds and animals. There are sheep, goats, turkeys, cattle, chickens, hogs that are different from modern ones in ways that I have not pursued with him. He and his wife have several organic gardens. Yesterday they were laying out 100+ pumpkins to sell. They had staged a traditional setting with a split rail fence, corn stalks, an Amish buggy and a horse drawn planter. You can buy fresh farm eggs or chickens to butcher and cook in your tents or motels if you like.

Friday night I will show the twenty images again from last spring and some new ones I have made recently, so you can have one person’s view of what is there. The point though is that each one of us will see it in very different ways.

Jim’s is a very generous offer. I trust you will show the respect for his property and efforts that you have shown for our home. I know it will be a while before you will have prints, but he will be very grateful if you will send some of your results later in the season. If he is happy, shooting here could be very enjoyable for us for years to come.

John
 
winger said:
Since I'm thinking of doing a day trip on Sat, that living museum would be really cool.
Click to expand...

Beth,

I will PM directions from our house so you can join us when you arrive. You may want to find and introduce yourself to Jim’s wife. She had a baby in June and has what I think is about a two year old daughter. As I understand it she is try to introduce them to traditional ways of farm life. I am really not certain what that means to a young mother.

John
 
I should mention that Jim has very strong political views. Yesterday while I was filming pumpkins Rush Limbaugh was blaring out of a radio set up so Jim could hear him while working on a project. Dolly's brother Wes is in his own words a flaming liberal, in mine, more flaming than liberal. Jim and Wes used to be friends. Please take that as a warning not to rock the boat. I hope to be welcome there for several years.

John
 

Cool! Thanks! It sounds like a very interesting place.
 
That sounds great, John! Now I have another excuse to load up some 8x10 holders!

Mike
 
Mike,

Is that a round about way of saying the chances of your coming have improved? If so Great. Glad to have you.

John
 
A week from the event it looks like 21 people will be attending. If you are lurking and would like to come, please do. PM me your contact information, your emergency contact information and whether you will be camping or not. Lurkers are welcome. I will send directions when I receive your information.

John
 
John -

This sounds great, I can't wait. I have cleared more of my schedule and hope to be there the whole weekend this time. Also, the nearby living history museum sounds very interesting and will definitely be an incentive to bring the 4x5.

see you in a week.

Jeff
 
I've gotten the day off (my network admin won't be leaving us quite yet,) so yes, I'm definitely coming. Staying at a motel, again. I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Mike
 
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