crunchy's Xanga

Monday, November 09, 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:50:24 GMT

A pinch of Fall...

The digital camera (SLR) came out to play today!

Fall color in Ramsey Canyon.....

About 7 deer grazed within 5-10 feet in front of us. It was magical.

..and two turkeys, too!

We struck it rich with color.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT

The Pinhole Camera
a practical how-to manual for making pinhole cameras and images
by Brian J. Krummel

A thorough resource for anyone wanting to explore pinhole photography at any level!

Brian takes you from the intrigue of these images through all the information you need to make your own camera, (either homemade, or modifying a camera) selecting photographic materials, how to set up a darkroom, and the featuring of many pinhole photographers and their work. You can explore and order the book here, at thepinholecamera.com.

and........

Check out the blog at The Pinhole Camera website, where Brian is featuring a different pinhole photographer each week. The "Take 5" interview asks each photographer the same 5 questions. Each new feature comes out on Friday.

This week, The Pinhole Camera features......me!!! My Take 5 interview is here on the Pinhole Camera blog.

paint can pinhole camera, 21-sec exposure, paper negative (plus digital embellishments)

Texas Canyon is in Cochise County,Arizona, between Benson and Willcox. It is a magical place of giant granite boulders and hoodoo formations. I always look out for Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner to come tearing around the corner while there. The famous Chiricahua Apache, Cochise, made his last stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains near here in the 1870s. The Butterfield Overland stage came through here also, till the Civil War.

We were in Texas Canyon last weekend, and I climbed up on a hillside (carefully..and looking out for rattlesnakes as I went) and made this image with the paint can pinhole camera. Yesterday I added a digital sky and sepia toning in photoshop.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Friday, November 06, 2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:19:55 GMT

Attention Everyone! Stand back...Punkin Chunkin 2009 starts today! (Nov 6th)

punkinchunkin.com

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:35:25 GMT

Someone Once Told Me..... (a self-portrait)

"Don't burn your bridges"

paint can pinhole camera, 1-minute exposure, paper negative, developed in dektol

someoneoncetoldme.com

Disney made some great movies back in the day....we were fascinated with this one:

Monday, November 02, 2009

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:19:53 GMT

Someone Once Told me......
a great photo project!

someoneoncetoldme.com

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:54:24 GMT

All Hallow's Eve...

pumpkin pinhole camera (II) f.579, 1.5 minute exp, paper negative, developed in homebrewed Caffenol C

Willcox Historic Cemetery, Willcox, Az. The tall headstone is of a three-year-old girl who died in 1896. I hope she had a happy life out there in the wild, harsh desert back in very unsettling times, and hope that she didn't suffer so much.

It was truly fulfilling to photograph with another pumpkin camera, and then develop it in coffee. It was a very thin paper negative, partly I'm guessing because the image was underexposed when made. I pulled it out of the developer after 10 minutes, when the negative began to darken faster than the image was developing. So quite a bit of digital darkening and contrast was added i photoshop to pull the image out.

It was high noon on a very bright cloudless Halloween day when this image was made. That's what I love about pinhole...seeing an image in "a different light". (-:

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:01:35 GMT

Happy Booloween!

I was lying on the couch last night, marveling at the spookiness of the reflection of our lit pumpkin on the ceiling. So tonight I took a photo. It's touched up a bit in photoshop, (the spiky pulling upwards of the orange reflection) and was fun to do with the wind howling outside.

There is a tree branch reaching over the pumpkin, with plastic skeletons hanging from the branches. I love how the branches played out in the reflection!

Speaking of howling....Daughter sang this haunting wailing tune for a Halloween stop motion project the kids are doing. Effects were added with the open source Audacity audio and recording program:

Happy Booloween!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:02:37 GMT

A giant cosmic hole in the ground on Route 66...in pinhole

You see the darndest things along Route 66! It was fun to capture them on "retro" film, with the darndest camera. (Holga pinhole)

We visited Meteor Crater 35 miles east of Flagstaff, Az- the bus-sized meteor plunged into the ground there 50,000 years ago:

The fam. (I had a gorilla tripod, so I wrapped it around the handrail)

The Apollo astronauts practiced their moonwalks and studied the geology at Meteor Crater- here is their test capsule.

Okay- the last "Standing On The Corner" image- this one with the Holga pinhole.

Route 66 in Flagstaff Az. In front of you is the historic train station built in the early 1900s. Mars Hill and the Lowell Observatory is just beyond on the horizon. If you look closely at the street, you can see the motion of passing cars- as this was a 4-second exposure. This image was developed in homebrewed coffee developer.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:08:27 GMT

Pinhole snapshots.....
Who would think one could take quick pinhole shapshots on a family trip????? Thanks to the Holga pinhole camera, this trippy concept is a reality!

*for twelve shots are at my disposal at a time

*since the camera uses film, exposures are about 4 seconds or less

*no 120 film? No problem! With a couple pieces of foam, ever-common 35mm film can be wedged in the film carrier, and used instead, with some nifty results.

Here are some pinhole snapshots from our Northern Az trip....

The ghost town of Two Guns, along Historic Route 66, between Flagstaff and Winslow........

Blue Ridge Reservoir , north of Payson

15 minutes of our breakfast (one 15-minute-long exposure) at Brandy's Restaurant in Flagstaff...

The Historic Freight Depot (late 1800s) in Flagstaff

Historic Train Depot of Flagstaff, with train speeding by...

More next time.....

(all of these photos were developed in coffee)

Have a spooky week!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:33:04 GMT

Snapshots......
I was feeling well enough yesterday to process the 3 rolls of black and white film from our northern Az trip. We had a whole cooler bag full of cameras on this trip! One of our favorites to use was the vintage 1953 Brownie. It was so pleasingly nostalgic to gather everyone around whatever landmark of the moment, and pull out the Brownie, and click the shutter on "cheese!".

We brought the Brownie with the flipped lens. (while refurbishing the Brownies, I turned the lens backwards in one of them, for some cool distortions) Here are some nostalgic holiday road snapshots....

Here's that famous corner in Winslow again......

Meteor Crater......

Can't get enough of the corner....

Someone told Husband that the statue is actually of Jackson Browne, who wrote Take It Easy with Glenn Frey.

More snapshots with the Holga pinhole camera next time.....

Take it easy!!!!!