These are very uncertain times. Like many people I’ve been staying indoors as much as I possibly can and have been limiting my interactions with others to times when it is totally necessary. In some ways I’ve always thrived on self isolation, but it feels different when one is doing it not out of choice, but out of necessity. It puts a looming gray stormy cloud over everything.
I feel like I am far luckier than many people out there. I have things to do at home to occupy my time and at least on the surface pull me away from all the negative news swirling around the internet. I’ve made it a point every single day to turn off my phone and just work on art to the extent that I am able with the supplies I have on hand. This means editing images that I’ve meant to get around to for years, developing old rolls of film, and experimenting a little with cyanotype prints at home. I’ve been greatly feeling the itch to get outdoors and do some photoshoots but I think that will just have to wait for a little while longer.
With a little bit of luck, and keeping in mind that we are all in this together right now, hopefully these frightening times will be a distant memory sooner rather than later. In fact, I’ve keep this blog entry a little bit vague in the hopes that years from now it will be floating around the back woods of the internet and someone will find it and say, “what was he talking about!?” For some reason that is a comforting thought to me.
The photograph above was made with a Mamiya C330 TLR and Fomapan 100 speed film. The scene was lit with a single 250w Smith Victor studio lamp totally raw, with no umbrella or reflector that I would typically use to soften up the light a bit. I think I exposed this roll of film about six years ago and my memory of that day is that I was feeling a little bit rebellious. Like I didn’t want to follow any rules or take direction from anyone. For me that evidently translates to pulling off the defuser umbrella from my studio lights. Ha!