The Austin skyline, shot from a construction area atop Mount Bonnell. I finally took my 4×5 out and shot two slides (Velvia 50). Unfortunately, it was already getting dark and I forgot my dropcloth, so the reflection on the ground glass was too strong, and the light coming through the lens was too weak. I looked pretty dumb to all the other people up there and I tried to make out a very faint image. The other slide (which I’ll likely post tomorrow) was quite badly underexposed. The sunset-colored sky is actually right on, but the waterline where I was focusing is almost completely draped in shadow. Not even Photoshop can truly save it. I’m pretty pleased with this image, however.

Contrary to popular belief, some basset hounds are very fast. I base this knowledge off the fact that about once a week (actually, more often now that we have another dog and he’s vying for attention) Homer gets excited and runs around the house like it’s necessary. However, most people expect to see the pose above from all basset hounds.

Now, about the image. I took it with the Hasselblad SWC/M (38mm f/4.5 CF), but the effects were accomplished in Photoshop. This radial blur type thing you’re seeing is just a replication of an effect I’ve been trying to figure out in camera for awhile. As best I can tell, it has to do with not having adequate lens coverage, and can often be seen when the lens is tilted to such a degree on a 4×5 that you begin to see vignetting. Some of Ray Meeks’ work exhibits this effect to perfection.

Just a slide taken a few months back with a Hasselblad SWC/M (38mm f/4.5 CF).

Shot while walking on a bridge over the Chicago River.

Ruthann and Stacy beneath the giant sculpture in Millenium Park called Cloud Gate. The view of the outside is much cooler, but it’s easy to find pictures of that online.

I saw the light.

A couple waiting for the train down the street from the Aquarium.

This is the first image I’m posting from our recent trip (Nov. 11-15, 2004) to Chicago. This is Stacy’s friend Ruthann reading while we waited for the train underground. I’ve posted the original scan of this so you can see what I did.

Not much to this. Dog was jumping in the water. Shot with my Pentacon Six TL on Tri-X.

Taken at the Sunset Grove Country Club. This was an accidental exposure. It was vastly overexposed, but it pushed the colors in a really nice direction when corrected in Photoshop. I doubt Michael will pick this as his senior portrait.

What’s interesting about this shot is that I took it this past weekend while visiting Orange. Then yesterday I went to an exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art downtown called “Ghost Stories: The Disembodied Spirit”. It featured some incredible work by Sally Mann, Gregory Crewdson (this guy’s color work is phenomenal) and others, but also had quite a few photos from the 1800s, many of them anonymous. Once people discovered double exposures and movement during long exposures, they took full advantage of those techniques to make “ghostly” images, which I feel this one resembles.

Taken with a Graflex 6×9 on Fuji NPS 160. Again, image was forcibly cropped to a 6×7 by the mask.

Taken at the Sunset Grove Country Club. Taken with a Graflex 6×9 on Fuji NPS 160. Image was forcibly cropped to a 6×7 by the mask.