A particularly foggy day.
I stopped to click on my way into town to run some errands. A good reason for me to keep my camera loaded and in the car.
Charlotte
Charlotte is a high school student that I'm tutoring in photography once a week for her career placement program. I love working with her. I see myself in her when I was in high school, unsure of so many things but determined to figure it out piece by piece. We went out in October 2013 to attack the 3 pillars of photography, which I found easiest with a film camera. As we walked along I let her decide where and when to stop to set up a frame. Developping her film after was exciting, it's fun to see what grabs another person to take a shot. The 3rd image is one I took of her toward the end.
Seattle 2013
I make a point of visiting Seattle often since one of my closest friends moved there. In September 2013 we rented a car to Yakima, WA. It was roughly 3 hours from the city. We had nothing on the agenda except to stop the car when and where we wanted, packing heat (3 cameras between the 2 of us for the afternoon). We walked the 'Petrified Forest' trail and stopped at various look out points. There's much more I would have liked to photograph on this road trip but I definitely enjoyed the rest without looking at it through a lens.
The last two frames are from my meandering on the docks below Pike Market on a separate day in Seattle.
Retrieval 2
Another retrieved frame from Winter 2013, on the Wanderlust trip our class took to Quebec. I drove North of our cottage for about an hour and a half to visit a small town I researched with a history of tourism for it's open bay. It was desolate except for a few dog walkers, being such a cold time of year. All the better for me to move around at peace. There was so much land to cover that I spent 2 consecutive days walking up and down the shoreline. This frame didn't make the cut for the series I finished for this class.
Darkroom
For the convenience, control and to satisfy my need for instant gratification, I finally pulled together a darkroom set up at home. I found a roll of Ilford in my kitchen, strange because it was definitely not mine, but figured it was an opportunity to test my chemistry. These are a few frames from that test.
Hudson Fire Station
Images from a visit to the old station of Hudson, Quebec. I wandered around with a friend who is also a fireman there. We wanted these keep sakes before the station was moved for good into the new super station.
Retrieved
It's always good for a photographer to step back from their work. The unfortunate thing for working photographers that have a constant workflow is that we have to take breaks without a lot of time to do so. I'm looking forward to projects that allow me to work on over a few months rather than a few weeks (or a few days). This is a frame I disregarded years ago and I was so happy to find. It may not be much to some people, but I see Sally Mann's Southern Landscapes in this somehow, without the collodion conditioning.
Paris
In May of 2013 I spent 9 days in Paris with my mom. The mandate of the trip was to go where we wanted, eat what we wanted, all when we wanted it. Schedule's for the day were made over breakfast around the corner from the apartment we rented. We would normally have an idea of where the day would lead us and always meet up for dinner at the end of it.
I packed 3 cameras with me, knowing different bodies are better for different things, but not sure which things I would focus on the most. I spent weeks planning this trip in terms of what I wanted to capture, yet 9 days is just not enough to know exactly what's in store with a city like Paris. My back ached and feet bled at times. Battle wounds.
Of the many frames I came home with, these are some personal favourites.
