Interesting Blogger site.


Another lover of the Twin Lens medium format.  I really need to use my Mamiya more.

New offerings at PAM in the Photo Gallery

I was excited to finally see something new hanging in the 2nd floor gallery devoted to photography at PAM.  A very large and wonderful collection of portrait work that included these two pieces.  Called "Likeness" the themed exposition borrows it's name from a 19th century term for a portrait.  It  was wonderful to look at the Yousuf  Karsh photo of Robert Frost and his dog.  The print on display was surprising for its display of a zonal range almost entirely within the values of V-0 (Middle gray to total black) with only a few small areas that I thought approached Zone VII+ (light skin values; light gray object to highest values in which some texture is discernible.) from the light hitting the subject from the left. Perhaps the light showing on the prints in the photo gallery are intentionally of low wattage in order to preserve the work because I don't think the work would have been printed to be displayed under such low light because it would appear a little too dark.  The Irving Penn portrait of Collette has always intrigued me where no light is placed on the eyes so they appear as just  dark pools.  This seems also the case with the Karsh photo of Robert Frost leaving the eyes in darkness but emphasizing the way the face forms around the eyes to catch the character of the face.

"Can you imagine us years from today sharing a park bench quietly?" 
sang Simon and Garfunkel  from Old Friends/Bookends.

A few days ago I met with a friend from my youth for a long and leisurely lunch. We first met over 40 years ago at that cusp between childhood and adulthood.  We hadn't seen each other in too long a time and it took just a moment for us to recognize one another in our adult selves.  It was a poignant reunion in the truest sense of the term which made me think of the Simon and Garfunkel song.

"A time it was
It was a time
A time of innocence
A time of confidences
Long ago it must be
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories
They're all that's left you."

and another by another poet.

"If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?--
With silence and tears."
Lord Byron.

This looks promising.

23 Sandy Gallery is scheduled to have another juried exhibit inspired by the 2008 show Resurrection.

Unfortunately this time "straight silver work" will not be "appropriate".   Not "alternative" enough for Portlandandyia  I guess.  Well thats fine with me since I wasn't planning to submit anything, anymore, anyway.

As the last few days of the year slipped away I looked back to where I started and where I am now.  It can be a relief to be in a state as close to where you began.  I am getting too old for dramatic shifts.  Yet drift will occur with time no matter how well anchored you think you are.  Recently I started practicing once again regular personal journal writing.  In the last few months I've been reading from 40 years ago when I first began taking notes on my life.    If you are a dedicated diarist you try to just record your life no matter how insignificant in a free flowing, stream of consciousness trying not to think of it ever being read by anyone but yourself. It is a personal conversation with your self.  Now that I am trying to read it all I've managed in the last month to get through the first 7 years 1970-1977. My last year of high school, my years at college, and my years on my own after graduation. There have been lots of surprises.  Moments I forgot but after reading about them I could recall and also a few moments that have been totally erased from my memory. I can read the details but not recall anything.  Sometimes I remember something very differently from the way I recorded it shortly after it happened. We probably only remember a fraction of what we experience and often over time we do significant editing on our memories.  There seems to be no common trait to what we cannot forget, what we no longer remember, and what we remember very differently.  The painful and joyful, the trivial, and the significant.  Our mental hard drive has those damaged sectors, I guess that's a good reason to back it up on paper so to speak.

This year I have had 3,616 visits to my blog.  The year prior was 1,850, and the year before that 1,301.  Most people seem to come across it while looking for something else and quickly turn away but about 10% linger awhile.  I've been in a bit of a photographic low though I am taking pictures I haven't worked in the darkroom in a couple of months.  It's cold down there now this time of year.  I have also been pre-occupied with other things and can't dedicate the time required to work. I hope to remedy that soon.