Pictureville, ahoy!

I can already tell you that this post will be a bit disjointed and lacking in images... but this is not a bad thing. We're in day two of From Craft to Concept, an alternative process photography class taught by the always dapperly dressed and exceptionally well-mannered Dan Estabrook. For those of you not familiar with alternative process photography, we're making photographs in the most messy and hands-on way possible, mixing, tearing, coating, exposing, washing, fixing, and re-washing our way to lovely, one-of-a-kind photographs that we wouldn't have any other way. By the end of the class, we'll have made our way through most of the historical processes that brought photography to where it is today. That's not to say we're joining the ranks of the Luddites, smashing printers and having monitor bonfires, but instead using digital as just one tool in our arsenal.

Our first real day of class was also the first really chilly, cloudy day of fall. Due to issues with reservoirs and water pumps and other things beyond our control, it was also the first day of the year without running water. Not that it stopped us. Dan started the day collecting rainwater and we made it through without a hitch in our collective step, even with a collective deficit of coffee and sleep. As of today, we've made it through cyanotypes, salt prints, and homemade negatives. Gee, I love this stuff. Wednesday will be our first critique of the class, something that will continue throughout the session as a way to bring some focus to our work. I'm hoping it will help me think about why I make the work I do, and the differences and similarities in the way my classmates and I understand my work. I'm hoping to develop a well-printed, cohesive body of work, with something resembling an artist statement to boot.

Oh, and also very exciting, today I was gifted with an Ansco Shur Shot by Mr. Robin Dreyer. What a sweet, sweet gift. I've already shot my first roll which I'm waiting to develop. After that, I should hopefully have a better idea of its personality. It's a very simple camera, which means all the figuring of film speed in relation to the amount of light available and how this will affect the image will be going on in my head, or more likely my gut. I tend to trust that gut feeling, hoping that it is a result of tiny bits of knowledge floating about in my head all coming together at just the right moment.

Okay, to you I promise more pictures. Coming soon. Along with more ramblings on beeswax, silver, eggs, platinum, , watercolors, birds nests, and other delightful things.