Blue Pompano Photography

2011-09-30T13:58:00.003-04:00

Wow, blogger made a lot of changes this month. The new dynamic layouts completely change the way I would like to blog. Right now however, there are more troublesome aspects to attend to on the Epson 2400. I made it past the communication error, the ink mismatch, the green blinking light, and the nozzle check: unfortunately, the nozzle check indicates that the dark blue nozzle is awry. Honestly, the list is long right now of the obstacles preventing the production of new prints. First and foremost, the vellumn is completely missing. It is not in any of the photography boxes and it has both Rn and I perplexed and irritated. But like the blue nozzle, there are ways to solve the problem. Good thing that it is only Friday, because less than 24 hours ago, I thought that I would have made five pompanos on vellum backed in Au. (23.5k) However, nothing seems to be easy with photography, so in reality, those prints are at least a week off. And I have my doubts about my Imac running CS2 and the Epson that's sat for over a year. But you know what? I strained a muscle in my back on Wednesday and instead of sitting in this chair, I'm going to ice my back. And then, think about the blue nozzle.

This is a possibility for a gold/plat print

2011-08-22T09:01:00.001-04:00

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Location:Green Mountain

2011-08-20T11:47:00.002-04:00

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Location:The road

One of the first things I learned in art school was to have a theme or focus or point to the images. It seems I've lost track of that idea, and instead, am merely posting images that I like, such as this image taken yesterday as we completed a 2000+ roadtrip from Northern Maine, and had finally reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I"m just saying that there is no rhyme nor reason right now for the images, only a vague sense to keep pressing on....

2011-08-10T11:14:00.001-04:00

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Home

2011-07-24T20:11:00.001-04:00

I halfway believe that photography is something like magic; and that when you love a place so much, the magic appears.

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Location:Wisconsin

2011-07-17T22:49:00.004-04:00

No new negatives to bring home; but finally some inspiration from reading Patti Smith's "Just Kids." Inspired to simply continue creating and belief that there's more work to be made and that "paths that cross will cross again."

2011-06-11T14:22:00.001-04:00

Mordancage, Untitled no. 1

There are two workshops I would love to take in Maine this summer: alt pro 101; and alt pro 201. I long for a space to create gum bichromates. Instead, I guess I must tune-up the Epson 2400, lauch CS2 on the aging Imac, and chose some digital images to print. Then somehow make satisfactory digital negatives (although I remember nothing about density curves). If I can manage all this by August, then I can ship some new kits to my brother in Wisconsin then use the two weeks at the cabin to work out any technical issues and then make some final prints. This, instead of using all my overtime and bonuses to pay for the workshops. I think I can self motivate to do this, yet it's so much easier to fork over the cash and be taught how to do it right the first time. Today we are headed downtown and I'm scoping out a gallery. I know how not to find representation. It almost worked to walk in with my portfolio lasttime....

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2011-05-19T21:19:00.001-04:00

In my top ten images of all time. I don't know who took this picture of my dad and me.

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2011-02-21T22:19:00.004-04:00

Just when I begin to feel I'll never take another creative photo in my life, a shot out the car window with an iPhone while driving down Interstate 70, on our way back from Oklahoma.

Although my prospects for printing any alternative work is limited at this time, I am gearing up to print some large digital prints at work. It's taken me weeks to figure out the correct profiles, to order archival paper, and to service the printer. My expectations are incredibly high, and I hope that any combination of the above does not disappoint.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T19:02:00.002-04:00

Untitled, 2003

For the first time in a very long time I have the Rockport Portfolio with me, brought back to Denver from storage in Wisconsin. 2010 was a great year and I look forward to 2011 and all the opportunities to imagine and create new portfolios, and maybe something as fine as this diptych.

In terms of photography, 2010 was a great year. Not since moving to to the Virgin Islands under the false pretext of being a photographer's assistant (if you recall, that didn't exactly pan out, and I spent 8 years learning to be a curator instead) can I call myself a photographer. An Underwater Photographer! Unfortunatly, while I was learning all about European Ceramics and tropical fruit in the Virgin Islands, I didn't think much about mastering the craft. I always felt lucky if I managed to make anything close to perfection, and really, nothing is as good as the Rockport work. I'm not talking digital here, that's a whole different realm, but the platinums, gums, cyanos and gold/platinums, are not the mordancages or black and whites of Maine. Its going to take me a while to get settled out here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, but in the back of my mind is a darkroom space and a gallery manager that gets the work.

Hallowed Ground

2010-12-18T01:39:00.001-04:00

Scope on the USS Bowfin Submarine, circa WW II, looking toward Battleship Row.

It's been a long time since I've shot an event. Earlier this month December 7th to be exact, I was offered the opportunity to shoot the Pearl Harbor 69th Anniversary. 1000+ images of the day, including survivors, soldiers, sailors and civilians. I never dreamed of seeing history like that: to be at the very place where the world changed forever, 69 years later. It doesn't seem all that long ago, yet how things have changed.

2010-11-21T00:29:00.002-04:00

This one is for the sheer lovliness and otherworldliness of the underwater world.

2010-10-03T10:00:00.006-04:00

Isle Royale National Park, Washington Island: "Lightbeing."

The result of an hour spent shooting topside on Washington Island in Isle Royale. I had just found a Lake Superior agate in this shallow bay (which was left in the park) when I noticed these reflections. I'm still not positive what formed the composition, as the reflections were being created off of slender reeds, but likely it was an air pocket caught underneath the reed. All told, these are some of my favorite images in years. Shot with a Nikon D3, 60mm Nikon lens = Public Domain.

During the three weeks on Isle Royale, given the extra hours of daylight, and a great understanding of the nature of the creative process by my supervisor, I was also able to practice and capture some long exposures in dark corners, to blur some waves of the inland sea, to expose for HDR in the chiaroscuro forests and focus on macro mushrooms along the islands hiking trails. I love, love , love the new Leica D4 yet it can't do everything. Oh yes, and there was ample opportunity to learn about myself and shooting underwater. I encountered cold, icy water that after twenty minutes made me not want to use my gloved hands to move the camera strobes around to avoid backscatter, and deep water in the Channel Islands that was too dark for the camera to focus on the Gruman Avenger planewreck covered in brittle stars. I've never taken that many blurry pictures in my life, but at least the exposure was correct.

Channel Islands National Park, Gruman Avenger, 125 ft deep.

2010-09-27T02:12:00.001-04:00

I had a lot of fun playing with the subtle light in the North Country this month. Made some interesting images and captured some obvious beauties as well. I'm spending this week on a live-aboard off the Southern Coast of California photographing shipwrecks and a planewreck. This morning, I shot the sunrise over Isle Royale in Lake Superior from aboard the Ranger III and caught this shot with my IPhone. When I went back later with a few more egapixels it was gone.

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2010-08-01T18:02:00.001-04:00

It was fitting that Ron and I saw an Atlantic Pompano on our last snorkle today, in addition to a turtle, a stingray and schools of blue runners and soft corals aglow in the late afternoon sun. My heart was heavy again today having learned the news that a young diver, Yasuko, died off of New Jersey yesterday. I will not be posting all the dive accidents that occur for numerous reasons; but these last two were experienced, skilled divers and were not diving especially deep. We can not learn from their mistakes if their deaths are faultless. As I begin my career as an underwater photographer I take notes of their deaths and will proceed cautiously and be content with working on my craft in shallower waters, such as the moat wall around Ft Jefferson, which is pictured here. Later, the depths will come.

I've often thought there are two types of photographers: those who are insecure, believing that somehow there is a limited number of images in the world and fearful that by helping others, it reduces their own chance of a great shot; and the other kind, like my supervisor now, who shares everything he's got to make the NPS a better team.i got quite lucky with this image, because I'm not much better than a rank amateur, but without Brett's instruction and encouragement over the past several years, and without the opportunity to shoot for the NPS, I never would have gotten this photo. And it's shots like these that make me feel like I have one of the best jobs in the service, despite the risks. I feel very grateful and humble at this juncture in life.

Today is our last day on St John and it's not without sadness that we leave behind this paradise and our beautiful friends to begin life anew. It's the last time Blue Pompano will be posted from St John.

Godspeed Yasuko, later St. John and soon come Denver.

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2010-07-25T20:50:00.001-04:00

I don't really like the new templates, yet now there's no turning back....sorta the way I feel about leaving island, I mean, it's just hard to be back just to say goodbye. Most everything is packed and ready to go on a pallet tomorrow. I'm a little dismayed at how much my photography tools and supplies weigh. The great thing is how much we are downsizing our lives, including our jeep, which isnt so easy to let go, like the Island life.

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2010-07-25T17:25:00.001-04:00

I did less packing today then planned but I had not anticipated putting a portfolio together of my work. Maybe it is because I had the time. I am thinking that if Michael agrees, I could leave the portfolio, called "Before the Digital Age" with him on island, in case any of his clients were interested in seeing more. Besides, Now that I am leaving, it does not make so much sense for me to take all the St John prints in cyano, platinum, platinum/palladium, platinum/gum bichromate, plat backed in 23k gold and cmyk Gum to Colorado. (No ziatypes, they left in the first boxes we shipped out in June) The portfolio has no more than twelve prints, and only a few signed and numbered prints, as mostly, I never got past the working stage with these images. Yet this is the last work that will say "made on St. John" and this is a bittersweet realization.

This print was not made in St John, but in Burlington, Vermont, from a negative shot on Monehegan Island in Maine, during my first Rockport College Workshop, and it travels with me wherever I go. Once I tried to sell it, but never again. Likewise, I don't think I'll ever be able to sell the gum angelfish that was in my show. One of a kinds....

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Blue Pompanos

2010-07-23T13:17:00.001-04:00

After a brief haitus in the real world, I'm back on island. ( no, wait, this is now a brief haitus from my real job, Hurray!)

Well, This is it, Vigo. I'm matting and framing the 11x14 blue pompanos No. 2/50, 3/50, and will bring them down to Banzhaffs later this afternoon. I'll probably mat a platinum too, No. 2/25. Heaven knows when there will be any more of these, so get them while you can!

I know Michael will take good care of them, and hopefully sell them too. Just give me several months to a year and I'll make more. I'm taking two portfolio boxes off island with me. Mostly the early gums and watercolors. Stuff too rough to sell, but good enough for our new walls in Denver. Now, time to stop procrastinating the matting.

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In-Air 3d

2010-07-22T12:38:00.002-04:00

Pardon the mess while BluePompano gets a facelift. The "travel-theme" template with a stock HDR image was selected to convey the new compass bearing.(thank goodness we stay in nicer hotels than pictured in the background. Travelling and shooting can be exhausting.) Although BluePompano St. John was about the alternative to the ultrahyped technologies, I now find myself immersed, quite willingly, into the world of hyper-real photography. I truly look forward to the technologies ahead, but it will also be nice to get back to the past and possibly even a darkroom in Denver.

I'm very pleased that what started out as a site about "photography in the great blue sea" is morphing into a site about "photography above and under the great blue seas." Despite working for a submerged unit, there are also quite a few opportunities to capture "in air" images, as my 3d geek friends would say (self professed, yet not entirely accurate, for these are some of the coolest cats I've ever met).

This image is of the WHOI in-air 3d camera directed by Becky Kagan Schott, a very talented photographer and hard core tech diver. I was saddened this morning to hear of the loss of her cave-diver photography idol, Wes Skiles. I regret not being familiar with his work while he was alive. It's a small community and a great soul is lost to this mortal coil. My mentor, Frank Manchel, whose birthday is today,(He reports three-quarters of a century and going strong") always encouraged his students to "stand on his shoulders" and it'll be what Becky and others will have to do now that Wes is gone. Godspeed.

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Stereographs:3d primer

2010-07-20T12:13:00.001-04:00

During the recent project in the Dry Tortugas I had a half a day of shore leave in Key West. Myself and a friend and fellow photographer found ourselves inside the Mel Fisher Museum...a slightly politically incorrect destination for us yet as it says in the Art of War or some other ancient text it's best to keep you're enemies close. For those of you who haven't been keeping track, my years of archeological training;) are now being put to use as an audiovisual specialist for the Submerged Resource Unit of the NPS. I work with a bunch of archeologist who are passionate about preservation ( and as a former curator, it's important to me too). I won't get into the details but the former chief of Submerged was the State Archeologist who took Mel to court for "looting the Atocha." This, in a nut shell, is why we, as NPS rangers, are not in the same camp as Fishers. And yet, the lure of gold was irresistable. Yes, I lifted a bar of gold from the Atocha and it was denser and heavier then the iron ore that my grandfather mined out of the Northern Minnesota Mesabi Range for 40 years. (Although I never had the chance to meet him, I've tried to always follow the light for what he sacrified in the dark.) But I stray from my original idea for the post, which was to trace the history of stereoscopic photography all the way to the 3d footage our team was shooting in the Dry Tortugas. Or, in the very least, to mention this connection and to show the similarities in the stereoscope we saw in the museum and the 3d camera, Styx, built by Woods Hole that we used for our project. They're Identical!! I'm about to board a plane so stay tuned for the next post.

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2010-06-30T15:11:00.001-04:00

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Location:Gone to sea.

2010-06-29T23:13:00.001-04:00

Were camped out aboard the NPS Vessel at the Navy Station in Key West, awaiting a shipment of gear, delayed I guess, by the very fact that it is Key West.I feel like it is like my first few days at Rockport College, as there's no less than five photographers and videographers aboard. Tonight at dinner we had a conversation about HDR and 3D. I don't think it will take me long to get up to speed on the technologies and I look forward to shooting. Eight years in the VI was a long, great, rambling tangent.

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2010-06-28T22:48:00.002-04:00

This is my first trip all the way down the Florida Keys and to the Dry Tortugas, where we be spending three weeks documenting the underwater Resources in 3d HD and photography stills. At this juncture, I know nothing about the 3d except that the equipment is daunting. In celebration of getting the job, I've added the Leica D LUX, a Sigma 4.5, and a new, smaller Domke camera bag to my B&h wishlist. I've been leaving my D200 home more often than not, and relying on the iPhone camera and I'm thinking the Leica is a good compromise. Tings are good and maybe a new camera will encourage keeping the blog going with a few minor changes.

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2010-06-14T17:53:00.001-04:00

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2010-06-13T22:49:00.001-04:00

Later, USVI

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2010-06-10T21:25:00.002-04:00

Two things I love: photography and history. Im spending my last week in the US Virgins processing the archives for St Croix's Ft Christiansvaern.I've spent nearly eight years in the Caribbean and the islands are home. I'll be back ~ in September, and then time will tell. Yet for now, it's one underwater adventure after another and making images - so that one day someone will find a shadow of an image like this and feel richer for the knowledge of forgotten time.

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2010-05-16T17:27:00.001-04:00

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2010-04-21T20:57:00.002-04:00

I'm jumping ship and taking a position with the Submerged Resource Center of the NPS. It's going to busy this next week as the SRC and Woods Hole Oceangraphic Institute film a 3d underwater project on coral reefs and mangroves in the park. Dreams do come true.

-- Post From My iPhone

2010-04-04T17:46:00.001-04:00

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The nice thing about digital photography is that no water is required. We're pretty much in a drought situaion yet I've decided to print gum from iPhone Hipstamatic images. Made the digital cmyk seperation negs this morning and tore down enough paper to use up 250ml of size. I am going with the two step hardening process from CJ' manual on Alt Pro. It's strange to make Easter about these things. Ron worked on his plane all day and is out flying it around the Emmaus ball field while I watch 16 sheets of paper dry in the wind.

2010-04-04T15:56:00.001-04:00

Size for gum (ossein). Next a hardening with glyoxal. Tonight, gum!

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2010-04-01T20:33:00.002-04:00

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maybe some years in the future, some photographer will figure out that this image of mine is public domain. And he or she will find delight in bringing the forgotten image to others.
does lightning strike twice? Maybe I had better make a platinum, just in case.

I wish it were a bunny, but all I have is a Pelican. Happy Easter everyone.
Love,
Susanna

2010-03-27T07:20:00.001-04:00

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Lionfish No. 1, VIIS

2010-03-09T18:27:00.001-04:00

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2010-02-09T19:52:00.002-04:00

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RIP Bobby V, February 9, 2010

2010-02-02T14:55:00.002-04:00

2010-01-30T12:55:00.002-04:00

2010-01-29T16:27:00.002-04:00

2010-01-24T21:33:00.003-04:00

From the car window, with the Hipstamatic. Although I was carrying a $5000 Nikon, (which is phenomonal, don't get me wrong) I am utterly enamored with this digital holga effect. Colorado just works in black and white.

2010-01-24T01:48:00.002-04:00

2010-01-23T01:13:00.002-04:00

The number of things to focus on in a city is mind numbing. I'm zeroing in on lampshades. I haven't had a lampshade in a long, long time. Denver might not have a soul, yet there are quite a few galleries....

2010-01-21T01:12:00.001-04:00

I did not realize the resolution was so poor with the hipstamatic.

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2010-01-20T01:16:00.001-04:00

The Hipstamstic iPhone app is really growing on me. Stay tuned.

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Location:Colorado

2010-01-10T03:53:00.001-04:00

I once remember reading that it is harder for a photographer to adapt to a new surrounding than for other artists. Maybe it is. In truth I haven't a clue what to do in Denver, and feel it might take sometime before it begins to feel like home. I suppose there's rodeos and mountains and cowboys, but what of subtler views? I think of the pieces that mean anything to me from the island and the years it took to create those images. This might be a slack period: perhaps posting frequently will spur me on.

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2010-01-07T22:22:00.001-04:00

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2010-01-06T23:35:00.001-04:00

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2010-01-06T00:28:00.001-04:00

I'm in Denver for the month yet not yet able to give up the island . I think we will need a greenhouse when we move north.

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2010-01-04T22:09:00.001-04:00

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Location:32,000ft above Dallas

2010-01-03T19:08:00.001-04:00

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2010-01-02T16:30:00.001-04:00

Having acheived the ability to
post from the iPhone, I'm contemplating posting every day

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Location:Peacehill

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T19:48:00.001-04:00

2009-12-15T21:31:00.004-04:00

Burntside sunrise. Christmas presents for the family(5 print edition).
18:4:25:1
1:4 palladium/platinum, 12k white gold.
Six minute exposures.
Sodium Citrate, Krylon.

The great thing about family is that it doesn't have to be perfect. The negative is flawed, and so is the image. Ces't la vie, they will look good under the tree!

2009-12-13T12:55:00.002-04:00

Gold Century, 2/12
1:4 platinum palladium
same ration as last year's print
18:4:25:1 (A:B:C:Au)
Vellum
4 minute exposure in light box. 7:00pm
Sodium Citrate Developer
All chemicals, Bostick and Sullivan, 2008

Notes: All exposures good. First application of size and leaf(23k)used 4 sheets. Two coats of Krylon. Pressed before dry, mat stuck to print, print discarded

Second print: sized and imitation gold applied. 2 Coats Krylon

Third print: (2/12) sized and plated with 23k gold. Two Coats Krylon. Still drying.

2009-12-08T21:32:00.002-04:00

Saturday Afternoon, Salt Pond Bay, right after a storm. Today the current went slack, just like my motivation to make a platinum print.

2009-11-30T22:20:00.002-04:00

Tonight I tried to frame a (1/12) Gold/Platinum Century Tree. An uneven crinkle in the vellum, a rough edge on the matboard, a speck of dirt on the surface, imperfect cuts, uneven edges, and an awkward and too tight fit for a 2 1/4 x 5 1/2 into an 8 x 10 frame. Ugh, it's a total disaster. (I do like the practice of making a first print of a series for my husband, even though he might want to sell it.) That means tomorrow, after the laundry is done, it's time to tinker with the platinum and to dig out the vellum, the citric acid, the platinum developer, paper, contact frame, negative, brush, the trays and print washer. I know for certain that part two of the ABC platinum solution is old. Nor am I certain of how much gold leaf is left. We did pick up some imitation leaf when the local art supply store went out of business this fall(fair warning to all my imaginary collectors). We used two leafs of 23k gold for the batgirl belt buckle. I think there's enough for one more print, although the vellum just seems to suck up the gold.

I would love to have a few platinum prints at Christmas. And, I would like to know why ten months pass and there's not a single thought about platinum. It's just that a few of these could really get me off the hook. At least they're small, and suited for a digital negative. I would like to release one gold century each year for the next ten years, but have them all made tomorrow!

Light has been such a struggle on this island. It's rare to find a quiet capture like this scene.

2009-11-28T18:08:00.003-04:00

Over six miles, five ruins and a couple of cannons: just an average afternoon spent hiking Reef Bay Valley. The best part is that all the images I shot today are already keyworded and organized in Adobe Lightroom 2.5. I wish I had had a clue about Digital Asset Management four years ago when I first turned digital, and thanks to my friend Kathryn Wagner, another St. John Photographer, to introducing me to some of the basic concepts of DAM this Fall.

When I periodically go to the mainland and talk with fellow parkies, I always joke that the reason I was hired by the NPS is because I brought them cannons. It's partly true. This afternoon, Lauran and I hiked down L'Esperance trail and went swimming for sharks and cannons. No sharks, yet after a bit, we located the cannons in the surf, about in the middle of this image. It's been years since I've seen them, so I was really happy to visit them again. Alas, no underwater images because I don't have a personal underwater camera yet there is a picture of them somewhere in this blog, perhaps back in the logs from 2005-2006. A great day.

2009-11-28T08:06:00.004-04:00

I wish I could work for Istockphoto for a year. The reason I'd give up paradise for a cold office in Canada is to better understand this crazy world we live in and the digitization of history. And to learn web development and keywording for public access. Ideally, to have my own site, where individuals would be able to search by a word: lots of words. I guess this is the photographer turned curator in me. This a.m. I've begun the process of keywording my western digital drives, beginning with the latest images from Channel Islands. Aside from the individual names, I've classified images by the who, what, when, or where.

2009-11-24T19:54:00.004-04:00

The gold pompano sold. Ronnie tells me this over diner by saying Banzhaf had a robbery and only one print was stolen...mine. He's funny, eh? I can't think of an image tonight, yet wanted to mark this occassion with a post. I'm tired you see. And have cranberry relish on my mind. That, and our cottage is a disaster since I unpacked from California, with the half finished gum print of the GreatHouse somewhere in all the stacks of magazines, books, letters, prints, CF cards, mat cutters, chargers, ipod, tape, stickers, pens, sunglasses, business cards, lenses, ceramics, electronic mosquito zappers(won't need those soon) and tons of other belongings that will need to be sorted, organized and packed into boxes to be sent via ship to the mainland. More on that when I make a new image to share.

2009-11-22T17:00:00.002-04:00

My dad died four years ago today. When he was in basic training to become a radio intercept officer for the Marine Corps Night Fighters in Korea, he took this image of a free diver on the beach in San Diego. It's funny, he was such a good shot. Above my desk, there's an image of him in his flight jacket next to a picture of me in my dry suit. I wish he was here so I could tell him about my time diving in the Pacific off the coast of California and photographing for the NPS. I know he would be proud, and I just hope to continue to stand on his shoulders and work hard, faith in my abilities, and to always be humble because there's always going to be somone better. Love and miss you, Dad.

2009-10-31T11:40:00.000-04:00

Love not Hate

2009-10-28T22:19:00.001-04:00

What if it has come to be that the islands are my muse?

2009-10-11T09:17:00.003-04:00

To read a manual on gum printing is to think it can't be done. Temperature, humidity, paper, gum, size, pigment, UV, bi and di chromates, time, baths, drying, brushing, cutting, registering, mating, framing, negative making. Sigh.

2009-10-08T20:53:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday I tried to recreate the magenta negative for Reef Bay that I did not inverse before printing the weekend before and since I had not saved the jpg at the right size it was impossible to recreate - even if the Epson weren't leaving streaks all over the negative transparencies - so I just gave up.

Sunday, the watercolors came out and we went deep into the mangroves for a bit of inspiration. Ron sailed while I tried to paint, and then we both went over to a peninsula and searched out some prehistory, after which we snorkled back to the sunfish and sailed back into the mangroves. (In this image, I try to show how the horizon is not straight.)

This week, I bought a book on digital asset management(DAM) and used my first terabyte drive in an attempt to organize the photo files at work, yet all along thinking of the wrecks of harddrives at home where I struggle with DAM so I hope the book arrives soon and will be of help.

Alas, I searched underwater HDR today and there were several hits. That is a change from a year ago yet there's still time to take it into shipwrecks. I did not get a chance to go back to Isle Royale this summer, yet am fairly certain there's another trip to the Channel Islands coming up in November. Meanwhile, a trip to DC and Williamsburg, VA.

2009-09-27T11:13:00.003-04:00

I am up to more CMYK skullduggery. Par Force Estate House, July, 2009. Cyan Channel invert. I rather like it as is, yet am going for gum with four colors. Made up the size yesterday and drew skull and crossbones over the recycled pickle jar(size is simple Deionized Ossein with an addition of toxic glyoxal for hardening). The rest of the process is simple too: convert to CMYK, adjust the levels, seperate into channels, invert, print. Then, size the paper. Dry. Coat paper with the first color, Y. Expose Y negative. Hope for the best. Clear print. Dry. Repeat steps with the remaining three negatives and watercolors mixed with potassium dichromate(CMK). Nothing to it.

2009-09-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

(as though this hasn't been done before...)

starting a new suite

2009-09-20T14:00:00.005-04:00

America Hill, Sept, 2009 (closed) Let's face it. This ruin isn't going anywhere and it will crumble and fall. Go forward a few centuries and all that's left is a pile of rubble, ancient measurements and a few photographs. I don't know why this plantation is neglected. Why no one has laid claim to the ruins. I would search out how they built on this hill in the first place and which donkey they whipped to put every stone in place. Now, just build, repair, restore, and redocument. With the money we save by good management, would it not be possible?

Lameshure, Sept 20
On the other hand, Lameshure plantation is closer to the road, hence was stabilized as part of the NPS beautification of ruins close to the road project this summer.

ReefBay Greathouse, July 2009 (closed) Neglected. Interestingly, years ago, this was on the docket for restoration. They got all the concrete flown in by helicopter, and then administration must have changed their minds, because now it's one of the creepiest, dirtiest ruins around.

I managed to organize a few gigs in the external hardrives this morning, and edited down images for a suite of no more than five, 24,5 x 10,5 cm gum prints of ruins:
America Hill, Lameshure, Reef Bay Greathouse, and Cinnamon Bay, maybe. It's just a start.

2009-09-20T08:19:00.005-04:00

Well, there's much to be desired about this print. Yet it is gum, and it does convey the marvelous color permutations available to a gummist. So forward I go. This morning, my thoughts are on portraits at Annaberg. Yet portraiture and fine art, well, the whole gallery experience still leaves questions. And I am creating so very little work. Muse(s), please return.

Knox Gelatin Size
Purple Helios coat, exposed 10 minutes in lightbox.
Rinsed, dried.
Indigo mixed into purple, blithely mixed and applied.
Exposed 10 minutes noon, Sept 19 (over exposed, or solution went bad, combination of everything) Soaked for 48, hrs, excessive, uneven coating removed with brush and finger

2009-09-16T20:05:00.002-04:00

I am printing gum tonight after a seven month hiatus. The goal is still to get good. For a while there I thought perhaps that things would eAse up at work, yet it won't. So I must continue on. Pourpre Helios, potassium dichromate with equal part gum. Knox gelatin size on aquarelle. I don't have the inspiration to dream up a new negative tonight~it'll just be another fish.

Public Domain

2009-09-05T14:31:00.001-04:00

redact

2009-07-28T22:33:00.004-04:00

I'm fairly confident that I could make a decent living doing pet and children portraiture. Yes, I am thinking this would work, as long as the economy can recover. There appears to be more of a demand for portraiture these days than, say, fine art. And it's getting to the point where I would rather risk the farm than my, say, reputation. For the government can really suck the life right out of you, if you let them. I mean, it's ok that a quarter of a million dollars is spent on a project already completed, right? As long as the money goes somewhere, right? I'd rather get my lens slobbered on by a dog than lose my freedom. I wouldn't look good in one of the orange jumpsuits, and the confinement would get on my nerves.

Photography Notes: Cheap lenses on a digital SLR are not worth a Holga. I am thinking a straight 200mm 1.4. And a fisheye, yet not the Sigma on St. Thomas. Apparently, I will not be buying any of these fancy toys, and rely on the real deal, my Nikon 17-55, 2.8. I rarely want a better lens.

Limin'

2009-07-19T09:57:00.001-04:00

2009-07-14T12:32:00.001-04:00

2009-07-03T08:29:00.003-04:00

Ta da - one of a kind cyanotype. Hopefully on sale today in Michael Banzhaf's Gallery, Cruz Bay, St. John. The palladium was ok, but went with the blue and gold for someting a little different. I gotta say, it feels good for this to be a 100% Pershern-Hawes, and copyright definitely applies.

2009-06-30T20:44:00.003-04:00

It's carnival and I'm working on a palladium and gold mocko jumbie before the end of the week.(the mocko jumbie being the iconographic image of the Virgin Islands Carnival.) The printer ink arrived today, and so far, so good - the Epson behaved tonight and printed a decent negative. If the chemistry is still good from February, I could have a print by tomorrow night. Maybe then, I'll try it in gum, where I could combine both the graphic nature of the image with the local color.

2009-06-20T10:20:00.006-04:00

Ron and I finally made our way to the big island of St. Croix, where I conducted the annual inventory for the island's three parks. The collection made me drool, and one of my favorite inspections was the steeple clock - a timely reminder of the preciousness of life. The inventory kept me busy, yet I hope to return in July to assist with video taping and photography.

2009-06-10T20:47:00.005-04:00

Two packs of Pictorico, two packages of Bergger Cot 320, and 20 loose sheets of Aquarelle arrived this week from Bostick and Sullivan. The Pictorico is made in Japan, the Bergger in France, and so I suppose, is the Aquarelle. My first impulse is to make a blue pompano for my friend whose feeling under the weather and for also winning the last mystery fruit challenge this past winter. Easy. Yet the very thought of making a new digital negative sends shivers up my spine. I'm kidding, of course. I was so rushed for the February show and now have the luxery of fine-tuning any image from the vault. And I"m tempted to lobby for access to the NPS vault, too. Just because I feel people appreciate these images, and I can make them out of platinum and gold so they can last. I also wonder how difficult portraits would be in platinum, using only what I have on my desktop. Printing...perhaps I"ll return to posting an image a day or Gum - anything but portraits in platinum. Yet with a new wide angle lens, we could take portraits with the 4x5 on film. Pan F. Scan those negatives in and blow them up. I can hardly believe that in the 1960's the Virgin Islands National Park had over 1,000 4x5 negatives shot and processed. Those were the days. No real portraits, however. It's also hard to believe that it was only six years ago that the thought of shooting 4x5 Pan F was utterly plausible. And now? What, with digital, why bother? Right? Truth is, I"m chicken to shoot portraits, yet feel a lot closer to achieving such an endeavor than I did five or six years ago too.

I can't decide what image to post tonight. I"m out of practice at that too. A hard-edged Caribbean sort of thing, a soft landscape or portrait of my friend and fellow artist, Carl Funk.

2009-06-07T21:20:00.003-04:00

This Saturday we went shopping on St. Thomas where a team of students were working on remodeling a historic structure under the guidance of the Teacher of the Year. I loved the silver horse. I wish I knew the story that was behind the meaning of this horse. We were in a rush, trying to get everything done and back on the barge but it was nice to see a little project like this in progress.

Today I thought a little more about HDR in Superior this summer while dusting off the bookshelf. And I also started thinking about the next gold print. It's already June so my platinum chemicals are reaching the end of their usefulness. I cleaned and vacuumed and cleaned some more, so maybe next week before I head off to St. Croix, I'll get some photography done. The paper and transparency should be in any day and we had another good rain storm so we're set on water.

vigo...

2009-05-26T20:40:00.001-04:00

The island is beautiful these days and the mosquitos are finally calming down after the drought ending rain three weeks ago.

Red, White and Blue

2009-05-25T11:17:00.005-04:00

The reluctant winners of the 2009 Beach-to-Beach Power Swim: David and Ronnie. Congratulations! Next year, I'm not going to practice, and maybe I'll win too ;) I know that Memorial Day weekend is not just about the swim, but the men and women who served or fought in the name of freedom: my dad, uncles, brother, old friends, and probably lost generations I"ll never know. Thank you. For all that makes me free today.

2009-05-20T11:19:00.003-04:00

Between all the mosquitos, a course in Integrated Pest Management(IPM), and requests by researchers for images of the insect collection, I've been taking a lot of images of bugs.

2009-05-13T17:38:00.006-04:00

I have this dream to make high dynamic range (HDR) images of underwater shipwrecks Isle Royale this summer. (ISRO in NPS parlance). I had a real dream that someone already beat me to it. So given the chance this summer, I will attempt the technique, that amounts to bracketing in-camera and then post-processing in Adobe CS3. This will involve securing a camera within an underwater housing to a tripod at depth. I've seen a tripod used underwater in National Geo for the Nudibranch edition. It can't be much harder than installing a sand screw.

For an idea of the range of HDR, see Burkholder's images of New Orleans after Katrina: http://www.thescreamonline.com/photo/photo7-1/danburkholder/NewOrleans/neworleansgallery.html

2009-05-03T13:20:00.005-04:00

I realized yesterday afternoon that the reason I love St. John is because it reminds me of the arctic and the reason I love collecting salt is because it reminds me a little snow. Occasionally, yesterday, I've been using the 55-200mm; it's not sharp, but do they even make a straight 200mm 1.4? I have just loaded up on some new supplies, mostly paper, mat, transparency, although I can't imagine making art in the summer on St. John. Maybe to buy a new lens. I am pinning a little for a straight 50mm on the K1000, Pan F, Bergger Warm.
I have just finished reading "A Voyage for Madmen" by Peter Nichols, about a group of men in 1968 who raced each other around the world in a sailboat, nonstop, singlehandedly. "Only one made it back." This morning was the two mile practice swim and there was more blue water than I remembered. 1:06 was my time and this afternoon I am wearly and tired, if not sore.

post script Today, it rained 8 inches between 7am and 3pm. To be sure, collecting salt at Salt Pond is done for now.

Harvesting Salt

2009-04-26T17:50:00.006-04:00

A friend told us the salt was on at Salt Pond so after our 2 mile swim in the morning, we drove out to the south shore. Ron's lived here almost 15 years and he says he's only seen it like this once before. We weren't the only ones, and there was more than enough to go around.

2009-04-21T15:30:00.005-04:00

No. 1/12 Platinum/plad/gold century: Sold
No. 2/25 Plat/plad/gold trunkfish: Gift

I took this image to show the phenomena of atomic light penetrating through the layer of 23k gold on vellum. Frankly, this blue color is why this image is cool.

Ron made some repairs to the image this weekend, applying additional leaf over the spots that had fallen away from the image. It reminds me again of Kurt Vonnegut.

Snorkeling off jetskis on Sunday, we saw a large trunkfish, and what looks to be a shipwreck; although the latter is certainly not true. Lastnight, for my boyfriend's brothers birthday, I taped a trunkfish print between two sheets of foamboard and brought it out to the yacht. No. two of 25 although there will never be more than four like these prints made in Rockport last summer.

I am pleased with the sale and the ability of the work to fetch a handsome price. I have one smaller piece on hand and will print another one in time for the Christmas rush.

2009-04-13T20:27:00.003-04:00

This crazy image is from a half an hour ago. It is a photoshop negative in RGB of my two friends, Jim and Dave, last May in Lake Mohave. Three sheets of Butler Dearden Paper with a coating of cyano solution, Inc are resting in our closet. I do not know what paper Dearden sent. It is supposed to be Weston Diploma Parchment for Plat-Pal. I do not even know if blue will show up on it ;) I am attempting a cyanotype. The negative is a disaster. There is no transparency film left. I am stuck with this lackluster combination, to make a print for my friend Jim.
During the period in which I printed for the show, I used this paper with mixed results. It is delicate, very fine, cream colored, and I"m afraid if I could just print once with it successfully, I'd never settle for Bergger again. Alas, it is a gorgeous paper that deserves film. Digital Netatives, on the Epson 2400 cannot compare. (Note to self).

2009-04-06T16:59:00.001-04:00

The best shot from a weekend of shooting.
Last weekend were mangroves, this weekend, dry scrub brush on the East End. I dream of owning land out here.

2009-04-04T07:47:00.001-04:00

2009-04-03T18:32:00.004-04:00

We're going to Bajo El Sol for Larry's vernissage. It's the first Friday of the month and to celebrate, I am posting a 4x6 watercolor by moi, titled, "Copyright Does Not Apply mujer."

Besides from not having anything to wear, I"m all stung up by hydroids and like. Little frackers can really bite.

"Looking good Louis. "

"Feeling good, Billy Ray."

2009-03-29T13:48:00.007-04:00

Mangroves are not exactly the beach. Nonetheless, we wanted a swim this weekend and a North swell churned up all the North shore beaches. So off to Hurricane Hole we went, with rinse bottles, water bottles, snorkle gear and towels. On the South shore of St. John, Hurricane Hole is aptly named for the shelter the deep and protected coves provide during a storm. We found our spot among the garden of tangled root systems from which to launch. At first I was skeptical. Nothing but sandy bottom. We swam along the edge (with our wooden spear, in case we saw a shark like last weekend) and then crossed the bay to the other side. I saw a small beach in another bay ahead so we made toward that, where we took a break, before returning back to our temporary encampment. The far shore was far rockier and steeply ran into the sea; excellent fish were grazing in these water. A granddaddy of a Trunkfish hid behind the mangrove roots, Queen Anglefish hid beneath the outcroppings. Nothing dangerous. Of course any shark knew we carried our spear. (Honeslty, you have to make this stuff up to just make it a bit different from last weekend....)

We stayed a while among the roots, climbing limbs and carefully maneuvering through the trees. It would have been a perfect day for an X-Pan.

Eventually it was time to go up to the Fortsberg, recently cleared by NPS volunteers, to make more images of the cannons and ruins. Most of the land around the fort is now for sale, and at least five homes have gone up since my first trip there. It is a little incongrous to see the villas rise above the cannons, yet interesting that the armanents are still there. Another of my favorite spots.

Finally it was on to Coral Bay to buy some Cesear dressing. But neither stores carried what we were looking for so we stopped for a drink where our friend Walt was bartending. Someting made me think to go into Syzergy Gallery, that has carried the cyanotypes for many many years.(and where the prints were first spotted by Caneel designers) I hadn't stopped in for at least two years, yet as usual, there was a check for $37.50.. Sadly, today the gallery closes, so we are going out for another swim and then a Artist's potluck. All in all, Syzergy was very very good to me and I"m sad to see it go.

2009-03-27T20:00:00.005-04:00

I brought one stuffed fish over to Larry today and am working on a companion. Again, I'm fairly certain that as cyanotype and that fact that it's going to be printed twice and installed into a geokinetic sculpture,that this is a sufficient change in content, to make it free of copyright infringement. I'm a little paranoid these days about this, yet at the same time, do not have the desire to go capturing my own blowfish image in Australia in order to put together a little collaborative piece on a island in the middle of a great blue sea. More than likely, it is the posting of the image online that makes it anywhere near a copyright infringment. I mean afterall, all that anyone would have to do, is download, invert back to a positive, bring in the color, interpolate a few thousand pixels and past it all over the internet as theirs. Then I'd probably be screwed. Maybe it's just that I assume that anything I put online is fair game. Of course this is why I chose to physically print with elements and inks.

(b) IN NO EVENT SHALL Susanna Pershern OR ANY OF her AFFILIATES OR CONTENT PROVIDERS OR her RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, PARTNERS OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) IN CONNECTION WITH ANY CLAIM, LOSS, DAMAGE, ACTION, SUIT OR OTHER PROCEEDING ARISING UNDER OR OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR USE OF, RELIANCE UPON, ACCESS TO, OR EXPLOITATION OF THE CONTENT, OR ANY PART THEREOF, OR ANY RIGHTS GRANTED TO YOU HEREUNDER, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER THE ACTION IS BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OR OTHERWISE.

2009-03-25T22:02:00.003-04:00

photographer: Susanna

Photographer: Ron

Photographer:Ron

2009-03-21T09:04:00.003-04:00

I haven't forgotten about the blowfish for Larry's next show. This image is a derivative from Istockphoto. I've sold a lot of downloads at Istock, yet have never purchased an image before; the copyright code was enormous. I'm pretty sure it said I could download, convert the image to a negative, print it on my own printer, make a cyanotype, make another cyanotype, paste them together, stuff it with cotton, and hang it from a copper wire. Which is exactly what I intend to do.

2009-03-15T17:37:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, we visited Ron's brother Bill on the 160ft vessel at Yacht Haven. Then we visited a friend's 41 ft sailboat at the boatyard at Subase. In between, we stopped at Havensite and I tried on a 6mm Sigma fisheye. I almost bought it yet am holding out for the Nikkor 8mm.

Ides of March

2009-03-15T13:10:00.001-04:00

2009-03-12T16:45:00.007-04:00

"Bad artists copy. Great artists steal."Picasso

PUBLIC DOMAIN - the status of publications, products, and processes that are not protected under patent or copyright.

Why does PUBLIC DOMAIN exist?
It exists to allow the free exchange of knowledge. If it did not, museums would be allowed to keep images under perpetual copyright, thus denying everyone the opportunity to view, critique, or otherwise examine works.

B

2009-03-04T18:46:00.002-04:00

My first show came down today. Larry Lipsky had already removed his geo-kinetic scultpures on Monday. Ron contributed three cut-out cyanotype fish and Larry put them together with copper wire and grommets. I have to say that without his whimsy, I don't think the flamboyant anglefish has quite the charm. Larry's always on to someting, and he's thinking Blowfish for the next showing. This animal would be very difficult to translate into a print, for a sculpture. I really don't have any ideas, just wondering about printing on metal.

I am a little preoccupied this week with the historic ceramics: coarse earthenwares, tin-enamel(D.d.Faience, Majolica), El Morro, Moravian, Wedgewood, Porcelain(Imari, Canton, imitation) etc, etc, and the boneyard that is called Cinnamon Bay. I am happy to have the prints back. It inspires me a bit. However, I'm out of paper and transparency. Yet the print washer finally arrived! It almost feels time for some Holga work. Real film. Maybe get a set of tanks and develop my own....

2009-03-01T20:11:00.007-04:00

Delftware. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a nice collection of Delftware in their lower section. I was never into ceramics before I lived on St. John. Now it is something I think about in the shower, or when I wash dishes, or cook. It means that this place is very old. These images are from the recently cleared ruins of L'Esperance Plantation. Just one of 90 full-blown plantation ruins in the Park. Ron and I hiked to L'e and Sieban ruins this afternoon, and then met up with Trinidad Charlie and other good friends in Coral Bay and spoke of traveling to Trinidad and of making Julien Schnabel forgeries. There are times when a Trinidad portfolio seems even more meaningful than shipwreck photography, and how am I ever going to have the time or money as a GS-5 to do the things I want to do. Like go to Cuba, too. Freelance Photography has an appeal, yet what can really be known in one trip, a week, several months. The next thing I really need to do, is simply to clean the D200 sensor and lens. (So there aren't issues for that trip to the Southern Caribbean.)

1766

And the lone Baobab Tree, Seiban Plantation.

\

2009-02-20T20:30:00.015-04:00

The Annaberg Folk Life Festival, 2009.

Annaberg Folk Life is just about my favorite day to photograph. This was my fifth year, and in editing tonight I feel more personal about the images, knowing the individuals and especially school children that make this festival alive. However, it's still about location, the food, music and dance and not even my annual Thrift Saving Plan Statement that arrived in the mail today, nor our landlords, can dampen my pleasure in the day. I remember the first few years I got a lot of snarls, yet today, mostly smiles.

Yesterday there were Mocko Jumbies and Quelbe. Today there was Calypso musicians and Quadrille Dancers. Mutton and Saltfish for lunch. Lots of Obama supporters, to say the least. My kind of place. Although it is a park sponsored event, in reality it is islander's day. And it bugs the hell out of me that neither of the park cultural managers bother to show up.

Even Ronnie says I should be editing Channel Island images tonight....There's a lot of detail unseen in these small jpgs that I hope will be preserved in the archives for generations. Although I was shooting my own D200, I suppose since I had on the badge, that these are public domain.

Tomorrow night is the closing program, and hope stars dem shine brite.

Happy Birthday Hannah !

The Five St. John Windmill Ruins (Sugar Production)

2009-02-16T08:54:00.008-04:00

Carolina

Catherineberg

Annaberg

Peace Hill

Susannaberg, 2007

2009-02-13T20:41:00.004-04:00

Unbeknown est to me, Maho Bay is the center of the St. John Universe. My friend and fellow photographer had a show tonight and Ron and I showed up just as they were serving dinner to over a hundred people. Talk about a cash cow. Wow. The images were beautiful, and the artist asked if I had a medium format camera, to take pictures of another artist work for publication. This led to a discussion about wide angle lenses and Polaroid film. And now I am completely morose that there is no Polaroid left in the world, practically speaking. It's taken me about 38 years to learn that life is not fair.

I"m pretty sure everyone has heard that the show at Michael's was a great success. I refuse to be a hostage of the market anyway, so showing platinum and gold in the middle of a depression and expecting to profit is fantasy. Better to be detached from this burden of ownership is what I say!

How I jest.....

2009-02-03T18:52:00.005-04:00

Guess that I will use any excuse not to mat....