Vellum Set-Ups

I have printed out parts (vellum for top layers, cold press paper for bottom layers) for gluing up some black and white vellum composite pieces.  These are my Photoshop set-ups.  Of course, the actual vellum composites will be more subtle.  These are definitely my Deering farm haunting pieces.

By the Shore

Trees, Sky, Water

The World Outside

I have been allowing myself to get sidetracked with just plain old nature.  I think I need to do more trees.

Interior of Deering Farmstead

I have managed to put cameras inside the Deering Farmhouse and Barn.  These are the products of very long and experimental exposures.  None of the Barn images came out.  My cameras were discovered in the barn one day by someone, and despite my note attached to them, the cameras were tampered with.  Whoever it was tried to put the cameras back (although not in the same place), but the the overexposure to the image by the outside light had already occurred.  I hope I will able to do more, but the place is a bit dangerous and tricky, and very close to a final collapse.

Exterior of Deering Farmstead

More exterior images as the barn continues to decline rapidly.  Because of the foliage, in these images nature seems more prominent, and the structures more incidental, as nature takes over.  The overexposed images dissolve the structures in light.

Camera Obscura & History of Photography at Willowbrook Museum

I was asked to give a talk on the early history of photography and the pinhole camera at Willowbrook Museum in Newfield Maine (http://www.willowbrookmuseum.org/), on August 16th & 17th.  I thought an interesting way to enter into the discussion would be through the visual demonstration of the camera obscura.  The Museum Director agreed to letting my husband, Paul, & me turn the museum's historic ballroom into a giant camera obscura.  It tok quite a bit of doing, blacking out 10 large widows and 2 doors (all with great care, so as not to damage anything).  The end result was a grand success. Young and old visitors all loved it, and photography became alive for them as cars drove across the ceiling and the world walked by on the wall upside-down.  And somehow it made sense to talk about history in the dark.  For researching the past all begins with looking into blackness, and an image only develops through the process of research and understanding. 

Unfortunately this opportunity arose with only enough time for me to put it all together.  So I did not have enough time to prepare for photographing the event.  But I did manage to take a couple of pinhole photographs of some of the old photographic equipment in the ballroom.