Things as of Late

After my trip to Centralia, I wrapped up the photographing portion of the Of What Remains series. After many nights of sifting and processing, I was finally able to move on to the second and final stage of the project: the design and creation of a book via Blurb. The book was delivered this afternoon and I honestly couldn't be any happier with it. Aside from a few small issues, it looks great. As soon as things are in order, the book will be available for purchase. Keep an eye out for a link.

In hindsight, being involved with Of What Remains was one of the best photographic experiences I have ever undergone. I certainly learned a lot and came away with a mind and hard-drive full of intriguing imagery. I have every intention to keep on photographing, writing, and making books -- stay tuned for my next urban dilapidation adventure!

Fortunately as one series ends, another is created. Lately I have been feverishly working on exacting the process of cyanotype printing from digital negatives. Here is a sample from my latest print:

11x17 on watercolor paper

As you can see from this print, I am using images from Of What Remains. Ideally I would have liked to work with Van Dyke Brown toner, but the chemicals from the darkroom at my school are in short supply. Still, I think the cyanotype works quite well. I'm pretty excited about them. Typically I have been printing on various watercolor papers (which I find works the best), but I have also been experimenting with other fine art papers such as Hahnemuhle and Somerset. 

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Tonight I decided to meander around my college campus -- something I have been doing a lot of lately since the weather has been so nice. During my walks, I spend a lot of time pondering about how different the campus appears at night versus in the daytime. It almost becomes a different world. I've been telling myself for nearly a year to suck it up and shoot some night landscapes, but the effort always seemed to elude me. Knowing my time left here is very short, I indefinitely decided tonight was the night. Here are a couple of sample images. The series is called Whispering Light and Empty Skies. 

 

Both images were created using a 10-22mm lens and a tripod. For the image on the left, I used the bulb setting to capture the light trails from the cars. With the image on the right, I used an eight-second exposure at f.18 on manual mode. ISO was set to 800.