Flags throughout NJ are flying at 1/2 mast due to the deaths from Corona Virus. I stopped the car coming back from delivering food to my 91-yr-old mother-in-law to take this image. After the fact I realized that it was a metaphor, combining the new life of spring with the sad reality of the time we are living in. The scan is from an enlarged contact print (i.e. unmanipulated); I will print this one for real (fiber paper with usual darkroom manipulation), and there is detail in the tree trunk and branches which doesn't show here.
Rollei 6006, 80mm, HP5+, Pyrocat, Ilford RC.
virusflagmadison by Peter Lewin, on Flickr
Comments & critique always welcome.
my black and white photos of the Mendocino Coast: jonshiu.zenfolio.com
Peter, the irony in this is image, as you note, is strong, also due to the pleasing tonality in the print. The only thing that really bothers my eye is the car being so close to the bottom edge. The edge-magnetism effect is a bit strong, thus distracting. The eye goes immediately to the flag and up, but is drawn to the car and tends then to get captured in the space below the horizontals.
Philip Ulanowsky
Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
www.imagesinsilver.art
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/
Agree completely. I was hand-holding the Rollei, and concentrating on keeping the flag pole vertical and the framing with the tree, I didn't even realize the car was there until I developed the film and made a contact sheet. I immediately felt the same as you. Would love to redo the image, but my experience is that often just enough things change that the redo is not successful either. Will have to see.
1897 water tower. There are many water towers still in our town. Not in use for water, but some have been converted to apartments or artist studios etc. Here is a HABS photo of this one:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ca...fe3CjHkSOkwFYo
Last edited by Jon Shiu; 12-Apr-2020 at 15:47.
my black and white photos of the Mendocino Coast: jonshiu.zenfolio.com
Six inches of snow, 30 mph winds, and temperature heading to 15 degrees. Feels more like i've been pushed back to Christmas rather than Easter. It's turning into the "upside down" year so I suppose the weather is appropriate.
I've knocked off work for awhile, waiting for things to calm down a bit. This has given me time to practice tin type photography. I've been keeping within a four hour circle of home so I don't have to stay out overnight. Still, there's a lot to see within that range. With a fairly short drive I can be in deserted places. One of these places is a favorite--St. Procopious Church. It's two hours west within sight of the Missouri River, south of I-90. It's a retired church with a small cemetery. It sits alone in the middle of several sections of open fields. It's a tiny church and looks even smaller in its setting.
Since it was Good Friday, I decided to photo the crucifix in the cemetery. Wet plate photography is something you don't do in a hurry and I had plenty of time to wander around reading the gravestones. I found a couple from 1918, both for children. It took me several attempts to make a nice 8x10 plate but I finally got one after a few hours. The church is one of my favorite places--it's nice to photo and is peaceful there. I hope to go back once the weather warms again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkjjnlrWifU
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Shooting at home!
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