I Didn't Know if I was Shooting Black & White or Color Film!

Create | Bring Into Being

I carry both black & white and color film.  One day, with my eyes shut, I reached into my camera bag, felt around, extracted a random roll, loaded my camera and began taking pictures without knowledge of the film type.

Vermont Welcome Center

A week later, with a few minutes to spare before meeting friends in Brattleboro, Vermont, I stopped at the Guilford Welcome Center off Interstate 91. 

Museum Piece

Signs promoting the Center's WiFi capacity interested me as did the display of old horse drawn farm equipment on the grounds.

WiFi and Wildlife

The map is of wildlife road crossings in the state.  I need a reality check here.  Please help me.  In my mind, the promise of Vermont is the unspoiled outdoors, wildlife, nature and a lack of technology, or at most, tractors clattering.  Heading into Vermont for a visit, would your heart thrill to know that the welcome center had WiFi, or would you wonder: "What's wrong with this picture?"

Looking East

A beautiful perennial garden graced the grounds.  A flock of dragonflies hovered nearby as I photographed.  Birds tweeted.

Looking West

The view from the other side of the flower bed.

The garden centered on a sundial.  At one edge was a solar panel powered informational kiosk. 

Time Did Not Always Tick Past

Back on the Interstate, I thought about this shooting without knowing film type.  Trying to define the basic, fundamental elements of an engaging picture, irrespective of black & white or color toning, six traits spontaneously emerged from my consciousness.  Line.  Form.  Content.  Light.  Mood.  Emotion.

What qualities would you add to this list?

If you shoot film, I suggest you try this random roll selection process. 

Tech Tips: Ansco Pix Panorama camera, no settings to set, Kodak Professional BW400CN, C-41 Process Black & White Negative Film ISO 400, film processed and scanned at Walgreens.

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A Walk in the Park Heart of New York City

Enjoy | Delight in Life

Who's on First?

Silhouetted, a small subject can have impact. 

Reference Point

Wonder if the squirrel lives in this nest (dark shape, upper center).  I noticed this tree because of my photographer friend Benjamin Swett who wrote and photographed the Great Trees of New York City: A Guide.

Tree, Bark and Sky

I like layering exposures.

Christo Was Here

How about the the bag wrap of this trash barrel!  Distinctive and durable.  The other day I watched a parks worker weed whack around plantings.  He had the deft and delicate touch of an artist.

Tech Tips:  Nikon D700, 24-70 mm, ISO 250.  Tree, Bark and Sky is an in-camera multiple exposure treated with Topaz Adjust, a plug-in for Photoshop. ©2010 John Nordell

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I Found the Process of Entering this Juried Art Competition Delightfully Rewarding

Look | Sensory Inspiration

(I am mailing today my submission for the Franklin County Biennial inaugural juried fine art exhibition.  The theme is Confluence.  Click images to enlarge.

My friend and teaching colleague Peter Chilton designed the Biennial's website and logo.  Take a look.  His keen and creative input has greatly influenced the design of this site.  Thank you Pete!)

I moved to Franklin County 4 years ago and was immediately taken with the land:  abundant rivers, sublime cornfields and trail-laced ridges.  I feel expansiveness, openness, greater than in Boston or the city's suburbs where I had previously made homes.

I came to teach photography after two decades of work, primarily as a photojournalist.  Freed from the dictates of assignment editors, I found myself experimenting with techniques.

My experiments refined into a series of Reality-Based Abstractions, which are digital multiple exposures.  As the image combining occurs in-camera, the raw files that emerge are flat and gray looking.  I use a computer darkroom to reveal rich detail, texture and color.

Railroad Bridge

Railroad Bridge is one of these abstractions.  Bicycles whir along where trains serving the mills used to rumble.  What's next for this transportation corridor?

Confluences

This bike path bridge is at left in Confluences.  Beyond the beauty of the literal confluence of the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers, the work addresses evolving image-making technology.  The top image was taken with a digital camera.  Digital grants the freedom to explore without concern for processing costs.  I shot the bottom image with a plastic, no-settings film camera.  I use it mindfully, not clicking the shutter unless the scene is just right.  I delight in the decidedly un-digital grain and blemishes.

Natural Roots

The South River flows through horse powered Natural Roots farm in Conway before later joining the Deerfield River.  Farmer David Fisher drives a team of four workhorses, pulling a harrow.  The spinning discs neutralize weeds by turning them into the soil.

Horse manure fertilizes the fields.  Hay and vegetables grow.  Hay fuels the horses.  The beautiful cycle of traditional, non-fossil fuel farming. 

Currents of the past and future gleaned from living life along Franklin County rivers swirl through my soul and fuel my artistic vision.

(P.S. Thank you Langston Hughes for your poem:  The Negro Speaks of Rivers.)

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New York Cityscapes

Create | Bring Into Being

It's been a couple of years since I visited the Big Apple.  I am fortunate to have friends to stay with.

Vertical Living

Upon arrival, I always beeline for their roof.   The view contrasts mightily with the small New England town where I reside.

Broadway

My favorite images were either multiple exposures or intentionally out of focus.

Postcard from the Roof

Though I once lived for a year in NYC,  I cannot now imagine living in such a densely populated area. My imagery reflects this shift of consciousness.

Tech Tips: Nikon D700, 24-70mm, ISO 200. Vertical Living and Postcard from the Roof are in-camera multiple exposures treated with Topaz Adjust, a plug-in for Photoshop CS4.  ©2010 John Nordell

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On the (Mostly Delightful) Vagaries of Shooting Film with a Low End Camera

Enjoy | Delight in Life

Connecticut River Sunburst

My plastic point and shoot panoramic film camera continues to surprise and delight me.  Look at this flare!  Above and below are the full frame 35mm scans.

 Graduation

Along with these unplanned gifts, I am divining how inaccurate the viewfinder is:

Sliver of the Future Now

I meant to include more of the solar panels lining this Cambridge, MA shopping center roof.   Yet  I find this result better than my intention.  I  later cropped off some of the sky. (Click image to enlarge).

"You Can Do It"

I had the camera in my pocket as I sat on stage with other faculty members during graduation at Hallmark Institute of Photography.  While I love the grainy, funky, unpredictable results when making art, documenting 75 year old photographic legend Douglas Kirkland in harsh lighting conditions fell short of the quality I wanted.

"A series of small steps," is how Mr. Kirkland explained his successful career trajectory.
Tech Tips: Ansco Pix Panorama camera, Kodak UltraMax 800 film, no settings to set, film processed and scanned at Walgreens.

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