f256

a new photograph every posting... and an inside line to my dreary life

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Well, it was a pretty nice trip up to the Jet City, er I mean Emerald City, this weekend. I left here early on Friday morning. The weather was miserable. It was raining pretty damned hard. Since it was going to rain the whole way (and it did), I decided to go along the coast. I took a new road between Scappoose and Astoria that was a pretty fun ride. Of course it would have been a lot more fun if the pavement had been dry but such is life. Anyway, when I got to Aberdeen, I visited an old friend from elementary school days. Jimmy's Dad used to drive us to school in the morning and my Mom would pick us up. (Ah, those were simpler times). We talked for about two hours (and I dried out a bit) before I finished my ride. I got to my sister's house just as my Dad was pulling the burgers off the grill. Good timing.

I also was able to visit with R&R for a while too. And I stopped by my friend Steve's house. He's moving to a bigger house with more space to park his landscaping rigs.

Yesterday, I headed back home and there was nary a drop of rain.

The attached image is a zone plate image of a Pepsi Cap near Olney, Oregon. If you look closely enough, you can see the sensor on my camera needs a cleaning in a big way!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Well, the big Memorial Day Weekend is upon us. Many of my students will ( or should) be working in the lab. Yours truly is heading up to Seattle. I think I am going to go out to the coast and head north. I might stop and see a friend from elementary school who contacted me a couple of weeks a go. He lives in Aberdeen and is quitting his job on the railroad to become a school teacher. I think he's crazy but what can you do? In spite of my knowing better, I'm going to continue to teach. R (like Tim in Maine) has suggested that I open my own place to teach out of. It's a good idea but I'm not sure I could handle all the business stuff. Personally, I'd like R to join me in the business. We could do portraits and what not on the side. She has turned into quite a good photographer and look forward to seeing her be successful somewhere down the line. She has the vision and dedication necessary to be a success if you ask me. Anyway, I'm going to ride up the coast and visit some family and friends. It should be a full weekend.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006














Greetings Citizens. I was a little under the weather yesterday so I stayed home. Didn't do a damned thing but sleep. Well, I guess I did go grocery shopping. I needed some milk and ingredients to make meatloaf. So I cooked dinner and watched sports on the tube.

Got a zone plate for my digital camera in the mail today from Eric and Nancy. I'm dying to try it out but I think I need to clean my sensor first. So that's on the plan of things to do today. That and grade some portrait work.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Yesterday was a nice day. I went down to Woodburn and made some photos at my favorite steel fabrication site. They were working, so I had to go in and ask for permission... and answer all the questions as to why I was making images of rusted metal. I think I was there for about an hour. Then I went to Monmoth to be by R and watch her daughter run the 4x400 relay. They came in fourth place which is pretty good, especially when you consider they were only ranked seventh. After the meet, I took the scenic route home and had a wonderful ride. The weather was great and the traffic was light on the roads I was traveling on. When I got home, I dropped off the cameras and headed over to J&A's for a party. A friend of J's is returning to Iceland and J and her working buddies were throwing a party. It was a fun evening. C brought fresh strawberries and whipped cream and yours truly had more than his fair share! I left around 11 pm and came home and went to bed. Today, I was a total slacker. I watched TV and folded laundry. I stood under shelter and watched a thunderstorm blow through. I love the sound of thunder and the smell the ground makes when a fresh rain falls.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Not a whole helluva lot to report. My only real news is that I am seriously considering getting a puppy. I need some sort of companionship and if it can't be a hottie it might as well be a dog.

It's supposed to rain all day but right now all I see are blue skies! I was going to complete a softball umpire's test but maybe a nice motorcycle ride will be the better choice. Maybe go to the humane society.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Greetings Citizens. You want to know the phrase I hate hearing more than any other? Tough! I'm going to tell you anyway. It's "Can't we just be friends?"



Greetings Citizens. We toned prints in class yesterday. Mostly, I gave a demo and the students watched but afterwards some of the kids toned some images for fun. R especially seemed to like toning. I just got back from taking the images off the screens. I didn't want to leave them on and take up all the screen space. It might have given the other adjunct yet another reason to write a nasty email to the dean.

So after lunch, I think I am going to work on some images and do some grocery shopping. How's that for excitement?

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Greetings Citizens. It looks like it is going to be another HOT day. Yesterday was pretty warm but I was safely buried in the darkroom with my kids. Except a few of them couldn't resist the great weather and were absent. Shocking!

I finished my first ceramic pinhole camera yesterday. It needs to dry out and maybe get some decoration but it is put together and will work nicely.... if it doesn't explode in the kiln. Me and Jen's workshop is just around the corner and it will be a good one (if you ask me). Eight people have already registered and it's early.

So, one of the other adjunct's kids comes into my class yesterday. She wants to process some film. Normally, if there's room, I let anyone work in the lab who wants to. But this student was one of the kids who complained to their instructor and wrote a note that was forwarded to the dean. So I had to tell her that since she couldn't function with the way we do things it wouldn't be a good idea for her to be working during my class time. The look on her face was priceless. The other adjunct has never allowed my students to work in the lab during her class time (which is no biggie and is to be expected) so I don't feel too guilty.

I think I'm going to put some miles on my motorcycle today. Maybe ride to Mt. Angel for a root beer. Or not.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. I watched the M's win their second straight. Then, I hopped on my motorcycle and went out and photographed for a few hours. When I was finished, I stopped by Jen & Aaron's house for some juice and conversation. We sat outside and enjoyed the evening warmth. I left before it got too dark and settled in to watch Mystery! on PBS. While the show was going R called and I forgot all about murder and mayhem. It was very nice to hear her voice... it always is! Her daughter qualified for state in track. She ran a pr in the 4x400 relay and pulled away from the field. Tomorrow the kids should be focusing on their final projects. The advanced kids will learn how to tone on Wednesday.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Mark N is almost in Japan. I just received an email from him. He lucked out & was upgraded to first class... with a bed!


I've been watching the Mariners on TV. They just won in 13 innings! 5-4.

I started the day by cleaning the espresso machine. Then I went down to NewSpace and submitted 5 images for a juried show that is coming up. The deadline is Monday and since I'm at school all day on Mondays, I needed to get the work in today. There was a car show going on near the gallery so I prowled around looking at cars for a while before heading back home.

The potluck went fine. A couple of people didn't show up but those who did enjoyed themselves as much as can be expected in spending the afternoon with one of your teachers. The food was good. There was lentils & rice, pasta, tortilla espanola, vegetarian chili and jambalya. All washed down with apple juice and pop. We missed the meatball sandwiches and fruit salad the other two students were supposed to bring. But it was fun. We all chatted, listened to some music, looked at some images and browsed through some of my photo books.

Tomorrow I think I'll go photographing.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Tomorrow my advanced students are coming over for a potluck. Not all we be able to attend but a good number of them will be present. And it looks like there will be some tasty items to sample too!

This afternoon I cleared my stuff out of the office I share with the other adjunct. It was a good day to do it, too. It was an open lab day and only my kids were working in the lab. (Big surprise there). There wasn't quite as much crap there as I thought there was... which is good, I suppose. I made damned sure to get my Spotone out of there. That stuff is like gold on eBay and I'll be damned if I'm leaving it behind.

I also had a pleasant chat with the department head. Jim is a great guy and (I think) one of my best allies in the department. He knows I deserve better than what I got but such is life.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Greetings Citizens. All is going as well as can be expected. My students are starting to produce some nice images and are having fun in the darkroom in spite of the other instructor's rude and stuck-up students. Many of my kids left the lab the other day because of the piss-poor attitudes the other "teacher's" kids display. It appears to begin at the top and works its way down. In a month it will all be over. Originally, I felt sorry for my fellow adjunct; now I feel sorry for the woman who is going to have to work with her!

I met with Chris at NewSpace. It looks like we are going to run two workshops. A four-day affair for the young adults and a weekend marathon for the (old) adults. I'm going to have the kids work from journals... have them personally write down all the formulas and directions while giving the adults handouts.

The advanced kids are coming over for a potluck on Saturday afternoon. It should be fun.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Greetings Citizens. I seem to be living in a state of constant turmoil. I thought I was over the job thing... and believe me, I want to be over it! But I still am having trouble sleeping and it seems to be taking over my life like a bad drug habit. In fact, for the first time in a long time I felt like just saying "fuck it", buying a six pack and getting myself drunk and numb. I thank God that I didn't... but I sure did feel like it.

Today was an alright day though. I met with Chris at NewSpace and we went over plans to run two workshops on alternative processes. One of the workshops will be a four day affair for young adults and the other one will be for full-grown adults on one weekend. It looks like I'll have an action-packed full week because I'll be finishing up the Ceramic Pinhole Camera Workshop on Saturday. Then a day off. Then the kid's through Thursday. Friday off. Then the adult Alternative Photographic Processes Overview. Then what? who knows. Probably umpire some softball.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Went home to visit Mom & Dad over the weekend. Actually, I really only saw my Mom because Daddy was working for the M's. I had Chinese food with Mom on Saturday night as we watched the M's beat the Indians. She had her favorite-Shrimp Egg Foo Young. And I had Sesame Chicken.

Before I left I had a nice lunch with R. We chatted for a long while before she went to the lab and I headed north. I called her first thing when I got back and got the usual reply from her answering machine. But she called later. We laughed and talked for about half an hour.

Now it's off to bed.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Yesterday, I spent most of the day helping Mark N move into his new bachelor pad. It was small.... but nice. We had lunch at the Belmont Inn and finished off the meal with a cup of coffee from the Stumptown Annex.

When I got home I called Karen and caught her up on all the drama of my life. It's always nice to hear her voice.

Today I am working on getting some images ready for a couple of group shows I'd like to get into. Then, I think I'll make tacos tonight to celebrate the Mexicans defeating the French.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Yesterday the new hire for the photo position came into my classroom. She was looking over the facilities, taking notes and scoping things out with the department head. After she had looked around for a bit she asked me if I knew of any equipment that was in need of repair. I was a little bit stunned! I gathered my wits and told her, " Uh, you're placing me in a rather delicate position but no, I can't help you." She looked shocked but said okay and went back to her inventory while I went back to my teaching. Now I ask you, gentle readers, why would the department be so callous to have her come into the classroom while the person she's replacing is teaching instead of having her meet the adjunct faculty member she will be working with? It was like pouring salt in my wound! Here I am halfway out the door and they bring the new tenured track instructor into my class wanting my help. She probably knew nothing but the department surly did and they are some thoughtless bastards, if you ask me. Enough said about that.

I'm doing better in my ceramics class. I almost feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I made three vessels yesterday (and I wrecked my first one and my last one). That's the best success ratio I've had yet in that class! So I'm feeling confident. Jen also showed me her first prototype ceramic pinhole camera. I'm going to try and get some images made with it next week. It looks like it will work though I have some concern with a funky shutter mechanism she's added (per the directions from an article on making clay cameras). We'll see.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Greetings Citizens. Today was a day to do laundry and catch up on chores. I found out that only one person signed up for the pinhole workshop scheduled for this Saturday so it has been cancelled. I guess I'll head up to Seattle for Mother's Day instead.... spend some quality time with Mommy while Dad is at Safeco Stadium working for the Mariners (who lost today 5-1).

My advanced students were shown how to make cyanotypes on Monday and a few of them have already put their overexposed and overdeveloped negatives from their Holga camera to good use.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Greetings Citizens. As the weather begins to get better, I find myself making cyanotypes again. I am showing my advanced students how to make them today... if the weather cooperates. I've made about half a dozen in the last few days and I must say that I'd much rather make prints outside than work in a darkroom any day! Me and Big Mike made a few yesterday at his apartment. I brought some of my "good paper" for him to try and he had some Arches 88 that he liked working with too. He made a nice image of some gas pumps.

Saturday, I had my non-credit class at Chemeketa. There was a full house and most of the students got their $30 worth out of me. I came home and had a peanut butter & honey sandwich. Afterwards, I fell asleep watching a basketball game on the tube. I went to bed at 9:00 and slept straight through 'til 8:30 the next morning. Guess I was tired.

I'm meeting with the director of the NewSpace Gallery this week to see if my ideas for an alternative printing class for adults and young adults will work for them. I hope so. I need something to do this summer.