Spring flowers

When my grandma sold her house 2 years ago, my Mom made sure I got transplants from her flowers for my new house. Nothing bloomed last year. I think they were still in shock from being uprooted.

This year I have beautiful yellow iris, with purple ones blooming in the next few days. Peonies are next!

The best part is that it’s all such a surprise. I had no idea when I planted them what color they were.

Art in the Park follow-up

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday for Art in the Park. We had a ton of people come by our Lawrence Photo Alliance booths from a little before 10am all the way up until about 4:45pm. I was plum tuckered by the end of the day.

Art in the Park is a great opportunity for artists to show their work, but it’s also a great opportunity for artists to observe the art-buying public.

I had 2 conversations with people that started out:
art buyer: did you take this in [location]?
me: no, I took it in [other location]
art buyer: oh, sets item down, politely looks around a little, then walks away.

I understand this impulse — people like to have photos of places they’ve been, places that mean something to them. But if this photo is not specific enough to one place to identify it without asking, does it really matter? Should I just say, “you know, I don’t remember where I took that”, and hope the ambiguity sells artwork? I’m thinking no, but I’d love to hear comments from the other side.

The highlight of the day for me was a young girl (around 10ish) and her Mom. Mom let her daughter pick out a tote bag. She picked the carrots (good choice). Daughter came back later and picked out the beets for her brother. So sweet! That totally made my day.

Art in the Park, Sunday, May 4

Art in the Park will be held on Sunday, May 4 from 10am-5pm in South Park, Lawrence, KS. I will be setting up with the Lawrence Photo Alliance – check the LJ-World Sunday morning for a map of the layout.

I will have prints, magnets, and tote bags with some of my digital photographs on them, as well as greeting cards of some of my Polaroid transfers. Since my Polaroid transfer days are pretty much behind me, I won’t be selling any of my original transfers.

We got rained out last year so a rain date of Sunday, May 11 has been scheduled. The Lawrence Art Guild puts on this event every year and there’s usually a very good turnout. Just keep your fingers crossed for sunny skies!

Jayhawk parade

It was a bit of a challenge to take photos with so many people in the street, but I did the best I could. My parade photos are here.

The parade was incredible! The LJ World is estimating that 80,000 people attended and that sure seems accurate to me. It was sidewalk to sidewalk people.

Rock chalk Jayhawk! Go KU!

Rock chalk Jayhawk!

Ok, so this has absolutely nothing to do with Polaroid or art or craft or anything else, but I couldn’t let such a momentous occasion go unblogged.

The Kansas Jayhawks are the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions!

Woohoo! Needless to say, Lawrence was nuts after the game on Monday night. I posted a couple of my photos from Monday night to my Flickr account.

A parade is scheduled for Sunday at 3pm, so those of us who missed the welcome home celebration at Memorial Stadium will have our chance to cheer for the Hawks. Go KU!

New Polaroid transfers

I uploaded 6 new Polaroid transfers to my Flickr account.

Half of these were taken last summer on a trip to Mesa Verde and Santa Fe. Yes, I’m just now getting around to printing them, but at least I got to it before my next trip to the southwest in July. And, the half that aren’t from MV/SF, were taken even longer ago.

Why the extreme procrastination, you ask? Shooting slides automatically builds in a little procrastination time because you have to wait for them to get developed. After I get my slides back, I’m usually too afraid to look at them for a little while. I desperately want to believe that I got that perfect shot, and if I don’t look at my slides, then I can imagine they’re all perfect!

Once I finally look at my slides, I choose a day to print transfers. A whole day. I usually end up printing for only an hour or two (or until my Polaroid film runs out), but I don’t want any distractions or any excuses to have to speed things up. Polaroid transfer printing day is my block out the world and become one with the stinky Polaroid film time. Ah, bliss.

Since these blissful days are numbered, I’ve been thinking about my post-Polaroid existence. Digital still hasn’t grabbed me. Fuji makes an instant film that can be transferred, and debate rages over how to get Fuji transfers to look like Polaroid transfers. At this point I’m not really interested in Fuji transfers — they have to be peeled in the dark, which takes all the fun out of printing in my sunny kitchen.

I’ll probably change my mind when I’ve used up the last of my 669, but for now I’m not sure what I’ll do. Probably just get over myself and start shooting digital like everyone else. Perish the thought!

Letterpress projects, v.2

I had my last letterpress class at the Lawrence Arts Center Tuesday night. In my last 2 class sessions I was able to print a short poem by Sylvia Plath and some little note cards, both printed on a Vandercook 15-21 press.

The digital scans just don’t capture how beautiful these little projects are, if I do say so myself. The impression of the type in the luscious Rives paper, the subtle periwinkle blue ink that can never be exactly replicated (mix some blue with some white, and cross your fingers).

I’m smitten. I definitely want to take this class again, but I’ve been neglecting my photography lately and I want to shoot as much Polaroid stuff as I can, while I can. I’m also not a writer, so I had to look for someone else’s work to set and print. So for now, farewell letterpress.

Speaking of photography, I dropped off Adobe Sky at the Lawrence Arts Center for the annual Art Auction. My piece will be in the Silent Auction, which opens March 17 and ends on April 12. I encourage everyone to stop by and take a look. All proceeds from the auction benefit the Arts Center’s Gallery program.

Polaroid — An Icon of a Company

A really touching audio slideshow by Michael Blanchard about the end of Polaroid film. Via Save Polaroid.

And, yes, I will stop dwelling (obsessing?) on this soon. I finished my 2nd letterpress project last night and will post a photo soon. I also recently finished some new Polaroid transfers that I will post to Flickr this weekend.

Polaroid comic/commentary

Aaron Johnson over at What the Duck sent me this Polaroid-themed comic (WTD 424).

Thanks Aaron. That’s a great strip and I think it really captures what a lot of us Polaroid photographers are feeling. Loss. *sniff*

Death of Polaroid, v.2

The Boston Globe printed another article on the demise of Polaroid film.

This article is interesting because it mentions folks who still use Polaroid film — police departments, artists. The first death of Polaroid article made it sound like this was a long-abandoned format that no one used anyway. Would’ve been nice if they did a little research the first time and realized that there are still Polaroid devotees out there who really appreciate a true instant photo.

As an aside, my Polariod Spectra camera came from a police department that had moved over to digital. Whenever I used that camera, I couldn’t help imagining all the gruesome things that camera had seen. I made sure to take lots of pictures of animals and flowers with that camera, to counteract all the bad things it had seen in its life.