Robert Langham

Working on still life.

2013-05-23T13:32:00.002-07:00

Has to move or bin in transition in some way, can't just be a collection of objects. I think of them as being momentary, at least. Using the 8X10 Deardorff, one soft box, silver card reflector and light dams to control the lighting. Remembering a few tricks I forgot or haven't used in a decade. Just getting going it seems. Freezing things takes overnight or longer and looks like most of them are going to take several "takes" so it's several days at the least. In time that's just a blink.

Here's the process on one I am working on. It's harder on the props than you might think- I'm destroying/breaking things all the time or I'm working with something that won't last. Broke the cup, my wishbone and had a dice get away for a while.

First day try.

Close, but no cigar.

Couple days later:

Roughed out and shedding items.

This is about the end. Now I have to do it again.

New idea for still life.

2013-05-20T10:10:00.002-07:00

Amazing how new ideas just pop up in your mind. Not quite ready for the details but I'm interested in still life photographs.....but the still lifes have to be alive, moving, melting, burning, spinning, flowing, et. Photographing an assemblage of things and calling it art...well, isn't the assemblage art and the photo just a copy? I like a still life that photography has unique capabilities to capture. So I've been thinking. Came up with a new idea. Working out the details and have already learned several things. A lot of photography is just handling the details.

Natalie White at the ROX Gallery.

2013-05-16T11:40:00.002-07:00

Friend of Peter Beard, who has had a great life.

Camino

2013-05-01T06:29:00.002-07:00

Bill Bennet, and Aussie filmmaker and photographer is walking a 500 mile pilgrimage in Spain and blogging. Many photographs and an interesting experience. He's got a nice eye and a commentary to go with it. Worth the visit.

Hasselblad discontinues film camera

2013-04-30T11:58:00.001-07:00

Hasselblad with 50mm wide angle back in 1975 or so.

Sorry to see this end but perfectly understandable. I must have shot thousands of rolls of film, polaroid out of a polaroid back, et with mine. Dad bought my first one for me in 1972. Had one ever since. Now that film has gotten obsolete I shoot only sheet film in holders, hardly ever any rolls. Jackson took one to Canyon de Chelly last year.

Jackson last year with the 50mm I shot the photo above with....37 years before!

Classic, flexible and wonderful camera. I'm sure I will use mine a little more.

Mont St Michele, afternoon shadow: Video.

2013-04-20T15:14:00.001-07:00

With the firm belief that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission: Over the wall and off into the construction scaffolding. Great afternoon to watch the shadow run all the way out.

No hardhat.

View from up on the wall.

Was able to find a spot out of the wind. Nobody noticed me as far as I could tell. Scaffolding quite secure.

They were doing reconstruction/conservation on this area. Scaffolding all the way to the mud below. Very impressive.

Much construction/repair going on while the new bridge was being built. Probably trying to get it all done this year.

Shiprock names.

2013-04-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

I've been wandering around Shiprock since the early 70s....last century. 2014, (if we live), will make 40 years of wandering in the desert. Since then I have named various points and areas and used them and heard them used by others. I think "Molly's Nipple" was about the first and the "Bone Shrine" the latest. (It's a shrine. With bones. Found last year.) There is the Dance Floor, the Meteorite, the Climber's Cave, Climber's Cave Ledge, the Black Giant, the White Tower, the Pulpit, the Dot, the Wing, the Big Hawaiian, the North Buttress, East, West and South Dikes, (more description than names) I wonder what names others use? For instance, the North Buttress is called the Tugboat in some climbers descriptions. Gotta be some.

The Black Giant, a dark volcanic intrusion over the South Dike.

Deardorff in the Climber's Cave pointed at a little anasazi rockwork.

The Pulpit with evening shadow.

Deardorff pointed at the Dot.

Climber's Cave ledge.

Climber's Cave Ledge.

On the Pulpit.

Raven on the West Dike.

Unsolved problem. Never managed to find a light or a viewpoint for these guys at the end of the West Dike.

Shiprock Sundial.

2013-03-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

The most compelling thing about Shiprock is the solitude of the experience of being there. One can be alone in a room but to be alone in a huge empty space with light and air is quite another experience. Beyond that, its a visual feast. Canyon de Chelly is like being inside a sculpture, Shiprock IS a sculpture.

It's also a heck of a sundial, and I've structured most of the many days I have spent there around being in position for the early and late shadows forming up and making a run to the rock or to the horizon.

A little platinum contact of the afternoon shadow from the pulpit.

Morning shadow over off the West Dike.

Late evening shadow about to jump into the atmosphere as the powerplant fires up. Pulpit in foreground.

Afternoon shadow with Pulpit in foreground.

Molly's Nipple and the East Dike in the afternoon.

East Dike from the North Buttress.

East Dike.

Afternoon shadow from the North Buttress.

North Buttress view.

The Wing and afternoon shadow.

Road, shadow.

Road and shadow #2.

West Dike and Morning shadow.

Morning Shadow, 1996

Morning shadow, 2012

Morning shadow and West Dike.

Morning Shadow from Climber's Cave Ledge.

Large Format Print Exchange Printing.

2013-03-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

10 prints of one negative for a print exchange at the Large Format Forum. I finished off my France Negatives to look at them but instead picked a newish image, (last fall), from Shiprock.

I've seen this scene several times. You have to sleep up there to witness it, as it happens first thing in the morning. I was up early and saw the shadow coming and going on the far mountain range. It just flashed like this twice for about 10 seconds but I was set up and ready with the slide pulled.

Easy to print negative with very little spotting- that's part of the key when doing an edition. Some of my prints take a tremendous amount of spotting....which would be multiplied X10. Exposure for an 11X14 paper image was 30 seconds with a ten second burn of the sky. I printed it pretty soft but it has good blacks and a nice range of tones. Now I have to flatten them, do the other work and get them in the mail. Can't wait to see what 10 prints I get back.

Same shot from about 1995.

A gorgeous morning. Just the second time I had been up there.

I love this scene but you have to spend the night up there to be ready for it. Pretty sporty. One night I got in position just as a storm rolled in. The wind took my hat and nearly got me. I managed to get around the corner and into the only shelter on Shiprock- the climber's cave. Safe and dry back there....then the lip of the cave- fairly large, turned into a waterfall with me behind it. I watched the lighting flash through the roaring water...but finally rolled out my sleeping bag cover and went to sleep.

Everything that happens..happens for the first time, the last time and the only time.

Mont St Michele, North Shore Video.

2013-03-23T14:40:00.003-07:00

Just a couple minutes of video shot by Katie on the North Shore. Still working on negatives.

Eiffel Tower.

2013-03-23T08:14:00.001-07:00

View from the top. There are several levels to stop on, including a fancy restaurant level.

First place we visited after we got checked into hotel in Paris. There on a breezy cool night right at dusk. They light the thing up. Took an hour to get tickets and get up. When we came off we walked down the staircase. 20 minutes. It's quite an assembly.

Each leg has an elevator. I think they are run by water power, judging by the machinery we saw.

Rosie, le riveter had been busy.

First lowest big section is a restaurant. The next segment up is an observation deck. You can ride the elevator to the very top.

Photographing around the rock.

2013-03-22T06:15:00.001-07:00

North shore, Mont St Michele.

Beachcombing between shots.

In the cloister up on top of Mont St Michele.

On the plaza in front of the abbye. 9 euro tour. Opens at 9:30. Need to be there at about 7:00.

I am in the shade of the mont.

Photographing tourists.

Spent a lot of time trying to set up a fairly extreme photo, then called it off.

I got it sorted out but it just wasn't...beyond a skillful photo.

In the cathedral shooting the bell rope. Very nice.

Hanging out in construction zone to watch the afternoon shadow cross the mud flat.

On this afternoon I got to watch the shadow run all the way to the horizon.

This view lasted about six seconds on a cloudy afternoon with a cloud bank behind me. It came and went four times over about a hour or so and then went dark.

Black hole down in the abby.

Street walking in the evening.

In front of our little hotel, the Mouton Blanc.

North Shore on the Chapelle St Aubert.

View from a very tough scramble.

Got impressionistic early in the morning over the high tide. I saw seals out near the point.

Chatting up the locals with a little Tarzan-level French in the cloister.

Le Blizzard.

Katie has gotten very handy with her iphone. She must have read my book: The Blackfork Guide, on blurb.com.

Flying with Sheet Film.

2013-03-21T13:56:00.001-07:00

I had the TSA regs, but only Tarzan-level French. I never got the film scanned by the US/TSA, (they were willing to swab it for explosives and be done), but three times by the French. We will see how it held up. Should be fine. Almost everyone was curious about my 5X7 Deardorff folded up in the Zone VI case. They have boring jobs and never see a terrorist so they have to make do with whatever comes along.

Never loaded up my F64 pack. Just used the little Zone VI. Tight, but it held everything. Weather was a little sporty for a couple of days. Glad to have the gore-tex coat over my jacket. Army heavy long underwear under those jeans. 30 year old pair of cheap rubber boots. I was not the snappy dresser.

Mont Saint Michele, North shore. Somehow lost the front cap for the 120 Angulon this morning.

Chasing the shadow of the spire.

Construction scaffold perch. I just waited for a moment when nobody was around and went over. Great place to shoot from. Very windy right around the corner. You get that a lot at MStM.

Was up on this spot two afternoons in a row. One afternoon just gave me 10 second glimpses. The other afternoon I got to watch the shadow go all the way to the horizon.

Morning shadow on the rising tide. Tough trail...an no trail, to get to this perch, but pretty good once I made it.

Up on the church plaza. Japanese girls and the Deardorff.

No problems with the camera. It ran great and carried OK. Mont Saint Michele is a tiny place, fairly vertical but flat around the bottom. You can walk around it in about 20 minutes in a pair of rubber boots. Gets a little muddy in a couple of spots.

Gave away many Texas Commemorative Quarters to kids like this. Folks don't see these cameras very often. I didn't have any special access, just the normal tourist spots. I'm on the 9 Euro abbye tour here.

Just missed this one by about 30 minutes. Needed a little more shadow. The place is like a sundial and the shadow rolls around it in the winter. This is about 11:00. That's the river going out to sea on the left.

These are just iphone records of some shots I made, converted into black and white on the computer. My camera lens, (120 Super Angulon on a 5X7), is a little wider. Plus my 5X7 images are absolutely level.

The place is a rockwork miracle.

Watching the shadow go all the way to the horizon on this afternoon.

Just brief glimpses this afternoon.

Pilgrim, Shrine of St Aubrey.

Quite a brisk morning out.

Morning shadow was always a little impressionistic. Tide was in every morning I was there, so it was shadow on water. Plus some fog.

Man-in-the-rock, MStM.

Packing for a few days out.

2013-03-06T00:18:00.003-08:00

5X7 in an old Zone VI bag. Was going to just use this for carry-on on the airplane but thinking about working out of it now.

Flying to France for a few days next week. Ought to be a fun trip. Packing the 5X7 and tripod. Other cameras, facebooking, blogging, probably going to be minimal, though I ought to return with plenty of video and stills for future blogging. Except for having to funnel everything through the restrictions of airline travel over the Atlantic I'm just treating this as a trip to the rosefields near town.

Got the TSAs own regulations printed out. We'll see if that helps. They see sheet film less than they see guns. Sheet film comes in boxes and is actually mentioned in their regulations as acceptable for hand checking, but the reports are that they don't know their own regulations until you produce them.

Rubber boots. Tripod. The big camera backpack. 10 holders. Spare meter. Spare ground glass. Probably go too much stuff as usual.

Going to miss some of the bloom. Lucy and I made a run to the rose fields this afternoon. The weather has been so warmish that the blooms aren't at peak but the leaves beginning to pop open.

My old crippled pear tree.

Off the top of the truck in some chest-high weeds.

Final pack in the morning.

Front gate to Mont St Michele, 1935.

2013-02-28T09:36:00.003-08:00

They were bringing tourists in a high tide in a skiff. The guy standing in the boat has a dog under his arm. The lady at the top of the stairs has an armload of firewood. This scene still exists today and, God willing, Katie and I will walk through here in about 10 days.

I"ll have this photo with me. Might leave it at the tourist office which is just inside the gate, though to tell you the truth, it's such a beautiful photo, (bought off ebay), that I hate to give it up.

Taking 5X7 into Normandy.

Ansel Adams printing Moonrise, Hernandez.

2013-02-18T03:33:00.002-08:00

Mostly talking about it, but always interesting to see.

Here's another very interesting piece of film: Ansel, Virginia Best, Cedrick Wright and others climbing to the Diving Board via Grizzly Peak gully. I can't believe they pulled it off in the snow. I've been up this route in better weather with Chris Johnson. We didn't make it, ran long on time, hadn't planned to be out overnight, the fog closed in, it got dark and we endured a very cold sleepless night at about 8000 feet in the Sierras in early June. We did make it two other trips, up past Nevada Fall and taking the easier route around the back of Liberty Cap. Tricky routefinding. We spent the night both times. Hope to visit at least once more and take Katie up.

Late afternoon with the shadow of North Dome on the face.

Ansel in Yosemite, 1974.

Dawn.

Ansel was only up there twice, this trip and once before.

History

2013-02-15T19:40:00.002-08:00

This must be about 1987. Struggling through a really difficult time in my life and not being able to make any headway or see a way out. Somehow I had bought myself a 120mm Fuji wide angle for the 5X7, (later destroyed by a poltergeist at Shiprock and then the pieces of it stolen by indians), and it fit my vision perfectly for that format. Going through these old negs every once in a while I find one that looks like it works. I'm sure I won't ever print these, but they are nice pieces of seeing.

Little Sandy Hunting Club boathouse.

Deserted driveway.

iphone images of the proofs while I was sleeving and refiling the negatives. Got that old central composition going. Just in the cold darkroom for about an hour and a half to finish off this box. Whole box of negatives is now proofed and...on to one of the next 30 or 40 boxes.

More Plowing through files of negatives.

2013-02-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

It gets a little weird at times when you have completely forgotten, (until you see the image) about making the shots. I did notice that by this box I had bought a wide-angle lens for my 5X7. It was a Fuji 120mm later killed by a poltergeist at Shiprock and replaced with a 120 Super Angulon. Sure made a difference in the shooting.

Holly at the lake under some penetrating afternoon light. Just an iphone copy of the wet proof. I love the wandering shadows and the cow-cropped branches on the bottom. These trees died two years ago. They are standing ruins now. This was 15 years back, at least.

Zeorlin gave me a sunflower. I remember walking into the studio and the whole place smelling peppery.

Hay bales and clouds.

Swann Furniture sign stashed in the old brothel building downtown.

Upstairs bedroom, or workroom in the old brothel building.

There is, (not shown), a deep-river bottom negative of an old concrete bridge support standing in the middle or the Sabine or Neches. Six of them, pairs of three slight variances in view. Looks like a tombstone. Love to go back and see it in overcast light. Have to look that one up in the log book and see exactly where it is. I hadn't thought about it since I took it.

Never proofed any of these negatives. I haven't scratched the surface on the proofing to be done.

Proofing day.

2013-01-27T18:19:00.001-08:00

Just starting to plow through old negative boxes. Got one open next to the enlarger but it's slow going. Printed off the end of a box of paper this afternoon while proofing film from the last two weekends up at Clarksville.

Looks like the first look at something is usually the best. Went back to several subjects and made worse photos the second time. Hmmmm.

Owl neg going to make a nice print.

Just four 8X10 negs but might have something to try as a platinum contact, if I can get coating smooth enough.

Tried stacking a polarizer and a green filter two times. Both sets of negatives are underexposed by about a stop and a half, though I metered through them. Have to check that versus metering the subject and then adding the filter factor, see what the difference might be. Otherwise, just add more exposure. No problems with either filter used by itself.

Just keep on. Live and learn, then die and forget it all.

Shooting and shooting.

2013-01-22T11:02:00.001-08:00

Picked up a truck-killed Great Horned Owl on the way up to Clarksville last weekend. She was on the side of the road in the Sulpher River bottom. Horned owls very common but you hear them more than see them. Intact. Probably dead of a broken neck. (Driving up for some late-season management-tag shooting with rifle. This is probably the shot.

First looks can be the best, but you never know. On 5X7 Ilford HP5.

He lasted the weekend so I reshot him with 5X7 and 8X10 this weekend.

Moved him and shot him in the sun. Pretty contrasty but I wanted to see the shadow.

And the next morning in the shade. I'm always trying to find the best light to shoot in.

Now she's had a Christian funeral. Birds like this tacked up will last through the Spring and into the Summer, though they start looking a bit worn.

8X10 standing by. It travels folded up in that box with a few holders and accessories.

8X10 set up in the sun in the afternoon light. That's the West wall of the barn and sun position is cranked over because of the time of year.

Owl up in the loft. Left behind up there in the dry and cold. She'll dessicate. Gorgeous, adult, probably female Great Horned Owl. RIP.

Off to shoot in Clarksville....

2013-01-18T20:33:00.001-08:00

Up to Clarksville area for a little hunting this weekend, but taking Digital Nikon and three old pistols to shoot a calendar page or two, the Deardorff 5X7 to shoot, the Deardorff 8X10 to shoot and the Hasselblad. All for specific different shots.

8X10

5X7

Hope to zap a doetag or two while I am there.

Photographing at Clarksville last Saturday.

2013-01-13T20:32:00.001-08:00

I didn't shoot any deer, though I saw plenty the first evening, but I did put my Deardorff in the car just in case. Went back and worked the barn a little. Had a very nice overcast, (though muddy underfoot), morning to shoot.

Horned Owl, Red River County, Texas, 2013

Nice to get a new year of photography started.

Kind of wish I had the 8X10 along.....

TSRA Calendar Photoshoot.

2013-01-10T15:06:00.002-08:00

Calendar Photoshoot at Coyote Sam's last year for this year's calendar. Which I evidently have given away to the point that I don't have one. Lotta great guns and HOT PHOTOGRAPHIX ACTION!!!!!

New video up.

2013-01-09T16:54:00.002-08:00

More darkroom stuff- some printing last month at the studio.

Run to Houston to show prints:

2013-01-08T18:37:00.002-08:00

Katie and I stashed Lucy at the dog-sitter and made a dash to Len and Cathy Kowitz home in Houston to show prints to a monthly meeting of a local photo group. Very accomplished and prestigious bunch. Lotta photo-horsepower on hand.

Joe Aker assisting on prints.

Describing the meaning of meaning in the bottom of some image.

Demonstrating standard Shiprock poltergeist size.

Hawking the book that explains it all!

This morning we went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to see the War Photography exhibit. It's a big show: 500 prints, and very intense. Probably best viewed in several trips. From there we went over to Houston Center for Photography to meet the Assistant Director for Education, Juliana Forero. Very nice meeting there and showed a little work. I'd like to get on their donation list again for their auction and the workshop list.

We hit Niko-Nikos for a late lunch and headed North in the rain. Glad to be home. In the darkroom tomorrow.