Here and There and Back again!

Wow!
I spent last week in Texas and it was an amazing time!

Texas is home for me, or at least my growing up years were spent there so I get homesick for it and the people and the food and the good times.

I was invited by my good friend Tom Sale to be a guest pinhole/caffenol/solargraph workshop artist for 3 days at Hill College in Hilsboro, Texas for his art classes.

We talked about solargraphs, making pinhole cameras and then I demonstrated homemade developer made with instant coffee, vitamin c powder and washing soda. We made pinhole photos and then developed them in the coffee concoction. The classes were great and the students made teaching easy!
I also had a pop-up pinhole show at the art building Thursday evening!

Texas is muy grande big and it was a long drive, but the Bluebonnets were blooming profusely so the roadsides were awash in royal blues for miles across the state. The Bluebonnet is the state flower and if you're from Texas, then you know how special they are.

This first pinhole photo of Tom's art students was made with a Whataburger Spicy Ketchup container I converted to a pinhole camera. The little container is made of black plastic which turned out to be light proof. To make the camera, I just carefully peeled back the top and removed the ketchup, then loaded it with a little piece of photo paper and then taped the thin mylar top back on with black tape.

I didn't make a "proper" pinhole for it. Instead I had the students and Tom pose, then poked the top with a needle to make the pinhole and made a minute long exposure.
To end the exposure I put a piece of black tape over the pinhole and developed the paper in caffenol.
Viola!
It's almost scary how much detail and information is in this little photo. And who knew Whataburger was giving away cameras?

The photo below was made with a quart size paint can pinhole camera on photo paper and shows the tranquil backyard view at the lovely guest house I was staying at. Sitting quietly in the afternoon sun soaking in the lush grass and grazing cattle across the pond was the perfect end to a busy day of workshops. I loved this place, but since I'm such a desert creature now and used to seeing mostly shades of brown and tan, the lush green kinda made my eyes hurt!

This next photo was made while I was doing a pinhole and caffenol demo for the Friday morning art class. This was a spur of the moment decision. I set up one of my homemade pinhole cameras in the classroom and aimed it at the rabbit with the onion on the table across the room and left it exposing for about an hour and fifteen minutes while I taught in the next room and the darkroom.

I like this one. It was made on Harman Direct Positive Paper, so there is no need for reversal or contact printing. This is a one of a kind original! I love this paper....too bad Harman doesn't make it any longer.

After the workshops at Hill College were done, I drove down to Houston to visit my Dad and spent a few days with my sister and her family. It had been 2 years since my last visit so we had a lot of catching up to do. My Dad had triple bypass surgery in February, so it was great to visit with him and see that he is doing great and back to driving and being ornery!
February was really a scared as shit month, but things are immensely better now!!!

This is an illy coffee can pinhole camera photo made at my sister's house done with a paper negative and dunked in coffee. She has a pool and a beautiful yard....so beautiful that she often gets yard of the month honors.

I'll have more photos to post and stories to tell later...right now I need to get busy and catch up on my weeks worth of laundry...see ya in a few!