They "might" be reindeer

or they most likely  are NOT!

I don't have a pinhole photo of Santa, or any sort of merriment to share for the holiday, so I hope this little gesture of good tidings from long ago is met with a smile.

Have a wonderful day, no matter how you celebrate it. Stay warm, stay well and have peace in your heart.

Winter Solstice 2016

The shortest day, the longest night.


It just so happens that my driveway aligns with the Winter Solstice Sun.

This is not a pinhole shot, but instead, is an Instax (Fuji) instant camera photo of the setting Sun as seen down my driveway.

Winter Solstice

I like Winter.
That's something I never thought I would say out loud.
You see, I was raised in Texas, and before moving to the mountains of New Mexico 14 years ago, if the temperature got below 70F, I was looking for a sweater.  Those days are long gone.  I think 70F is hot now, and the mid 30's are downright balmy!

Now I relish the idea of stark cold, snow and sapphire blue skies.  It gets so quiet when it is cold and there is a blanket of snow on the ground that you can hear the Earth's pulse.
Today is the first day of Winter.
Solstice...Sun standing still. Like me.

This solargraph is from a year or two ago, made by putting a small pinhole camera on the side of the house for solstice week.

I'll have another one for this year ready in a few days.  In the mean time, stay warm and enjoy the quiet days of Winter.

Those streaks across the sky were left behind by the Suns path for the week.
This is the view from the south facing outside wall of my house.
The pinhole camera was a re-purposed Altoids mint tin loaded with photo paper.

Infrared Anyone?

Occasionally I have an idea that gets under my skin and it itches so bad that the only cure is to go out with a camera and see if it will work.

Such was the idea of using infrared film in a pinhole camera.

I had some old sheets of  4 x 5 Efke IR in my fridge that was just going to get worse as time passed, so I loaded them up, taped an R72 filter behind the pinhole in my 4 x 5 camera and let her rip.

IR film gives the landscape a familiar yet foreign look to it.  I think it worked out okay in this instance.
One of the cool things about using IR film is it really needs a lot of solar radiation to render a scene...so I can shoot at high noon instead of waking up with the chickens to go out and make photos!

Port Aransas, Beach

I've been going to this place since I was about 8 years old.
It's special.
I remember sleeping in a tent on the sand with my family and my mom cooking breakfast on an open fire in a cast iron skillet.
Yeah, it was great, gritty, windy, sand everywhere kind of wonderful.
That probably sounds uncomfortable, but as a kid you don't notice things like sand in your shoes, hair, everywhere like you do as an adult.

I still go here once or twice a year.
It feeds my soul and tans my toes!

Not much has changed along the shoreline over time, but the small town of Port A, as locals call it has grown quite a bit in the past umpteen years.

There's a CVS pharmacy on the island now!
An atrocity as far as I'm concerned, but progress is progress I guess.....I spend all my time walking, feeding the gulls, watching ships come in the channel, looking for shells and listening to the water.
It's therapy.  Nothing matters here. Nothing.

Take your shoes off, roll up your pants legs and enjoy!

Zero Image 2000   6 x6 pinhole
T-max 100

the Beach is best

Yes, the Beach. Since I live in the desert, it's always a treat to be able to walk the beach and see an endless expanse of water.

This one was made back in October with a Zero Image 6 x 6 pinhole camera and some old T-max 100.
If you look carefully, you can see the bleed through of the number 4 above the clouds in the sky.
(It's upside down if that helps)
Turns out Kodak had some bad batches of backing paper and this happened to be one of those rolls. I kind of like it.

Dishes

tin can pinhole with photo paper dunked in caffenol.

The radio telescope dishes at the Very Large Array west of Socorro, New Mexico are great subjects since the large dishes move quite slowly....

Deer Pinhole

'tis the season....
for good tidings, snow, sub freezing weather and the seasonal goodie aisle at the big box store everyone loves to hate.
Yep, Wally World!

I go there.  I don't like going, but sometimes I must...and sometimes I hit the jackpot because lately ol Wally has been selling pinhole cameras disguised as Hot chocolate containers.

Yeah!  This is my score form the other day.

The tin is large enough to comfortably use a 5 x 7 piece of photo paper ...which is nice because I won't need to trim paper to load it!
It's about 3-3/4 inches in diameter and that's nice too!
I already painted the inside black...it just needs a pinhole and some paper, so over the holidays I hope to try it out.
to be continued......

Calling Jesus

Sometimes you are driving around, minding your own business and then see something that deserves a closer look...This is a plastic Jesus statue someone left behind in an old phone station.

Zero Image 2000 with Kodak Ektar 100
I think Ektar 100 is just about the best color film you can use for pinhole.  The color shift is not too severe....

As you've probably guessed, this is from this past summer when things were green and flowers blooming..

Marfa, Texas

Rest Stop Hwy 60

A brief Rest Stop on Hwy 60 near the little salt flats....a cold, dreary day for pinhole.

The Moon did this..

and so did Aldebaran...left this streak on my little pinhole camera loaded with a strip of film last month.  I caught it just right...not easy, but easy you know.

9 hours of exposure...or about...I was sleeping thorough it all.

Matchbox pinhole fun

Yes, it's been awhile...


This one is from a little homemade matchbox pinhole camera that I keep in my truck and use randomly, which is kind of fun because by the time I got to the end of the roll, I had no idea what was on the beginning of it.

This shot, I believe, was made in Texas during one of my road trips back home.  I know it's not around here because the terrain is too flat!

The film was expired Agfa, (remember Agfa?) that a friend gave me several years ago.  I like the film. It renders well for pinhole work, but I don't like the curl it has because that makes it a bit more finicky to scan...
My favorite film to use in the matchbox pinhole is Delta 100, which I will be re-loading back in the matchbox cam soon!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying some nice Fall weather.  The Aspens are golden in this part of the world! 

More than One Way Out

Holga wide pinhole

Mission San José de Tumacácori, Arizona

Black Mesa State Park

What is it about trees?
I just can't seem to stop making pinhole photos of them. Trees are good sitters...being still and all.

Pinhole camera made from Newman's own mint tin, the Ginger Dragon one if I recall correctly.
Paper negative sloshed around in caffenol.

sometimes it's the simple things....

that make me happy.

I've posted this before, but revisiting this paint can pinhole shot makes me smile.
It's from two years ago when we took a little vacation to Tucson in the winter time.

I really like this photo.  Especially now since there's not much water or a nice pool to look at where I live. 
I hope you like it too.

What a Difference a Week Makes...

If you know or not, New Mexico had a bad ass fire.
It started in the forest about 25 miles from my house and then escalated into a full blown crazy I might have to leave my house and belongings behind situation.
It was so bad, the National Guard had a road block set up 1/2 mile from my front door.
Scary, and stressful are words that don't really convey the true feelings of what people in the area felt.

I can tell you for certain though, last Wednesday was a rough day and we packed up our most precious things and prepared for the worst.

If you wonder about packing precious cargo, it goes like this....

First you make sure that your family is safe. No questions there.
Second, you pack up your important papers and documents.
Third, you pack all your photos and film negatives.
Fourth, and this wisdom is my husbands, you pack up the things that if you lost them, it would make you cry.

That fourth thing alone made me cry just hearing him say it out loud.

So I packed my Dad's slide-rule, my late mom's Polaroid and her Olympus XA (which still works).

The danger has passed now, and luckily we dodged a big bullet on this one.  We never were forced to evacuate, but we were VERY close to the line where a lot of people had to.  It's not fun.  But it does give you a certain clarity of what is truly important.

Have a great summer y"all.  It's going to be a hot one.

Here's a quick snap of the Moon from last week when the sky was filled with smoke.

back at the ranch.....

uber wide Holga pinhole shot made in Texas sometime last year....I've been going to this particular place near Fort Davis since 1990.

You should too!

no it's not pinhole...so

so here's a photo I made with a crappy Holga through the front window of my truck. It's true I drive and snap photos, but I never drive and text...

This photo I fancy a bit like a Robert Adams scene of the american west.  Look up Mr. Adams and you might see a very vague similarity....heavy stress on the very vague part!

anyway, I like this shot, and I hope you do too...more importantly I hope you check out Robert Adams work. He's pretty good at what he does. Actually he's one of the best.

the poo is just flying outta the goose....

In other words, I'm up to my boots in busy!

My solo show at Tammy Cromer Campbell Gallery in Longview, Texas opens July 7 and runs through September 16.

You can get a sneak peek here:

It's been a lot of fun prepping for the show, but a lot of work! I hope to see some of you there.  I was raised in East Texas, so going home is going to be nice.
I also did an interview with SXSE magazine about the show...it should be available to read in July.

Oh and I wrote a new artist statement and did a new bio for myself for the show.  Egad!  Fluffed myself up just a wee bit!  Silly, yes!

Also, I'm headed to Amarillo to the Cadillac Ranch soon to wheat paste some photos on those famous Cadillacs with my shootapalooza pals! It's going to be hot and windy, and a ton of fun. Nearby, Palo Duro Canyon is in my cross-hairs too, so hoping at least one of my cameras has some time with those striated rocks over that way. Oh and I must have one of Amarillo's famous Cherry Donuts...or two or three.....

A couple of my pinhole photos were shown at Revela T in Barcelona,Spain and also at the Patagonia Photo Festival in Argentina last month. Dios Mio!

Plus I'm planning a trip for the Total Solar Eclipse next year! It's a big thing and so far a lot of hotels are already booked, so if you plan to go watch the Moon hide the Sun, you better make your reservations now.

Other than that, it's just the usual putzing around with pinhole cameras and making a few prints in the darkroom.
Enjoy your summer vacations.



"Mile marker 26"

Taos, New Mexico   June 1, 2016

4 x 5 Santa Barbara pinhole with film sloshed in caffenol.

This will probably be my mode of operation for the summer.

Hell the heck where have I been???

Here, there and everywhere....

It's time to light a match under my own ass and post more...

Spent some time in Texas with a Trader Joe's tea tin I found in the dump, converted to pinhole.

this one on paper, developed in Caffenol.

cheap and easy...kind of like some old country song.