Video from Providence plus Developing Film and Waterfall Experience.

  A fun short video was just put online by Providence Journal.  Filmed a few days ago while Gilli and I were in Rhode Island it captures our visit to the students of New Urban Arts.  I must say the editing is great as it gives very little actual face-time to me, which would have destroyed the clip because I was running on 4 hours of sleep and the wind did quite a number on my hair just prior to the interview part...  Follow this link to have the video open in another window or tab:

Providence Journal Video

  I just left the cozy sanctuary of my friend Mahandeep's hous, but here is how the past couple of days were spent.

  On Monday my long-time friend Gregg McMahon drove up from New York and we spent some time catching up at some quiet bars in New Paltz, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite little town the more time I spend there.  In the morning we decided to get to work and developed some 15 rolls of film in the darkroom of The Photo Palace.   I developed one more batch than Gregg and so we decided to do a little stop-motion video of me while I was developing.  Here is the result - 40 minutes squeezed into an easy to digest 20-some seconds.

  After that we met Gregg's friend Mark, who lived around these parts for a while, and he took us to a beautiful waterfall located in the mountains just west of town.  It was an easy 10 minute hike to get to the falls.  The rocky trail leads along the river and then the woods open up to a large area covered in boulders with a cliff the beauty of which is hard to describe or capture on an iPhone.  I was truly caught off-guard as I thought we were just going out to eat and did not bring my real cameras.  Nonetheless I enjoyed the experience very much and here is a quick glance of what the nature of upstate New York can offer those who seek its beauty.

  While we were there a group of 5 local characters showed up and one of them presented me with this photo-op.  I was very upset that I didn't have my Rolleiwide on me loaded with some ISO 25 film, but the moment was beautiful and it had to be captured on whatever device was available.

 

It was pretty late by the time we were leaving this beautiful spot and I decided to leave a little temporary gift to Nature in a form of a rock sculpture inspired by the elongated linear nature of the waterfall and the jagged rocks that surround it.  Luckily, just under my feet, there were plenty of perfect material to work with.

Well, now I'm on my way north-west en route to Rochester NY - home of once all-mighty Kodak company.  I intend to stay there through the weekend.  Let's see how alive the spirit of film is in the place where it all began back in the late 19th century.

Anton