Last leg of the First Journey

  Topeka Kansas to San Diego California in 50 hours in a school bus - I do NOT recommend it... That's the short version.  Here's the longer recount of what I recollect.

  After giving the workshop I finally had enough funds to get back home, so I decided to shoot straight for home - partly because the area that I was to travel through is extremely hot and I wanted to get though it as fast as possible and partly because I have a feeling that that is the same area which has the least possibility of generating random interest in this project by just showing up.  People in New Mexico and Arizona (especially the low-lands) are, in my opinion, not the most artistically-inclined.  I may yet be proven wrong on this during my future journeys there, but I know for a fact that during the hot parts of the year (and those account for 80-90% of it) it's hard to see a single soul on the streets there because residents just want to get from their home into the car, then from there into the place of business where they were going and then back in the same quick fashion - the ticket there is to spend as little time outside of an air-conditioned environment as possible.  So I decided to make the 1500mi (2400km) drive in as quick of a time as humanly possible.

  I left Topeka at about 5pm on Saturday and arrived to San Diego Monday at about 7pm - that may be some sort of a record considering the vehicle and that there was only one driver.  If commercial drivers licenses were given out simply by judging how numb someones gluteus maximus muscle is after a drive I would definitely easily qualify.  The drivers seat in Gilli is original and was not designed for long stretches of driving - 2-3 hours I can do easy, but after 4-5-6-10 straight hours of bouncing up and down in it I found myself having to stand up while driving, which is actually kinda fun and feels a little like surfing a giant metal board down a freeway.

  Kansas was nice and flat and not too hot and I drove well into the night exhilarated by the fact that I'm going home and hopped up on a major amount of coffee.  Still, I couldn't do the all-nighter and soon after I crossed into Oklahoma I started to doze off and pulled over somewhere either in Oklahoma or Texas.  Both of those states have parts dubbed Panhandle because of their shape and those parts are very similarly flat, boring and desolate.

  I woke up at 8am because the air was already starting to get hot and stuffy and proceeded to drive all day down to I-40 and then on in through New Mexico, past Albuquerque and into the northern part of Arizona before finding myself not being able to go on any further.  I fell asleep right after getting off the big highway just 40 miles or so into Arizona.  I think I did about 550 miles that day - knowing that my average speed is about 50 when on the flats that's 11 hours of pure driving time.

  In Arizona I chose the route that would avoid Flagstaff and at the same time would avoid the very low and hot I-25 that I had to deal with before (that's where Gilli overheated that one and only time and I have a prejudice against that road now).  So, after looking at the topographical maps I decided to go with a series of small one-lane highways thinking that it'll be relatively flat and not too extreme when it comes to elevation changes.  Somehow I must have miscalculated because soon after I started driving I found myself on a pretty steep incline.  Gilli does not like hills and I was going 25mph for abut an hour until I reached a 7000+ foot plateau.  It was a gorgeous drive up there and here are three images from that part of the drive.

  There is a national forest there and someday I'd love to go camping in it, but this was no time to stop - I was determined to make it back to San Diego by Monday night because one of my favorite bands plays very Monday in my favorite bar in the town of Ocean Beach, so that was the major incentive driving me forward. 

  When I got off the plateau it immediately got to be close to 100°F, which made me ever so more determined to keep driving as fast as possible.  The tough part was just coming up though and I was not looking forward to it.  There is a mountain pass in California just west of El Centro and I know that road all too well.  Back about 10-12 years ago I worked as a photographer for a portrait company that would frequently send me on shoots to Yuma and even a light-weight car that I drove back then did not like that climb very much.  I knew I was in for a slow ride, but I had not anticipated exactly how slow.  In a few parts of it I slowed down to 15mph and it was pure hell.  Going so slow did give me plenty of time to contemplate every boulder, dust off the dashboard and admire the glistening of broken glass on the freeways shoulder.  Here is a quick little snapshot to give those of you who have never been in this part of the country an idea of the landscape.  Elevation - 3000ft.

  It was still close to 100 degrees and Gilli was close to overheating for about 2 hours.  I watched the thermostat closely, but there are no marks between 180° and 240° and the point of no return is 220° - the needle must have hovered somewhere around 215°...  Tense! Thankfully she pulled through like a champ and soon I found myself on the wonderfully speedy downhill part barreling down toward San Diego.  

  I can't tell you how excited I was to see the sun go down into the ocean as I was approaching Ocean Beach.  It was very unfortunate that I was just about 5 minutes from the actual ocean and had to take this sinking sun photo from the freeway, but I think it was still worth it.  San Diego river can be seen on the bottom right and Pacific ocean is just beyond the background trees.

  Driving into Ocean Beach, my old hang-out, in a school bus was very surreal to me, but I did not count on there being still so many tourists and locals out - I completely forgot that it was indeed Labor Day holiday and people come out in droves for that occasion.  I barely found parking, stepped out of The Photo Palace and breathed a deep sigh -  the first trial-by-fire journey was over and Gilli and I were back in one piece!  Amazing...

  I am going to take a short break from posting updates on here and allow a little time to separate myself from that experience in order to write a fair and balanced recollection report.  Meanwhile I will develop the rest of the film shot, make some contact sheets, clean up the incredible mess that is currently my San Diego darkroom space, dig out the scanner to make some scans and, of course, print print print.

  Anton

Topeka Workshop Done - now back to San Diego

  

  Today I held a workshop at The Villages Inc. in Topeka KS - a group home facility for youth in need of a place to live and learn.  It is an alternative to Juvenile Detention Centers and some kids that live there have been in and out of 'the system' since being very young.  For the reasons of confidentiality I was explicitly asked not to post any images of them on here, which is a shame because before I knew of that rule I did take some great pictures of them at work.  

  I love how serendipitously this workshop came together!  On Thursday, when I was done with my research at Topeka Library concerning John W. Rahill and his lantern slides and general activity as a minister of Topeka Central Congregational Church, I decided to walk a mile and a half to Wolf's Camera Shop.  It was very hot and after just a few blocks I had a feeling that the walk is not going to be what I anticipated (pictures I wanted to take would have been rather boring as the neighborhood was pretty typical with no pedestrians to be seen and the day was just heating up) and I had a feeling that I should turn around and drive there instead.  When I rounded the corner of the library I saw a group of three people peeking into Gilli's windows and looking intrigued.  I offered them a tour and they loved the work and the concept.  As it turns out one of them was actually the executive director Sylvia Crawford and she said that some of her kids might be into it, took my card and called me back later that afternoon after finding out that indeed there was interest.  Sometimes things just work out when you follow your gut.

  Today I had four 16 year old students, two boys and two girls, and met them at the property at 9am.  They were very enthusiastic and as interested and focused as anyone at 16 can be.  We briefly went through the history of photography leaving out some more boring details and focusing more on the evolution of the process of printing. I got a lot of questions about Polaroid manipulation and the technique of light painting.  They loved seeing the historic daguerreotype next to the one of Gilli and me taken by Mr. McElroy just a week and a half ago.

  Then I launched into the relationship between film speed and shutter/aperture combinations.  Before I lost their attention with dry numbers I pulled out a light meter and showed them how it all ties in.  I think they got the idea...  Afterward I went through the number of formats of cameras starting with view cameras (the cherry Tachihara 4x5 seemed to evoke the most trepidation) and down to Minox - I illustrated all the cameras with my own images taken with the cameras I was displaying.

   Next I pulled out my favorite Tele Rolleiflex, loaded it with a roll of Tri-X given to me in Rochester by the wonderful folks at Kodak and we went outside to take portraits of them using that wonderfully classic combination.  I kept taking light meter readings and changing the camera settings, thereby reinforcing the material that I just presented to them.  Each kid got to do three poses - everyone wanted at least one shot by The Photo Palace Bus, seems like it strikes a note with everyone who sees it.

  After the quick photo shoot we went into the darkroom and I demonstrated what it takes to develop a roll of film.  We went through the times with various developers and settled on using Rodinal at 1/25 dilution for 7 minutes.  The pictures turned out pretty nice in my view, but, of course, girls will be girls and one of them was disappointed with the way her beautiful hair laid...  What can I do - we didn't have a make-up artist on sight, this wasn't a glamor shoot.

  Once the film was washed it force-dried with the aid of a conventional hair dryer because I would have taken a good hour or more for it to dry in current humidity that we are experiencing here.  The kids seemed to be fascinated with the look of negatives - they kept referring to the 'setting on the phone' that inverts the images and now they knew what it was actually emulating. 

  To give them a good idea of how gelatin silver prints are made I went through the various aspects of enlargement controls while making the contact sheet.  Then came time for them to chose their favorite poses and actually print one image on their own under my supervision.  They did all right - I think as good as anyone printing for their first time can do.  The prints came out a bit flat, but I wasn't about to push them to keep making infinite test strips because by then the darkroom was heating up pretty good and I could see the beads of sweat forming on their foreheads. 

  In the end we took a little walk down the picturesque hill on top of which their group homes are located and talked about Ansel and his pre-visualization concepts.  When we came back to The Bus their prints were dry.  I cut up the contact sheet and gave them each their three 6x6cm images and the 8x8in final prints.  The highest praise they could formulate is the it was "G as hell" and I took that with gratitude - anything that deserves the 'G' label in their world means that it impressed them to the maximum.

  The workshop ended at 3pm and we were all exhausted by then.  Linda, one of the house parents, invited me in for hot dogs and a protein shake and before I left supplied me with a care package of fruit bars, Oreos and canned fruit - I will enjoy them all on my long journey back to San Diego.

  Now I have the gas funds needed to make it back to California and am looking forward to being home again.  It's been almost 3 months since I left and the time couldn't have been more adventure-packed.  One thing I am not looking forward to is driving the remaining 1500mi through the scorching heat that is prevailing in New Mexico and Arizona...  I will be extremely thankful next time when Gilli has a roof air conditioner - this was really a trial by fire kind of trip, but it was well worth it.

Anton

Des Moines IA - Christian Photo Store

   This is the first time two updates were written on the same day - I feel like a writer more than a photographer/driver, but I think any film shooters living around or passing through this part of the country may appreciate this quick info.

   While driving through Des Moines I stopped by Christian Photo today and found a wonderfully receptive and kind staff there who were genuinely excited to see The Photo Palace Bus outside of their establishment.  Located on the northern part of town it is one of the bigger camera stores that I have found along this journey.  I was happy to find a great selection of film (including the hard to find Fuji FP3000b) and a full line-up of darkroom supplies that's enough to start printing with.

  Also they do have two cases full of film cameras - the one that is not pictured is more of a regular student selection and includes a good number of AE-1s and other cameras of similar type.  The one I liked better is located behind the counter on the wall and has some nifty finds - if anyone wants a good deal on a Stereo Realist for just $50 (I checked it out and all the speeds are working, unlike in mine...) or a Contax RTS (Didn't ask how much that one was) - do give them a call at 515-270-8030 and I'm sure they'd be happy to help out.  There was also a very odd old fold-out 35mm German camera the name of which I forget now, but all the shutter speeds were working great and it seems like for $30 it might have been a great deal, if only I had the extra $30 to spend... It is pictured on the same shelf as the RTS, third from left.  Also - a fair deal on a Rolleiflex RIII lens hood - considering what I see them fetch these days on eBay $50 is not bad...

 

  Thank you Christian Photo for your enthusiasm and commitment to film!  Here's to many more years in business and to film never going away.

Anton

P.S. I am sorry I won't be able to make it to your photo walk-about tomorrow - it sounds like fun, but I would love to get two days to dig through and see what I can find in the archives of Topeka concerning some photos I have from 100 years ago, so I'm on the way there right after I post this and hopefully I'll make the 260 miles in one shot...  I'll be back though and hope to catch one of these events next time.  Cheers!

Minnesota update No.2 - Lumen print, Museum of Russian Art, Darkroom Equipment.

  Minnesota was definitely fun enough to grant a second update, so I'm writing it from a rest area located on I-35 about 90 miles north of Des Moines before attacking that city (Photographically-speaking.... don't want home-land security folks alerted by this).  I will do my very best to keep this one short as I do want to get on the road and I can feel Gilli heating up by the minute - it's going to be in the 90s here today.

  While staying at my dear friend Alecia's place I tried out a new (for me) technique called Lumen printing.  It's a great way to make good use of some old fogged paper and it was actually suggested to me by Mark Osterman of George Eastman House.  All one needs for this process is some gelatin silver paper, plant life, contact printing frame (or simply a heavy piece of glass with a flat support) and regular fixer.  Toner is optional and I will experiment with that later.  Essentially this is a contact printing technique that makes use of the fact that enough UV light will turn the silver salts withing photo paper dark without need to develop the image out.  You would place a leaf in contact with paper under glass and expose it for a good amount of time to our old friend The Sun.  You can watch the paper turning darker shades starting right away, but it took me giving it about a 15 minute exposure in order to get good definition within the leaf itself.  After exposure just bring the frame inside a dimly-lit room and immerse the photo paper into a fixing bath.  That's all!  You can use the plethora of available toners to create the desired shade, but I kinda like the way that the straight print looks.  Experimentation is the key here as the image may look fine when you first look at it, but does bleach out a bit in the fixing bath.

  Here is a frame while being exposed and the resulting image (the swirls on the lower third of the image are my reflection upon the surface of the glossy Kodak RC paper - in reality it's a pretty smooth pleasantly consistent background)

  After leaving Alecia's I had a feeling that there may be something else in Minneapolis that I needed to do, so I found a wi-fi spot and searched around the art scene to see what was happening that day.  I found a lot of 'Daily' listings for multiple pages-worth of museums, but none of them really called to me until I came upon a blurb about The Museum of Russian Art, which just happened to be hosting a Soviet photography exhibit.  Wow!  What a coincidence - I just could not pass that up.  

  

  I decided to combine the pleasureful with productive and called up the curator (who is actually Russian herself), told her a little about the research I'm doing about the YMCA slides from Russia 1917-18 and was very happy to hear that she was willing to meet with me later that afternoon. 

  On my way to Minneapolis I drove down Hwy 77 where I found this wonderfully picturesque old house - crushed by a maple tree and abandoned many years ago.  I went to town with multiple cameras on this little find and here is an image taken with Fuji FP100c - 4 exposures.

   I pulled up to the museum about 3:30 and parked right in front of the museum, which is housed in a very neat-looking building.

  You can find a lot more information about this wonderful organization HERE.  It was not long before Dr. Maria Zavialova (museum curator) came to the lobby to meet me and led me into the conference room in the back.  We spent a good deal of time pouring over the 300+ scanned magic lantern slides on my computer and she seemed very interested in their content and the photographic abilities of Mr. Rahill himself.  She said that this collection could be well worth showing and we are going to proceed to communicate further about that.   I am very excited with this opportunity as this is actually the only museum in US dedicated solely to Russian motifs and I think this would be a great kick-off for this body of work that has not seen the light of day in 85+ years.  

  After the slides were all looked through and discussed it was already past the closing time at the museum, but Maria was kind enough to turn the lights back on in the photo exhibit and I suddenly found myself having minor childhood flash-backs. 

  The show consists of vintage black and white prints found by a particular collector during his multiple trips to Russia.  Here is the introductory write-up about Mr. Thomas Werner himself.

  I like the arrangement of the space withing with gallery and the tonal range chosen for the paint and displays.  There were also some old-school Russian cameras on display, which made me relate to the show even more.

  The images ranged from professional to amateur creating a good range of print quality of subject matter.  I enjoyed seeing images paired up - a glamorized propaganda image next to a gritty real-life snap shot.  There were quite a few of them and they really gave a good insight into the life of ordinary Russian folks.

  One of the images had some pretty neat darkroom work put into it - it was a professional photo taken for an old Soviet publication dealing with mining.  Interesting dodging and burning makes that image stand out from the straight-forward printing style in the rest of the exhibition.

  I recommend anyone who is interested in Russian imagery and finds themselves in Minneapolis area to stop by the museum - the show will be up through September 23rd.

  After exiting the museum Maria showed the true value of Russian hospitality and invited me for tea at her house.  How could I say no to that?  She lived only one house away from the museum and I didn't even have to move Gilli. 
  We had a lovely conversation over some deliciously strong tea, made with mint from her own garden, and buckwheat honey plus some quick sandwiches that totally made me road-ready.
  Maria wrote an interesting dissertation on symbolism in art and interpretation as carried between cultures.  I found myself on the same page with her - to each of us symbols and imagery carry a significantly varied meaning dictated by our personal past along with the culturally accepted norms, so in general truly figurative abstract communication is close to impossible when different cultures and time periods are involved.  In fact, even when communication happens one-on-one and in real time we chose to speak while making assumptions based on our past experiences and knowledge while the listener is left to interpret the words through his/her own memory filters, so, the lesson is, be very careful in your wording if you want to be clearly understood and followed.  I also agree with Maria that some basic generalities can indeed speak through time and across cultures due to the inherently similar experiences that we all go through due to having to deal with the basic nature of being Human - that gives me some hope that we can all relate in the long run.
 
  After leaving Maria's place at around 7pm I saw that I missed a call from an earlier e-mail I sent out in response to a Craigslist ad that I answered to.  I can not help, but to look up ads for any darkroom equipment in various cities I visit and sometimes the timing actually works out for me to go and look at it in person.  This was one of those times and within a half an hour (after giving a quick photo-history lesson to some random, but interested and eager, visitors who saw the bus and were intrigued) I found myself meeting Barbara and her family at the old printing shop on 48th street.

  Ah, the days when every print shop, every company, every school and a slew of other image-thirsty companies HAD to have a darkroom in the back room or basement...  Those were the good-old days and I only wish I could have been alive and active in photography during those times.  What we have left now are the shambles of that film culture being cleared out of those spaces to make room for computer desks and office chairs.  Luckily there are still plenty of nooks and crannies that hold small photographic treasures out there and this was one of those occasions.
 
  If anyone reading this in Minneapolis area would like to start a darkroom of their own please let me know and I can probably connect you to Barbara.  You can also go to Zumbro Restaurant - have a good meal and ask her husband about the equipment there in person.  I got the warmest reception there and it is only my loss that I decided to drive out before the morning as I was graciously offered a meal there on the house due to my current financial woes and general analog enthusiasm. 

  Equipment for sale and still there includes a 35mm Durst enlarger in great shape, two Thomas-duplex safe-lights and a few smaller ones as well, print trays galore, a nice big darkroom sink (in need of cleaning, but it would be pretty groovy-looking after some scrubbing), light-table for transparencies (I don't understand this contraption - it has a spray of water coming over whatever you put on it, so it's not to squeegee anything off, but possibly to examine film while it's still wet..?) and a beautiful stat camera (!), which by the looks of it is capable of making graphic negatives of up to 20 or 24 inches.  I would have totally grabbed that beast, but right now it would have taken up the entire hallway of the bus and I'd have to climb around it on the table to get to the darkroom....  However, I was lucky enough to have Barbara hand me over plenty of odds and ends including some Agfa and Ilford paper, fixer, developers (including my favorites Rodinal and HC-110) and toners, some of which I have never heard of, but with which I am looking very much forward to experimenting.  Here's a quick shot of the treasures rescued this time around.

  I took off from the city feeling fairly accomplished an with a definite intent to be back there for a more prolonged period of time during my next trip to this part of the country.

  After I got some diesel at a local Flying-J truck stop I found that the entrance back onto I-35 was under construction and I had to take a detour down a long country highway.  The signs were pretty confusing and I took a wrong turn at one point - it didn't take me long to realize I'm going the wrong way though.  I mean, c'mon, any time you see a sign like this you KNOW you're going the wrong way...

Anton.

Southbound Route Change Announcement

   If there's anything I have learned during my 34 years on this planet that is 'always go with your gut feeling - go against it and bad things are bound to happen'. 

  Lats night I had a feeling that going back to San Diego via the northern route is not the way to go.  I was going to go toward Seattle and then down I-5 through Portland and northern California.  I was indeed looking forward to visiting some friends along the way and am sorry if I have gotten some hopes up without fulfilling them.  The two major factors that played into this decision are money and mountains.  

  First, for me to go through Seattle is going to add an extra 800 or so miles onto the trip and I just don't have the energy to raise that amount along the way.  As it is I am already about $700 short of what I will need to keep The Photo Palace Bus filled with diesel and am going to have to work pretty hard in order not to live on credit (I Hate living on credit - that's how most Americans get themselves in trouble to begin with).  And second, in order to go directly west from here to Seattle I would have to pass a major mountain pass in Montana, then from Oregon to California and then again right above Los Angeles.  Plus, right now I would have to do it all alone and driving a school bus alone is pretty boring and is much harder than even with a constantly-sleeping partner.  Gilli does not like to go uphill and I would be going about 15 miles per hour in first gear for about 10 hours.  Any number of things can go wrong during that long of a stretch of pushing a 34 year-old vehicle to its limit.  Again, it all circles back to budgeting - if I had a repair fund with a few thousand dollars (which is actually what one really needs to set out on the road during this type of a venture), I would totally chance it right now and go directly west.  As it is - I'm going to play it safe and go diagonally in order to bypass most of the mountains and to cut 1/3rd out of my diesel budget.

  I am not at all disappointed in the way things turned out - I think for the inaugural trial run just for me to go from San Diego straight to Maine and back is a pretty good achievement and I even went as far south as Tennessee and as far west as Minnesota.  Let's see what adventures await Gilli and me on our way back - can't wait!

  So here is a map showing the route we are going to take on our way back to San Diego.

  On my way I'm going to visit Topeka Kansas and dig in the local libraries for more information regarding the magic lantern slides from WWI- era Russia taken by John W Rahill.  That is the city that he presented those slides to the congregation at the church he was working at after returning to America.  I hope to get a glimpse into the way he presented them from local newspapers, which I hope are available in Topeka.

  I urge anyone who reads this and lives along this route to contact me and I would be happy to meet up with them.  I also would love to know what, if anything, is happening that I'll be driving by - any festivals, art shows and walks, gatherings... anything at all that would make for a good opportunity to take some good pictures or to raise gas funds by selling prints.

  Here is a better details on how we are going to travel - down I-35 through Minneapolis and Des Moines, further down the same freeway to Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka.  From there I'll take country roads to cut across Kansas and pop out on I-40 around the town of Tucumcan NM and then through Albuquerque.  After that I'm pretty open to suggestions.  If anything interesting is happening in Las Cruses, Phoenix or Tucson I would be happy to stop by there.  

  I will be taking it a nit slower on my way back because I want to shoot a lot more than I have been so far.  Two days ago I developed a few rolls of film and found some really neat images on them, so I'm fired up to shoot more before I get home.  Unfortunately I'll be out of the area of really big cities and the ones I'll be passing through on my way back are more of a drive/shop/drive back home places, so my favorite street documentary stuff is going to be harder to get...  Well, I'm sure I'll make the best of what I encounter.

Anton.

Minnesota update plus Daguerreotype Copy

  Well, I made it all the way to Minnesota and am spending a few days at my friend Alecia's place in the woods next to Duluth.  It's super quiet and I finally had a good nights sleep and got time today to develop some film and do some printing.  I'm running out of prints to sell to keep Gilli gassed up and tomorrow is an event at which I hope to raise some more funds, so a print session was sorely needed.  I will probably stay up pretty late trying to knock out at many images taken during this trip as possible.

  On the way here last night a rather exciting thing happened.  I relied on my phone to lead me to lead me to the destination and ignored Alecia's warning and direction that she e-mailed me prior to me leaving Minneapolis... Bad move!  I got slightly lost and decided to turn around on a two-lane highway while having Alecia on speaker.  It was just after dark and I did not notice that the road was flanked by two rather deep ditches.  I pulled the nose of the bus into some random driveway and tried to back up...  The rear wheels slipped off the road and into the ditch and when I put the transmission in drive and gave it some gas nothing happened and I heard the tires spinning!  I was STUCK!  The situation was rather dire - in front of me was that driveway that I just turned out of with a ditch on either side, behind me was a ditch and I was blocking the entire two lanes of that dinky little road.  Just to the left of me the road curved, so if anyone was coming around that bend and were going anywhere near the 55pmh speed limit they could have plowed right into the left side of The Photo Palace and then things would have been really ugly.  Alecia got to hear a nice loud string of swear words as I was at first panicking, then revving the engine in hopes that Gilli would overcome the hill of the ditch plus the height of the pavement.  After I realized the futility of my actions I decided to take a chance and back up a bit more and take that jump with a little momentum behind me.  You can not imagine the relief I felt when that course of action worked and Gilli jumped out of that darn ditch and sprinted into the flats of the driveway.  Not 5 seconds later there was indeed a car speeding around the corner, so I think I got out just in time.  Had I been still blocking that road the car would have surely slammed right into the side of the bus.  Upon close examination during the light of day I was happy to see that by some miracle Gilli's belly was undamaged.

  Moral of the story - never try to turn a 35ft vehicle around at night on a two-lane road with which you are not familiar with.

  Tomorrow is Hillfest - an annual community event for the hill-side part of Duluth.  There will be games, bands, vendors and plenty of foot traffic.  I am very happy to be involved in it and to have two parking spots reserved on the soon-to-be blocked off part of town.  I hope to make some more connections and interest people in photography by providing them a quick tour of the darkroom and a walk-through of historic photographic processes.

   Speaking of historic processes.  In the arsenal of The Photo Palace Bus there is now a modern-day daguerreotype!  I spoke with Rob via e-mail and confirmed that I could post this image and tell the world about his incredible generosity.  Not only did he give me a walk-through of making a daguerreotype image, but in the end he painstakingly finished and framed one of the two frames taken of The Bus and me and presented it to me as a gift!  I was really floored.  He stayed up until 4:30am doing this and I know for a fact that he has never ever given away one of these precious objects before.  I guess we really did click and my passion for all vintage stuck a special note withing his big heart.  I hope beyond hope that next time I'm in Buffalo I will be able to actually pay Rob a fair fee for a full hands-on workshop and produce a real daguerreotype all on my own.  Moreover - I urge anyone who is interested in this historic an incredibly beautiful technique to do the same.  You will not find a better, more devoted and clear-spoken teacher than Rob McElroy and I believe, whatever the fee is, it will be worth every penny.  His technique is unparalleled and every step down to sealing the final image is thought through with utmost care.

  I an sorry for the keystone effect - this is the best copy I could produce in the field conditions.  Daguerreotypes are extremely reflective and without a special rig it is impossible to take pictures of them head-on.  When I get home to San Diego I will do my very best to get a better copy and post it here in replacement of what you see below.

© Rob McElroy 2012

OK, back to the darkroom!

Anton

Bufflo update No.2 - Anniversary, Niagara Falls, best Polaroid so far and Daguerreotype workshop.

  My experience in Buffalo definitely deserves another in-depth update, so on my way westward I stopped in a little college town called North East and am going to attempt to summarize yesterdays events.

  First off I would like to once again say that yesterday was an extra special day because it was on the same date in 2011 that I saw the bus that was to become The Photo Palace Bus in a Frezno CA parking lot and paid the premium price, which she is worth every penny of.  In the last year we had some amazing times, she taught me a lot of skills and treated me more wonderfully than I could have ever hoped for.  Here's to Gilli-the-Gillig! May she go with ease wherever her headlights point and I hope I'll always be there.

  As I mentioned in my previous post I did not raise enough funds during the weekend to attend an Ambrotype workshop by Mark Osterman, which is being held right now at George Eastman House in Rochester.  I was a bit upset about that, but knew that something will work out and am still determined to come back and take that and many more classes offered by that fine institution.

  I am a strong proponent of the idea of good things coming to those who believe in them with all their heart, which is something that allowed me many times to go on in the face of adversity.  Indeed, during the late Sunday afternoon I received a text message from Mr. Rob McElroy.  He was still enjoying the company of his wonderful girlfriend Patsy as they were finishing up his birthday celebrations.  He informed me that, if I am not involved in the ambrotype workshop on Monday, I would be welcomed to observe him as he made a few test daguerreotypes.  I can't relate to you how elated I was to hear that - ambrotype is an interesting technique, but it is quite a bit less involved than the making of a daguerreotype.  I quickly accepted this generous offer and for the rest of the day felt like a bit giddy in anticipation of the upcoming experience.

  As the night was closing in I packed up my photo display and waited to go see Niagara Falls.  I have never been there and went to see them at night to have my own private natural experience free of tourist crowds.  That turned out to be a splendid idea and when I got to Goat Island, which lays between the falls on the American side of the border, it was already about 2 am.  I had the place all to myself and ws able to set up a tripod and take two exposures - one using a Rolleiflex 2.8F and one with Polaroid 600SE using the Fuji FP100c film that I purchsed the day before from Delaware camera.  Here is the result of the Polaroid exposure - I actually waited till the morning to pull and develop it as it was quite cold outside and I wanted to wait until a warmer time to allow the chemistry do all it can on this 20+ minute exposure.  I was happy to see the outcome - it actually looks quite a bit lighter and more festive than what I saw, but that's the beauty of the photographic art - it can transform a relatively eerie and overwhelming scene into a quite inviting and festive one.

  After spending about an hour listening to the rushing water and waiting for enough light to strike the film I headed back into town and parked in the Allentown district of Buffalo just as the bars were closing and their inebriated patrons were starting to stumble home.  I heard that Allentown area is the more artsy part of town and was hoping to make some more print and Polaroid sales while waiting for Rob to get home in the afternoon.

  Buffalo is a pretty slow town when colleges are out and during the day I really didn't get anywhere hear the flow of traffic that I was hoping for.  However Gilli did attract the attention of a few art-minded folks and I was able to raise another half-a-tank of diesel mostly via doing instant portraits for $15/pop.  As an artist who values every image equally I am actually rather sad to let go of these little 3.25x4.25in treasures, but I hope people will appreciate them as much as I would or more.  This is one of the better ones that I produced yesterday and I just had to duplicate it in order to not have it fade away and get lost in the dusty files of my faulty memory.

  Her name is Rebecca and after talking to me first she actually went home and changed her outfit for this shoot.  She was there with her none-less beautiful sister and friend and they walked away with a total of three instant images.  They also had a blast using Gilli as a prop and shot a ton of digital photos all around her interior and exterior.  I think the above image really does capture the moment well and The Photo Palace Bus' spirit of Photographic Bohemia is evident in it. 

  As afternoon was approaching my heart started to beat faster and I was becoming impatient to see Rob once again and get to witness him in the midst of artistic creation.  The flow of onlookers did not allow me to leave my parking spot till just after 5pm and I headed to Rob's place as fast as I could.

  He instructed me to park right in front of his studio in a little parking lot in which I was unsure that I could turn Gilli around.  By the time I pulled up it was actually empty of all but two cars and I was able to pull a 7-point maneuver that left the front facing the exit (always make sure you have a clear way out when traveling in a 35ft vehicle).

  I was under the full impression that I was about to simply observe the making of a Daguerreotype, which would have been a huge pleasure in itself.  Within a minute though I saw Rob emerge from his front door carrying a tripod with a 4x5 camera complete with lens and focusing cloth.  This could have only meant one thing, but I still had to ask before the reality of what was happening set in in my brain - Mr. McElroy was about to take a capture Gilli and me; that was his 'test'!  I don't know how I managed to pull myself together to take these few images while he was setting up.  

  Rob was working very quickly as the sun was setting and thick clouds were starting to roll across its face considerably cutting down the amount of light.  Daguerreotype plates have an approximate ISO rating of 0.1 so Rob wanted to take full advantage of every available photon.

  The exposures were about 1 minute long and I got to experience what the portrait sitters had to deal with in mid-19th century.  It's no wonder you rarely see a lot of smiling portraits from that era - I assure you, even the happiest jolliest person will have a really hard time holding a perfectly still believable smile for that length of time while also trying to hold every other part of their body equally motionless.  If you don't trust me try it on your own in front of a mirror.  I think overall I did pretty good on standing still and I didn't bother trying to smile, though every part of my inner being was jumping with joy in realization of what was happening.

  After two exposures were taken we rushed the plates indoors as, according to Rob, daguerreotypes tend to lose contrast the longer one allows them to sit between exposure and development.  

  I have always wanted to see a plate being developed by the action of fumes of mercury.  Back in the early days of photography this action was carried out simply by holding the plate over a metal cup filled with mercury with a burner under it.  Needless to say, now that the harmful effects of its fumes have been identified, mercury development takes place inside a fume-box with good air ventilation that takes the gas away from the photographer.  Rob actually told me a story about one early daguerreotypist who apparently went mad from those fumes and drowned himself in a two foot deep creek by tying a rock to his neck and throwing himself in...  I'm glad that the technology has improved since than and that Rob and other people who work in that medium are no longer in danger of losing their minds as the effect of the craft they love.  Here is Rob loading the first plate into the fume box and a close-up of his self-constructed apparatus.

 

   After the development the plate goes into a bath of Hypo.  After several rinses, it gets toned with gold chloride where the contrast of the image is increased.  While the plate is suspended in a perfectly level position, the chloride is poured over it and is held in place under its own surface tension.  A flame is quickly passed under it evenly heating the combination to a vary certain temperature, which Rob kept careful track of using an infrared thermometer.  Here is a vary short clip showing the two images that were developed in rapid succession sitting in plain water baths after toning.  You can see that the plate on the left (exposure No.1) had a lot of blue show up in it - that's the early stages of daguerrean solarization and it can be rather beautifully exploited.

  The last step is drying the plate and that, as Rob put it, is the moment of magic in this process similar to the period of the appearance of a gelatin silver black and white image in a developer bath.  Only at that point can the photographer see the full results of his/her labor.  Here is a shot I managed to get where you can see the last streaks of water being chased away by a simple hair dryer.

 Robs images are nearly flawless!  Along with having an artistically-oriented  soul he is a truly obsessive craftsman.  Only that way can one achieve a spot-free daguerreotype image.  I invite all of you to visit www.cdags.org and closely examine the work of various artists working with this medium and, after admiring the evaluate their creative merits, go through them and try to find images that are as clean and perfect as those by Rob McElroy.  I had a hard time finding any daguerreotypes that surpassed his in that category (I didn't look through ALL of them yet, but I did look at a fair amount).

  Of course what I described so far were only the final steps of the process.  Rob is planning on silvering his own plated in the future to cut down on the cost, which gets pretty high when sending them copper plated to a professional electroplating company.  I did get to see the meticulous polishing of the plate, careful sensitization of it with fumes of iodine and infusion of sensitivity with fumes of bromine next as Rob prepared one more plate to be exposed using electronic flash.  Rob was the first one to have ever succeed in this technique and now I had a pleasure (and terror) of being his subject under the intimidating set-up of an array of lights that I mentioned in the last post.  It appears that when he popped the flash onto my outstretched arm he did not even turn on 1/2 of all the lights that he was going to use this time and I got a bit nervous as I sat behind a modest posing table surrounded by enough lights to light up 10 Winston O. Links train scenes - all about 1.5ft away from me.  He had to of course test the light, which requires quite a few pops... Every time he'd say 'close your eyes' I would get an uneasy feeling in my gut in anticipation of the coming wave of light.  There was not a single time that he fired the set-up that I did not involuntarily jumped in my seat - the combination of all these light was incredibly powerful and the sound of them going off could be can be compared to being slapped hard on both ears with firm pillows.  The action of light was so strong that I started sweating immediately after the first test and one time Robs hand was a little too close to the bank of lights on the side and I could clearly smell burning hair...  Here I am baffled by my experience and wearing the retouching glasses that I chose to be shot in.

 

  Rob did repeat a few times that the process of making a daguerreotype image is a fickle one and sometimes things happen without the knowledge of the artist which result in pretty much utter failure.  This was one of those times, but I don't think it was due to anything Rob did carelessly - the image just came out thin and I post it here only as a reminder to myself of the whole experience and not as a show of Robs skills.  I am not an easy subject to beautify and he did his best...  You can see the Rolleiwide that I'm holding in the lower right corner of the frame - I think it was well-worth trying to record this legendary camera with such a noble technique.  I do like how a mysterious white clouds that appeared for no reason on this plate alone make it look like my hair is smoking - it very closely relates what I was feeling.

  I do think that the first two plates came out so perfectly because Rob coated them alone without my distraction and this one was done close to midnight and with me butting in during every possibly step with a million questions, all of which he answered diligently and patiently.  From my repsonal experience I know it's hard to make a perfect silver print while teaching the process to a newbie - making a daguerreotype as solid as the rest of his work while doing the same must be 100x harder if not completely impossible...  
(added 8/24/2012 - upon further communication with Rob McElroy I once again state that this was a REJECT image and is nowhere near the quality of work that he is know for - he cordially allowed me to release it and indeed I am thankful for it because the original plate has been wiped and is awaiting a new much better image.  Rob did confirm that it was the coating process that was the reason of failure, which validates my suspicion that my own presence and distraction was to blame)

  The entire process is extremely delicate and tedious, but I saw no sign of it getting to be old for Rob - as he was going through the steps that he must have repeated hundreds of times in his lifetime he explained them to me with attention to detail and clarity that I rarely experienced in all my yeas of education.  I did my best to keep as of detailed of notes as I could (that was especially difficult during the steps that have to be carried out under the light of just a few dim amber safe lights), but I will definitely have to come back to him for a refresher course when and if I am ever brave enough to attempt making my own daguerreotype image.

  Rob, if you read this, Thank You so so much once again for taking me through this experience of a lifetime.  I am more energized than ever before during this trip.

  Now I am slowly but surely making my way toward Minnesota.  I think I may stop in Madison Wisconsin as I have very fond memories of that place from 10 years ago.  Back then I was traveling with my friend Garry and was raising gas money by for our white Ford F150 Econoline van by making cyanotype prints from Polaroid 55PN negatives right on the sidewalks of various towns and cities.  I had a great time in Madison and even was the only featured artist published by the University of Madison in their literary magazine.  It is entirely possible that I will not make it there as I am really anxious to get to the YMCA archives in Minneapolis and dig into them in hopes of finding some clarifying information related to the collection of magic lantern slides that has to be a topic of an entirely different post as I-90 and 1000 miles await.

Anton Orlov