Natural Light

Today, I noticed a Mason Jar that we use for canning that had some color to it. We take for granted the beauty in ordinary things.

Macaroni and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 Medium Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil/ or Bacon Fat
1 28oz. Can of Whole Stewed Tomatoes
1 15oz. Can of Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of Light Brown Sugar firmly packed
2-3 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp. Molasses
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Ground Black Pepper
Pinch of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
3/4 Pound Elbow Macaroni
2 Tbsp salt for Pasta water

Take a medium Green Bell Pepper and a Medium onion and chop.

Add chopped onion and pepper to a pot with oil or bacon fat over medium to low heat cook about five minutes strirring occasionally until onions become translucent.

Add ingredients. Starting with the tomato sauce first. Then add the whole tomatoes crushing the tomatoes by hand as you add them to the pot. Add sugar,salt, pepper,crushed red pepper, molasses, and cider vinegar. Bring to a  low simmer while you prepare the macaroni. (Pictured here is a an optional small can of tomato sauce. I did not use it.)

This is a good time to taste. It should be sweet and have a slight vinegar finish.

 
 Bring approximately 4 Quarts of water to a boil.   

Pictured here is about a pound of elbow macaroni. I recommend using a little less than this about 3/4 pound. Add Salt to boiling water, Then add Macaroni. Boil for about 6 minutes over high to medium high heat until macaroni is al' dente. ( The macaroni needs to have a little chew to it)

Drain water from macaroni and stir into your pot.

Turn down heat to a low simmer. Serve and enjoy!

Seeing Beyond Ordinary

I love the light this time of the year. Looking out to see a thin blanket of snow on the ground that reveals the subtle details of the ground below is like magic. The snow that lay on the ground had fallen a couple of days earlier and was fine like powder.

2012 Landscape

Back in November, while driving around on stretch of road I rarely travel, I noticed an image of a rural landscape I needed to capture.  For the last couple of months have been stopping by there to try to recapture what I had missed. I have returned there several times checking it out. Yesterday, I went there with some success.  Today, I returned and while it is not exactly what I wanted it's close. The snow in the cut cornfield is an important element in this image for me. As is the power line. I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to exclude power lines from my images for aesthetic purposes but here it works.  The field was disc ed up at the end of the season making it a rough surface and it shows.  I will return again in the spring when the melting snow just exposes the ground and glistens in the sun.

The Hunt for Red December

November slipped by and now we are down into December. The season of low light angles from the sun catch my attention when it shines. I really enjoy this time of the year even though we have not had much snow to speak of yet.

The above image caught my eye yesterday afternoon.

Red is the color of choice for a lot of barns here in Wisconsin.

Dust

We live in a world with dust. Somewhere,quite some time ago, someone decided that dust was the enemy and we have been fighting it ever since. It tarnished our image of purity. So, devices like brooms, feather dusters, and air purifiers just to name a few were created to dispose of the particles.  When I was in college taking photography classes, dust on a print was unacceptable. I understand that the faculty was trying to teach us rigor  and dedication to the craft. I questioned a professor one day that Ansel Adams prints had spots on a lot his prints from dust on the negatives. No reply came. So Unless, I wanted to spend a lot of time fixing spots on a print with dye and a camel hair brush, I had to learn to keep the negative clean as possible. Today with digital photography and Photoshop dust is less of a concern but there is still a lot of money being made on removing dust from image sensors. Once, I scan an image on a flatbed scanner or negative scanner and it is turned into a digital file. Spots made from dust can be easily removed from digital images with Photoshop.
    The image below I made with my 4x5 camera, Printed on Ilford variable contrast paper, then scanned as is, opened in Photoshop only to resize the image for internet purposes.

 

Quinn. 4X5 Print 150mm lens f7.7 1/2 second exposure ISO 100 Film.

The question I pose here is, where does one draw the line on dust? What amount of dust on a print is acceptable in this day and age? I have looked and do not see many answers. Here is my opinion. Ha! You knew it was coming.
 The image above has dust on it. I have some control on the amount of dust on the negative. With the negative size of 4 inches by 5 inches, I can try to eliminate it but a certain amount is just going to be there. I can move dust particles from one place to another. By the time I get the negative into the the enlarger, dust  creeps in. I am certain dust is in the enlarger. There is no way around it. I have come to the conclusion that as long as it does not detract from the content of the image let it be.

Quinn. Enlargement from above image. This image was taken and printed with the same lens. A Kodak lens made sometime in the 1920's.

This lens also a Kodak made in the 20's.

This image is pure magic.

Omega D-2

Last month, I picked up a Omega D-2 enlarger off of Craigslist for twenty-five dollars. I already have a Bessler23c enlarger in my darkroom. The bessler is a great enlarger and works beautifully for 35mm and medium format prints. So getting this enlarger would allow me to make prints from 4x5 negatives. Several years ago I picked up a 4x5 camera and used the Polaroid back to make some exposures. Outside of making a contact print where the negative is laid directly on the paper with a piece of glass over the top of it,  So I was excited to get an enlarger capable of making enlargements from 4x5 negatives.
    Once I got the enlarger home I noticed that the condenser lens was missing. Overall, it would still be worth the investment to purchase the condenser lens set. I got a great deal on one from E-Bay for twenty dollars. There are plenty of enlargers still out there but getting parts for it can be pretty tough for some reason.  The D-2 has been around for a long time and widely used by press, military, and universities long before World War II. After doing some research, I was going to need an enlarging lens and board. The main use for this enlarger would be 4x5 and perhaps medium format(120 mm). The lens would need to be 150mm and their prices range from about fifty bucks on up to several hundred dollars depending on the quality of the lens. Also, I found out, I would need a lens cone to hold the lens. The reason for the cone is the bellows on the D-2 are pretty short so in order to be able to get all of the coverage of a 4x5 negative and bring the negative into focus so prints can be made an extension is needed.
    I will be the first to admit I am frugal and the websites that were offering these pieces I needed could charge whatever they wanted for them because they are the only game in town. Unless, I wanted to wait for what could be a long time to see if the pieces came up  for the right price on E-Bay or Craigslist, I knew there had to be another way. The lens cone I needed was priced from 50-100 dollars. Ouch! I am on a budget here! So after being discouraged for a week or two while waiting, a thought came to me one morning. This style enlarger has been around long before WWII.  How does one make enlargers with missing parts work without having a machine shop or immediate access to the parts I needed? Tin cans! The lens cone I needed was 4 1/2 inches tall. A twenty-eight  ounce can hit the mark. The diameter of plate that attaches to the bottom of the enlarger is 6 3/8 inches. A paint can or large coffee can is close enough to that diameter.  So off to the grocery store I went and for less than fifteen dollars including paint I had my lens cone.

This is the condenser lens set. It has two large glass elements in it separated by a corrugated piece of metal to keep them from touching. 

   

My 4x5 camera had the equivalent to a 150 mm lens that I needed. I just removed it from the lens board and mounted it on  the cone below.

This is the 28oz. can mounted to a paint can lid with JB -Weld epoxy.

Another view with the lens attached.

This lens came with my Graflex 4x5 camera. It was made by Kodak in the 20s or 30s. Quite sharp and the lenses were easy to detach from the shutter to clean.

My last post I named this piece of equipment Lucifer. I have decided to name it Vader instead just for its imposing size.

So, what happens now? Well, I have made a 4x5 negative carrier for it out of matte board. I had one tucked away in a box of supplies from  my college days. I need to get out and find a subject to take pictures of.