kbcarrier

I’ve been in Boston for a few weeks now and I finally got to use my new camera! Shooting 4x5 is totally different, but I have a feeling I will warm up to it soon. Today was kind of lame because I was forced to shoot trees at the Arnold Arboretum with the rest of my class. I guess it was more about getting to know large format. It’s kind of hilarious how most of the kids in my class who are from Boston were so antsy and excited about making photographs of trees. I guess it’s clearly evident that surroundings influence one’s ignorance, because I could care less about taking pictures of trees while coming from Vermont…

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kodak Ektar 120 ISO100

I guess the reason why I was kind of shy about not shooting any fishing in Island Pond was because I did just that a few days before in better light. To be honest, I was also sick of seeing people fishing though my viewfinder. I felt like shooting something different for a change. Yet to get back on topic, Austin, his friend Simon and I all went up to the Waterbury Dam to fish the Little River. It was dope because thanks to Simon, I too had a pair of waiters and was able to get some angles that would have normally been impossible. I actually liked the atmosphere of the old damn and rock wall. Too bad we didn’t really catch much fish. We’ve had some pretty shit luck this summer. The portrait of Austin is becoming pretty typical whenever I’ve been shooting around him. I definitely feel that connection where he just always knows what I want now without me having to say a word. I know for a fact that I will continue to take pictures of him for the rest of my career. It will indeed be fun to look back on them years from now and be able to pick out trends and change within both of us...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kodak Ektar 120 ISO100

Friday was my last day at the lake and even though I’m so ready to get back into the hectic lifestyle of being an art student, I know I’ll miss the lake a month or so from now. I’ll miss being the first one wake up and be out the door before the sun rises. I’ll miss riding my tractor every single morning. And I’ll definitely miss sitting in the sun all day listening to good music and reading books until my brain can’t take it no more. I took this photo on the last day I worked at the lake. It was as if God made the morning extra beautiful just for me. The air was crisp and the water was warm; creating a thick fog with romantic morning light creeping in from behind. I guess I wouldn’t normally make an Ansel Adams-ish photograph such as this one, due to the overwhelming abuse of such images on the walls of almost every Vermont gallery and restaurant. Seriously, do we need more photographs of mountains and clouds? Yet this is more of a keepsake photograph if you will; visual proof of where I have been and who I was during the summer of 2009…

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kodak Portra VC 120 ISO40 0

Kodak Ektar 120 ISO100

Day 4 in Island Pond was the last day. I had checked the weather and knew the light was going to be nice, so I woke up early and went for a shoot around town. Like the boat photograph, people in North East Kingdom are notorious for having old machinery laying about their property. I personally think that’s fucking sick and could simply just do a body of work on that alone. It has that used, stepping back in time look that I’m so attracted to. I came across a few old Jeeps that I knew of in town. I chose this shot of the blue jeep because it truly defines the film I had in the camera at the time (Kodak Vibrant Color 400). I also found this orange skidder off of a dirt road and couldn’t pass the color as well. Another color I couldn’t pass up was a sea foam green cargo container. I pretty much made the photograph because it happens to be one of my favorite colors. Ironically my Grandpa Clement was also wearing it when we stopped in to grab some stuff from his garden. I definitely would have had to spend more time with Clement to get a good shot of him. The last object to photograph was an old cement silo on the way home. I thought it was really stereotypical to see all the BudLight cans on the ground and “Git-R-Done” written on the walls. I guess that’s Vermont’s future rught thurrrr….

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kodak Portra VC 120 ISO40 0

Kodak Ektar 120 ISO100

Day 3 in Island Pond was mostly fishing on the pond and in the nearby Clyde River. At the end of the day, we grilled way too much meat and felt forced to eat it all. I like the shot of Uncle Ed that I took above him on the deck. We then jumped into the pickup and drove to my father’s hometown, Colebrook, NH to see my Mémère at her home. On the way there we passed one of my favorite landmarks, the shark rock. When I was young this rock always used to get my excited whenever we drove by. Which goes to prove how I love to look out the window when I travel. I feel these photogrpahs lack a little bit of light. They still feel dark. Maybe I’m being too critical?...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kodak Portra VC 120 ISO400

Day 2 in Island Pond was super cold for late August. It was mostly in the low 60’s all day. I recall wearing jeans, a flannel, a hooded, wool socks and sweater. Yet, the temperature didn’t affect our intent to fish and end the day at my Aunt Pauline and Uncle Dan’s for a warm dinner. While dinner was being prepared, we went to check out a nearby brook for fishing. I came across this boat in the front of someone’s yard and had to shoot it. I wish the light were stronger though. Again this camera felt totally different out in the field. I did have some stuff come out a wee bit crooked and I feel that would be resolved with a tripod. Last time I used my Bronica, it was for my Nightshots project and at the time I used one of MECA’s really nice tripods. I kind of whish I had one for shots like this. I guess I need to get used to working without one as well though. Like I said before, I need to just continue shooting with it and things will improve...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Kodak Portra VC 120 ISO40 0

Kodak Ektar 120 ISO100

Day 1 in Island Pond was almost like any other trip to camp. We met up with Uncle Ed and made some lobsters and fresh corn out on the deck. It was pretty good and once we were done eating, all we wanted to do was just kind of be lazy. So dad popped in the traditional movie of choice when were at camp, The Great Outdoors. I managed to get a few shots off here and there that day. It’s definitely different shooting with the Bronica, especially in the camp. It’s not like a portable 35mm, where one can just snap here and there. Creating a photograph with it is a slower process. The only lens I have isn’t too wide (75mm), so it was almost impossible to get certain shots that I had planned in my head. Shooting with a handheld light meter was also a bit different. I hadn’t used one in a while, and the one I did use was fairly simple compared to the one I got for my birthday. I guess like with all photographic media, it’s just a matter of getting acclimated. That of which is evident in my exposures. I’m still not a pro with judging colors, but I feel that the exposures here may be off a stop or so. After seeing these shots, I’m defiantly inspired to get better with this equipment...

Monday, August 31, 2009

I can’t believe it. I am such a sucker. The camera that we see in the front window of Urban Outfitters, I now have. Yes, I bought a Holga! As much as I don’t want to be sucked into certain pop, this camera makes the list of exceptions. I’m cheep and so is the Holga. And the shitty quality photograph it makes, I really love to a great extent as well. They’re liberating. It’s not bad to make a good picture even though it’s plastered with a bright yellow light leak, is it? Seems like this daily routine of making near perfect photographs with all the proper equipment can become suffocating after a project or two. I guess it’s just nice to pick up a light piece of plastic and capture with almost no intent. Oh and plus I can get all those sweet attachments like color filters and fake fisheyes. Who wouldn’t want that!?...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Lately, I have been telling people that there are two things that I must do this summer before I head to Boston. First, I need to see Tarantino’s new film, Inglorious Bastards. Second, I have to spend more than one night at camp in the North East Kingdom. So far I have already seen the movie, which was everything I expected and continues to convince me to utter, “Tarantino is a genius” verbatim. Camp is next. Tomorrow I’m off to Island Pond for 4 days and 3 nights. I plan to bring my Bronica and my new LIGHTMETER! Thanks to my way too generous sister, I can now shoot (with a couple of my cameras that don’t have metering systems built in) whenever I want! Therefore that phase where I shoot way too much medium format begins now…

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I fucking love old, outdated campers. I guess the answer to why is not much of a simple answer either. I like them for a lot of reasons; the retro colors, the sign of use, the sign of life, the materials they are comprised of that we don’t see anymore. Every time I see an old camper such as this one, I just want to take a picture of it along with the owner(s). Sadly, this one was abandoned on a logging road that ran parallel to the river flowing into the Bolton Potholes. As much as I really love this photo, I wish I had had my medium format camera with a different kind of film with me. Just picture an even sharper photo with more vibrant colors in a flawless square frame- damn that would be too cool for school…

Saturday, August 22, 2009

With having my afternoons free now, I have been able to enjoy the hot summer weather we have been getting in Vermont. This week I went to the Bolton Potholes to do some cliff jumping with my brother and some of his friends. I like going to places like Bolton because they are Vermont’s hidden secrets. Besides a few Canadians jumping in their skintight bathing suits, the people around us were true Vermonters-straight out of the woods. The air over the riverbed on what was almost a 90’ day was crisp and cool with the scent of cheep beer and cigarettes. The rock walls that surround the area echoed all the “faackkks” and “shhiitts” that could be frequently heard every time someone came up out of the water. It’s these people combined with such surroundings that can’t be found anywhere else on earth. I guess I would have to say I really like that. I also really liked the patches of golden light pushing through the trees too. This photo of Austin was taken in such a spot. I wish I could have chosen more of a decisive moment though. He appears to be too posed, that of which was not the situation at all. And what’s up line of light surrounding his shoulders and head? Too artificial looking? I kind of like it, I kind of don’t…

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Gelatin Silver Fiber Print

11" x 14"

Kodak Tri-X 35 ISO400

During one of my last weekdays in Portland, ME, Luke Butler and I would go out on these photo shoots around town. He was working on a small body of work in concern to his 2D-Design course. His product was actually really neat. He was creating double exposures with Polaroid film, thus an abstract image born (quit fitting for the expectations of his class). I myself was experimenting with an old Brownie Hawkeye that my Mémère gave me way back when I was of a younger age. It’s design is to take 620 film on the old metal film spools, but with some playing around I got the camera to make a photograph with 120 Tri-X. I wasn’t too happy with the exposures, yet I wasn’t really expecting much either. I didn’t really give a shit. I more or less was out for the fun and adventure of it all…

Wednesday, August 5, 2009