Robbie Becklund Photography

A couple of thoughts on digital Photography. I realize that in the future, and depending on where you live, that it might make a lot of sense to print and shoot digital in terms of personal water usage. I saw a news report on Las Vegas and water came up. A planner stated that eventually, water will be like gas there--you ship it in. Well can you image how expensive that would be to wash film and prints. But on the other hand here's today's entry from Dave Beckerman's Blog. Dave is pretty well known for his photo blog among photo folks--I've been reading it since 2000. But what is he talking about, I don't think it's photography, I think it has something to do with computers...

Abandoned Motor Lodge, near La Grange, Texas - 2002

Okay, so I took this photo in 2002. I just developed the film and made a test print in 2004. What would be the date? Oh and final prints will be made in 2005! I've seen: "negative 2002, printed in 2004." That seems a little too much. I would say 2004, but with photos you're capturing a real event or thing. Like this motel might have been torn down by 2004 and to date it as 2004 might not be accurate. Or do I just put the date as 2002 - 2004. Like it took me this long to finish it? Like I'm doing the Sistine Chapel. It's not a big deal I guess, but I was brought up to do things properly.

Fun Facts: Last month my site averaged 188 page views per day; last week it was 250 page views per day; this week it was 270 page views per day (and that includes Turkey Day and the biggest shopping day of the year (except at my website...)). Don't know if I'll keep this weekly tally going. It's kind of who cares, but on the other hand it's hard to know how much traffic a site gets so it might be interesting to some. At least you know you're not alone.

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Took pictures in North/Northeast Minneapolis this morning. At this time of year since the sun rides low in the sky, the light is good all day long, with nice shadows and not bearing down overhead.

I saw some abandoned house boats along the Mississippi so I went to the other side to investigate. When I got close I smelled a campfire and heard a hacking cough. Since I would have to scramble down a long, steep bank to the boats, with no easy escape I decided not to go down. I decided I wasn't in the mood of disturbing a potential maniac with tuberculosis.

It's interesting, now that I'm a dad I mentally check myself before going into a potentially dangerous situation. I do a rundown of all the fun things that could happen if I proceeded.

Things are a little different from when I was young and taking pictures in Chicago. I spent lots of time shooting in the middle of the night with a view camera. In those days I'd go anywhere, with the camera or without--it was like an exploration. Luckily nothing too bad ever happened. Besides spooky homeless people I'd stumble across, packs of wild dogs that roamed the streets were a bit disconcerting.

Here's two good interviews with Kim Weston, son of Cole, nephew of Brett, and grandson of Edward. He spent years helping his dad print Edwards photos, and assisted Brett for many years.

If you're a Brett Weston fan, you can order the film on DVD, Brett Weston: Photographer, by Art Wright. I love this DVD. I think Brett Weston is my favorite photographer, mainly because of his abstractions.

I just added a long paragraph on my About Robbie page. It's about music. Something I never really mentioned on my site, but I thought since it's been such a huge part of my life that I would add something. It might not seem too related to my photos, but the music I've listened to and the friends I've made playing have had a very big influence on me--so, in turn have influenced my pictures or as they say in the artworld--informed.

I've been on hiatus for a few years, but, as I swore to myself many years ago, I'll play till I die, I'm sure I'll be at it again sometime down the road.

A current touring show, Diane Arbus Revelations is making the rounds, with 200 photos. It'll be here in Minneapolis in 2006, maybe it'll be in your town soon. There's a book, Diane Arbus Revelations, which I guess is the catalog for the show, which is pretty cool. Lots of interesting stuff, like collages and contact sheets. The cover photo is a double exposure of a self portrait and a NYC street scene. And the book is big. I saw it at Borders (someone thoughtfully removed the plastic wrap so it could be looked at...), one of the things that I found interesting was her daughter Doon's comments on printing her mom's photos and trying to figure out how she did them so they would look like Diane's. ooh ooh, I know what I want for Christmas.

If your an Arbus fan the biography by Patricia Bosworth is good - I've read it twice.

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We're getting our first snow. I hope we get a lot this winter. If it's winter and super cold, which it will be, we deserve a ton of snow. Somehow it makes the cold a bit more bearable. And it kind of screws things up, which is interesting. Lots of shoveling--weee!

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FYI - Been developing film: some 2002 stuff from Texas - Big Bend and some abandoned motel between Houston and Austin. I'm working through unmarked film so it's a mystery when or where it's from.

I like going through the old film, it's like little lost snippets of my life. I remember taking the pictures and with some of the stuff I'll wonder when I'll get to that roll of film that contains some moment I vaguely remember. Or better yet something I've forgotten but vividly comes back to me when I see the developed film.

I read a quote from Gary Winogrand about how he'd let his film sit for two years so he'd have some emotional distance from the images. I find it's true. If you develop your film right away, good or bad emotions can play a negative part in editing. You think so-so pics are good because you enjoyed your picture taking so much. I know, I've stared at contact sheets searching for a "winner" from times when I had a great time while taking the pictures, but there was nothing to be had. It's a drag being a photographer and the only great thing you bring back from a picture taking experience are memories.

If you still haven't ruled out an escape from America after the big election, check out EscapeArtist.com for the lowdown on living abroad.

Apocalypse (Almost) Now NY Times writer Nicholas Kristof writes about the The Left Behind Series. As Kristof notes: "If America's secular liberals think they have it rough now, just wait till the Second Coming." Holy Crap Sack you ain't kidding! For an agnostic/arm chair Zen Buddhist/I do believe there are forces at work in the universe but don't know or care too much kind of person like me this stuff is believable as Star Wars The Next Generation. But Kristof mentions it's a best selling book and somehow I don't think most people reading it are skeptical. Checking out the Left Behind website was like going to a huge Catholic bookstore with nuns running. A friend in Chicago was into using pope iconography in his art and I went along on his Pilgrimage -- it freaked me out.

Hey Pilgrims, that's right tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I went to Pilgrim Lane Elementary and grew up on Quaker Lane, so this holiday has special meaning. Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

I was going to post a link to a photographer who shoots with holgas and does some very nice work, but his thumbnails took forever to load on his website so I'm not going to. I hate that! I use dial-up - I'm cheap. I don't know what it is but I find so many websites that do not optimize their photos for quick loading. I suppose it's people with broad band they check their site and everything loads fast so they think it's fine--well it ain't!

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Something I've been pondering, (no, it's not getting a view camera...) is getting up very early in the morning to print and do film. I could get up at 4 or 5 am and get a couple of hours in and stuff could wash while I'm getting ready for the day. I'd have to go to bed earlier and I wouldn't have the opportunities for midnight snacks but I guess I'd survive. The hard part is deciding when to begin. Because I don't really want to get up that early. But the way it is now I print for a couple of hours after my kid goes to bed. After print washing and clean up it's 1 am -- I get up at 6:15 am. Some times I'm just too tired to start printing at night. That's the problem I want to prevent. Once I started exercising in the morning I never had a problem with missing a day, but at night I'd be too tired and blow it off. I think both Edward and Brett Weston got up super early and printed in the wee hours of the morning.

North Minneapolis - last week



Street Photography - last week



Baby Goat in Snow - last winter

Here's the contact sheet that the photos below are from. The bottom half of the contact sheet was at a big football field in South Austin. Notice the 'from the car shot' in the 3rd row. That's a new take on the Edward Weston quote "If it's further than 100 yeards from the car it's not photogenic" (or something to that effect). Now it's "if you can't shoot it from the car it's not photogenic."

Barton Creek, Austin Texas - 2002 (working through old film...)

I've got one Holga that has a nasty V shaped intermittent light leak that I have not been able to stop and it's ruined many good shots. But I do have one holga that is not leaking at all! I had been shooting 6x4.5 with that one, but I recently cut the frame to 6x6 so that camera's working great. I've got one more that I'm using for long exposures because the shutter is dead. I think I'll switch lenses with the dead shutter body and the light leaker. With a holga, the lens and shutter are all together and switching them is like changing a light bulb.

One holga hack I haven't tried, which I think I might, is to make the 3 foot focus limit to a 2 foot focus limit. I've seen this modification somewhere on the internet.

The camera store was all stocked up with Ilford film so I got 10 rolls. But I'm not getting up to Duluth this weekend, maybe the day before Turkey Day since there's no school for my son. For today, we'll venture out somewhere around town.

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Some friend's gave a slide show last night of their trip to South America through Peru, Bolivia and Chile. It looks like an amazing trip (I saw a Globe Trekker show with almost the same route). They went through villages in the Andes and stayed with families and in small hotels/guest houses. They went all the way to the end of Chile and were able to get pictures of penguins. I think that this has gone to the top of my list of dream trips.

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Fun Facts: Last month my site averaged 188 page views per day. Last week it averaged 250 page views per day. Cool.

'Private Ryan' and Press Self-Censorship

For Sale: 1945 Diner; $33,500, Nostalgia Included
"My father didn't eat in French restaurants, because he always felt that if you couldn't see it cooking, they were hiding something from you."

Looking for the gift for the person who has everything, how 'bout a diner! Listings for Diners for sale at the Diner Museum.

Maybe I could do street type pictures with my Holgas, one thing about the the 35mm I've got it doesn't have a wide angle lens and I've only shot with wide angle for the last 2 years. Standard view does not seem to compute anymore. And I won't have to get new equipment for the enlarger etc. if I use the holga for now -- hmmm hmmm hmmm. Maybe that's an idea. Or maybe I'll get an 8x10 view camera! (ahh just kidding, well but wait...)

I think I'm going up to Duluth tomorrow to mess around and shoot with the Holga. Assuming there is HP5 at the camera store--the last two times I went they were out of 120mm! Ilford is having some "issues." I know I should buy 50 rolls from B&H but I just haven't.

Teru Kuwayama -- A commercial photographer who's in Afghanistan now (he has a map on his website with his current location!), looks like he shoots a lot with Holgas and maybe even pinhole. In his bio punk rock is sited as an influence.

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It's funny how Holgas have such a signature look, kind of like a Louis Vuitton handbag.

'The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie': Absorbency Plus Puerility, a Blend the World Needs

An article on the loss of Colin Powell and other shake ups -- The Bush Revolution -- For liberals who have been wavering on whether to move to New Zealand, that would be a sign to head for the airport.

A few more 20 year old photos...

I got outbid on the Canon Canonet on ebay, so I went to my brother's house and snagged his Pentax K1000. And I just looked on my shelf and saw two beatiful green and black cannisters and inside were two rolls of 35mm HP5. Where did they come from? I guess they've been there for awhile. Now I don't have to go to the camera store.

Now I have to take pictures with it. But don't expect any new prints with this setup soon. My enlarger is only setup for medium format so I got to get a Rodagon 50mm lens on ebay and a lens plate from Classic Enlargers.

I'm also thinking of getting a 28mm lens for the k1000. I saw a couple on ebay that were at $5 each but one was a Sears and the other a Starbrite or something. I think I'll wait on that.

I took this about 20 years ago while I was in Chicago. I'd post more but all my old street photos are 11x14 and my poor scanner can't scan those. The reason I'm posting these is in honor of me putting a bid on a Canon Canonet on ebay to get me back into 35mm. I gotta thank Paul Shelasky for giving me some great info on vintage 35mm view finder cameras.

I don't know what it is but I'm just feeling this pull to get out and connect with people in my photos. I don't know if anyone noticed but they have been devoid of people except for the odd shot of my kid.

I've got to say, writing that sentence about being in Chicago 20 years ago kind of took my breath away. I know that I'm 43 and I know it's been a long time since I lived in Chicago. But actually seeing 20 really made it sink in how long it's been.

So I'm getting the Canon soon and I'll start shooting and make sure I've not totally flipped my wig regarding this turn towards the little negatives. If all goes well I might spring for the Contax G1--the price is quite reasonable right now for such a great camera.

Do they still make single weight paper. A lot of my 11x14s from 20 years ago are on single weight and it's pretty nice. I know Kodak AZO is single weight, but I wonder if regular enlarging paper still is.

Well I'm going to have to update my Holga Mods page soon. I was experimenting with 2 - 5 second exposures, using a dark red filter with slow film. So I was using my Holga that I super glued a bolt to the bottom for a tripod mount. Things were going nicely, maybe some good shots, maybe not. I was carrying the tripod with the camera on, when all of a sudden I saw the camera bounce on the ground and in that split second the back popped as if it was made to do that, so I had a wonderful view of my half used roll of film (this was one camera that wasn't all trussed up with velcro to keep this exact thing from happening). Of course I stood there for a second taking in all that had just occurred. And I knew there was no point in rushing to get the back on, because by this point the light had already gotten in. I just laughed. It was really quite funny. And I kept laughing. Hell, if you have a good sense of humor try super gluing the bolt to the bottom.

This is a great example of why I love the holga, you really can't take yourself or your picture taking too seriously.

Soooo, cross off the idea of super gluing a bolt to the bottom of the camera to use as a tripod mount. I have seen a new version of the Holga that does have a tripod mount. And it also has different colored filters to go over the flash--psychedelic. Maybe that will have to be my next major camera purchase.

New York Institute of Photography - Tips for Better Pictures - Hey it's an article about Coney Island and using Holga Cameras--two of my favorite things - weee!

One thing I totally disagree with in this article and I read it over and over when people talk about using a holga--taping it closed with black tape. Do these people actually use the camera again? Do they actually use a holga? Do they have nothing better to do than apply and remove tape? I can't image taping up a holga "to stop light leaks." Maybe I'm just a freak about sticky stuff, but I would throw the damn camera away after one application of black tape. It'd be like dipping your camera in lemonade. Use velcro and get on with your life.

Knipsen mit Holga Another German Holga article.

Analoger geht's nicht - "Holga", die primitive Trendkamera aus Plastik Think this has to do with Holga being the trendy camera... oh great!

Garry Winogrand's last Leica. Ain't the internet cool. The wear from use on this camera is quite impressive.

"I photograph to find out what something will look like when photographed", Garry Winogrand.

That is the essence of my holga photos.

Garry Winogrand taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, unfortunately not when I was there. It would have been so great to learn from him.

Wow, I just stumbled across the Texas Monthly: Recipe Swap with recipes for salsa, BBQ Sauce, Pecan Custard Pie, Boudain, Chicken Fried Steak (from the Broken Spoke!!!), glazed sweet potatoes and on and on and on. Many of the recipes are from Texas restaurants or repros of some especiality.

I can't believe how I feel right now after reading all the different restaurant names that are so much a part of Texas. It makes me miss and love Texas so much. Food is such a big part of Texas culture. For example, in Austin at work a guy would come around and sell breakfast tacos, that his family made in the wee hours of the morning, every day. My favorite breakfast taco is egg, cheese and chorizo on flour tortillas. The best breakfast tacos in Austin were from Enchiladas y Mas and they had super killer Chorizo Migas. Tamale House #3 was great too. Tamale House kept Lousiana Hot Sauce on the tables and I think LA Hot Sauce is better than salsa on breakfast tacos.

So here's some more of my other favs since I'm on the subject and I can't stop thinking about it: Artz Rib House, Sam's BBQ, El Azteca, El Sol Y La Luna, Pappadeaux, Guerro's, Hut's, Hyde Park Grill, Hoover's, Taco Xpress, Central Market, Magnolia Cafe, Dot's, Sweet Georgia Brown BBQ (Dallas). There's a bunch of places scattered across Central and East Texas whose names I can't remember. They're all BBQ, Mexican, Cajun and one Diner in Blanco with a four lane manual pin-set bowling alley in the backroom.

Okay I think I've purged my brain. I get so excited thinking about all these cool places and boy do I miss 'em.

Our Not-So-Free Press and this from an NY Times columnist who is more centrist than most of their op-ed writers.

Even Digital Memories Can Fade - NY Times article on digital preservation.

"Proponents of paper archiving grow especially vocal when it comes to preserving photographs. If stored properly, conventional color photographs printed from negatives can last as long as 75 years without fading. Newer photographic papers can last up to 200 years.

There is no such certainty for digital photos saved on a hard drive.

Today's formats are likely to become obsolete and future software "probably will not recognize some aspects of that format," Mr. Thibodeau said. "It may still be a picture, but there might be things in it where, for instance, the colors are different.""

From an article in the NY Times about preserving digital files, which of course, includes digital images. I hear what digital only photographers go through to protect their current images, what about once they have 10 or 20 years worth of images. And, preserving them for the ages...

I like my system: 1. put the negatives in a sleeve. 2. put the sleeve in a 3 ring binder. 4. put the 3 ring binder on a shelf.

The thing that's cool about analog photography is that I'm using the same system that I started using when I started photography--how cool is that. I don't have to switch to new inks, operating systems, computer, photoshop, printing software and RIP, etc etc etc.

For the month of October I had 5,777 page views on my website. And 141 pages were tracked, so I guess that means I've got 141 pages or so on my website--sheesh. And I don't use cascading style sheets, so if I want to change the colors, fonts etc I have to do it one page at a time. Maybe I need to rethink that.

The majority of referred visitors are from google. I know my sites' placement on google keeps improving for search terms I've been monitoring.

Of those who come to my site half are referred from another site and half are blind, which I'm guessing/assuming that the blind referrers are return visitors. That's pretty cool (of course I'm assuming this, but it seems to make sense--don't it?) I haven't looked a monthly totals before, only daily which swings between 100 to 300 page views a day. I guess maybe slowly the number of people who keep popping back to see what's up is growing.

I've seen that some people have extrapolated how many regular visitors their website/blog gets per month. That would be interesting to figure out--hmmm maybe I'll do some research on it.

This was from last March along Lake Superior near Two Harbors, Minn.

Seeing the snow in the picture makes me think about the weather we'll be getting very soon. I've been pondering how much shooting I want to do this winter. I think I want to get to Lake Superior at least once in the middle of the winter. It would be nice to shoot on Lake Superior if it's really cold, then it freezes up and it's safe to walk on. Which reminds me. I'd really like to go to the Apostle Islands this winter if the lake freezes and photograph the caves. If it's possible, it'd be a hoot to drive out on the lake to the islands. Another spot would be Gooseberry Falls all iced over.

Went to Art Attack in NE Minneapolis, besides seeing a number of great looking female artists..., there were three artist's work I liked, the one photographer I liked was Mike Rebholz whose shots of old stores and buildings were great--how he frames his shots is exceptional.

If the election results have really got you down, here's a link to the Canadian Immigration website.

I guess this would be called gloating regarding a Bush victory.

Just got back from voting. It took just under an hour. It was nice to see so many people voting. I'm sure it will be a mad-house after work. With all the crap on the news about polling problems and the bitter partisan politics, it's nice to see regular people, calmly, happily waiting in line--you'd think we were all voting for the same person/thing.
Faith in America