UMass Walk to Cure Cancer

Today I photographed for the UMass Walk to Cure Cancer...and was very grateful that it merely misted instead of poured! I had both cameras, the turbo pack , and pockets full of extra equipment. If it had gotten too wet I'd be in trouble. They had me stay for 3 hours, in which time I got to watch the set up, registration, stage entertainment, and walk kickoff. I saw several people from Worcester State that were walking (a 5 mile loop), but was impressed overall with the spectacular turnout. The walk happens rain or shine...with great gusto! I got to witness a bizarre little bit of girlishness that I had forgotten about. The cheerleading groups that came were there when the main act came out on stage (Michael Damian and his band)...and the girls went NUTS. Michael Damian is an actor from "The Young and the Restless" (soap opera), sings, and has also been in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". I have some vague memories about having crushes on soap stars at that age, and it was weird to see it all play out that way! Entertaining, but weird! They LOVED him! So funny.

stART on the Street

The stART festival yesterday went REALLY well! We were all there at 6:30 am to get things ready (the festival didn't open until 11). I set up the timer camera on the roof of Biagios (takes a photo every 5 minutes...all day long!) and then headed up to the check in area (Doherty High School) with Sarah. She organized it differently this year, and we had two lanes of traffic coming thru at a time, instead of one. Much better!!! Also, the cars were given hang tags as their "pass" to get onto Park Avenue, which made it really obvious which cars were allowed in (we shut Park Ave down between Pleasant and Highland Street). Once check in was thru, I walked around with the camera to get some shots to use for festival promotion. Here are a few...

Old photos of me as a kid

I have always liked to bake and spend time in the kitchen. I get quite a kick out of this photo of me peering over my mothers shoulder as she made something one day. In this photo I am 9 months old. (The other day, mom brought over a packet with a bunch of things...some old photos that my grandmother had, and since she is now gone and my mom has all of those things, she is re-distributing them.)

Apparently we were making cranberry sauce (according to the note on the back of the photo). I was 17 months old.
My infatuation with tools and building or fixing things got off to an early start...here I am helping to make our new swingset at age 2.
And in this photo, I am 10. Interesting to me to see how my body type was so similar then. I mean, I know it's my body, but I was just a kid! We all get older, and change over time, but there are basic things that will always be...the same.
Aren't my parent's cute?! I was 5 months old.
Another kitchen shot! I was almost 11.

Dog Park Holgas: COLOR

Dog park scans/Camera problems

Whooo, boy. I guess I knew what I was getting into with the unpredictable Holgas, but today was a downer. I went in to WSC to process 3 rolls of film. The first problem was the cover for one of my developing tanks. I always tell the students to look at the cover before you go into the closet...as they age, they crack. And those cracks, while they look small, are actually colossal in terms of light leaks. I saw it right away and went back into the closet with a new lid, but we all know how fast light travels, right? Right. Strike One. After the fixer stage, it's ok to take a peek at the film, as it is no longer sensitive to light. That was when I discovered that one of my cameras is still set on bulb. (The piece of tape I put over the switch must have fallen off, or I took it off and forgot to replace it.) So although each negative was beautifully exposed, they were...well, a blur. Into the trash with that one. Strike Two. The remaining rolls were shot with Holga body #3. I am making notes about this because if I have an errant camera that is ruining my film, I want to know which one it is! (The roll of film gets labelled with which camera it came from.) Apparently the newer Holgas are being made with cute little foam things glued to the inside where the film spools sit. Why? I have no idea. But my foam has long since ripped off (and into the film as it gets advanced) and what's left over is the glue. Given the mechanics of the camera, and the fact that it's just the paper side of the film that should pass by these glue areas, I didn't worry. But something is getting on each negative and adhering to the emulsion...and so there's NO IMAGE where the glue hit the film. Just a bunch of clear dots. Strike Three. Aaargh. SO, the top photo is an "uncleaned" negative, with those black dots being where the glue hit the negative and ripped off the emulsion.

These are light leak (bad cover) examples, above and below.

And a Martha's Vineyard example of the glue issue. Nice pattern, though.

India again

As I peck away at the India negatives (they were, for the most part, scanned last month) I miss it. I want to go BACK. I miss the food, colors, smells, the perpetual commotion, the complete and utter difference from everything I know here. I have not completed the scanning, cleaning and adjusting, but I am getting close. At least with the color negs. The B&W may actually get printed for real. Yeah, you know, like in the darkroom. It is the paper cost that is scaring me, aside from the obvious investment in time. Large chunks of time. HUGE. Did I say it will take a lot of time? In two weeks I start back at WSC like normal, and still have to shoot on the weekends. I am afraid I won't want to go back to WSC after I let the dogs out and have dinner. And I can't work on them during the day. Ironic, isn't it? My office is IN the darkroom, but nothing I do for WSC involves the darkroom. The photo above shows the "dreaded" street vendor food. Americans aren't supposed to eat this stuff. I LOVED IT.

These burlap bags were all filled with hot red peppers. That's a lot of peppers. Vendors tended to specialize in certain items.

The metal buoy bridge in the distance was interesting. Essentially one lane (at least for vehicle traffic) and very long. But, everyone wishing to cross it could clearly see the other side and they just took turns if they had vehicles.

Varanasi. The vendors by the river mostly sold plastic bottles, so that worshippers to the city could take some water from the Ganges with them.

The steps we came down to get onto our boat, the day we floated down the Ganges towards Varanasi.

Window obsession: A long line of repeat behavior

The first time I got my hands on old windows, it was the beginning of a life long obsession with glass and glazing. I have NO idea where all of this came from...I never lived in an old house that had really cool old windows, at least not until I was 23. I moved into an apartment in an old farmhouse (250 years +/-) and the windows were a mess. I wanted to paint, and I can remember not being quite sure what to do about the peeling paint on the window frames. In the end, being 23 and in a hurry, I painted over them. I cringe to think about it now. The NEXT time I experienced a curiosity about windows, it was the same farmhouse, several years later, when I moved into the other apartment. I must have been 27 then. This time, I decided that I'd do it right, whatever that meant. I'm German. I grew up hearing "if you are going to do something, do it right" and I probably felt like I had to do a better job on these windows than the ones in the first apartment. So, off I go, embarking on a long journey of trial and error. By the last window, I had it right! AND, I couldn't be stopped. (I also got lead poisoning...and ever since I have worn a very lovely mask that filters out the lead.) From there, I went on to get myself involved in other people's windows, whether they wanted me to or not. I couldn't resist the quiet plea for help that old, battered windows seem to project. And although I can clearly see the positive side of new windows, with double panes and easy cleaning advantages, I will probably never lose the desire to remove old windows from their frames; gently strip, sand and strengthen them, replace the old glazing (keeping the original glass if possible of course) and then putting them back. I think that it is the paint abuse that gets me the most worked up- you know, when people put layer after layer of paint onto the windows, or any woodwork, really. Makes me nuts. You should always take the paint OFF first, then start over. Sure, it takes hours, days, even months, to do it right. But damn, those sure are pretty windows when you're done! I have this little fantasy that if I didn't have my real life (photography, jobs, boyfriend, dogs, house payments, you know) I'd find someone old and wise who fixed old windows, and I'd apprentice with him for a few years. I'd love to work with someone who knew all sorts of tricks, and appreciated the windows like I do.Stripped, sanded, and ready to be prepped for painting.


Stripping them is hard work. Between an array of chisels, scrapers, and other hand tools, I also used the dreaded heat gun. Not only does the heat gun vaporize lead in the paint, but it does a nice job of cracking glass if you aren't careful...

The frames/sills had to be stripped and sanded, too. Couldn't leave them the way they were!

Not quite sure what THAT look is for, but I really was enjoying myself!