Dogs and the pandemic

[Bill Pierce]

My dog is absolutely delighted that I am staying home more during the virus outbreak. Initially, I thought I would work on general print portfolios, but his enthusiasm has led me to start a series of small portfolios for each of the dogs that has lived with us over the years. If I do say so, even though the portfolios will probably never move beyond the living room and viewers outside of the family may not find them as compelling as I do, it has been a worthwhile pandemic task.

I have friends who are taking self portraits, still lives, even scenics of empty cities. We live on the border of one of the largest non federal parklands in the country, but I have mentioned before that I seem incapable of taking a good picture that has a tree in it; so, I’m printing.

Obviously, there are jobs that have fallen by the wayside and will not reappear until people can by physically close. I may have to learn to take pictures of trees. What is everybody else doing with their photography? Maybe what someone else is doing within the limitations of what can be done during a pandemic will give us thought about what we could do. I can’t print dog pictures forever. Your thoughts?

 

[John Bragg]

Hi Bill. I am also galvanised into action by the time on my hands. I am catching up on a backlog of film and taking portraits of my immediate family, especially my 3 year old daughter. We have far too many phone shots of her, and not enough "proper" photos. She is a bright kid and I want her to know about film photography from an early age.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Glad to see you back sir. We were getting a little concerned as we hadn't heard from you in a bit.

Wish I could add something inspirational, but I was in the middle of a longterm photo project that included a lot of traveling and interacting with folks, and the brakes got slammed on that in mid-March. Been busy making face masks and just this past week picked up the camera again.

Gonna go do some night shots of the village where we live. Nothing terribly exciting. Just practice for the day hopefully I can get back to the project.

Be Safe Sir.

Best,
-Tim

 

[charjohncarter]

Nice to hear from you. Some of us wondered if you have been abducted by an alien. Trees: I find them hard too. And I'm not crazy about shooting them, but I did do a photo of one of my trees a couple of days ago. Stay with the dogs.

 

[jsrockit]

What is everybody else doing with their photography?

Catching up on editing...everything! After moving to Chile 3 years ago, I never touched my huge backlog of NYC photos again...until now. Really doing a tight edit of that. Caught up on my Chile photos too. Made a website...finally.

I miss being outside photographing... but it feels good to get the aforementioned tasks close to being finished. It has allowed me to see my all of my photography together. I think it'll be beneficial once I get back out there again.

 

[BillBingham2]

We moved a few thing, sold our house, move a LOT more things, sorted thing (I have about 20 bins (56 quart) of photo stuff (e.g., negatives, slides, lights, bags, 4x5 cameras, way too much darkroom stuff) I have to go through, but that will have to wait.

New litter of puppies joined us last night and work (thank God I have it) is crazy over a large project.

Besides the dog that looked like a puppy submarine I've been lucky. This is the first spring in this house (rental) so I've been watching the light through the windows, on the grass, and across the clouds at different times of the day. I got a shot of toilet paper the other day that I like. It's limited, but safe. Luckily south east Iowa has some interesting clouds. Have scoped out a few barns on drives that look interesting as time allows. Not a lot of that for the next nine weeks or so.

While I loved my iPhone 7 Plus (wide and normal lenses) I finding the 7 that I bought (just a wide) more frustrating. I wish Apple would make an iPad Mini with the three lens combo and a set of 16MP sensors.

Great to see you back!

Stay healthy, safe and use this time wisely.

B2 (;->

 

[back alley]

i worked on a vanity book that turned out very disappointing for me.
...been watching lots of youtube videos on art and photographers and photographs, lots of crap but a few new discoveries too. i have been out shooting empty streets and signs that say 'closed'...
and speaking of dogs, i find myself really missing my little guy that past over the last summer...we could have really had a blast with all this time...

 

[dasuess]

Bill, glad to finally hear you are OK. I started the lockdown here in MN by finishing the compilation of the poems, etc of my aunt who passed away a couple of years ago. Now I am working on a long term photo project of the Weisman Art Museum, designed by Frank Gehry. The only travel for this project requires that I lace up my shoes and take a twenty minute walk.

Again, welcome back Bill...

 

[jsrockit]

and speaking of dogs, i find myself really missing my little guy that past over the last summer...we could have really had a blast with all this time...

Sorry to hear that Joe...that just sucks.

 

[Dogman]

My wife and I are both retired so the dog has to put up with us all day anyway, pandemic or not. She, the dog, doesn't get to go out with us as much so she seems a little depressed these days.

I'm still shooting almost daily. I find stuff that interests me even just around the house. Light changes constantly, the weather changes constantly...there's always something different if you look for it. And, like our dog, I do miss being able to get out and go places since "places" have all been closed. Now that things are reopening this might change. However, being old and not in the best health, I have to be cautious when out and about.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Bill good to see you posting again and to know that you are OK. Our dog is heaven with all the attention.

Sorry to hear that Joe.

Hang in there everyone. Stay safe.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I am in a post-Covid 'intelligent lockdown' mode in Saigon. Life is returning to normal and it's time to explore again. Vietnam, a country with some 100 million inhabitants has managed the pandemic exceptionally well with less than 300 confirmed cases and zero deaths. We are now waiting for the borders to re-open, again.

 

[jsrockit]

Vietnam, a country with some 100 million inhabitants has managed the pandemic exceptionally well with less than 300 confirmed cases and zero deaths.

Incredible... how'd they do it?

 

[russelljtdyer]

My Models are in Russia

My Models are in Russia

In recent years, my inspiration for photography has been my wife -- we were married in June last year -- and her daughter. They're Russian and very good at posing (see photos below). Plus, they get me out of the house and I never get tired of looking at my wife: she's been my muse for the past four years or so.

The last few days of February, my wife and her daughter went to a government office to get a residency permit to be able to remain in Italy with me. They were told, though, that I need one more document before their association with me will apply to them -- I've been approved for Italian citizenship, but haven't received my passport and all yet. They were also told to go back to Russia to get new passports -- their old ones were expiring -- and a new tourist visa that would cover them for a few months until my documents are all done. Then they would be given their residency permits.

They planned to be in Moscow for only a week and had a ticket to fly back. During that time, they got their new passports and one-year visas from the Italian consulate. However, two days before their return flight, the Italian government closed the borders for foreigners. They're still in Russia -- it's been three months. At this point, the Italian government is saying they can return the first week of August, but the Russian government is saying they can't leave until January.

Without my models, I'm less inclined to take photos. But, I have been gearing up for when they return. I'm about to sell my Leica Q, to pay for a Leica M6, with a Leica 35mm lens, and a Ricoh GR III that I just bought. I've been playing with them a bit, but haven't done much yet. I've also been posting some old photos of my girls on 500px and I've been printing some photos of them to replace old photos I have framed and on my wall.

Still, I need my models to return. If anyone has any pull with passport control in Moscow or Milan, please let me know. Tell your contacts they need to return to Italy for photographical humanitarian reasons. Thanks in advance.

 

[rhl-oregon]

Going through the LR catalog to redevelop every image, one at a time, and cull the deadwood. Bringing all that remains to my current standards, or rather tolerances.

LR tools have changed, I’d say for the better, since I took up digital photography in 2009—LR2 then, LR9 now. Of the thousands of images left after previous, roughly annual culls, many still date from the LR2-4 years; their development mostly stopped somewhere back a ways. Now all that are worth keeping are being subjected to what some of you might be wise enough to describe, in your settled practices, as ‘presets.’ In this case, the development logic is all “re-“: retrospective, revisionist, refining.

Of course it is also slow, gradual, tedious; I can do only so much in a day. Yet the days of sensible sheltering at 67 may stretch a long while further. What makes this project interesting is that I decided, who knows why, in 2010 to organize images by camera model. I have caught up with everything in the Leica M-D 262 and 246 folders (not a huge number), the much larger Fuji XE/XPro/X100 folders, and am partway through the larger still RX1 folder.

A more methodical person than myself would have also been updating each file’s metadata. Another time.

——-

PS: Russell, may you be reunited in happiness and health with your muse and her daughter ASAP. Perhaps I will be in touch later about Italian citizenship, depending on whether this country where I was born decides to reaffirm democracy...

 

[Dogman]

Russell, that truly sucks. You have my sympathy but, unfortunately, I have no pull with anything so I can't help. Just wish you and your family the best.